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I've been seeing the word "propaganda" thrown around a lot lately. It's been bothering me how quickly people stop seeking the full picture when they start using

by eezurr 5y ago

I've been seeing the word "propaganda" thrown around a lot lately. It's been bothering me how quickly people stop seeking the full picture when they start using that word. That is a really vulnerable position to place your intelligence and curiosity. Propaganda: Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence an audience and further an agenda which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is being presented. - from Wikipedia Question: How can you determine when an individual is under the influence of propaganda? Answer: When they stop looking for the truths that either or both sides of a conflict use as the foundation of their propaganda. >Putin’s propaganda is WILDLY effective. I'd argue so is the United States, much more so than Putin's. If you compare the evils committed by the US to Putin's, Putin cannot hold a candle to the US. The difference is that Putin bears that burden across multiple decades, while the US changes figure heads every 4-8 years, and with that washes away the stains of the country into the haze of time. With all that being said, I am not pro-Putin nor pro-US regarding this conflict, and I agree with the article that the best course is for the United States to admit defeat, (and additionally, not in the article) stop expanding eastward (through NATO), and to keep their promise to Russia (which was to stop expanding NATO). Edit: I'd like to add, the seed of Putin's "fascist/nazi" claim is that in 2014, Ukraine's new government eliminated minority rights (i.e. the Russian minority, which represents less than half of the population). And, the US started funding the neo-Nazi faction (Azov battalion) of the Ukrainian army. A quick duckduckgo search will pull up articles for both of these claims.

aklemm 5y ago
Putin is a particular kind of evil; the autocratic, personally liable kind. He murders and jails opposition, which I find more abhorrent than the bureaucratic and societal evils of American power. While American atrocities have equaled autocratic ones, there’s rarely a single person you can hold accountable for embodying our bad ideas and behaviors.
- eezurr 5y ago
  Yet the United States have tortured POWs, arguably worse than murder for the immense suffering that causes both physically and psychologically. >There’s rarely a single person you can hold accountable for embodying our bad ideas and behaviors. Which is much more dangerous than being able to place responsibly on a non-amorphous, single person. The US has an extensively long history of interfering in the matters of other countries. You can overthrow and point fingers at one figure head, but you can't overthrow a system, systemic, and systematically unaccountable foreign policy that changes face every 4-8 years.
- soderfoo 5y ago
  Dick Cheney.
RC_ITR 5y ago
>I am not pro-Putin nor pro-US regarding this conflict I wasn't aware that the US was a party to this conflict where Russia invaded a neighbor without cause. Weird thing to hear from an enlightened centrist.

by eezurr 5y ago

aklemm 5y ago

Putin is a particular kind of evil; the autocratic, personally liable kind. He murders and jails opposition, which I find more abhorrent than the bureaucratic and societal evils of American power. While American atrocities have equaled autocratic ones, there’s rarely a single person you can hold accountable for embodying our bad ideas and behaviors.

eezurr 5y ago
Yet the United States have tortured POWs, arguably worse than murder for the immense suffering that causes both physically and psychologically. >There’s rarely a single person you can hold accountable for embodying our bad ideas and behaviors. Which is much more dangerous than being able to place responsibly on a non-amorphous, single person. The US has an extensively long history of interfering in the matters of other countries. You can overthrow and point fingers at one figure head, but you can't overthrow a system, systemic, and systematically unaccountable foreign policy that changes face every 4-8 years.
soderfoo 5y ago
Dick Cheney.

RC_ITR 5y ago

>I am not pro-Putin nor pro-US regarding this conflict I wasn't aware that the US was a party to this conflict where Russia invaded a neighbor without cause. Weird thing to hear from an enlightened centrist.