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Why aren't russians telling eachother? At least a fraction of russians read and trust trustworthy (international) news sources, but if their peers won't believe
by alkonaut 5y ago
Why aren't russians telling eachother? At least a fraction of russians read and trust trustworthy (international) news sources, but if their peers won't believe them, why would they believe me if I called them?
Russia isn't North Korea. Yes there has been a tightening lately and all easily accessible media has been propaganda for a long time. But that doesn't mean any Russian can't - with some effort - consume a wide selection of news. And that's their damn responsibility to do so. For example, if you are a soldier asked to go fight in a country, it's your responsibility to read news from other countries before you leave. Otherwise, how can you be sure you know whether the orders are even legal?
We need to stop giving a pass to russians because they have an authoritarian leadership and strict media control. It's very easy to say this from an armchair in a liberal democracy but I'm still going to say it: Russians have a responsibility to protest the regime now, carrying the personal risk despite perhaps having little to no personal responsibility. Else they have the blood of Ukrainians on their hands.
And the same applies to anyone else in an armchair whose armchair is in room temperature because of russian oil or gas.
- neolefty 5y agoI would guess that cognitive biases are in play, in part. People want to believe that their country is doing something good, and that their suffering is for a good cause. So if a news source reinforces that (such as "Special Operation to liberate Ukraine from Nazis"), it's easier to listen to than a narrative that runs counter ("Destroying both countries to appease a tyrant's ego"). That's not the only factor, but here in the US it's certainly a big part of the appeal of misleading news sources.
- NoGravitas 5y ago> Russians have a responsibility to protest the regime now, carrying the personal risk despite perhaps having little to no personal responsibility. Else they have the blood of Ukrainians on their hands. Back in 2003, Americans had a responsibility to protest the Bush regime. And hundreds of thousands of us did, but it didn't do a damn bit of good. We still have the blood of over one million Iraqis on our hands. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is illegal and unjustified, but what moral grounds do Americans have to say anything about it?
- dzikimarian 5y agoWell, both Putin and Bush started their terms roughly at the same time. I see only one of them ruling today. America is by no means perfect, but Russia is entirely different thing.
- lofatdairy 5y agoThis is crediting the citizens for something achieved by fundamentally different systems of governance and people in power. Yeah the Iraq war eventually was seen as a mistake, if you believe the polls it still took 2-3 years to convince people of that fact, it still took far many more years to pull out. At some point we have to recognize the fact that a citizen _not_ protesting something isn't a sign of support so much as its a recognition of the fact that even millions on the street doesn't necessarily achieve anything.
- dzikimarian 5y agoI think we need to accept that some problems are bigger than single generation. Each can push border just a little bit in each direction. But it's important to keep pushing, because otherwise you end up like Russia - in lawless country where citizens either feel powerless or so flooded with propaganda, he does even sees that anymore.
- native_samples 5y agoObama came to power on a wave of optimism - he was going to close gitmo and stop the drone strikes. Years after he left the scene gitmo is still open and drone strikes still happen. GWB is gone but his policies endure. Turns out US leadership likes it that way.
- frenchy 5y agoObama tried to close gitmo, but he wasn't the emperor, and there were many politians who opposed him. These politians were elected by US citizens.
- AlfeG 5y ago- Hey stop this train! - I can't its very heavy it will kill me if I try - Ohh, then you are on the train side! That's how I see request to Russians to stop Putin. Also hey Russians, we rob all you money in online services and stop those services to work for you. Stop this train!
- q1w2 5y agoThey absolutely ARE. If you look at Russian groups on Facebook - they are ALL talking about the war. ...very passionately. Russians with western contacts are overwhelmingly against the war. Russians physically in Russia try to be silent online for fear of arrest but they too talk to one another about this clusterF of an invasion.
- mcguire 5y agoOut of curiosity, any idea what Facebook is currently doing about Russian-government-supported propaganda accounts?