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The idea that this or that Big Bad state is fomenting significant unrest in the West is a false narrative manufactured to scapegoat from domestic mismanagement
by pphysch 4y ago
The idea that this or that Big Bad state is fomenting significant unrest in the West is a false narrative manufactured to scapegoat from domestic mismanagement and distract from the fact that Washington hosts a massive global industry dedicated to destabilizing states, especially those Big Bad ones, via organizations like GEC, NED, USAGM, USAID, etc.
- filoleg 4y agoI don't think it is some big "Washington and the buddies" conspiracy theory, but something much simpler. Fearmongering and doomer attitudes drive clicks for news publishers. Clicks drive money. Money drives their growth and influence. Which, in turn, drives more clicks. And guess who is thrashing around in their desperate attempts to stop bleeding influence and money in the internet age? Traditional news media. Not that difficult to see some clear examples of that either, like the recent bills in some countries trying to extort FB and Google to pay money for every news article shared on their platforms (for google it was in the form of the preview snippets, for fb it was in the form of users sharing links iirc).
- pphysch 4y agoThere is a component of click-baiting, but there are also clear mechanisms by which Washington promotes these misleading narratives.
- hackinthebochs 4y agoPutin's disinformation tactics are well known and documented. There is certainly a question of how much of a causal factor they are as opposed to the pre-existing fissures in society. But it's not reasonable to act like this is all a false narrative manufactured by whomever.
- pphysch 4y agoThis just isn't true. There is a well known and documented narrative that Trump is a Russian asset and Putin is puppeteering US politics and so on and so forth, but it doesn't match the evidence when you actually dig into it and abandon preconceived conclusions. Russia doesn't have anything remotely like the global propaganda apparatus based in Washington. They do a lot of propaganda, sure, but they are small fries in comparison. They are investing in changing that, however.
- hackinthebochs 4y agoPutin's disinformation tactics in the west go far beyond anything specifically related to Trump. Putin's facebook ad buy and relationship to Cambridge Analytica is well known. So is Putin's playbook for fomenting unrest in Eastern Europe. It's some serious myopia to think Putin's relevance is entirely related to Trump.
- pphysch 4y agoPlease show me an example of an ad that Putin used on Facebook (or anywhere).
- hackinthebochs 4y agohttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/technology/facebook-russian-political-ads.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/technology/facebook-russi...
- pphysch 4y agoI asked for an example of a Russian ad, not a paywall.
- zaroth 4y agoI think you missed the part of the story where it turns out the "Russian election interference on social media" was cooked up by the Hillary campaign and liberal NGOs like the "Alliance for Securing Democracy" which made the infamous Hamilton 68 dashboard. To be fair, most outlets never quite took the time to go back and admit they were spewing political oppo-fiction for years.
- hackinthebochs 4y agoUtter nonsense. E.g. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/technology/facebook-russian-political-ads.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/technology/facebook-russi...
- tenpies 4y agoPersonally, I buy much more into the theory that the fissures in society, are a result of infiltration by Marxists into academia, as was detailed by the Soviet defector and KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov. It's impossible to watch this interview and not tick the boxes.[1] Putin is just the Russian leader who happens to be around when the fruits of those labours are paying off. --- [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOmXiapfCs8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOmXiapfCs8
- pphysch 4y ago"Marxists" in academia tend to be Trotskyists/anarchists/liberals, i.e. opposed to Leninism in its various forms