Comment by Auntfanny on 06/12/2019 at 22:13 UTC

98 upvotes, 14 direct replies (showing 14)

View submission: Suspected Campaign from Russia on Reddit

You should watch the documentary Hypernormalisation (it’s now on YouTube). They play both sides and the point is so you don’t know what’s true anymore or just give up caring.

Replies

Comment by TheLoonyIrooni at 06/12/2019 at 23:03 UTC

50 upvotes, 6 direct replies

Operation Infektion*[1] also provides good historical context to how disinformation was/is used by the Russian government.

1: https://nyti.ms/2z9KHx0

At a high level, my understanding is the goal is also to polarize the nation and its people. Infighting, etc.

Comment by [deleted] at 06/12/2019 at 23:16 UTC

8 upvotes, 2 direct replies

[deleted]

Comment by Ozlin at 06/12/2019 at 23:28 UTC

2 upvotes, 1 direct replies

It's incredible how this is at play in even non-political subreddits. Almost every post in /r/technology on Facebook or others doing bad stuff is full of posts effectively saying "why even care, nothing can be done about it." Whether those are coordinated or not, the amount of apathy across the board is infuriating.

Comment by sordfysh at 07/12/2019 at 00:37 UTC*

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Everyone seems to be so afraid of information overload that they are deciding to stick their heads in the sand.

How is the current call to stick our heads in the sand any different than previous calls to stick our heads in the sand?

Before we had the red scare. After that we had the brainwashing hippies. After that we had the "too complex" international affairs such that anything with the word "international" was too complex for the common person. And then we had terrorists who brainwashed people online. And now we have Russians who brainwash people online?

Russia has an economy smaller than California. Who cares what Russians tell us? Remember how many people got hurt in the US from Islamic terrorism after 9/11? Do you think we still need to be protected from extremist Islamic terrorism propaganda? Do we still need to be sheltered from complicated international issues? Do we need to ignore the drug-addled minds of hippies?

Very few people here are afraid that they themselves will be negatively influenced by propaganda. They all seem to think, however, that the commenter below them will. Despite the fact that they all seem to respond the same way that disagreeable information is a danger to society.

But think: how often is propaganda disagreeable information? Isn't propaganda information typically popular sentiment?

https://youtu.be/ksb3KD6DfSI

Comment by RoyPlotter at 06/12/2019 at 23:56 UTC

1 upvotes, 2 direct replies

I’m not American so I don’t have any skin in the elections there, but I like reading about US politics quite often. And the most confusing bits I’ve read recently is about Tulsi Gabbard. At one point, she was called a shill with ties to the Russian government and how close she is with folks from there. And in the subreddit a few months after, I see people saying she’s a great candidate and she basically talks to whoever necessary and doesn’t care about the optics of it all. Now, these were all highly upvoted posts so I was pretty confused as to what’s going on and if she’s legit or not.

There’s an overwhelming amount of information and opinions out there, and the lines are blurred to the point where I don’t even know where to fact check anymore. Media outlets are bought out and they have an agenda as well, so where to get legit information from? It’s all a bit overwhelming tbh.

Comment by [deleted] at 07/12/2019 at 00:25 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

It should be noted that they generally don't advocate against their own interests. Hardliners like Clinton received universal antagonism from active measures during the 2016 election. However, they did target the left as a whole, trying to turn Bernie supporters on her and and trying to rally support for the Green Party.

When people hear "play[ed] both sides," it actually plays into that apathy they're trying to curate, because they think it means that influence campaigns are the reason behind partisanship and legitimate, defensible reasons. It appeals to people's inherent desire for civility and their predilection for never actually investigating any claim.

Comment by [deleted] at 06/12/2019 at 23:00 UTC*

7 upvotes, 10 direct replies

[deleted]

Comment by CombTheDessert at 06/12/2019 at 23:39 UTC

2 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Annihilate the truth

That’s their ptioganda goal

Comment by nomad80 at 07/12/2019 at 00:56 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

they play both sides

YES

as I’m scanning the accounts, that’s what I’m seeing. It’s not homogenous but they even bash “themselves”

I’m trying not to get overdramatic but I can see how one starts to question reality itself