On Propaganda

catesly:

12drakon:

decepticonsensual:

So, I did it – went through and searched my blog for the posts I’d unknowingly reblogged from any of the Russian troll accounts on the list Tumbler’s sending round.  I think the results are interesting for anyone else who’s gotten the same email and may be wondering:

I came up with around 15 reblogs in total.  Most of them fell broadly under the umbrella of “legit things posted to build the account’s credibility”:  actual news stories with credible sources, or screenshots of twitter conversations (which might be either discussing facts or opinions) or of TV shows.  Most actually had a positive tone (probably because of the correct assumption that people are less likely to fact-check “awesome historical figure of colour!”-type posts than “awful thing happened yesterday here!” posts), and covered topics like Black history, modern Black leaders, Muslim positivity, and body positivity.  One was a post explaining the procedure for writing in Bernie Sanders in the 2016 election, which I and most of the other people in the chain reblogged expressly to explain what a bad idea it was.

Even some of the positive posts, though, take on a bit of a sinister edge when you know where they’re coming from.  “Neglected historical figures” posts, like any “why is no one talking about X” posts, can bolster the sense that news sources outside your online bubble are ignoring or obscuring the truth about the world.  A gifset (like one I reblogged) of Jon Stewart giving a blistering takedown on The Late Show, with a caption about how much the poster misses Stewart and how much we need someone like him, but there’s no one on The Daily Show now who’s his equal, uses a genuinely great moment of political satire to denigrate the amazing work currently being done in satire, and chip away at the credibility of voices like Trevor Noah’s and all the other comedians and commentators who are calling politicians to account now.

I want to talk about this post in particular, because I think it’s really telling.  It shows just how insidious propaganda can be:

• The Fact Check:  Like many others, the post presents facts that are broadly correct – India TV and several other sources did say that Tom Holland “wants to play an Indian Spiderman”.  However, if you read the coverage, the same articles also quote Holland saying that an Indian actor should take the role of Spiderman if an Indian version of the film is made.  It seems more likely that it was a language issue or other mistake than a deliberate attempt to misrepresent the actor.
• The Hook:  The post creates a sense of urgency by suggesting that misinformation is already being circulated, and that this misinformation is hurting innocent people.  I certainly hit reblog because I didn’t want a misleading story to make people think badly of Tom Holland.  If you buy that the lie is already out there, then, given how fast information circulates, there’s a sense of time pressure around sharing the “truth” that (ironically) helps real misinformation spread.
• The Framing:  The whole post is (again, kind of ironically) framed as a fact check, contrasting the headline with dialogue from the actual interview.  But the fact check is deliberately incomplete.  It demonstrates that what Holland said was different from the headline, but skirts the question of what the original article really claimed he said.
• The Spin:  And this is the really insidious bit.  Why bother painting an Indian news outlet like it’s trying to smear a random actor when it’s not?  Look at the caption:
  
  I am fed up with the media nowadays

  That’s the point – that seed of doubt about the media.  Not entertainment media, all media. Don’t trust mainstream journalism.  Don’t trust the sources of information that have access, resources, and influence.

  Sound familiar?  The lying mainstream media?  Fake news?

So if you’re wondering how infiltration works and what it tries to accomplish – well, here you go.

^^^THAT

Learn to recognize the pattern. Inciting strife or outrage should be suspicious. Anything that is not constructive. “Fed up” – and then what?

Healthy movements want to BUILD: take care of people, comfort, feed, develop.

I’ve been trying to learn about that stuff, and then warn friends, for the last couple of years. The pattern has been very similar in 2013 and up with Russian meddling in Ukraine. Some of the same people are involved. I freaked out so much when I started to see that sick slag happening in the US. 

Currently, they are meddling in the gun issue to incite strife.

All of this. Kudos to DC for actually taking the time to do this. It shows how easy it is for any one of us to assist in spreading misinformation online.

(Also, an interesting little book published like almost 100 years ago that details how a lot of this bullshit works is Bernays’ Propaganda. I read it after the election and was surprised/unsurprised at how relevant it was today).