As a reminder: algorithmic disinformation is a thing.
Russia and others have hacked Facebook in a subtle way: by spreading misinformation, which they have a long experience doing, and targeting a platform that optimized to spread dubious (at best) content for clicks and ad targeting.
In other words, they are piggyback riding the shittiest socnet on the planet to spread hate and attack target countries.
The triumph of this was, of course, the election of a certain Donald J. Trump and Brexit.
bonifartius 𒂼𒄄
@ParadeGrotesque
while it's clear that russia does this, it should also be clear that the western governments also do this. everyone tries to fuck with the minds of the populace. this isn't even a new development, it's just new methods. every government has it's minitrue.
i too think that trump & brexit were a close call, it's the result of people being pissed about politics for a long time. the algorithmic campaigns were just the tiny thing required to have the opinion swing in those directions.
a point which is unsettling for me about the "russian disinformation is to blame" idea is that it disputes that common people can reason and decide for themselves. if you turn it the other way round it means that they are too dumb anyway and should just trust our narrative. this isn't the view on humans i like to have.
i know that the spooks designing those operations are very good with psychology, but this can't be the reason to declare large swaths of the own population as dumb people who must be saved.
"disinformation" (i really hate that word, btw) is only powerful as people are dissatisfied already. if hyper-capitalism wouldn't have destroyed large paths of psychological & financial security already, those campaigns wouldn't work.
You raise some very good points.
Like you, I do not think people are "dumb". But they can be manipulated, and sometimes a lot more easily than you think. I speak of experience, since I was manipulated myself.
Another point is that hyper-capitalism, as you name it, does not like quality education and critical thinking for all. Most people never receive education in media manipulation and propaganda. And the vast majority of people have a trustful nature.
we all are manipulated all the time. the "russian disinformation"-idea is, in a sense, manipulation too.
i think my way to deal with this is to ignore anything claiming to be for a "good cause". experience shows that there always is an ulterior motive. be it covid, diversity, trump, brexit, middle east. everyone who is trying to sell me on the "right" thing to do probably also has another hidden reason to do so.
i just try to be not an asshole and scale down my consumption, both of which work surprisingly well.
