Based and Red Pilled Gigachad, many such cases 😔

While that is true, some propaganda is definitely more harmful while some others are relatively harmless.

What’s so insidious about russia’s psiop over the last few decades is that all they’ve done is gently nudge the dial. They’ve sown distrust of traditional media and of democratic institutions, they’ve polarised discourse to that communities that mostly rubbed alongside one another reasonably well now are so idealogically opposed to each other that the middle ground has evaporated.

And if you think “haha stupid MAGAs” falling for propaganda, I got news for you buddy, you’ve fallen for it too.

Same statement from me, very different result. Death to fascists!

THE LARGEST MOST COMMONLY WATCHED BEST FUNDED MEDIA OUTLET ISNT MAINSTREAM MEDIA!!1!

You’ve fallen for propaganda that convinces you that there is an external enemy to worry about instead of actually looking at the situation critically. Right-wing organizations drive right-wing talking points.

They’ve sown distrust of traditional media and of democratic institutions

Pretty sure they did that to themselves. I didn’t need Russia feeding me propaganda to see through the bullshit, and many others reached that conclusion on their own. The Fairness Doctrine being repealed is one big reason why traditional media failed. Russia didn’t do that.

they’ve polarised discourse to that communities that mostly rubbed alongside one another reasonably well now are so idealogically opposed to each other that the middle ground has evaporated.

Right-wingers and liberals alike have polarized discourse. Leftists aren’t innocent either, especially MLs (many of whom seem to be biased towards Russia), but there are plenty of leftists I have interacted with or witnessed that are exceedingly fair, empathetic, and human.

Liberals blame anybody to the left of them for not falling in line, constantly mock or berate them for demanding better, and do absolutely nothing meaningful to improve their preferred party or seriously advocate for greatly improving the human condition in America. As for the right, we all know what they do.

middle ground has evaporated.

Politics and governance shouldn’t be a game of tug of war where the Republicans have a monster truck pulling their side and Democrats are pretending to hold the rope on their side. It shouldn’t be a tug of war game at all - that is what breeds polarization. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that a two-party system and biased, partisan “news” (that is literally entertainment) results in polarization.

Huh? My point was that the people are pushing the insane bullshit on their own accord now because they believe it

What are some major talking points that Russia seeded in their heads that persist to this day or overtly inspire some of the right-wing talking points we presently see? The people on the right are pro-American in their minds - many likely believe they are more pro-American than anybody else.

I am not going to believe your propaganda! My pristine, untainted thoughts won’t take this slander. /s

Corporate control over an algorithm that decides who is served what content is a platform-agnostic tool of power over society. We’re seeing that danger manifest in old and new ways every single day. That lever of power allows whomever owns that particular medium to push whatever content they like. That is the entire motivation behind and purpose of the Fediverse and other decentralization efforts.

Zuck and muskrat separate populations, push propaganda and influence discussions at an unprecedented level. The control a single corporation, a single authoritarian point of power has over such vast swathes of population dwarfs the propagandic power of Goebbles and Stalin by an order of magnitude or more.

I don’t blame America explicitly like the other commenter. The conditions that have allowed the billionaire class to explode and wield power and influence exist elsewhere in the world as well. That said, America’s legal and regulatory frameworks did provide particularly fertile breeding grounds for the exploitation and hoarding of capital that produces billionaires.

This is all kinda my point. It’s not like Putin is just broadcasting stuff at the West. Wherever there’s discussions happening online, Russia helps amplify divisive messages and the algorithms do the rest.

Sure the talking points come from bad actors in the West but Russia are and have been quietly manipulating all the conversation around all of it. And yes they do it to conversations on the left and the right.

I’m not entirely sure why all of this is being blamed on Russian propaganda. To me, that seems like a lame excuse for the US getting itself into this mess.

In any case, there will certainly be no mysterious agents coming to rescue you from your self-imposed fascism. You’ll have to do that yourselves, so I would strongly recommend that you stop assigning blame and finally do something—otherwise, you won’t be able to post on Lemmy anymore because you’ll be brought into line by the state—then you could complain about Russian conditions, if that were still possible.

This is all kinda my point

Saying I am propagandized with zero evidence or good faith argumentation does not prove your point - the ball is in your court to prove that I am propagandized.

Wherever there’s discussions happening online, Russia helps amplify divisive messages and the algorithms do the rest.

Social media is largely US-owned and controlled. The algorithms could literally not exist, instead there be chronological or random ordering of posts and comments + auditable, fair moderation. Forums had their issues, but they were more fair platforms for discourse. Voting systems could literally not count for anything significant and not weight posts and comments over others.

Social media of the type that you are mainly referring to (where discussions happen in earnest) are a niche. Russia is not largely pushing right-wing talking points and polarization in a general sense - advertisers, right-wing organizations, liberal organizations, and social media companies are. And it isn’t a secret or a conspiracy - social media companies create and control their platforms (including their algorithms) and partisan politics and media are constantly fanning the flame.

From Wikipedia on the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine:

The demise of this FCC rule has been cited as a contributing factor in the rising level of party polarization in the United States.^[5]^^[6]^

Party or political polarization in the US is not primarily driven by Russia. It’s our system and we can take responsibility for it instead of blaming Russia for everything.

The best propaganda takes advantage of flaws already present in a culture, it doesn’t try to create new ones

You don’t know why because you are PROFOUNDLY uneducated about it or you’re a Russian bot yourself (ps most bots are human slaves, not robots).

Here’s a documentary from 2018 with McCain and Clinton:
Youtube Video

There’s also the book American Kompromat by Unger that goes into SUBSTANTIAL detail for DECADES and shows how Russia has been accruing blackmail globally.

And then multiple protests globally (Romania, Georgia, Slovakia, Serbia) regarding online Russian interference plus many many memos including from our own government.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2766

Russia has engaged in MASSIVE MASSIVE online warfare, including on Lemmy (eg, you, maybe). It’s more effective than bullets and biowarfare in some ways. Idk how you can’t see how big of a deal it is.

We need a national online forum

TBH, Rupert Murdock HELPED Putin refine/put RT on steroids. He was marketing his propaganda (division) here in the USA since Reagan let him through the door. Russian extras are just a bump up in the last 10-15 years.

Cambridge Analytica,

That’s British

anti-vax,

Andrew Wakefield, the guy who started the antivax movement, is British

anti-trans,

The US passed laws protecting trans people and many Americans are literally trans or allies. Russia however, is extremely anti-trans.

anti-abortion,

See the above point

anti-immigrant

See the above point, also, America is a country of immigrants and refugees, “Melting Pot,” America was one of the first countries to encourage and mobilize massive movements of immigrants, which sheltered them from oppressive governments looking to hurt them. This includes people fleeing from Russia and their wars and genocides like the Holodomor.

That’s true, but you still follow some propaganda. You are aware of it, great, but what’s the difference between someone following the propaganda being aware of it and someone following it blindly?

The majority ARE on Russia’s payroll, it’s literally how they got famous. They were blackmailable, due to crimes including visiting illegal porn sites and snuff sites, which has content literally made by Putin of his prisoners and people he dislikes to warn others to stay in line and to get blackmail.

So Russia picks someone they can blackmail FIRST, and THEN has them make content that they advertise and have bot armies (slaves, human slaves) talk about in comments etc. They do this EXACT strategy wirh crypto tickers and with fundraisers like for Gaza. If the bots (HUMAN SLAVES) do not perform well, they get tortured, starved, etc. It is literally thousands of people in these networks, and they are working in concert with BRICS, not just Russia.

Rightwingers are just the excuse BRICS needs to "liberate " the US from Nazis. They need a Nazi takeover, but an incompetent one, so they can attack us and look like the good guys and still win. Our economy is collapsing, healthcare and food and farming (which farming is the foundation of the stock market fyi) all collapsing. Education collapsing. It’s bad already from their attacks, idk how it isn’t obvious.

Maybe you didn’t pay attention to when it happened to other countries, thats why Romanians, Serbians, Georgians, Slovakians all saw it and protested. It’s also why Russia explicitly labeled Ukraine as being taken over by Nazis and insists Ukraine is a proxy war started by the US and EU. It’s why they fund Nazis (AFD) in Germany. It’s why Elon supports the AFD. Elon also betrayed the US by illegally giving Putin Starlink satellites in 2022, which were paid for and funded by the US. That’s a huge part of why he was so freaked out Trump would lose - he should be sitting in the ICC right now for being a traitor and giving Putin those satellites.