Thread by @SpockResists

We should remember that “good” propaganda is not simply a matter of persuading the nonbelievers or just telling untruths and lies.
There exist two common misconceptions connected with the study of propaganda. There is a widely held belief that propaganda implies nothing less

than the art of persuasion, which serves only to change attitudes and ideas. This is undoubtedly one one if its aims, but often a limited and subordinated one. More often, propaganda is concerned with reinforcing existing trends and beliefs, to sharpen and focus them. A second

misconception is the entirely erroneous conviction that propaganda consists of only lies and falsehood. In fact it operates with many different kinds of truths, from the outright lie, the half truth to the truth taken out of context. This is true power.

There has been what is known as the two faces of power. A getting B to do something they wouldn’t normally do, this results in decision making. There there is agenda setting, this is the corridors of power, the golf clubs, the dinners were the powerful decide on what can be put

forward in the decision making. But there is a third face of power. The getting people to believe that what they believe is wrong. To persuade us of a different reality. Put simply, A doesn’t just get B to do something they wouldn’t normally do, A gets B to change their mind so

that they would now do it happily. This is how propaganda works.

Half truths and truths out of context played an important role in the disinformation campaign of Putins aggression in Ukraine. They were similar of the period in which Pravda, the official paper of the communist party of the Soviet Union, was considered in the West as quite the

opposite of its title, The Truth. Even the word disinformation (dezinformatsiya) is a Russian invention. How far we have fallen in the West. What we were once opposed to in the West has been accepted by some in the West.

But what’s interesting is the phrase “it was a perfect phone call.” This is pure Lenin who had a “perfect plan.” First pass yourself off as something you are not ( with trump that’s being a Christian, he is not.) This is the ingenious plan. To be found in the idea of being taken

for one. To appeal to them with things they want to hear, to then feed them halve truths. To infiltrate and conquer. Because working on the mind is not enough. You have to work on the emotions of your followers one you have caught their attention, by working on their emotions

you can get them to act. This is done with deception and fake realities and to force their ideas onto the population. In June 1933 a high ranking Nazi said openly that we have learned much from Russia.

As early as 1839, fake reality was established in Russia. In the book Lettres de Russie, lies and deception were an integral part of Russian society,”social life in this country is a permanent conspiracy against the truth. Anyone who is not duped by the conspiracy is regarded

as a traitor, it’s an attack on the security of the state.” It continues, “Only the truth shocks.”

But don’t believe that Putin isn’t an innovator, because he is. He understood well the power of propaganda, the ability to creat false realities. Putin understood that the era of technology would allow him to exploit it like never before. This was no longer a method to use

against his Russian people. This would be an all out assault on the globe to fracture western liberal democracy. The internet, social media, hacking of government officials to find dirt, what they search for, sites they visit, videos they watch, anything he could use to blackmail

then. It is this that has not been discussed. The Russian hackers could hack anything. They could have anything on anyone. What internet searches could quieten the likes of Pence, or Graham or McConnell?

The Kremlin got the Russian people to believe that the Ukraine government was inspired by Western intelligence services, that the new Ukraine government was full of fascists and that in Crimea there was no Russian, that is was Ukraine homegrown separatists. The Kremlin mixed real

with invented facts. Western politicians themselves saw that there was indeed some fascist movements, there were also some Ukranian separatists. But it’s was the exaggeration of the numbers, mixed with invented facts, the real characteristic of disinformation, the Kremlin

succeeded in convincing a section of the Western public of its version of the events. The Crimean operation has served as an occasion for Russia to demonstrate to the entire world the capabilities and potential of information warfare. They want to end democracy

cause psychological impact on Western people who don’t have the ability to decipher truth from half truths mixed with invented truths and to commit ideological and political sabotage.

If you want to learn more read Putin’s Propaganda Machine.
🖖🙂

amazon.com/Putins-Propaga…

So if there is one thing to take from this it’s this.
Disinformation relies on some sort of truth. So Hillary used a personal account for emails, this is then put forward with invented truths, but the invented truths have to be bigger than the real truths

the fact that Hillary used a personal account is no longer really the issue, the invented truths about the emails become the target to destroy.