Thread by @irgarner

Thread: You’ve heard about the Russian media machine, but it’s only now you’re starting to be aware of what it’s like to be trapped in the maddening world of the Russian infosphere.

"Ukrainians are oppressors, they are the cradle of Russian civilization, but they want to destroy Russia. They are our brothers but we must destroy them. We are fighting a war but it’s not a war. Support our boys, our boys need you. Our boys could die, but nobody is dying."

This is a world of mirages and contradictions. Narratives are created, disseminated, and flattened in minutes and hours. The state media forces contradictory messages into eyes and ears at a hundred miles an hour.

This is what it’s been like to live in Russia for years. You know Putin’s kind of a bad guy, he’s also the only guy, but sometimes he’s kind of nice. The economy is strong – stronger than anyone’s – but the government parades its new western collaborations.

Western tech is great. Enjoy your iPhones! But have you seen the tech sector in Moscow? Russia is leading the world.

We all holiday in Turkey and Cyprus, because that’s what Russians do, but you can’t afford the bus from your village to the town. Everybody’s left your village anyway, but it’s okay, because Moscow is booming & we’re all rich. Putin cares. It’s the local governor’s fault anyway.

Over and again like this for years on end. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't have to. It’s like being waterboarded with information. It’s ceaseless. So you live on edge. Never quite sure what to believe, if you’re going forward or backward, loving at all or staying still.

You can't make sense of this barrage of information, so you end up giving in and believing the easiest thing: what your torturer tells you to believe.

This is the disinformation war that Putin’s troll farms and proxies have been waging on their own people & the west for years.