JChoe Profile picture
Feb 15, 2023 8 tweets 4 min read Read on X
We say "information war", I'd argue, because it's about information theory at its core, and it's not about raw data nor the manufacture of facts.
It's unbelievably contentious to provide a complete account of how people read, but at least for disinfo, you could think of it like this:

A fact is an objectively existent thing/event.

A reading is what we make out of that.

The narrative is the story we tell around it.
People just, like, making stuff up is pretty easy to handle, we know what to call that.

So, like, George Santos.

As in, literally anything George Santos says about himself.

That's pretty clearly intentionally making stuff up, or disinformation.
When we deal with a true fact, though, and assign a misleading reading, or use it to advance or make more real ("reify") a false or hateful narrative, then it stops being so cut-and-dry.
This sounds hand-wavey without examples (a lot of disinfo theory does, actually).

This is a really good example I just came across today courtesy of fellow... uh... #nafo #fella (#nafellow?)

That video isn't forged or a deepfake. No one is saying that.

The issue is the misleading framing - the way that it's produced, using a POW under coercion - and the misleading narrative coming from it.

It's not exactly a neat solution, but the solution on the table to contest those readings right now seems to be us.

As in, #NAFO.
I suppose we could say "even Mark Cuban gets it".

Copypasta and AI-generated disinfo are actually already out there, but chatGPT has everyone putting 2+2 together.

That 2+2=4 here means, you're not enacting a supply-side solution here for disinfo.

cnbc.com/2023/02/12/mar…
And if you want to enact a demand-side solution, you aren't doing it with an app, or for that matter anything else that's all "stagey" and cringe and artificial like that.

It requires something that looks a lot like NAFO actually.

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More from @JoohnChoe

Feb 28
Zelensky is actually the highest-profile world leader who has ever stood up to Trump.

Drop the frame of evaluating the damage to our country, or analyzing how bad Trump's actions are, for just a moment, and sort of step back and see it from Zelensky's position.

(🧵)
Zelensky is the leader of a country at war which is highly dependent upon foreign aid for its survival.

His popularity indexes with how much aid Ukraine gets, which controls Ukraine's military viability.

That is the biggest risk to Ukraine that he can control personally.
The amount of U.S. military aid he gets, I think we've all seen, he doesn't control, not with this President in office willing to impound Congressionally authorized funds. Image
Read 5 tweets
Feb 25
"Trump-Russia", by which people mean a variety of different ideas and explanatory theories ranging from "omg Agent Krasnov!" to "senior citizen being steamrolled by Putin", has never been about any kind of secret or non-public information.

It's because of what he's done. (🧵) Image
In 2016, the only substantive change that the Trump campaign wanted made to the Republican Party platform was support for lethal aid to Ukraine.

npr.org/2017/12/04/568…
In 2017, once elected, Trump met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak alone in the Oval Office a day after firing James Comey because he wouldn't offer Trump public assurances that he wasn't involved with Russia.
npr.org/sections/thetw…
Read 12 tweets
Feb 19
The best outcome that I can see here is some kind of European unified military command with Zelensky in its leadership.

We'll be at odds with them on several issues like Africa, China, maybe even Russia.

But the alternatives are either capitulation now or another war later.

🧵
Trump's otherwise-inexplicable comments regarding Zelensky's popularity make sense in this context. It is a lie so easily disproved as to be laughable.

Zelensky is actually substantially more popular than Trump, who has never had an approval rating higher than 50%. Image
Image
According to my theory, the reason why Trump is talking about Zelensky's approval rating doesn't have a whole lot to do with the actual situation as far as elections, either.

It is especially jarring considering the Napoleonic rhetoric Trump uses himself.
Image
Read 6 tweets
Feb 15
let me get this straight

We just elected a President who put a foreign intelligence 'asset' in charge of intelligence and an abusive alcoholic in charge of defense

And they screwed up just ONE security conference - their first! - so badly that Europe is about to unite and rearm
Not as in "oh *waves hand lazily* Europe is screwed" the way that people say "the West"

As in

Team Trump screwed up Munich so bad that Zelensky got up there like nuclear Charles Martel

And all those countries you hear applauding *agreed*
Volodymyr the Hammer

A fitting epithet if this all comes to fruition

For those unaware, Charles Martel is the reason why there is a Europe today and not, like, an Eastern Caliphate

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_M…
Read 4 tweets
Feb 14
OK, so people overseas (Ukrainians especially) might not get this

Vice President Vance is out there today, talking about recovering American "optionality" in negotiations with Russia by saber-rattling

because SecDef Hegseth screwed up so very, very badly a few days ago

1/3 Image
Image
You should not evaluate this as "oh wait Vance is on our side now!" or "Vance is one of the good guys!"

Look at statements Vance has made on Ukraine, Politico has a helpful summary from July of last year

There's no shortage of them and they're all bad

politico.eu/article/jd-van…
I hate to say it but look what we're doing with the Eric Adams/DoJ matter, or for that matter where Canada and Mexico are with us

The U.S. is not in a position right now to be dictating the terms of very much

As a U.S. ally right now I'd start looking at plans for worst cases
Read 4 tweets
Feb 9
The NIH funding freeze is an interesting anti-disinfo problem

The question is "how do you explain the impact of (here we go) reduced NIH indirect-cost reimbursement for research" and make it more approachable than disinfo

I think the way to explain it is about patriotism

(🧵) Image
So, this is about reduced funding at the end of the day so examples of NIH research that saved lives might be apropos

This is a fairly obvious answer though I don't think anyone is gonna win a Macarthur Genius Award for realizing that Image
At a more academic level it strikes me that this goes to the heart of American competitiveness and the way that we subsidize science & medical research in this country

Howard Zinn discusses this a bit; that goes back to a relative of President Bush(es) named Vannevar Bush Image
Read 9 tweets

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