Reply to Russian Anti American Broadcasting on our airwaves

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I can't believe we taxpayers allow that Russia to broadcast misinformations and propaganda on US airwaves. Where is the outrage? Why are people still watching Fox News when every day they are broadcasting pro-Russian, anti-American propaganda?[/quote]

I don't understand why you care so much? The vast majority of people in the US are firmly against Russia in the Russia-Ukraine war. And even if people were to be persuaded by dumb Russian propaganda, it wouldn't have a practical impact.

[b]Right now, in the USA, there are gamers on YouTube who are spewing white supremacist content they aim at young boys. There are American men and boys on TikTok encouraging violence against women. Heck, we have neo-Nazis here (and note that we protect their speech). So no, I'm not particularly outraged about RT.[/b] [/quote]

Thanks for the whataboutism, but do try to stay on topic.[/quote]

A) you seem to have missed my first paragraph, and I included it first because it's the most relevant.

B) My second paragraph is on topic, and I'll explain why. In 2016 Russia used xenophobia, racism, and sexism to further their US agenda. From wikipedia: "Russian trolls created memes that exploited typical conservative social attitudes about people of color, Muslims, and immigrants. One such meme juxtaposed photographs of a homeless veteran and an undocumented immigrant, alluding to the belief that undocumented immigrants receive special treatment.[155][80][147]: 84  CNN exit polls showed that Trump led Clinton among veterans by 26 percentage points and won a higher percentage of the evangelical vote than either of the two previous Republican presidential nominees, indicating that this tactic may have succeeded."

Right now, are official Russian networks doing that? Is sputnik radio and RT doing what Russian troll farms did in 2016 and stoking racial tensions in the US? No, it's Americans who are doing that. What Russian propaganda is doing now is suggesting that Ukraine is full of Nazis, and there is not some deep-seated, latent idea among US citizens that Ukraine needs to be rid of Nazis and so Ukraine must be invaded. The problem is with Americans, not RT.

Of course Russia might point out that America has a long history of interference in other nations to protect its military interests and it's hypocitical to condemn Russia for that, but do you honestly think that enough Americans will a) hear that argument and b) conclude that Russia is justified in committing atrocities to protect its interests?

One really important note: misinformation is not a problem right now anywhere but Russia (and maybe, I don't know, Brazil). From an article in Scientific American: "One of the things that the U.S. did really well going into this conflict—and why, at least from a misinformation [controlling] perspective, the first week went very well—is that the U.S. government was really aggressive with releasing information about what it knew about the ground realities in Russia and Ukraine. That was really helpful for creating a space where it was difficult for the Russians to put out misinformation about those same things. Because the U.S. government was very forthcoming, it didn’t leave a lot of room; there wasn’t an information vacuum that the Russians could step in and fill. And then the Ukrainian government has been tremendously savvy in telling the story of the Ukrainian resistance. There are definitely times when it has stepped over the line into propaganda. But in general, it has made sure that the world sees the Ukrainian resistance and the fight that the Ukrainian people are willing to put up. That [helps] people see what is going on and understand that the people who are there fighting are real people who, not that long ago, were not fighters. They were civilians, and now they are defending their country."

Russian misinformation is a concern, sure. Is the government banning RT and Sputnik the way to handle it? I don't think it is, not for the time being. [/quote]

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