It's pretty wild that the US State Department can straight up tell us 'we are propagandizing our population to prepare them for a Cold War with China', and even people on the Left will play along.
If social media existed in 2003, every person who protested Iraq War would've been home debating the specifics of the WMD lie. US State Department propaganda has ascended to a terrify level in the past 15 years.
Following the widespread adoption of social media in the mid-00's, the US anti-war movement has been completely decimated.
Social media is a powerful tool for inventing false realities about the conditions in foreign countries. We always had imperialist spreading lies about foreign countries. Now they can disseminate hyper-targeted war propaganda which plays to the biases across countless political trends.
I lived through Iraq, Libya, and Syria. I have seen how the response to each has differed, despite the fact that the imperial crimes have been identical.
The Iraq War protests shut down my city.
The Libyan & Syrian War protests barely formed a small crowd. Social media's targeted advertisements managed to dupe large swaths of the anti-war movement into believing these were people's revolutions.
That’s a good thing imho
If it is a good thing, why has opposition to the crimes of US empire only decreased over time?
This isn't grounded in reality. The fact that you can find the correct information does not matter when the volume of disinformation has become unfathomably large.
The Libyan & Syrian War protests barely formed a small crowd
They people also noticed that protests don't change policy of governments much. Furthermore was Iraq another kind of precedence. The second time isn't as the first time.
Maybe social media played a role, but the circumstances were quite different from the perspective of people in the core.
They people also noticed that protests don’t change policy of governments much.
That doesn't explain the countless other protests which have happened since then - BLM protests, Women's March, March for our Lives, March for Science, etc.
Furthermore was Iraq another kind of precedence. The second time isn’t as the first time.
This is the opposite of how social movements development. The movement against police brutality has learned from previous actions, and continues to develop. There must be a catalyst for changes in trajectory:
The black power movement was disrupted by expansion of police under the war on drugs.
The communist trade union movement was disrupted by the crack-downs on communists.
The anti-war movement has been disrupted by ever-more intelligent propaganda operation that relies on the fact that we don't understand foreign countries perfectly.
Maybe social media played a role, but the circumstances were quite different from the perspective of people in the core.
Social media is why the perspective changed.
The PR for the Iraq War was poor because information was disseminated through a couple of mainstream media outlets. They had to sell war to several political ideologies & spoke in broad terms such as "freedom" and "democracy."
The PR for the Syrian & Libyan Wars was hyper-targeted to various different political ideologies, particularly ones which participated in the . The "Anarchist case for war", "the socialist case for war", "the communist case for war", etc. all had their own operations, using specific social media accounts, people claiming to be Libyans/Syrians with a specific ideology, etc.
It's pretty wild that the US State Department can straight up tell us 'we are propagandizing our population to prepare them for a Cold War with China', and even people on the Left will play along.
If social media existed in 2003, every person who protested Iraq War would've been home debating the specifics of the WMD lie. US State Department propaganda has ascended to a terrify level in the past 15 years.
It’s always been bad it’s just easier to see how bad it is. That’s a good thing imho
No, it has not been this bad.
Following the widespread adoption of social media in the mid-00's, the US anti-war movement has been completely decimated.
Social media is a powerful tool for inventing false realities about the conditions in foreign countries. We always had imperialist spreading lies about foreign countries. Now they can disseminate hyper-targeted war propaganda which plays to the biases across countless political trends.
I lived through Iraq, Libya, and Syria. I have seen how the response to each has differed, despite the fact that the imperial crimes have been identical.
The Iraq War protests shut down my city.
The Libyan & Syrian War protests barely formed a small crowd. Social media's targeted advertisements managed to dupe large swaths of the anti-war movement into believing these were people's revolutions.
If it is a good thing, why has opposition to the crimes of US empire only decreased over time?
This isn't grounded in reality. The fact that you can find the correct information does not matter when the volume of disinformation has become unfathomably large.
You've also lived through Yemen
They people also noticed that protests don't change policy of governments much. Furthermore was Iraq another kind of precedence. The second time isn't as the first time.
Maybe social media played a role, but the circumstances were quite different from the perspective of people in the core.
That doesn't explain the countless other protests which have happened since then - BLM protests, Women's March, March for our Lives, March for Science, etc.
This is the opposite of how social movements development. The movement against police brutality has learned from previous actions, and continues to develop. There must be a catalyst for changes in trajectory:
Social media is why the perspective changed.
The PR for the Iraq War was poor because information was disseminated through a couple of mainstream media outlets. They had to sell war to several political ideologies & spoke in broad terms such as "freedom" and "democracy."
The PR for the Syrian & Libyan Wars was hyper-targeted to various different political ideologies, particularly ones which participated in the . The "Anarchist case for war", "the socialist case for war", "the communist case for war", etc. all had their own operations, using specific social media accounts, people claiming to be Libyans/Syrians with a specific ideology, etc.
Damn when did they say this explicitly?