Have you ever wondered why is it that Russians are smarter than everybody else on this planet? If you read any news at all you must be familiar with the stories about Russian trolls spreading disinformation on social media. The issue is not even new, we’ve been hearing about this for years now. You would have thought the West would counter Russian bots by deploying it’s own troll armies. Can’t be that hard… Try google it, you won’t find any news about US bots…
What’s even more confusing - how come we never hear about Chinese trolls? Are we to believe Chinese cannot figure out such a simple thing as setting up a social media army of its own? With that sort of population, China wouldn’t even need bots - hire one million Chinese and the next thing you know Twitter and Facebook would be dominated by Beijing propaganda, with a couple thousands trolls left to post pouting faces on Instagram.
If we’re talking about the red menace, that would be China at the moment, which, unlike Russia, is openly communist, not to mention the country’s huge economic power and its assertive policies in South-East Asia. Yet, according to the MSM, it’s only the Russians that are trying to destabilize the West, the US in particular. (Well, Donald Trump did mention last year something about the Chinese trying to influence American politics, but who listens to him, right?)
Why are we stuck with the Russian trolls? Most probably because MSM wouldn’t want your average Joe to get confused. Keep it simple and repeat it often, that’s the essence of a good propaganda operation and Western media know this only too well. Once you’ve told your readers Russian bots are spreading lies, aka ‘fake news’, you stick with the story. No need to explain nuances, God forbid admit the Americans and certainly other Western powers are doing the same thing, once we’ve established it is bad.
Just as when I was little and my Mom threatened me the old guy next door will come and put me in his sack if I misbehaved. Not various random dudes, not an old hag with a broom, just that poor old man. Come up with too many imaginary enemies and the threat becomes less credible. The Western world has been raised to fear the Russians, ‘better dead than red’ is about Russia, not China. It wouldn’t do to have some stories labeled as ‘Russian lies’ and others as ‘Chinese propaganda’, people might get suspicious.
If you read MSM, you’ll discover that virtually everything that runs counter to the official narrative is the opera of Russian trolls - from the bots supporting Trump and discrediting Hillary Clinton, to the trolls that push anti-vaccine propaganda or alternative stories about the situation in Venezuela or Syria - everything is ‘fake news’ spewed by Russian bots. It’s a very simple explanation and the average news consumer already knows this as they’d read about the issue many times before. We tend to prefer stories that reinforce our beliefs. Anything new you can blame on Russian trolls only supports what has already been ingrained in the collective perception - the Ruskies are up to their old tricks, nothing to see here, move along. Few days ago, British tabloids came up with the amazing revelation that the bad press Meghan Markle receives is the work of Russian trolls. Why in God’s name would Putin direct his troll armies to slander that irrelevant woman is anybody’s guess. But, for the public, it makes sense, it only shows what the Russians are capable of.
Does this mean I don’t believe in Russian trolls? Of course I do. Just as much as I believe in US, Chinese, Israeli, Saudi, you-name-it trolls.
The simple truth is that everybody does it! Call them trolls, bots, even influencers, - every powerful country uses them to push their own agenda in various parts of the world. To believe otherwise you should be not only naive, but possibly deluded. Undoubtedly, secret services worldwide are very much involved in promoting and countering such hidden influences. But the masses needn’t concern themselves with such problems. Not to mention that, once you admit the fact your own democratic government makes use of such methods, the people might start wondering whether you’re lying to them,too. And you wouldn’t want that.
