this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
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It's funny to trace rhetoric back a few years before the Russia-Ukraine war, when there was so much Internet and social media hype over Russia as a superpower, their military overtaking America:
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Russia%20military%20US%20before%3A2020
Then suddenly there's the invasion, and suddenly it's revealed that the hype was all fake, Russia was bluffing on its military, they are mostly poorly trained, with ridiculously outdated equipment.
And suddenly tons of internet media commentators do a massive 180, and there's so much rhetoric about how being a global superpower is bad.
Is being a global superpower bad, or do people say it's bad just because Russia isn't one after all?
It’s bad. It would be bad also if Russia were the sole global hegemon and the imperial power that controls the whole world, but it isn’t and also never has been. What a bizarre thought process you have that you think Americans who live in America and have to put up with its bullshit all day are getting their talking points from a country they don’t live in and have nothing to fucking do with. What a deranged conspiracy theory.
I'm gonna blow your mind, Grandpa. Americans consume more internet media than social media.
Your see there's this thing call Facebook
And Facebook is an American company and spending on advertisements by American entities dwarf that of any other country, so what’s your point?
America is not a nationalist country, and it's not even particularly anti-Russia. American companies are busy making money selling their products.
And capitalism online created the ingeniously evil thing known as targeted advertising. Instead of generically hammering the entire population with propaganda, you target specific groups with specific techniques.
Incels? Blame women's rights in America. Russia is more traditional and women know their place.
Neo-Nazis? Blame the gays. The West is becoming effeminate. Russians are real men.
Tankies? It's US capitalism and imperialism. Not like Russia, it's going to bring back the communist Soviet Union.
I died. I’m dead after reading that america isn’t nationalist or anti-Russia. Lol. Lmao even.
It's not, politicians overwhelmingly don't use nationalist or anti-Russia rhetoric because it doesn't get them elected. Vivek is going hard nationalist, and he's what, 9% support among Republicans?
There's a few hyper-nationalists in the Republican party, but it's the tiny minority, and everyone else in America just uses them for entertainment.
🙄
So who is leading the republican primary? Somebody without a nationalist bone in their body I’m sure. Definitely not an “America First” “Build the Wall” “Make America Great Again” type of candidate.
Trump moonlights as a nationalist but in reality he's a globalist businessman who is friendly towards Russia and China. Sure, he says build the wall, but he hired immigrants at his properties.
Trump did lean in heavy to the nationalist rhetoric in 2016, and where did that get him? One term, twice lost popular vote, twice impeached, and what should have been a red wave midterm in 2022 turned into a red fart. Edit: not to mention currently drowning in legal issues and hemorrhaging money on lawyers
Most Americans don't want nationalism.
But damn that’s a cool feature. Can you run a search on Ukraine + Nazis prior to the invasion to say what western reporting was saying about it back then?
Do you live in an alternate reality where NATO is winning this war? Lmfao
The narrative shifts second to second. One moment it's an all powerful hegemony that pulls all the strings, the next it's getting crushed by Russia.
NATO is both a super-powerful bogeyman, and weak and helpless, depending on what most helps the current agenda.
https://www.openculture.com/2016/11/umberto-eco-makes-a-list-of-the-14-common-features-of-fascism.html
See #8
I’m rubber your glue, now you have to explain why Russia is hilariously incompetent and weak and simultaneously managing to brainwash people 5,000 miles away inside Americas own borders with a tiny fraction of America’s own media and propaganda power
Well I do like to say that if Russia spent its troll farm money on its military instead, then it could afford the military it pretended to have.
Tongue in cheek, obviously troll farms are way more cost effective.
And it's not like anyone was actually brainwashed into being a Russian agent. It's just trolls who regurgitate pre-programmed talking points. And it's really easy to walk into an alt-right or tankie bubble, list off a few in-group signals, and then just say things that already line up with their confirmation bias.
Actually I have a theory that the libs are the ones being targeted and brainwashed by Russian talking points. The Russians have convinced the libs that they secretly control everything and that everybody who disagrees with them is a Russian spy or a bot. The libs in turn act completley deranged about the Russian menace, thereby losing credibility in the eyes of their own countrymen and the world, and making foolish decisions of all sorts. They successfully are dividing our country by making the libs paranoid and distrustful. It’s truly a sad way for our country to be torn apart.
The proof is right there lol.
Russian propaganda successfully convinced everyone that Russia had on of the most modern, powerful, well trained armies in the world. This is well documented. Most of the West predicted the fall of Ukraine within days.
The funny thing about a propaganda army, is that it can't fight a real war for you. The Ukraine invasion stripped away the illusion, and the world got to see the real Russian military behind the facade.
Absolutely not, but it's really easy to spot someone with incoherent rhetoric, that dances back and forth, and parrots pretty predictable lines they got online.
Exactly what you are doing, which confirms my suspicions that you’ve fallen into the Russian propaganda trap! You need to snap out of it!
Snap me out of it, point out which part is incoherent, MrRubberandGlue.
America actually sucks ass on its own merits, Russia isn’t responsible for any of America’s problems (since America is the sole global superpower and has absolute control over itself and a great deal of the rest of the world) and the fact that you seek out an external boogeyman to blame really only proves that you’re a highly propagandized jingoist incapable of facing this reality.
Oh I 100% agree. I don't think Russian propaganda is seriously influencing America, not any more anyway. Maybe Russia tipped the scales in 2016 enough to get Trump elected, maybe not. I think everyone has adapted to it now.
I think Russia impact online right now amounts to just making the internet a less fun place to be, because of the annoying trolls. I don't take it very seriously.
American capitalism would self destruct even if Russia did not exist.
Fair enough, have a great day