Europe must stand strong against disinformation and psychological warefare
2d 1h ago by lemmy.zip/u/BoycottTwitter in europe@feddit.org
I believe the world is facing a new threat: disinformation and cognitive and psychological warefare. Russia is already doing it. They call it "new generation warfare".
The article describes it best:
"the Russian view of modern warfare is based on the idea that the main battlespace is the mind and, as a result, new-generation wars are to be dominated by information and psychological warfare, ... morally and psychologically depressing the enemy’s armed forces personnel and civil population. The main objective is to reduce the necessity for deploying hard military power to the minimum necessary."
Now Europe is facing another threat. The United States.
The NSS says "Cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations".
I don't know for sure how they will do it but I suspect it could be similar to what Russia does. Things like online trolls and bots brainwashing vulnerable people.
So I'm calling for action: please contact your politicians and warn them about this and warn everyone you can. Demand media literacy education and classes designed to foster critical thinking skills, mitigate the harm caused by social media, encourage emotional resiliency and strength, encourage conflict resolution skills. I singled these out because I notice that those who are weak in these skills are more vulnerable. This is by no means a silver bullet but I hope that experts can also look into how to deal with psychological warfare and by making it an issue more people are aware of hopefully we can do everything we can to stop it.
Also you can make a difference yourself. Block and report trolls and people who regularly share disinformation on social media, call out those who unintentionally shared disinformation. Ideally trolls would be blocked shunned as opposed to people being drained/tricked by them. Also do what you can to give the gift of media literacy to others. This website has three different tests you can try for disinformation: https://guides.lib.uchicago.edu/c.php?g=1241077&p=9082320
I would also recommend reading this article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_warfare
Honestly, I think this is the silver bullet. MAGA voters run on disinformation and it spreads like wildfire. An intelligent electorate would change the world.
Everyone should have the right to vote and believe what they believe, but are we really willing to let conmen with infinite resources infiltrate the thought of every voter?
History is full of selfish and charming leaders deceiving masses for their own gain. The internet is being weoponized for the same practice now.
Warfare has always been first about technology, if you have new technology for which your oponent doesn't have defensive weapons against you have a huge advantage.
But second about (mis)information. A great propagandist was Joseph Göbbels as you can see in his quotes, which you really should skim through: https://www.azquotes.com/author/5626-Joseph_Goebbels
He had deep insight into a psyche of a nation and you can see how he worked hard to turn Germany into a Nazi state and succeeded very fast. And you can see a lot of parallels to what the Trump administration is doing now too. The main thing is to keep it very simple and repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, then every lie becomes the truth.
Wow! That is so uncanny it's scary. That is exactly what MAGA is doing. They have extensive propaganda websites and news stations that are very repetitive in particular emphasizing the "big lie" which is false claims the 2020 election was stolen.
Yes , Göbbels did use the TV- then a new tech- as a medium for propaganda. Disinfo is of all ages btw. Propaganda in Europe was after WW II a long time (political) taboo, but USA embraced it.
If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.
How could Trump knock out all US billionaires and make them support his overhaul of US strategy, especially if he is a Russian puppet?
Whose media is telling us that?
We may well be the last significant defence. Lets not allow our governments to follow the US route. Popularism is sadly growing at alarming pace here in the UK. People I thought to be brighter than this are falling for the ridiculous promises that don't add up.
Always good to point these issues out, tnx.
FYI, I recently did an elaborate post here on hybrid warfare. We also have a EU vs disinfo site.
Still, spotting disinfo can be hard. And trolls aren't necessarily blocked, they usually get a temp. ban.
We are very aware of the new shitty NSS, but as of today I'm not sure how it will translate into European media disinfo as you suggest; I mean apart from the usual and obvious Trump trolling and threats he issues, which make the headlines in the majority of newsites on a daily basis.
Block and report trolls and people who regularly share disinformation on social media,
This can strengthen an existing information bubble. The chemical weapons of the Iraq war show that disinformation is happening for a long time.
Not banning disinformation spam is also no solution.
Seems like everybody is lost who hasn't been seeded with the right narrative. Or to make it constructive: What can be used to know the truth?