Given the recent track record for lies coming out of both Ukraine and Russia, it's probably best to treat everything as propaganda unless proven otherwise in some meaningful way.
> best to treat everything as propaganda unless proven otherwise
This comment is always near the top of any HN or Reddit post, and while it’s not wrong, it’s almost a cliche at this point.
There is clear misinformation being pumped out, but there is room to discuss should why it might be misinformation, and to understand why someone might have spent time carefully producing it.
I think it's good that's it's always near the top. There should be a sticky added to the top of every political post here. Something like:
> Reminder: there's a war going on and one of the main weapons in modern warfare is propaganda. The propaganda will come from both sides and also from third parties. Be mindful that any political articles may be intended to manipulate you.
It's important that this sort of comments remain on top, because otherwise smart people keep being gullible about disinformation in times of war (and other types as well, of course).
Look how some people are saying "well, it's vouched by two other FSB agents that this guy saying this on Twitter apparently knows, so it must be true!".
Do you see the problem with this line of reasoning?
There's also this thing about believing what people already want to believe it's true (that Russia cannot win, that their army is in disarray, that every Russian was duped by Putin, who is increasingly isolated and making random decisions, etc). Note all of that may very well be true, which is precisely why made up "leaks" helping our minds reinforce these conclusions are so effective.
Gladwell (as much as I find that guy annoying) also made the point that Intelligence only convinces analysts of what they already believed to begin with. I'd say this is doubly so with fake news and fake leaks...
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