cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/22447069
The difference between Russian and American authoritarianism
Yet, one is clearly still a lot worse than the other. It’s Russia and by a lot. Still glad not living in either country tho.
So, I believe the same thing, of course. But I think it’s worth taking a moment to think about what we base those beliefs on. For me personally, it’s based almost exclusively on what I read / see in the news, and maybe a stray meme here or there. Posts like OP make me wonder to what extent my beliefs are justified. Because the post is entirely correct, right? For the same exact thing, the news media will use one term when it’s the bad guys doing it, and another term when the good guys are doing it. The war crimes that the US was committing in Iraq were called collateral damage at the time (and they were grievous, we’re talking the act of disappearing people, torture of thousands, murdering hundreds of thousands with cluster bombs and napalm, bombing hospitals, cutting off water to entire cities, truly heinous and extensive). Collateral damage. There were headlines in mainstream media calling the invasion “Operation Iraqi freedom”. In contrast, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was immediately (and rightly) called out as such, as well as their war crimes. I wonder to what extent my opinion of Russia is actually influenced by these differences in terminology and reporting. I don’t think I’m immune to propaganda.
Reminds me of the two spies.
An old CIA agent and an old KGB agent, both retired, are having a drink together, talking about old times. The CIA agent says, “The Russian propaganda is fantastic, you can convince most of your people that whatever you do is the right thing using tv, radio and everything!” The KGB agent responds, “Thank you, but the American propaganda machine is the greatest ever, most of your people don’t even know they’re being brainwashed!”
The CIA man says, “But we don’t use propaganda…”
That is a lot of word salad to say the US portrays itself as the good guys and Russia is portrayed as the bad guys. Guess what, they are both bad. You know who isn’t bad? The people of Iraq and Ukraine who get caught up in this bullshit.
Yes they are both bad, the fucking point of the post is the hypocrisy in how the media portrays them. What are you even trying to say? Also, I’m sorry that my comment was longer than you’re able to grasp, that wasn’t very inclusive of me.
