Caroline Orr Bueno
Every day is a good day to remember that Russia's "firehose of falsehood" propaganda model has been adopted by the likes of Trump, Steve Bannon, etc., and we are all targets of it. The goal of this style of propaganda is not to convince you that any particular narrative is true, but to exhaust your cognitive resources and make you question whether the truth really exists at all.
Nov 16, 2022 at 10:59pmWeb
Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 16, 2022

This style of propaganda is part of a doctrine of asymmetric information warfare, which uses our information channels and spaces to wage an endless cycle of chaos and confusion.

Chaos is the strategy, confusion is the result.

The purpose is to overwhelm you, distract you, and exhaust you with constant information overload so you don’t have the clarity to see the big picture or the energy to fight the real battle against fascism.

Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 16, 2022
Asymmetric information warfare takes place on a battlefield with no rules and no consistency — it seeks to confuse you to the point where you don’t know what your enemies are doing or even who your enemies are. It seeks to overwhelm you and break you down by subjecting you to an ever-shifting state of reality.
Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 16, 2022

The ultimate goal is to undermine your perceptions of the world so you never really know what is happening. It’s a strategy to maintain power by keeping you constantly confused and overwhelmed.

Because it is undefinable, it often seems unstoppable. But it's not unstoppable -- you just have to know what you're up against.

And that's my goal: To help you see it, characterize it, and develop the cognitive resilience you need to fight it, so you can save your energy for the real fight ahead.

Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 16, 2022

And I would just like to emphasize that 1) you are not crazy, 2) you are not alone in feeling like we’re spinning out of control, and 3) our collective experience with asymmetric information warfare has been greatly complicated and resulted in far more trauma than it should have because we were betrayed by people and institutions that were supposed to protect and support us. That’s called institutional betrayal, and the result is betrayal trauma.

You are not crazy. You will heal from this.

Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 16, 2022

Some of us were unfortunate enough to be introduced to institutional betrayal in the past. All of us were introduced to institutional betrayal during COVID.

We are a nation suffering from undiagnosed and untreated mass trauma.

Show threadMaia Kahlke LorentzenNov 17, 2022
@rvawonk Thank you for this! Can I share this off platform ? (With credit of course)
Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 17, 2022
@maiathecyberwitch yes!
Show threadMaia Kahlke LorentzenNov 17, 2022
@rvawonk Thank you 😊
Show threadCindyGNov 17, 2022
@rvawonk this definitely hits home!
Show threadJo EtzelNov 21, 2022
@rvawonk In the US, another wave of institutional betrayal post-Dobbs (anti-abortion supreme court case); I was really hoping for universities to take a stand for maintaining standards of care.
Show threadWrathofJan 🌞🌻🌎🖖Nov 27, 2022

@JosetAEtzel @rvawonk

Unfortunately, #KochNetwork has been giving huge #funding to many #Universities, certain #Departments, so lots of complicity now.

Show threadWrathofJan 🌞🌻🌎🖖Nov 27, 2022
@rvawonk
That*s for sure. Also, #MoralInjury.
Show threadMirishuliNov 17, 2022
@rvawonk Thank you, Caroline. I have had trouble today conceiving how how or wether healing is possible. I’ve had too many things go wrong in the last few years from my health, to the health of my children, to financial hits. Having my country fall apart is just too much. I also know I’m not alone in being overwhelmed and feeling lost. Thanks for putting into words what I could not.
Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 17, 2022
@MiriShuli I’m sorry for what you have experienced, and I hope you can find some comfort in knowing that you are not alone. I will try to post more about the healing process as we move forward. You *will* heal from this.
Show threadWrathofJan 🌞🌻🌎🖖Nov 27, 2022

@rvawonk @MiriShuli

I help myself in great part by speaking out on #SocialMedia, disseminating facts to help counter the *firehose* of #Propaganda / #Disinfo.

We need to do it out in public too.

Show threadnadin brzezinskiNov 17, 2022
@rvawonk @absurdpenguin hi. And welcome
Show threadGayle J. Greenlea 🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Nov 17, 2022
@rvawonk Thank you, Caroline, for this necessary thread. In examining my own feelings about the irreality imposed on us by the global collusion of fascists, fossil fuel oligarchs & billionaire capitalists, I recognized a familiar framework. As a survivor of CSA, I grew up among adults who practiced denial and deception to distance themselves from the reality of abuse in our home. Everyone seemed committed to zero gravity.
Show threadGayle J. Greenlea 🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Nov 17, 2022
@rvawonk 2/ Facts were malleable. The people who were supposed to protect me were plagued by an inability to accept what was happening under their noses. My trauma was visible, but unexplored. Threats kept me silent. My perceptions of reality were constantly thrown into question — not unlike now.
Show threadGayle J. Greenlea 🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Nov 17, 2022
@rvawonk 3/ We are all currently traumatized, not only by existential threats of pandemic, climate change and potential nuclear war; but also by the sophisticated, war grade psyops you describe, perpetuated by bad actors with the complicity of leaders and institutions we thought we could trust. Essentially, the whole world has become my original, dysfunctional family, and I admit, I’m struggling to keep my balance and remember I’m not that powerless little girl I once was.
Show threadGayle J. Greenlea 🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Nov 17, 2022
@rvawonk 4/ I worry that we’re doomed to ongoing mass trauma until there are more truth tellers like you who are willing to stand up and name the damage being done. Thank you for shining a light in the darkness, exposing the culprits exacerbating and exploiting our collective trauma. We desperately need an epiphany so we may, collectively, reclaim our power and restore foundations of fact and reality.
Show threadGayle J. Greenlea 🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Nov 17, 2022
@rvawonk 5/ I’m ever grateful for your work exposing extremism, fascism, propaganda and disinformation. Courageous truth tellers are the antidote for these times.
Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 17, 2022
@GJGreenlea I am so very sorry for what you were forced to go through, and I imagine that history has made recent events even more traumatic. When your trust is betrayed in such a fundamental, life-shattering way, it creates a mental scar that never quite stops hurting.
Show threadGayle J. Greenlea 🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Nov 17, 2022
@rvawonk Much gratitude for your empathetic comment, Caroline. Healing from trauma is a lifelong process, but there is redemption in examining these experiences & using them to help others heal & be more present w/ those who are suffering. Scars remain, but they become vectors of connection; places where the light shines through. What you have said in your thread is a boon to seekers of clarity & truth in the malaise of a global reality destabilized by propaganda & lies.
Show threadWrathofJan 🌞🌻🌎🖖Nov 27, 2022
@GJGreenlea @rvawonk

You are both so #Articulate. ❤️❤️❤️. I*d like to frame this conversation and put it on a wall. Thank you both. #Clarity 😃👊🖖
Show threadWrathofJan 🌞🌻🌎🖖Nov 27, 2022
@GJGreenlea @rvawonk
#Extremism #Fascism #Propaganda #Disinfo
Need #TruthTellers. 🌞🌞🌞 😃👊🖖
Show threadWrathofJan 🌞🌻🌎🖖Nov 27, 2022
@GJGreenlea @rvawonk
Thank you so much for this.
Show threadGayle J. Greenlea 🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Nov 28, 2022
@JDignum @rvawonk I’m so glad you found it helpful. 🙏🏽
Show threadWrathofJan 🌞🌻🌎🖖Nov 27, 2022
@rvawonk #InstitutionalBetrayal
Show threadJohn LuskNov 16, 2022

@rvawonk

Cognitive resilience! 🤘

Show threadMilena McCartneyNov 17, 2022
@rvawonk this is so true and not many people understand it. Thank you!
Show threadAndreas KNov 17, 2022
@rvawonk It's a traditional skill associated with the KGB, throw enough bull shit into the public discourse, that most cannot find the obvious most probable version.
Show threadAndreas KNov 17, 2022

@rvawonk It does not help that in most Western countries, critical thinking has been mostly eliminated from school curricula.

My sarcastic side cries out, that a surprising number of Bachelors degrees are a bit weak on this, preparing their graduates to be good drones in the workplace.

“Thinking scientifically? We had a scientific working workshop to help you write your bachelor's thesis?
Yeah, we are overly elitist here, but it seems useful to avoid overly embarrassing theses”

Show threadWill Nov 16, 2022
@rvawonk Great to see you here, Caroline! 
Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 16, 2022
@WilliamRobert thank you!!
Show threadWonkyNov 16, 2022
@rvawonk this
Show threadCJSmith7880Nov 16, 2022
@rvawonk And that asymmetric info warfare creates fertile ground for charasmatic cult leaders who can provide simple answers (immigrants! Jews!) and simplistic solutions ("only I can fix it").
Show threadWrathofJan 🌞🌻🌎🖖Nov 27, 2022

@rvawonk
@pressprogress
@JanisIrwin
@RachelNotley
@mehdirhasan

Such an excellent and important piece. Thank you so much. 🌞🌞🌞 😃👊🖖

Show threadGStuartNov 16, 2022
@rvawonk
Show threadJELLIOTNov 16, 2022
@rvawonk As they say, if you don't see the con, you're the mark. Phil Knight and GOP PACs tried to buy Oregon's election.
This is the flood of campaign lit to one household in OR-05 this cycle. A visual of GOP big donor and dark money spent on propaganda, mis/disinformation at every level. So many blatant lies to counter, and this is only the lit, not the digital media buys.
Small donors & volunteers left it in the field but we can only do so much. #CampaignFinanceReform #EndCitizensUnited
Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 16, 2022
@2jelliot wow. That is striking. And scary.
Show threadChristine GeraniNov 17, 2022
@rvawonk nice to see you here Caroline. ❤
Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 17, 2022
@ChristineGerani you too :)
Show threadBonnieNov 17, 2022
@rvawonk We know why some fall for propaganda or alternatively become extremists but some appear to be outliers. Are there any theories which help explain the behavior & thinking of this group?
Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 17, 2022
@ModernDarkAge I am literally in the process of developing the evidence base for such a theory. So in a short time (hopefully), my answer will be YES!
Show threadBonnieNov 17, 2022
@rvawonk
Very cool!! Thank you. ❤️
Show threadmystiqueNov 17, 2022
@rvawonk Thank you for using this platform / network to share your ideas. I hope you will get more comfortable with it in the feature. I think I speak for many when I say I love your work. You have been an inspiration for me.
Show threadCaroline Orr BuenoNov 17, 2022
@mystique thank you so much. I really appreciate that. 🙏
Show threadWilliam GunnNov 17, 2022

@rvawonk Relevant for those interested in the subject, Frankfurt's essay "On Bullshit" https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691122946/on-bullshit

tl;dr: Lying implies you know the truth and are trying to convince people of something different. Bullshitters have no regard for the truth and challenge the very concept.

On Bullshit

#1 New York Times bestsellerFeatured on The Daily Show and 60 MinutesThe acclaimed book that illuminates our world and its politics by revealing why bullshit is more dangerous than lying

Show threadtouch fluffy tailNov 21, 2022
Russia certainly does use this propaganda model, to great effect, at least domestically. We saw this in the ukranian war, where they talked about biolabs, about ukranian warcrimes, etc. at the start. To be frank their intsec there did rather poorly. Contrast with american propaganda which is typically a very focused message confirmed from multiple sides and with disagreement muffled (e.g. WMD in iraq).

I haven't heard anything from Trump et al since he was kicked from twitter. What has his propaganda been?
Show threadJanetNov 21, 2022
@rvawonk I boosted this because I remember a conversation with a woman who identified as Native American and supported Trump. I asked her about that, and she described not knowing whom to believe.