Mastodawn

I'm still impressed at how many people believe this kind of disinformation, despite it being debunked years ago. And these are not dumb people. They can be highly skilled with whom you can have intellectual conversations. You will *never* guess that they could believe these things until they start talking politics. then it's like a whole other person.

https://observers.france24.com/en/no-zelensky-didn-t-buy-sting-s-villa-or-23-other-properties-whatever-russian-propaganda-claims

No, Zelensky didn’t buy Sting’s villa— or 23 other properties, whatever Russian propaganda claims

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky allegedly paid 75 million euros for an Italian villa formerly owned by the singer Sting - or so pro-Russian influencers have been claiming online since August 6. It turns out that this is a just a fake rumour - and the latest in a long series of fake claims in this vein. Moscow regularly lobs false allegations that the Ukrainian president is using aid money sent to Ukraine to buy luxury homes. Our team took a look at the latest iteration of this ad nauseam propaganda strategy.

The Observers - France 24

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🇺🇦 Anna Filina Mar 22

Their usual line: "I follow independent journalists who risk their lives for the truth. They're not taking any sides. They just say things as they are."

But I don't hate them for it. Their values are still aligned with mine. They're just being fed wrong information, and they are struggling to evaluate their sources. For example, they are against corruption, it's just that they'll see corruption in the wrong place.

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🇺🇦 Anna Filina Mar 22

Remember that the people misleading them are very good at what they do, and they have a lot of money.

It's like blaming a person for catching COVID despite being fit and having healthy habits. Sometimes, the virus is really infectious and we need to find radically new way to protect ourselves, which weren't the norm when we were growing up.

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Dan Leech Mar 22

@afilina yeah this s the really scary part esp. with developing "censorship/propaganda" situation in the USA.

I consider myself quite capable of being self-critical and able to sniff bullshit, but that seems to be a skill that's _far_ from being universal - and many just "don''t care" about politics or the information they are forced consume.

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🇺🇦 Anna Filina Mar 22

@dantleech People tell me about what these journalists say, and here I am, hearing my own Russian aunt say *on the phone* that my cousin signed up to kill khokhols and make some money. From Ukraine, I have civilian family members telling me *on the phone* that their civilian train almost got hit while they were escaping the shelling of their homes. First-hand information! Then some guy does his own research and tells me this didn't happen. Like, WTF?

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🇺🇦 Anna Filina Mar 22

@dantleech Guy was suprised that I was getting censored on Twitter for supporting Ukraine *after* Musk's takeover. I stopped talking at that point because I realized he was too far gone. I guess many people did actually buy the whole freedom of speech nonsense from Space Karen.