Today's Russian propaganda is entirely different from Soviet propaganda. It creates a depoliticized society by generating as many incompatible statements as they can and blasting that from every tube.
This is a lot more advanced than western propaganda. Russia today is actually already "in the future", some of the patterns we can see in democracies are fully rolled out there. Tim Snyder often says that this is why Russia is interesting analytically.
Soviet propaganda pretended that black is white, while Russian propaganda will essentially try to convince the listener that colors cannot be assigned to any object whatsoever.
I mean I actually watch Russian propaganda, as well as various other propaganda sources. It's rather clear what they're doing, and fully consistent with citizen behavior. Remember how just a few days ago Wagner took control of a 1M city, and citizens didn't care whatsoever?
The same patterns can be observed in the West, but to a much weaker degree. BTW, I'm not American in case this matters.
One way to explain it is that institutions (universities, courts of law, scientific research, parliaments) are not trusted by some (growing) number of people here. In Russia nobody believes in any institutions whatsoever, for example if the FSB rackets your business and takes over your apartment, well that's just part of life (complete lack of belief in any justice system). Like they won't even try to resist in any way.
Another way to explain the difference: there is no there there in modern Russian propaganda. It comes from absolutely nothing, no consistent philosophical system, no consistent policy, be it foreign or domestic, no consistent support or rejection of particular people or organizations. Should they lose the war then propaganda will just say that Ukraine is now denazified (if this term lasts that long), and will pretend like nothing bad happened, while on the next day will scream about how NATO is trying to kill Russia, then on the third day will pretend the topic doesn't exist, and so on and so on, without any pattern or rhythm.
> The same patterns can be observed in the West, but to a much weaker degree.
Oh? America spent 20 trillion of tax payers money, killed hundreds of thousands of citizens in the Middle East, displaced tens of millions, killed millions more through sanctions, secured Iraq and Afghanistan's oil fields within weeks of invasion, created black sites all over the world to torture people without trial, murdered Reuters journalists in cold blood, tortured whistleblowers who provided proof of the above, and managed to blame the state of Afghanistan on the Afghani people after they botched the withdrawal.
And if you bring this up in comparison to what Russia has done (which is bad, yes), you're accused of whataboutism.
A key distinction may be that after the US led interventions the propaganda fell apart, and much internal criticism ensued. People in the US also still appear politically active, eager to express dissent, and practice relatively frequent regime change via elections.
This comment illustrates exactly what I'm talking about, Mr. Rogers.
The surface propaganda might have fallen apart, and there may have been much internal criticism - but we're still in Iraq. And Syria, and Lebanon, Yemen, etc.
Those trillions of dollars are still owed. BY US. It doesn't matter how much we protested - we're still on the hook for the bill.
Those millions of victims are still dead.
Those black sites are still open.
The people who did that are walking around free, not even remotely affected.
Snowden is still exiled. Assange is still held in Belmarsh.
The Patriot Act is still renewed, even by Dem elites. A lot of the population is still convinced there were WMDs, that Assange was a Russian agent, that Biden and Obama tried to end this stuff (they expanded it). Shit, Obama sold tens of billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia.
A terrifying percentage of the population is actively rooting for nuclear apocalypse. Even more believe that climate scientists are lying to us for money. The Dem resistance to that consists of fighting progressives (?!).
Americans will sit there with a straight face, and maximum earnestness, telling you that it's actually great that they pay so much for housing, healthcare, and education. They think it's fantastic that US billionaires have so much money; and that if children are hungry it's their parents fault. "Best system in the world" - "at least we're not socialist", etc.
Americans view of other countries is incredibly distorted.
You think the regime changes every four / eight years - but that's because you're so thoroughly inured in propaganda that you don't even feel it. It's a wrestling show; it's kayfabe. They're all friends behind the scenes. They argue on camera, then go on yacht trips together. Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch are buddies. Clinton and Trump were friends for decades. The birther conspiracy was started by Hilary's campaign. W gives Melania candy, and the TV tells you it's cute.
Even Dems argue that America's military actions are normal or justified - Propaganda. You think Dems aren't in on it? Propaganda. If you think opinion of the poorest 92% has a non-zero effect on policy? Propaganda.
It's not normal for the wealthiest country on Earth to have millions of starving children, millions of homeless people, an out of control drug problem, medical bankruptcy, a world record prison population. But people accept it. Propaganda, propaganda, propaganda.
Dems think it's all Republicans fault - propaganda. They think all this is inevitable; this is how people are - propaganda.
This probably sounds ranty, and I'm not arsed sourcing everything here. Apologies.
I do hope you can read this without your reflexes immediately rejecting it - but experience shows that to be extraordinarily rare... Propaganda.
This is a lot more advanced than western propaganda. Russia today is actually already "in the future", some of the patterns we can see in democracies are fully rolled out there. Tim Snyder often says that this is why Russia is interesting analytically.
Soviet propaganda pretended that black is white, while Russian propaganda will essentially try to convince the listener that colors cannot be assigned to any object whatsoever.