

How TV propaganda is affecting Russian society - gruez
http://www.bbc.co.uk/monitoring/how-tv-propaganda-is-affecting-russian-society

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monochr
This isn't unique to Russia.

Anyone who was in the US around 2003 will know how warped people there were
when the war in Iraq was starting:
[https://youtu.be/DJ3RrqBqk14?t=3m34s](https://youtu.be/DJ3RrqBqk14?t=3m34s)

The same is true for just about every country, the UK when you start
mentioning every genocide and famine they started (there were a rather lot of
them), the French when you mention how much they screwed up Africa and
Indochina, the Turks when you mention the Armenian genocide, etc.

Hopefully we will use the clear example of another country slowly going insane
to stop the same thing happening here. But somehow I doubt it, because we are
special.

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hippich
Whole thing leads to really weird situations. I have few friends from Russia,
who visited USA few times, praise it for freedoms, commerce, life, etc. Some
seriously considered moving. Some - moved for good. People who mostly doing
their business online (yet I know they watch TV more than I do for example.)

And these people are supporting everything propaganda is pushing.

So from outside it looks really disconcerting - on one hand they praise west,
on the other - they hate it... and this hatred feel very unnatural. It is like
person get second personality.

~~~
bobthechef
I don't think that's fair. "The West" is not a monolith. You can like and
dislike certain cultural, political, and social realities and like others.
Your characterization of issues seems very tribal.

~~~
hippich
Well, from personal conversations russians as a whole blame "westerners" as a
whole. I.e. if there will be post about guy, who made floor from recycled
wood, there will be tons of hatred comments towards this particular person.
And this hatred is based only on the fact he is from USA.

I.e. this hatred targets not officials or politicians. It targets whole
population.

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aleyan
Since BBC decided to talk about propaganda, I will call them out on their own
coverage of civilian deaths from the war in Eastern Ukraine.

When civilians were killed in Kiev controlled areas BBC described their deaths
as result of rebel activity. When however civilians were killed in rebel
controlled areas, they were described as having died from shelling without
perpetrators being accused but the fact that it was a rebel area highlighted.
A lot more people fall into the second category than the first. Even in
straight forward cases of deaths resulting from air strikes against cities,
BBC did not assign blame to the government.

It was so bad, I have been tempted to go over every BBC story about the war in
Eastern Ukraine and analyze for the language it used to discuss the causes of
civilian casualties. Maybe I will.

EDIT: It appears I am not the only one to have noticed this particular bias of
BBC. Alan Dix, a professor at Birmingham University, goes at length with
examples about this issue at the BBC[1].

[1] [http://alandix.com/blog/2015/02/13/lies-damned-lies-and-
the-...](http://alandix.com/blog/2015/02/13/lies-damned-lies-and-the-bbc/)

~~~
bobthechef
The media, whether Western or Russian, exists in order to rally support for
the actions of the elite, usually by misrepresentation, oversimplification,
and blatant lies. When Euromaidan was in progress, it was impossible to even
hint that there was a presence of political groups with Nazi sympathies. You
were immediately discredited as a pawn of Russian media. I have no idea why
the emotional zeal. Of course, it was true, but the West needed support from
the demos and downplayed anything that would hurt the geopolitical sparring
match with Russia.

Ukraine in general has a history that has been unaddressed. Ukrainian
collaboration with Nazis during WWII, genocide against Poles (which many
continue to deny, downplay, or rationalize), and Western Ukrainian reverence
for national heroes and militant groups entangled in these events (e.g.,
Stepan Bandera and UPA) remain taboo subjects. They're topics that will likely
remain untouched as long as Ukraine is being bought over by Russia and the US.

~~~
PerfectDlite
Oh, old 'Ukraine is Nazi' card? You know that this is played mostly by Russian
media? And do you know that part of Russian history where they collaborated
with Nazis (how about a million-strong Nazi collaborationist army which flag
Russia uses even now?) and that they invaded Poland _with_ the Hitler?

And as for reverence - Russian praise for Stalin and Lenin, two of the most
bloodiest dictators in modern history - can speak volumes about Russian soul.

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jstanley
This seems like an equally propaganda-laden piece intended to influence
Western attitudes towards the Russian government.

Anecdotally, I was in Russia about a year ago and did not sense any resentment
towards my Western-ness.

~~~
EugeneOZ
Propaganda is aimed to hate "western governments", not usual people. And
russians have asian mentality mostly - they'll never show you they dislike you
while you're their guest. Drink with them couple of bottles to know their real
minds.

