Incoming Troll Radar
Counter Disinfolklore: Episode V
⚡️Don’t get me wrong, there were times on the eastern Ukrainian bridge when it was impossible to tell whether or not explosions had truly injured people, as the Russian bridge trolls alleged to me.
I heard the explosions. I was on the scene within minutes of them occurring. I saw what the Russian bridge trolls told me was the blood of those injured. Yet, it could also be another substance. Blackberries for example. Spilled over from the hundreds of tonnes being carried by hand across Stanitsia Luhanska bridge.
So, I have first-hand experience of how Russia may stage deaths and injuries to trigger a response. Yet, in a free society like Ukraine, even if there was some evidence that the Ukrainian authorities wanted to stage such “provocations,” given what I know about Ukraine, it strikes me as highly unlikely such a staged death could be pulled off.
Besides, when Russia has killed hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians since February 24th, 2022, it is always going to be more likely that another death of a Ukrainian (in this case Lisa) by the hand of Russia, rather than Ukraine. Remember too what I just mentioned about Russian Disinfolklore not disclosing any empathy?
Since Russia cannot imagine an Other (Ukraine) that is any different from itself, it always projects into its Disinfolklore the same Mana and values as Russia itself possesses. Russian Disinfolkore often reveals itself when its characteristics are attributed to another state or situation.
Because Russian Disinfolklore is full of artificial Lisa’s, it also assumes Ukrainian information space is too. When such projections do not ring true, then, we can sometimes detect in Russian Disinfolklore’s attribution of Mana reflecting its own morality in other information domains where we would not expect to find it.
As counter Disinfolklorists we do think through these possibilities. But we are not paralysed by them into both-sides’ing an event which beyond all reasonable doubt happened in the way it seems to have happened. Besides, if Russia wants the “benefit of the doubt,” it should just withdraw from Ukraine and then there would be no Russians there to be fake-blamed.
Our reaction of feeling disgust at Russia is justified. By contrast Russians who believe the Disinfolklore that for example Russia’s atrocities in Russia-occupied Bucha were a “provocation” by Ukraine are wrong. It is nonsense, as the organic counter Disinfolklore “North Atlantic Fella Organization” (NAFO) movement fellas might say. Nonsense. Residents of Bucha were massacred by Russian state operatives. Russians who believe Lisa did not exist or that the organic disgust that arose on the network after the photograph by her mother was noticed was faked are wrong. We make this call.
Normally we have what’s colloquially known as a bullshit detector (for reasons I will explain shortly, in Counter Disinfolklore we talk about developing your “Incoming Troll Radar.” This requires of us two skills we can sharpen, if we pay enough attention to gatekeeping what we allow into our mind: mindfulness (paying attention and monitoring the state of our bodies and mind), and introspection (scrutiny, alertness)).
Yet, when anyone - whether an advertiser, our child, our mother or our pet cat - wants us to do something for them, intuitively, they do precisely the same things as that house insurer’s advertisement or as Russia promoting the idea that Bucha was a “provocation” by Ukraine: They purposefully use means to induce in us an experience that is, given what they know about our particular personality or the knowledge our cultural embedding, highly likely to provoke in us an experience of feeling a specific emotion.
Then, if they know us personally or simply know what our personality type is (we will learn about how useful the OCEAN personality inventory method is in determining, for example, that most extreme Trump supporters are high on Neuroticism and low on Conscientiousness personality inventory scale (the N and the C in the OCEAN acronym) in a later chapter), they can be sure that we will react to that emotional experience in a certain way. When someone we truly love and who truly loves us tries to manipulate us in this way, nine times out of ten surrendering to their trolling of our emotions is a Good Thing. They’re being strategic, sure.
But they are not trying to induce us into supporting the genocide of Ukrainians, for example. The advertiser hopes that after experiencing calmness of remembering the beach, the jolt towards worrying about the safety of our possessions will provoke in us an immediate impulse to buy their house insurance. This may or may not be a Good Thing. Generally speaking, when advertisers are using our emotions to trigger us into buying their products, it is not a Good Thing!
Russian (and other forms of) Disinformation works in a very similar way. And in Counter Disinfolklore we will learn to spot Incoming Trolls in real time (we will sharpen our Incoming Troll Radar). We will also get better at parsing the data we are receiving for the intended meaning of its originator (we look for the Mana of the author of the troll that is nestled in the messaging). And most importantly in Counter Disinfolklore we learn how to counter such attempts at emotional manipulation and reflexive control.
Disinfolklore is a hyper modern way for conveying emotions between us. Disinfolklore uses trolls wrapped up inside engaging stories with stereotypical characters in common-or-garden settings. Emotional contagion describes the way feelings run between us - when you get angry (the trigger), I get angry (my experience), and we argue (the response). Or when you get angry (the trigger), I feel enjoyment (my experience), and I gloat (my response). Or when you get angry, I feel fear, and I imagine you leaving. Or when you get angry and I feel disgust, I belittle you.
Continued:
Continued from:
First in series:
For orientation purposes: This is the V element of Chapter Two of Disinfolklore - a new analytical method for parsing Disinformation:
