The Russian Troll farms and their useful Id10ts have been working social media to try to turn Western Eyes away from supporting the Ukraine.
Here is a summary of the various methods they use , taken from Reddit user u/TheEchoOfReality.Propaganda: information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used topromote a political cause or point of view.
These are some examples of disinformation and attempts to derailthreads and conversations online that are frequently seen .
Whataboutism: "What about what the west did inSyria/Afghanistan/Iraq? They are no place to judge."
Why it's illogical: Impliesjustification of Party X's past actions for Party Y's current actions. You canand should criticize more than one thing, but the conversation at hand isRussia invading Ukraine. Also there seems to be little accountability in the caseof Russia in its extreme amount of war crimes.
Slippery slope: "If Russia doesn't perform its military operation inUkraine then NATO will set up a base, and before you know it, it will attackRussia first!"
Why it's illogical: Implies that potential future actions ofParty X allow for current actions of Party Y.
Ad Hominem: "Who are you and what are your credentials? Are youan expert? Are you fighting in Ukraine right now?"
Why it's illogical: Anyone can criticize anything. You do notneed credentials to make a sound logical argument, particularly in something ascut and dry as this invasion.
Outright Lies: "Ukraine is developing bio weapons to use againstRussia. Ukraine is run by Nazis. People who support Ukraine are racists. Russiais cleaning the country up!"
Why it's illogical: You can not frame an argument withoutevidence of some sort. Ukraine's president is a democratically elected Jew whowon in a landslide 73%.
Appeal to Western Values: "Where was this level of support for the refugees ofConflict X? You are the one picking a fight by getting involved and will startWorld War III if you keep it up! Where is your peaceful rhetoric now?"
Why it's illogical: Implies your past lack of action supportscurrent inaction. People can change, and as they grow and become moreinterconnected through globalization, they will be more likely to be affectedby someone else. Also implies that defensive actions warrant escalatedcounterattacks.
Diminishing Actions: "Wow what a useless gesture. More sanctions. Yawn. Ohanother UN vote. How effective. Nobody cares, just look at Russians in City Xor City Y. Just more tax dollars down the drain."
Why it's illogical: Implies that an action should only be made ifit does something perfectly 100% of the way through. Every action that ca,should be taken. Multiple small actions create major tectonic shifts. This goesall the way down to the individual, and how even their contribution counts.This one is particularly nasty because it inspires an apathetic response thatresonates with people who are disillusioned with society.
Deflection to the Superior: "This is only Putin's fault, the soldiers areinnocent and aren't doing anything wrong. They are just protecting theirfamilies! They are the real victims here."
Why it's illogical: Implies that each individual person is notresponsible for their individual actions. It's one thing to liberate a countryto open arms, it's another to invade a country and commit war crimes.Additionally, Russia is not sending conscripts and has punished previous cases where this occurred. This is a volunteer military.
Capitulating: "Putin is crazy and has nukes. He's in a bunker andhas survived this long. This is Zelenskys fault anyways. Just let him fall onthe sword and let Putin take Ukraine and then he'll leave us alone."
Why it's illogical: Implies the sacrifice of Ukraine is a fairtoken in appeasement of someone who has shown they will not stop, based onprior actions.And because it's been a few months, here are a couple more I'vebeen noticing have started trending recently:
Appeal to the Underdog: "You're just being Russophobic/racist! Targeting awhole group of innocent people! This is no different than what America did toblack people or what the Germans did to the Jews! Russians are being targetedunfairly."
Why it's illogical: Implies a similarity that doesn't exist.Black people and Jews were never invading America/Germany and trying tosubjugate their population. It's a complete false equivalency. If anything,Ukrainians are the black folks/Jews in this example. Particularly incidiousbecause its sows seeds of ** within countries like the United States bycapitalizing on racial tensions.
Humanizing the Monster: Those Russian soldiers are just poor and dumb and havebeen tricked by Putin. They don't know that going into other countries tomurder and commit war crimes is a bad thing!"
Why it's illogical: Implies nonexistence of basic socialcohesion. Every society on earth knows that rape and murder are wrong. It ispunished everywhere on the planet because of how repulsive it is to us as asocial species. I'd go so far to say that it is an instinctive trait in humans.
Lies About Russian Support: "This is absurd! Russians actually all hate Putin andare constantly protesting 24/7. This action will just push people to supportPutin now!"
Why it's illogical: Russian support for the invasion isoverwhelmingly positive. There are many people in Russia who are against the war, and they are truly unfortunate victims of this. These people are very aware that the problem is Russian leadership and not a nebulous Ukranian threat and as such will not likely start supporting Putin based on any current Western actions.
Western Escalation: "This is just the next step in Western aggressionagainst Russia. Pretty soon we will have no choice but to launch a nuclearcounterattack. You keep pushing us and you will start world war III!"
Why it's illogical: Implies a backwards slippery slope argument.Russia is the aggressor in this situation. They can leave Ukraine at any time,and the war will all but surely end. Ukraine did not begin this conflict.
Ad Hominem 2: "Source X is unreliable. You made a minor error inyour argument. Your argument is completely invalidated!"
Why it's illogical: Even poor sources can have accurateinformation. Information should be judged on a case by case basis, and theinformation being presented should be deconstructed and not the source. EvenFox News actually reports the news, they just have their own spin on it. Additionally,minor mistakes do not invalidate an entire larger argument. Annoying becausethey will often use this against reputable information in an attempt todiscredit it.
Remember, these don't all have to be real trolls, some are justpeople repeating poor talking points because the best propaganda sounds like itmakes a lot of sense. Until you think about it. By applying critical thinkingyou too will soon be able to parse through the bullshit. If you have any othersuggestions, let me know.
For more information about Russian trolls and how they operate,here are some links:
https://www.rferl.org/a/how-to-guide-russian-trolling-trolls/26919999.html
https://www.axios.com/2022/08/05/meta-shuts-down-russian-troll-farm-linked-to-sanctioned-putin-ally
Remember, not everything needs to be propaganda
How to spot Russian Propaganda
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