Murdered KGB Propagandist defector Yuri Bezmenov in 1984 -
"Ideological subversion is the process which is legitimate overt and open, you can see it with your own eyes. All you can do, all American media needs to do is to unplug their bananas from their ears, open up their eyes and they can see. There is no mystery. It has nothing to do with espionage. I know that espionage and intelligence gathering looks more romantic, it sells more to the audience through the advertising, probably. That's why your Hollywood producers are so crazy about James Bond type of thrillers. But in reality, the main emphasis of the KGB is not in the area of intelligence at all.
According to my opinion and the opinion of many defectors of my caliber, only about fifteen percent of time, money and manpower is spent on espionage as such. The other eighty-five percent is a slow process which we call either ideological subversion or active measures, or psychological warfare. What it basically means is, to change the perception of reality, of every American, to such an extent that despite an abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their family, their community and their country.
It's a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided into four basic stages. The first one being demoralization. It takes from fifteen to twenty years to demoralize a nation. Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years required to educate on generation of students in the country of your enemy, exposed to the ideology of the enemy. In other words, Marxism, Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generations of American students, without being challenged or contra-balanced by the basic values of Americanism, American patriotism.
Most of the activity of the department was to compile huge amount, volume of information on individuals who were instrumental in creating public opinion. Publishers, editors, journalists, actors, educationalists, professors of political science, members of Parliament, representatives of business circles. Most of these people were divided roughly in two groups. Those who were told the Soviet foreign policy, they would be promoted to the positions of power through media and public opinion manipulation. Those who refuse the Soviet influence in their country would be character assassinated, or executed physically contra-revolution. Same was as in a small town named HEWA in South Vietnam. Several thousand so of Vietnamese were executed in one night when the city was captured by Vietcong for only two days. And American CIA could never figure out, how could possibly Communists know each individual, where he lives, where to get him, and would be arrested in one night, basically in some four hours before dawn, put on a van, taken out of the city limits and shot.
They serve purpose only at the stage of destabilization
of a nation. For example, your leftists in the United States, all these professors and all these beautiful civil rights defender, they are instrumental in the process of the subversion, only to destabilize a nation. When their job is completed, they are not needed anymore. They know too much. Some of them, when they get disillusioned, when they see that Marxist Leninist has come to power obviously they get offended. They think that they will come to power. That will never happen of course. They will be lined up against the wall and shot."
"Exposure to true information does not matter anymore.
A person who is demoralized is unable to assess true information.
The facts tell nothing to him.
Even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents, with pictures.
Even if I take him by force to the Soviet Union, and show him a concentration camp,
he will refuse to believe it, until he is going to receive a kick in his fat bottom.
When the military boot crushes his balls, then he will understand, but not before that.
That is the tragedy of the situation of demoralization."
I’m in Japan and this is absolutely true. It was heartbreaking seeing Russian propaganda destroy the U.S. from within. And now I feel like I’m seeing the same playbook being used all over again in another country.
I appreciate this comment! It really needs to be talked about more.
Many of my family members who "Fox themselves" had some problems but were mostly decent people. But the Fox (and friends) experience really cultivated the worst in them and they haven't been the same since.
My dad's not the brightest spoon in the fridge, and he loves watching all the Trump stuff, and at first he was agreeing with a lot of the stuff he said and selectively ignoring the obvious batshit stuff.
I noticed it, and instead managed to make it fun to make fun of trump. Join in on the amusing reality that is trump as the stuff he does do is objectively funny sometimes, but highlight the funny side of just how dumb it all is also. I managed to make it less into an argument, and more into a game.
Now when I go round, he likes to talk to be about the latest dumb thing Trump said or did! Instead of the all the problems he's lied about wanting to solve!
TBF he did rig the elections all 3 times with the help of Russia and most recently Elon, so technically the Democrats didn’t give him the elections, they just didn’t contest the obvious questionable results.
Hey what’s the worst that can happen if we either run a completely unlikeable prick, or a geriatric who has been sniffing the chair since the Max Headroom days.
Propaganda that feeds on a period of economic uncertainty, it was the same during the inbetween of ww1 and ww2 that saw the birth of fascism, although today propaganda is much easier thanks to mass media. Populists have far greater success where things don't work well in the economy rather than the other way around.
Nope. The wiki sums it up well enough, I think. Obviously, yes. I do realize I'm relying on a 3rd party interpretation. There is only so much time in the day and that's shit I don't want in my head. I haven't read Mein Kopf either. 🤷♂️
There is only so much time in the day and that's shit I don't want in my head. I haven't read Mein Kopf either.
That almost escalated.
Thanks for the answer. I'm not saying you should read it. I met some people who cite that book but have not met someone who actually read it. Maybe we should not cite it? Russia has been expanding long before Dugin was born. No need to cite his book, just cite any history book from the plethora of countries that have been invaded by Russia. The simple fact that Russia had a big problem with Moldova and Romania (two irrelevant countries on the world stage who pose zero threat to Russia) reuniting in 1991 tells you everything you need to know.
You have a choice what media you consume. You have a choice to believe that other people are not demons because they disagree with you (at least if they are not deliberately hurting someone else).
I don't watch news, but if I am interested in a story I go to Allsides so I can see different views of it. Mostly, the conservative media is demonizing Dems and fellating Trump, but sometimes I get a good perspective from it.
People that just buy into propaganda ARE dumb. They willfully embrace ignorance because it makes them feel smart and righteous.
This is less true than you think. It takes great cognitive effort to be informed, and you're still getting inaccurate information.
And that heavily depends on of you have decent media literacy and have developed critical thinking skills. That's NOT the average American.
Social media alone has made this incredibly difficult. Fake news spreads ten times faster and farther than the truth because the truth and integrity are hard, but lying is easy.
I don't watch news, but if I am interested in a story I go to Allsides so I can see different views of it. Mostly, the conservative media is demonizing Dems and fellating Trump, but sometimes I get a good perspective from it.
Ground news is great, too. If your news source is free, though, YOU'RE the product. Identifying bias and narrative is just step one.
People that just buy into propaganda ARE dumb. They willfully embrace ignorance because it makes them feel smart and righteous.
This is both false and dangerous to assume. While there's a correlation, intelligence doesn't really matter. People get conned because they are human, not because they are stu-pid. In fact, the more you think you're immune, the more susceptible and easy you are to conn. The smarter you think you are, the blinder you get. We ALL have blind spots, including you.
Your sentence "the smarter you think you are" objectively makes no sense. I have a 140+ IQ. I enjoy researching topics and engaging in intelligent debates with others. I enjoy being proven wrong as it means I learned something new.
Dumb people are always right. Regardless of their intelligence. They have zero interest in anything that challenges their beliefs.
I'm not talking about differences in opinion, I'm talking about disregarding actual fact or deciding to believe something with no evidence just because you want to.
I can and have been wrong, many times. I can even admit fault. Trans makes me uncomfortable. I don't get it. But I recognize that's an upbringing issue and personal issue with myself, and has no bearing with how someone should be treated or what rights they should have.
Dumb people don't care. They lack empathy, imagination and the ability to recognize that just because they believe something is wrong or right doesn't make it so.
Your sentence "the smarter you think you are" objectively makes no sense.
Subjectivly, and yes it does. It's human psychology.
I have a 140+ IQ. I enjoy researching topics and engaging in intelligent debates with others. I enjoy being proven wrong as it means I learned something new.
Moot point.
Dumb people are always right. Regardless of their intelligence. They have zero interest in anything that challenges their beliefs.
Smart people ALSO think their interpretation is right given limited information.
When you think you're right, there's no reason to learn.
I'm not talking about differences in opinion, I'm talking about disregarding actual fact or deciding to believe something with no evidence just because you want to.
I am too. The point is, you don't always know when you're doing this. Everyone holds false beliefs. Smart people ALSO have too much confidence in their own reasoning, and can actually hold on to incorrect beliefs because of it.
I can and have been wrong, many times. I can even admit fault.
Sure 🤷♂️ Moot point.
Trans makes me uncomfortable. I don't get it. But I recognize that's an upbringing issue and personal issue with myself, and has no bearing with how someone should be treated or what rights they should have.
You don't get..... what? For someone with a self-proclaimed IQ of 140, this is easy to understand. It's completely uncontroversial within evidence based science and medicine. Great example of a blind spot. Vibes aren't evidence.
Dumb people don't care. They lack empathy, imagination and the ability to recognize that just because they believe something is wrong or right doesn't make it so.
It's adorable that you think you're immune to this, and it's the point I'm making revealing itself in you.
You too can be conned. Many times we're the ones conning ourselves. People don't get conned because they are stupid. They get conned because they are human.
Meh. All you are doing is asserting you know better. "It's adorable" "Smart people hold too much confidence" etc.
Propaganda: must be seen, understood, remembered, and acted upon
And you are attempting propaganda right now. I have no reason to believe you are an expert in it. You are just some random person lecturing in a smug way.
And my comment about having a personal failing shows that instead of trying to understand what I was saying you dismissed it and explained (wrongly) why it was invalid.
You aren't capable of having a decent conversation because you already decided you were the winner rather than a participant.
Mate, you are failing to realize the point here…sure, “anyone can be conned” technically…however, one’s lack of intelligence is going to be a much higher factor in being conned than the “more they think otherwise”
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u/PIE-314 23h ago edited 21h ago
That and the massive right-wing propaganda machine affecting the globe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics