He’s always been an ass. But this is a bit much:
Not that we need reminding, but Roger Waters yet again reveals he’s totally infested with tankie brainworms.
His comments about the US reveal his totally reductive world view, the US is the greatest evil in the world therefore anyone he thinks is in opposition to the US must be on the right side. It’s incredibly stupid, but not untypical among a certain type of person.
My belief is the root of this is what I like to call “traumatic moral injury”, where an individual suffers such a severe moral injury from an event or series of events (often legitimately) they start seeing the entire world through the lens of that injury.
So to accept that the source of authority they perceive to be responsible for that injury might actually not be bad all the time is impossible, so they have to justify and deny the activities of anyone they see as in opposition to those who have done them harm.
This effect is amplified by the internet’s ability to link us up with likeminded people who will reinforce their trauma with their own views and opinions.
And I think what’s fundamentally misunderstood about disinformation is its these communities that create disinformation in what they believe is the search for the truth, rather than it being the action of outside actors on those communities (like Russia).
State actors might take advantage of those communities, but they create themselves in a misguided attempt at truth seeking that’s influenced by their own biases.
And this isn’t unique to Ukraine or Syria, or even conflict, but really any topic where a community can form around a lack of trust in traditional sources of authority, such as the media, government, medical professionals, etc.
You don’t need a state to pay people like Roger Waters off to say this stuff, they genuinely believe it and think they’re fighting against disinformation spread by the media and governments, and have plenty of people who think they’re doing the same thing to support them.
I think the biggest failure in countering disinformation is the idea that its the result of outside actors influencing communities, when its really about the communities that form organically, and how we respond to that.
It’s a lot simpler to blame Russia and factcheck then address the fundamental social issues that lead to this, especially when a lot of it is caused by real betrayals of the public trust by the media and governments.
It’s no coincidence that the invasion of Iraq in 2003 is frequently referenced by these types of people, betraying the trust of the public is a great way to create more people like this.
And to be very clear, because no doubt those same people will misunderstand the point, feeling of betrayal over the invasion of Iraq are legitimate, it’s what we do with those feelings that’s the difference.
I also think that what we’re seeing with the right in the US is what happens when mainstream political and media authorities welcome that kind of thinking with open arms in attempt to use it for their own ends.
I do wonder how the current war will impact younger generations that didn’t experience the post 9/11 period, especially as the older Vietnam era generation dies off. Will Russia’s invasion be as much of a defining moment for them as Vietnam and 9/11 was for previous generations?
As for actual solutions to this issue, I think it’s important to empower young people to have a positive impact on situations they’re engaged with, hence why we’ll be working with students in schools to teach them how to do open source investigations.
As well as connecting them to people and organisations who can help them have impact with the work they do. If not, we shouldn’t be surprised if we see the same patterns of behaviour repeat time and time again.
But more on that later.
I should probably write this all in an article at some point, right?
That’s not to say some people aren’t just really stupid:
Originally tweeted by Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) on October 4, 2022.
I wish I could say he was the only one …