I Watched Russian Television for Five Days Straight
July 21, 2023 8:53 AM Subscribe
Gary Shteyngart watches three Russian TV channels for five days straight. [Archive] revisiting his 2014 experiment. "On the one hand, the length of my sentence has been commuted to five days from seven; on the other hand, since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the state’s propaganda has become even more loud, brash, and genocidal, making any length of exposure to it psychologically problematic."
This is very interesting. As soon as Russia invaded Ukraine the EU shut down RT in most (all?) markets. I understand the impulse & the symbolic message but I'm still kind of irked we can't shine a brighter light on Russian propaganda. At least not via the TV. So this is a good-enough stand-in, scratches a bit of the itch.
posted by chavenet at 9:16 AM on July 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by chavenet at 9:16 AM on July 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Seems impossible to go through an post on Russian Propaganda without a Maria Butina mention, and here is no different.
"But not before I catch Maria Butina’s new show on Channel 1. Butina is famous for being arrested and jailed as an unregistered Russian foreign agent in the United States. Once she was deported from the U.S., she became a member of Russia’s parliament and, of course, the host of her own TV program. (“Today’s program is brought to you by Erecton Activ. Every woman wants to be near a strong man, strong in every way. Only 2,999 rubles.”)
Today, the redheaded Butina, wearing an equally red blouse and suit pants, decides to talk about Hillary Clinton. Wait, what? Who still cares about Hillary Clinton? Apparently, Butina and Tanya from Taganrog still do."
She also showed up in articles when Viktor Bout was exchanged for Britney Griner.
She also was previously "romantically" involved with Patrick Byrne, who was part of the infamous off-the-rails Dec 2020 Oval Office meeting of the insurrectionists (about to become more infamous if we get these indictments we're patiently waiting on). Byrne went on to bankroll both the Arizona CyberNinjas nonsense and Michigan efforts to void their election.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:24 AM on July 21, 2023 [5 favorites]
"But not before I catch Maria Butina’s new show on Channel 1. Butina is famous for being arrested and jailed as an unregistered Russian foreign agent in the United States. Once she was deported from the U.S., she became a member of Russia’s parliament and, of course, the host of her own TV program. (“Today’s program is brought to you by Erecton Activ. Every woman wants to be near a strong man, strong in every way. Only 2,999 rubles.”)
Today, the redheaded Butina, wearing an equally red blouse and suit pants, decides to talk about Hillary Clinton. Wait, what? Who still cares about Hillary Clinton? Apparently, Butina and Tanya from Taganrog still do."
She also showed up in articles when Viktor Bout was exchanged for Britney Griner.
She also was previously "romantically" involved with Patrick Byrne, who was part of the infamous off-the-rails Dec 2020 Oval Office meeting of the insurrectionists (about to become more infamous if we get these indictments we're patiently waiting on). Byrne went on to bankroll both the Arizona CyberNinjas nonsense and Michigan efforts to void their election.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:24 AM on July 21, 2023 [5 favorites]
Metafilter: By the end of my stay, I had turned from a happy-go-lucky novelist into a squeaking gerbil of a man, psychologically compromised and barely sure of what constituted reality.
posted by Reverend John at 9:54 AM on July 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by Reverend John at 9:54 AM on July 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
>I understand the impulse & the symbolic message but I'm still kind of irked we can't shine a brighter light on Russian propaganda.
I don't think it's just symbolic. People absorb what they are exposed to, this is a real and dangerous issue and concern. Watch enough propaganda and fake news and people will start to absorb the biases, accept the framing of circumstances, start to thin kand act on the garbage they've been hearing so much. There's really not much value in exposure to this kind of stuff with the perspective "look and see what lies and manipulations these malicious entities are serving up" no matter how immune one thinks they are to it or how bombastically false it is. Shining a light on it is to direct attention to it, directing attention to it is it's goal and it will be effective on a nonzero amount of people focusing their attention on it.
These kinds of nasty outright lies and manipulations don't shrivel up and die when exposed to the light and air and antiviral or when dunked in alcohol, the way they work and who it works best on combine in such a way that the efforts only reinforce their beliefs inverse to the evidence, truth, reason, and humanity against their position.
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:58 AM on July 21, 2023 [26 favorites]
I don't think it's just symbolic. People absorb what they are exposed to, this is a real and dangerous issue and concern. Watch enough propaganda and fake news and people will start to absorb the biases, accept the framing of circumstances, start to thin kand act on the garbage they've been hearing so much. There's really not much value in exposure to this kind of stuff with the perspective "look and see what lies and manipulations these malicious entities are serving up" no matter how immune one thinks they are to it or how bombastically false it is. Shining a light on it is to direct attention to it, directing attention to it is it's goal and it will be effective on a nonzero amount of people focusing their attention on it.
These kinds of nasty outright lies and manipulations don't shrivel up and die when exposed to the light and air and antiviral or when dunked in alcohol, the way they work and who it works best on combine in such a way that the efforts only reinforce their beliefs inverse to the evidence, truth, reason, and humanity against their position.
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:58 AM on July 21, 2023 [26 favorites]
There is a reason I am all over people near me if they watch this stuff! Mr. Roquette was watching the Yellow Vest demonstrations for awhile on RT and Sputnik. I made him stop. Took awhile for him to understand. Unfortunately his parents did not educate him about propaganda.
I got educated about it very young.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 10:06 AM on July 21, 2023 [9 favorites]
I got educated about it very young.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 10:06 AM on July 21, 2023 [9 favorites]
They really paid this man's $1000 hotel bill so he could watch TV? That's ridiculous, I feel like Putin is weakening my mind through knowing this fact. A lot of media is straight trash, everyone knows that, and state media is usually the laziest and most garbage, as every American should know by now.
The part that surprises me are all the Russian women crying about their bad lives. Why are they showing that, it's not very aspirational? I am convinced that Americans and Russians are too temperamentally far apart and we'll have to fight each other...
posted by kingdead at 10:08 AM on July 21, 2023
The part that surprises me are all the Russian women crying about their bad lives. Why are they showing that, it's not very aspirational? I am convinced that Americans and Russians are too temperamentally far apart and we'll have to fight each other...
posted by kingdead at 10:08 AM on July 21, 2023
RT is not allowed in our home. Has not been for awhile.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 10:08 AM on July 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 10:08 AM on July 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
I know how he feels. Last night I was waiting for a pizza, and the shop had Fox News on their TV (because of coure they did), and even with the sound turned off I felt my IQ drop by like 20 points.
posted by briank at 10:21 AM on July 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by briank at 10:21 AM on July 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
RT is not allowed in our home. Has not been for awhile.
I understand, and I agree with you that Russian propaganda is both dangerous and noxious, especially in a time of war. But my point echoes here, in that you are choosing (and have the opportunity to choose) not to watch it, while where I am there is no choice, it's just gone.
On balance it's probably for the best, but still.
posted by chavenet at 10:22 AM on July 21, 2023
I understand, and I agree with you that Russian propaganda is both dangerous and noxious, especially in a time of war. But my point echoes here, in that you are choosing (and have the opportunity to choose) not to watch it, while where I am there is no choice, it's just gone.
On balance it's probably for the best, but still.
posted by chavenet at 10:22 AM on July 21, 2023
From the article:
In addition to the constant footage of anti-war and pro-Russian demonstrations in Germany, Russian TV is obsessed with the perfidy of the “Anglo-Saxons.” Here the Royal Family is criticized for a variety of sins, such as colonialism in Africa and the 3 million pounds King Charles supposedly received from a Qatari sheikh.posted by spamandkimchi at 10:23 AM on July 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
Although Russian propaganda normally skews far right, its producers are able to pivot quickly from feigning horror at transgendered people to promoting a kind of Soviet-flavored anti-colonialism.
This was interesting but it wasn't very surprising. I'd be interested in the results of a similar exercise executed on the American TV news and opinion landscape. (Because I refuse to watch it myself, of course.)
posted by Western Infidels at 10:47 AM on July 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Western Infidels at 10:47 AM on July 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
Does anyone remember American TV during the lead up to, and invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan? That shit was bonkers.
posted by nikoniko at 10:49 AM on July 21, 2023 [25 favorites]
posted by nikoniko at 10:49 AM on July 21, 2023 [25 favorites]
“But my point echoes here, in that you are choosing (and have the opportunity to choose) not to watch it, while where I am there is no choice, it's just gone.”
If there is a body of water that has brain eating amoebas, I expect that to be cleaned up or cordoned off, because there are just too many people who are willing to roll the dice because they just want to swim and don’t believe there’s a problem. Or that they individually are immune. Personal choice really doesn’t apply there.
The same should be true for propaganda networks like RT or Fox News.
posted by jzb at 10:50 AM on July 21, 2023 [7 favorites]
If there is a body of water that has brain eating amoebas, I expect that to be cleaned up or cordoned off, because there are just too many people who are willing to roll the dice because they just want to swim and don’t believe there’s a problem. Or that they individually are immune. Personal choice really doesn’t apply there.
The same should be true for propaganda networks like RT or Fox News.
posted by jzb at 10:50 AM on July 21, 2023 [7 favorites]
Fox News will be gone soon enough, TikTok will take its place! And then people will get too freaked out by that and they'll have "America Tok" or something
posted by kingdead at 11:01 AM on July 21, 2023
posted by kingdead at 11:01 AM on July 21, 2023
Although Russian propaganda normally skews far right, its producers are able to pivot quickly from feigning horror at transgendered people to promoting a kind of Soviet-flavored anti-colonialism.
The far right will absolutely do that here as well, being for the people and against “elites” when it suits them. Of course, very specific “elites”.
There’s a reason fascism gets called the fools socialism.
posted by Artw at 12:18 PM on July 21, 2023 [10 favorites]
The far right will absolutely do that here as well, being for the people and against “elites” when it suits them. Of course, very specific “elites”.
There’s a reason fascism gets called the fools socialism.
posted by Artw at 12:18 PM on July 21, 2023 [10 favorites]
You can immerse yourself in genocidal Russian propaganda (with subtitles) via the Russian Media Monitor youtube channel.
posted by Kabanos at 3:27 PM on July 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Kabanos at 3:27 PM on July 21, 2023 [3 favorites]
I felt a similar depressing vibe to the part about Russian media in Masha Gessen's book 'The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia'.
posted by ovvl at 5:27 PM on July 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ovvl at 5:27 PM on July 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
fascism gets called the fools socialism
I think of that as a reference to anti-semitism from the 1800s. More here
posted by bolix at 7:27 PM on July 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
I think of that as a reference to anti-semitism from the 1800s. More here
posted by bolix at 7:27 PM on July 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
People absorb what they are exposed to, this is a real and dangerous issue and concern.
One October several years back, I decided I was going to watch a horror movie every night for a month. I will never do such a thing again, for several reasons. Number one, while I like horror, watching death and torture and destruction every single night was just too gruelling. It was such a relief when, towards the end of the month, I began working my way through The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which is spooky rather than scary. Number two, I had difficulty coming up with enough good horror movies to watch. And number three, I was in a very weird mental place by the end of the month. I'm an atheist with no belief whatsoever in the supernatural. I'm not even superstitious. But by the end of the month, I found I really, really wanted to believe that there was such a thing as magic and ghosts and so on. I got over it quite quickly once I began watching regular movies and TV shows again, but I've never forgotten how much that weirded me out.
I also often think of something I read online, of how Facebook employees who had the job of dealing with abuse/hate speech/bigotry/conspiracy theories/misinformation, etc., on Facebook were experiencing mental health issues such as depression and anxiety as a result, and how some of them were buying into the conspiracy theories and the hate speech.
We're more susceptible to others' influence than we know.
posted by orange swan at 10:00 PM on July 21, 2023 [13 favorites]
One October several years back, I decided I was going to watch a horror movie every night for a month. I will never do such a thing again, for several reasons. Number one, while I like horror, watching death and torture and destruction every single night was just too gruelling. It was such a relief when, towards the end of the month, I began working my way through The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which is spooky rather than scary. Number two, I had difficulty coming up with enough good horror movies to watch. And number three, I was in a very weird mental place by the end of the month. I'm an atheist with no belief whatsoever in the supernatural. I'm not even superstitious. But by the end of the month, I found I really, really wanted to believe that there was such a thing as magic and ghosts and so on. I got over it quite quickly once I began watching regular movies and TV shows again, but I've never forgotten how much that weirded me out.
I also often think of something I read online, of how Facebook employees who had the job of dealing with abuse/hate speech/bigotry/conspiracy theories/misinformation, etc., on Facebook were experiencing mental health issues such as depression and anxiety as a result, and how some of them were buying into the conspiracy theories and the hate speech.
We're more susceptible to others' influence than we know.
posted by orange swan at 10:00 PM on July 21, 2023 [13 favorites]
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posted by rpophessagr at 9:11 AM on July 21, 2023