Comment on France uncovers a vast Russian disinformation campaign in Europe

• rottingleaf@lemmy.zip ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I think they are joking.

  That said, правда (“truth” as something you believe to be true) and истина (“truth” as objective truth) are different words in Russian, but not having that distinction in a language doesn’t prevent its speakers from making it.

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  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    In English, you’d just describe that as “objective” and “subjective”. This isn’t in any way uniquely Russian. But its nice to pretend it is, because it plays well with demonizing something you’re unfamiliar with.

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    • psud@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      True versus verified, perhaps

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    • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I can do that in Russian too. I can’t do the former in English.

      There are plenty of things possible in one language and not (yet\anymore) in another. I don’t see what does this have to do with any kind of demonization. Maybe for people knowing only one language, which, yes, is more common for English speakers than I’d like to think.

      I suppose a speaker of Finnish would have something to enlighten us about some languages being in some regards inferior to his own, too. Or a speaker of Icelandic. Or maybe even Persian. There are languages having dozens of words to distinguish shades\textures of snow or sand, or not having future tense.

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      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        There are plenty of things possible in one language and not (yet\anymore) in another. I don’t see what does this have to do with any kind of demonization.

        Pick a differential, declare that it is a unique good/bad indicator, and then work it into your propaganda. “In Chinese, the word for tragedy is the same as the word for opportunity” to imply Asian businessmen are naturally predatory. The “red heads have no souls” meme, used to denigrate the Irish. The entire field of Phrenology is based on picking differentials and trying to explain your way backwards into why it proves some racist theory.

        Its a boilerplate technique for alienating, mystifying, and ultimately demonizing an outside group.,

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