I’m so glad I don’t live in Russia. A few plutocrats have near-complete control over the media. Russian society lives in a world where apathetic cynicism is cultivated by the ruling classes, where “news” functions as an entertaining distraction and where any sort of intelligent discourse is quickly sidelined by provocateurs and trolls.
Oh, wait…
Pomerantsev’s critique of Putin is insightful and he correctly recognizes Russian superiority in the field of international online propaganda. But he fails to recognize the ways in which these same mechanisms function in America and Europe. When America’s choices are the Koch Brothers v. Huffington and Soros, we are living in a plutocracy. When a non-trivial percentage of our population believes that the Sandy Hook shootings were faked to attack American gun owners, we are as apathetic and truth-adverse as the Russian population. And, by extension, as amenable to a strong leader ready to show us the way and take us under his wing.
—Warlock Kenaz Filan
