30 Comments

Nice outline of strategies all of us should be using to reach out to current swallowers of alt-right garbage in USA . . .

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You parse that speech like an English professor, Ruth!

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Thank you Ruth for this focus. While we are intelligent and knowledgeable, may kindness guide the way.

I was encouraged my local bank printing kindness quotes at the tellers stations, with extras to give away. The fabric shop had product giveaways promoting niceness and kindness.

Somedays it's all we've got. Kindness to me is the antidote to corruption.

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Arnold is using emotion to appeal to the people.

Rational thought and logic will not work.

He will struggle to get through to those that follow and like Putin.

Likely he has little chance to. The media is controled by Putin. The media not controlled by Putin is not where Putin's followers will go. They seek confirmation bias and not knowledge.

Similar to those in the US. Fox viewers do not seek out knowledge. Any knowledge that conflicts with what they were told they get angry and keep their false belief. When they didn't like Fox saying Biden won they moved to another network.

Centuries after the Enlightenment religious followers don't seek out knowledge. It's the original form of propaganda mixed with authoritarianism.

The Russian Church is backing Putin. Similar to those that back Trump.

So why does propaganda work?

Illusory Truth Effect. Lie and people believe it. Even later when proven false most will continue to do so.

It's due to the human need to trust other humans. Otherwise we would not cooperate like we do. For humanity it has worked. Not so much many times for individual humans.

Cognitive dissonance. These Russians want to beleive Putin. They want to think he is doing some awesome thing for the Ukranians and for Russia.

Nationalism also plays a role. It's a tribal response. One's evil leader is still better than the leaders of the competition.

The human mind is still rather primitve. It's easily manipulated. For many their mind is still attracted to following an alpha. An authoritarian fits the bill. They don't have a choice.

It works on those that are more tribal, are more attracted to authoritarians, are attracked to symbols and rituals, have some false sense of the past as being better than change for the better today.

What will change Russia and end Putin's reign? When an alpha fails his tribe and they start to suffer they can rise up to replace them with another alpha. Easier when tribes were 100 or less. Not so easy when the tribal leader has access to nukes, a huge military under his control and is ruthless and can control all aspects of the information the people receive.

How far will Putin go? How far can he? North Korea is the far end of authoritarian. China is authoritarian but practical. They may want Taiwan but if they invaded the same would happen. The US would stop trading with them.

Sun Tsu said war has to be profitbale. Putin is costing Russia and Russians a lot of money. He might not care. Someone there eventually will care enough to change things.

They likely will use propaganda to do so.

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Schwarzenegger's message also has an emotional effect on those of us who oppose this war. It is so unfortunate that the only way to dissuade Putin the instigator from continuing this horror show is through the suffering of the Russian people. He has effectively used his own citizens as a human shield. I do wish there was another way.

It is as if Putin is saying to his people, "This is a case of mind over matter. I don't mind and you don't matter." Sadly, this is not a good time to be Russian.

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I watched the vid when it was first released and immediately reacted to the power of the delivery and the message. Schwarzenegger uses truth and empathy as well as a casual, nonthreatening style in a very effective manner. This is a chat with a friend, someone you worry and care about, someone who has lost their way through no fault of their own. It's a plea to come home, a plea to come back to the family of men and women who seek peace and mutual respect in the world.

I agree this manner of outreach may serve Americans in touching base with family and friends, those who have succumbed to far-right propaganda. So easy to become frustrated and angry with little to show for our efforts beyond more anger and frustration.

Been there, done that.

Kudos to Schwarzenegger for showing us a different way. Well done!

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Ruth, I love your idea of making A.S. our ambassador to Russia. He is such an effective communicator and towering persona like no other and especially to the Russian people! Send in the Terminator. He also understands implicitly what Mark Twain said "It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled." There is always dissonance and and pride involved when people are confronted and challenged with having bought into a propagandist belief system based on lies.

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Thanks, Ruth, for your helpful insights on Arnold’s empathic (and hopefully, effective) talk to the Russians …. yes… certainly lessons for us all, as we struggle, and frequently fail, to be as profoundly kind as Arnold was, in making the hard truth, bearable … really appreciate your practical reminders as we learn to embrace, rather than push away, those who are propagandized

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We must try, everything possible. That said, propaganda perpetuates through generations. We are looking at roughly 100 years of selective psychological and emotional breeding. That doesn't go away. I remember reading about Raisa Gorbachev, quite an activist liberal for Russia, saying it was psychological insanity to go against the prevailing view. Insanity, because it would get one killed, or sentenced, leading to death. She wasn't wrong. Ivan Pavlov was a Russian. So was Ivan Ilyin, Putin knows both very well. He knows how to make Russians and his enemies "salivate." We need to, lead with a carrot, verify and carry a big stick. "Russia is nothing but the Mafia, with a gas station". John McCain. We must try.

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I'm sharing this on my, tiny, Twitter account. Americans very much need to think about these skills to combat propaganda here too, if democracy is to be saved.

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Thanks Ruth for sharing this. With Russian and Polish heritage I am fearful for the good people of these countries and of course for the desperate people of Ukraine as they try to survive Purim’s evil force of destruction and annihilation.

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Hello, Ruth… Thank you for this. Arnold’s wisdom is so admirable in times like these. I hope you’ll look at my Substack site at terenceclarke.substack.com. Be well, and thanks again. Terence Clarke

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Thank you.

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How to apply the same approach to disinformation/ propaganda in. the USA?

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I harbor no animus toward the Russian people and feel rather protective of those who live there, here and elsewhere, although my main concern is with our brothers and sisters living and dying in terror, in Ukraine, because of the ego of one "man". In the Internet Age where all the world can immediately witness his ignobility, you'd think our own collective nobility would have a short answer to the problem. We are, after all, trying to save each other from him. Kudos to you and Arnold. This more Taoistic approach probably also appeals to the Chinese, who have a big say in the matter and future.

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Mr. Schwarzenegger’s message is brilliant. I note that he is Austrian, not German, by birth.

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