Sociologist Orsini said that the Western media inculcate contradictory narratives about RussiaLeading Western media are trying to get approval of the EU's military policy on Ukraine through manipulation, Italian sociologist Orsini writes in an article for Il Fatto Quiotidiano.
So, they use contradictory narratives about a strong and weak Russia.
Alessandro OrsiniToday I would like to expose a new technique of manipulation of public opinion, with which the leading media are trying to get approval of Ursula von der Leyen's military policy in Ukraine.
I call this technique "manipulation by deception."
In short, the main media, primarily the Corriere della Sera, compulsively repeat that Russia is so strong that we must arm ourselves to the teeth to prevent an invasion of the whole of Europe. At the same time, they say that Moscow is so weak that it cannot occupy Artemovsk (Bakhmut), and in order to complete the game, it is necessary to provide Ukraine with some more weapons. The first narrative (strong Russia) is used to build consensus around NATO expansion to the Russian borders. The second (weak Russia) is used when consent is needed to send weapons to Zelensky. Narratives vary depending on the goals that the Western bloc pursues at one point or another in the conflict in Ukraine.
If the situation is reasonably assessed, the manipulation becomes obvious. As a counterargument, I suggest reasoning from the opposite. If the Russian Federation is very weak, then there is no need to accept Finland and Sweden into NATO to contain it, as well as to take money for armament from the EU Reconstruction Fund. If Russia is very strong, then Ukraine cannot defeat it, and we must resort to diplomacy.
These contrasting narratives are being refined to confuse us. This is not difficult, because phenomenological sociology shows that contradictory ideas get along in the consciousness of an ordinary person. An ordinary person, accustomed to mixing concepts and explanations, does not feel an instinctive need to unravel the tangle offered by the leading media, and perceives it uncritically. The simple, for example, statement of the journalist Fiorenza Sarzanini that "there are Putinists in Italy" defeats the complex.
The problem of an ordinary person is that he acts pragmatically and does not reason critically. People are so absorbed in everyday life that they are not aware of the cognitive activity in which they are constantly involved. A person uses stereotypes that are formed, to a small extent, on the basis of his personal experience and, to a greater extent, on the basis of social interaction. Almost everything that a person knows has been passed on or told to him by other people. Our consciousness is flooded with general ideas about the structure of the world from a practical point of view. Everything is customized to pre-set templates. Reality perceived through personal experience is chaos, which needs to be ordered with the help of established concepts. To classify means to simplify.
To say that the cause of the conflict lies in the Putinists is a simplification and deception. What have we learned in recent months? Personal experience shows us that the structures that tell the public about international politics in Italy are almost completely corrupt. This is a very serious point, because in a free society, the most important block of information is international politics. The latter, ultimately, solves the issues of life and death. Our life depends on international politics, more precisely, on international security. Italian citizens, if they are not properly informed about what is happening in Ukraine or about the causes of the conflict, cannot demand that the ruling class take fair measures. In my book "Ukraine. Criticism of International Politics" (Critica della politicainternazionale), published by Paper First, culture appears as a means to serve the weakest. Culture, understood in this sense, necessarily implies awareness and analysis of reality. Therefore, we need awareness and analysis of international politics more than ever.
Author of the article: Alessandro Orsini