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Comment by lakomen | Hacker News Reader

I think someone is downvote stalking me, because I write things about their beloved USA they don't like. But I'll write this: whenever I read about China and censorship I just can't forget how the EU and UK are censoring Russian media.

So when you're in a glasshouse don't throw stones. Always the hypocritical "look China bad us good". I'm so tired of the propaganda - an EU resident.

Before you start judging a person for being dirty, make sure you're not dirty yourself.

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Censorship should be criticized in all forms. Two wrongs don't make a right. It's not a dichotomy.

That is because you mistake Russian media for free and truth seeking media. You probably missed the closing down of many news agencies in the past years (that have seen a growing repression from Putin), and perhaps you missed the exodus of journalists and shutdown of the last independent media from Russia.

The only thing you can get is the propaganda from the Kremlin. That propaganda is the crucial part of the Russian warfare. It functions to sow doubt about the truth. It is instrumental to get people to believe that Ukraine downed MH17. If Russia commits war crimes, its media start to spout different explanations, often mutually exclusive ones. Lies, damned lies, stupid lies, but it takes a lot of effort to deconstruct even the most plainly stupid ones of them. The effect is that you see a variety of nonsense, which makes you think about it as it sows confusion. This is known as the Firehose of Falsehoods. You are not sure anymore, some of your friends might buy one of the lies, while another one might stick better with you because it fits your beliefs better. This has nothing to do with understanding the truth.

You cannot compare our free press to the russian media. I am very critical about our media, also because they seem to be ignorant about the dynamics of our media which the Kremlin perfectly knows to exploit.

One of the pitfalls we have been observing is the one of False Balance, where you present the statements of one side as is, although it is complete garbage. Deconstructing false statements takes time, knowledge and a deep understanding of the context of events. Now look at the financial incentives and you see why we have got a huge problem in our western societies that rely on commercial entities to provide our news.

The bad news is: Firehose of Falsehoods is extremely effective! Look at Trump and his relationships with truth. He gives a new meaning to it.

Now you might think you are smart and special, so propaganda has no effect on you. Just like everyone else thinks. It is a poison, there is no reason to drink it.

Censoring the media of a state that literally is in a proxy war with you and essentially has been since Putin came to power, although the west didn’t realize what was happening until recently, seems reasonable.

If someone was stealing and breaking stuff every time they came over to your house, you wouldn’t let them in anymore either.

Utter unrestricted access to all from everywhere is a odd notion. Is it also somehow hypocritical to censor isis propaganda?

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