The internet is a cesspool, Putin’s “fake news” law

Like most (that don’t live in Ukraine or Russia), I cannot confidently claim to know anything that’s truly going on with the war. Sifting through the vast amount of digital crap on the war is actually mind-blowing! The only thing most of us can agree on for sure … Sadness for the innocent civilians caught up in this mess – on both sides.

With Russia getting sanctioned, censored, and condemned.. Russia retaliated by passing their own law against “fake news”. Any person or journalist spreading falsities against their army could essentially be jailed up to 15 years.

Western news outlets responded quickly by suspending their broadcasts in Russia either temporarily, or completely. (Which to me, sounds like omission, but hey I digress). Not surprisingly, the usual suspects that pulled out were CNN, ABC, BBC, Bloomberg, CBS, and of course, our very own state media – CBC. Two outlets will remain (kudos to them), WSJ, and The Washington Post (tho they removed some bylines and datelines from certain stories to be safe).

Of course western minds were exploding over Putin’s new law. You know, something about “Freedom of Speech”. Reminder: We live in a world where Tech giants (twitter/FB) banned a sitting US president! A man with the highest rank in the country lol. IMHO, I used to think USA was this great force. They look stupid, just like us! And I’m sure China is smirking.

State media is nothing new. Governments have weaponized media for decades. Russia is no exception as they have their own state news, which the West has also censored as much as they could.

Maybe media propaganda worked better back in the old days? but with the internet, and almost everyone having a mini computer, and video in their back pocket, it’s harder to spin the news – though that doesn’t stop them. Like this famous screen grab – or the reasoning behind FJB.

Sadly, despite it hurting and dividing the citizens. It’s also hurts themselves, and erodes trust. We see this as CNN & CBC has lost viewership. I don’t think, in my lifetime anyways, we have ever felt so divided, misguided, mistrustful, and hateful.

I pray for the innocent, but I think as an outsider, poking the bear and evoking a full assault of cancel-culture-type sanctions (that’s hurting ALL of us) was a bad idea. Which has morphed into idiocy like banning Russian cats, Canadian Poutine, Russian Opera singers/athletes. How do we know for sure what is going on? One side says it’s all Russia. Another side says it’s all because of US/Nato. Another says it’s the EU. Another says Zelinsky is a puppet. Fact is, this certainly could have been avoided – can we blame them all for that? But here we are, both sides are spewing garbage! There were even anti-russian video game, movie images, and images from years ago depicting the current war going viral. They tell us brave Ukrainian soldiers died defending an island – then we find out they’re alive. A Russian tank ran over a car, then it was – ooops maybe it was a Ukrainian tank – so then it became Russians stole that tank! Good lord. As people feverishly search for reasons why all of this is happening – the divide grows – as some are stumbling on videos of ruthless Ukrainian Militia killing their own people for years. Whatever argument exists into that horrific rabbit hole – any smidgen of truth to those stories understandably throws a wrench in support for Ukraine. I mean, who in their right mind would support a far-right ruthless faction that has supposedly infiltrated the Ukraine army? Further, video stories of Ukrainian guards kicking and beating foreign students trying to flee into Poland – doesn’t help! Nor do the videos of armed Ukrainian civilians killing citizens on the streets. So right now, via media, it’s purely he said – she said. If you only watch main-stream news, then I don’t need to give examples, as they’re mostly all “Ukraine says” articles.

One journalist mentioned we in the West have been brainwashed to hate Russia. Maybe that is true? – While I was watching a recent video of a woman yelling at a Russian soldier, I highly expected him to unload his gun, right there & then. Instead he patiently pleaded for her to stop and move along. I admit, I was disappointed – I didn’t want to see her shot – but I was disappointed in what I ignorantly thought would happen, yet I wasn’t the only one who thought the same.

Even in recent times – for years all we heard from MSM was Russia-Russia-Russia vs Trump – then even most recently look at CBC vs the Truckers, insinuating Russians were behind the Trucker Convoy. Sigh. Perhaps given the recent events with Trudeau enacting the Emergencies act – embellishing the reasons for doing so – and their government throwing every name conceivable at the working class that don’t support him – I’m a little tired. Tired of corruption, scandals, shitty-state-media, and crappy governments.

For those of us trying to make sense of what’s happening, and praying it doesn’t escalate into something much bigger – as always – I implore you to watch both sides – seek out independent people/journalists with boots on the ground to see their truths through video (whatever side they are on). In the end though, because of all the uncertainty, because of the silent partners, I wish Canada (all political sides) stuck to their guns and only offered humanitarian help. What if it was true? – our weapons have now been used against other innocent civilians. Just the thought of that is chilling. We could have at least felt proud to know, we didn’t kill anyone with blankets, bread, and refugee help. Sunnyways right?!