""" They created an image of Mr Trump smiling with his arms around a
group of black women at a party A creator of one of the images
told the BBC: "I'm not claiming it's accurate." "I'm not a
photojournalist," Mr Kaye tells me from his radio studio. "I'm
not out there taking pictures of what's really happening. I'm a
storyteller." "I'm not saying, 'Hey, look, Donald Trump was at
this party with all of these African American voters. Look how
much they love him!'" he said. "If anybody's voting one way or
another because of one photo they see on a Facebook page, that's
a problem with that person, not with the post itself." """
> Did you expect someone running disinformation to have high ethical
standards?
This is a challenging question. Maybe your expectations are correct,
but here's my take:
There are people who do this professionally in the context of warfare,
or as police trying to infiltrate a crime gang. They go home to their
families with a clear demarcation. "Today I told lies to the enemy. I
manipulated people. So that the 'good guys' might win".
So I do think psyops people can have a clean conscience and standard
of ethics, and they are able to own what they do. Not that I'm
agreeing with active, offensive psyops outside a "hot war zone" - just
weighing up the psychology here.
This guy runs a civilian radio station. He is clearly self-deluding.
And he oozes contempt for citizens of his own nation (victim blaming:
"that's a problem with that person, not with the post").
In creating the fake image he clearly is saying "Hey, look, Donald
Trump was at this party with all of these African American voters",
yet he then denies it.
That's the difference I see. It is that he is not clear with himself
about what he is doing that is dangerous and worrying. And in spinning
the "I'm just a storyteller" line, he's also selling his MO as
legitimate kind of "alternative journalism".
4 comments
[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 24.2 ms ] threadThis is a challenging question. Maybe your expectations are correct, but here's my take:
There are people who do this professionally in the context of warfare, or as police trying to infiltrate a crime gang. They go home to their families with a clear demarcation. "Today I told lies to the enemy. I manipulated people. So that the 'good guys' might win".
So I do think psyops people can have a clean conscience and standard of ethics, and they are able to own what they do. Not that I'm agreeing with active, offensive psyops outside a "hot war zone" - just weighing up the psychology here.
This guy runs a civilian radio station. He is clearly self-deluding. And he oozes contempt for citizens of his own nation (victim blaming: "that's a problem with that person, not with the post").
In creating the fake image he clearly is saying "Hey, look, Donald Trump was at this party with all of these African American voters", yet he then denies it.
That's the difference I see. It is that he is not clear with himself about what he is doing that is dangerous and worrying. And in spinning the "I'm just a storyteller" line, he's also selling his MO as legitimate kind of "alternative journalism".