I’m not sure these people who believe this stuff are in positions of power though. I would imagine the US ruling class are more acutely aware of what is really going on.
On the other hand, some of their actions only make sense if they believe their own bullshit, so I really have no idea.
I think it’s a spectrum between stupidity and propaganda. The CIA claimed that China was building military bases in Cuba, but then the US military brass immediately came out and said they had no idea where these assertions came from and none of their intelligence indicated such activities
Or look the current issue of Prigozhin death. Even many people here and on Hexbear have no doubts FSB offed him, but writing this on some obscure messageboard is one thing and state officials saying it ex officio is another so Pentagon had to come in and remind Usians, inluding their officials, it’s nothing confirmed yet. Btw i got no answer but downvotes on lemmy when i asked is Pentagon putlerbot rooskie propaganda now lmao.
Being given access to accurate intel is no guarantee that they actually leverage it to form their own views.
There are anecdotes of US officials using mainstream media to spoonfeed them their positions on issues as they can’t be assed to do anything resembling actual work.
I’m not sure these people who believe this stuff are in positions of power though. I would imagine the US ruling class are more acutely aware of what is really going on.
On the other hand, some of their actions only make sense if they believe their own bullshit, so I really have no idea.
I think it’s a spectrum between stupidity and propaganda. The CIA claimed that China was building military bases in Cuba, but then the US military brass immediately came out and said they had no idea where these assertions came from and none of their intelligence indicated such activities
Or look the current issue of Prigozhin death. Even many people here and on Hexbear have no doubts FSB offed him, but writing this on some obscure messageboard is one thing and state officials saying it ex officio is another so Pentagon had to come in and remind Usians, inluding their officials, it’s nothing confirmed yet. Btw i got no answer but downvotes on lemmy when i asked is Pentagon putlerbot rooskie propaganda now lmao.
Being given access to accurate intel is no guarantee that they actually leverage it to form their own views.
There are anecdotes of US officials using mainstream media to spoonfeed them their positions on issues as they can’t be assed to do anything resembling actual work.