While Aleppo burns politicians and their corporate media try to benefit from it by spreading half-truths and straight up lies.
The news coming out of Aleppo has been tiny, with primary sources in the area at a minimum, as well us unbiased primary sources being basically nonexistent. So instead of being honest and telling people that we are not sure what is going on at this stage in Aleppo they rush to fill the information gap with hearsay and their own bias viewpoint.
Russian news is saying that the evacuation of Civilians has been completed with only rebels left in the area.
The Syrian Military is saying the evacuation has been suspended
Some western news agencies accuse Iran of wanting the evacuation to be stopped so that they can slaughter everyone in the area.
Humanitarian agencies are saying there are civilians still in the area, but where they are getting this information from is unclear.
This kind of misinformation is exactly how corporate media, and the forces behind them like big business and governments, try to create approval for actions that they want to take. This is kind of story they love, the lack of information means they can fill the gaps with questionable intelligence as we saw in the lead-up to the invasion of the Iraq.
In this case, the West wants to intervene in Syria and remove the Assad regime because they would like to build an oil pipeline through the region as well as weakening an ally of Russia. They also get the bonus of making the Iranians look bad as Iran is also opposed to the United States due to its past meddling in the region.
The Russians want to convince everyone like they are a benevolent force saving the world by intervening again Islamic extremism, but they want to keep their ally, Assad in place, so the west will not build a pipeline which would affect Russia's oil sales. They have military bases already in Syria so they want to keep those operational. Putin also increases his popularity at home and abroad by seeming like a strong and decisive leader against a growing threat in the middle east, which deflects from his fall in key support within Russia.
Fake news is a big story at the moment, but this is a great example of how governments and big money twist events to try and change people's minds for their own ends. This has been going on for years.
In these circumstances, I always tend to think that the truth is somewhere in the middle.
We already know that religious hatred has a role to play and this generates atrocities and group vendetta. Civilians have been used as bait before, extremist groups have been know to use them as human shields and during World War 2 Stalin would not let civilians leave cities as he thought it would make his troops fight harder, perhaps there is an element of this going on.
People should learn to question the news they read, and that is not to say disbelieving everything you hear, but question it. Who is telling me this? Do they have a side they favor that could influence them? What is the message and who is it benefiting? What do we already know about the situation and the context? These are all questions that can help you think critically about what you hear.
The news coming out of Aleppo has been tiny, with primary sources in the area at a minimum, as well us unbiased primary sources being basically nonexistent. So instead of being honest and telling people that we are not sure what is going on at this stage in Aleppo they rush to fill the information gap with hearsay and their own bias viewpoint.
Russian news is saying that the evacuation of Civilians has been completed with only rebels left in the area.
The Syrian Military is saying the evacuation has been suspended
Some western news agencies accuse Iran of wanting the evacuation to be stopped so that they can slaughter everyone in the area.
Humanitarian agencies are saying there are civilians still in the area, but where they are getting this information from is unclear.
This kind of misinformation is exactly how corporate media, and the forces behind them like big business and governments, try to create approval for actions that they want to take. This is kind of story they love, the lack of information means they can fill the gaps with questionable intelligence as we saw in the lead-up to the invasion of the Iraq.
In this case, the West wants to intervene in Syria and remove the Assad regime because they would like to build an oil pipeline through the region as well as weakening an ally of Russia. They also get the bonus of making the Iranians look bad as Iran is also opposed to the United States due to its past meddling in the region.
The Russians want to convince everyone like they are a benevolent force saving the world by intervening again Islamic extremism, but they want to keep their ally, Assad in place, so the west will not build a pipeline which would affect Russia's oil sales. They have military bases already in Syria so they want to keep those operational. Putin also increases his popularity at home and abroad by seeming like a strong and decisive leader against a growing threat in the middle east, which deflects from his fall in key support within Russia.
Fake news is a big story at the moment, but this is a great example of how governments and big money twist events to try and change people's minds for their own ends. This has been going on for years.
In these circumstances, I always tend to think that the truth is somewhere in the middle.
- There are probably civilians trapped in Aleppo.
- There probably have been atrocities committed by both sides
- Both sides will have roles to play in any negotiation on whether evacuations can continue without failing.
We already know that religious hatred has a role to play and this generates atrocities and group vendetta. Civilians have been used as bait before, extremist groups have been know to use them as human shields and during World War 2 Stalin would not let civilians leave cities as he thought it would make his troops fight harder, perhaps there is an element of this going on.
People should learn to question the news they read, and that is not to say disbelieving everything you hear, but question it. Who is telling me this? Do they have a side they favor that could influence them? What is the message and who is it benefiting? What do we already know about the situation and the context? These are all questions that can help you think critically about what you hear.
Comments
Post a Comment
Thanks for adding to the conversation!