Juba toona oli natsi-Saksamaa propagandaministri Joseph Goebbelsi käsitluste keskne idee, et sõjalise edu eelduseks on inimeste mõtete ja hoiakute mõjutamine. Need teadmised ja strateegiad ei ole kuhugi kadunud ning neid tarvitatakse täna kõikjal. Infosõda on saanud üheks olulisemaks vahendiks enne, kui kahurid kõnelema hakkavad. Infosõja ja manipulatsiooni fragmentide tunnetus polnud enne pandeemiat nii hästi tunnetatav, kui seda praegu on näha. Muidugi inimesed, kes ei mõtle sellele ja ulbivad selles peavoolu loodud mugavas, turvalises ning uinutavas infovoos, ei saa aru, kuidas neid vooluga juhitakse just sinna, kuhu vaja. Ja proovige vaid neid segada ja äratada – saad vastu sõimu ning voolus pähe õpitud termineid – nats, homofoob, maski- ja vaktsiinivastane, putinist, kremlimeelne, sibul jne.
Aga läheme siis sujuvalt üle minu viimase kirjutise juurde „Mario Maripuu: Täna on mul soov teha Venemaa propagandat“ ning proovin seda nüüd teile ka veidi lahti seletada, mis oli selle loo idee ja mida ma nende päevade jooksul teile näidata soovin ehk kuidas toimib meie peavoolu propagandamasin kõikide lisadega sotsiaalmeedias.
Me kõik oleme kuulnud, kuidas erinevad faktikontrollerid, propastopperid ja stratkommarid on peavoolus väitnud, et nad tegelevad Venemaa-suunalise varjatud propaganda avastamisega. Selleks on neil sotsiaalmeedias erinevad meeskonnad (trollid), kes siis asuvad postitusi ja postitajat ründama, infot väänama, kui see on vastuolus Eesti Vabariigis kehtestatud peavoolunarratiiviga. Aga mis tegi minu artikli eriliseks, oli see, et andsin lugejale kohe alguses teada, et antud kirjutis on Venemaa propaganda ehk ei vasta Eesti Vabariigis kehtivale narratiivile. Selle lükkega ma võtsin „trollidelt“ ära võimaluse, et nad peavad nüüd kommentaariumis tõestama hakkama lugejatele, et tegu on Venemaa propagandaga. Minu jaoks tegi asja naljakaks see, et nad olid ikkagi mu postituse all platsis ning hakkasid arutama selle üle, mille ma kohe loo alguses välja tõin, et tegu on propagandaga. Lihtsamalt öeldes panin lauale õuna ja ütlesin välja, et see on õun, ja siis tulid „trollid“, kes hakkasid uuesti tõestama, et tegu on õunaga ja kui ohtlikuga veel! Sellega nad paljastasid endid, et nende meeskond ei ole just kõige nutikam kooslus.
Kindlasti lugeja nüüd mõtleb, et kuidas selliseid trolle ära tunda. Tavainimene, kes teeb mittepoliitilisi postitusi, ilmselt ei puutu kunagi kokku nendega, kuid poliitiliste postituste all olete kindlasti märganud absurdsete nimedega kasutajaid. Tooksin näitena välja ühe kasutaja nimega AI vs Rumalus. Ja analoogseid kasutajaid on palju. Olen neid ka enamuse ära blokeerinud, aga ilmselgelt tullakse mingi muu nimega järgmine kord taas uuesti platsi. AI vs Rumalus kasutaja puhul on selgesti arusaada, et inimeste meelsust kommentaariumis hakatakse juba mudima alates kasutajanimest. Kuna AI tungib tugevalt peale sotsiaalmeediasse ja üldse internetikeskkonda, siis sellega soovitakse viidata, et nn „propaganda“ tegijad kasutavad AI-d ning sõna „Rumalus“ viitab sellele, et propaganda tegija on loll või lausidioot. Nagu ka minu postituse all üritab väga teaduslikult põhjendades tarka juttu kirjutada, mis omakorda reedab ära selle trolli strateegia jätta rünnatavast kui lolli ja harimatu mulje.
Ja üldjuhul on põhitrollil ka satelliittrollid, kes siis kiidavad ta teksti kommentaariumis, millele järgneb üksteise tänamine. Selline muster on minu kirjutiste kommentaariumites olnud korduv, seega võib seda nimetada väljakujunenud trollide tiimitööks ja strateegiaks.
Trollidele on väga oluline jõuda kohale koheselt, kui postitus on avaldatud, ning risustada siis kommentaarium ära negatiivsete ja halvustavate kommentaaridega. Selle eesmärk on tekitada kommentaari lugejates vastumeelsus artikli sisule ja kujundada nii üldist arvamust, kuigi üldine arvamus üldse ei pruugi selline olla, nagu need trollid kommentaariumis märatsedes loovad. Selle tulemusel nad aktiviseerivad kommentaari lugejas enesetsensuuri üldse midagi ka arvata ja nõrgemad sisuloojad loobuvad teinekord oma sisu avaldamisest, sest ei kannatata kriitikat, veel enam, kui tullakse sisuliselt kohe kommentaari alla räuskama. Head sisuloojad – ärge kartke. Selline olukord on loodud just teie jaoks kunstlikult.
Loomulikult trollide tegevusele aitab kaasa ka Facebooki keskkond ise erinevate adripuudikatega. Küll on kommentaarid ja meeldimised peidetud kuni selleni, et sul pole võimalik isegi enda postituse all mõnikord vastata, kuni selleni, et eemaldavad kõige hullemad tegelased Facebooki keskkonnast. Parimaid näiteid on USA-s Trump, kes sai kontod tagasi, kui Eestis Ülle Pukk, kes ilmselgelt vist tagasi ei tulegi, sest kaotas 3 miljonit vaatamist kuus.
Kindlasti mõtlete, et kuidas sellised trolliliikumised Facebookis alguse said? Aastaid tagasi kindlasti mäletate, kuidas Facebookis ringlesid töökuulutused, kus otsiti Facebooki moderaatoreid. Täna need kõik kuuluvad liberaalide käsutusse ehk on globalistliku maailmavaate pooldajad ehk nad on loonud Facebookist ideaalse ajupesu masinavärgi. Faktikontrolliga, mida teostab Eesti sotsiaalmeedia ruumis Delfi, saavutatakse see, et tõde hoitakse viimase hetkeni kinni. Parim näide on koroonavaktsiinidesse puutuvad uudised, Ukraina biolaborid ja palju muud säärast. Ja mis kõige hullem, nad tsenseerivad inimesi nii, et nad ei vastuta mitte millegi eest. Nad lükkavad ise fakte ümber valedeväidetega ning loovad ise uut tõde, mis paraku aastate pärast tuleb välja, et nad ju valetasid – aga see enam ei oma tähtsust, sest siis oli vaja, et vale töötaks.
Täna on nende üheks põhiliseks väiteks, millega pekstakse tõekuulutajaid – „See on Vene propaganda!“
Hea lugeja ja sisulooja! Ärge laske ennast neist mõjutada, sest nõnda olete just teie kohe kaotanud ja nemad võitnud!
– Mario Maripuu, eestieest.com toimetaja ja saatejuht, poliitaktivist
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Even back then, one of the central ideas in the thinking of Nazi Germany’s Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, was that the prerequisite for military success is influencing people’s thoughts and attitudes. That knowledge and those strategies have not disappeared; they are still being used everywhere today. Information warfare has become one of the most important tools before the cannons begin to speak. Before the pandemic, the mechanisms of information warfare and manipulation were not as easily recognizable as they are today. Of course, people who never think about these things and simply drift along in the comfortable, secure, and numbing flow of information created by the mainstream do not realize how they are being guided exactly where they are meant to go. And if you dare to interrupt that flow and try to wake them up, you will be met with insults and ready-made labels learned from that same current—Nazi, homophobe, anti-mask, anti-vaccine, Putinist, Kremlin supporter, “sibul” (“onion,” a derogatory term for Russians in Estonia), and so on.
Now let us move smoothly to my latest article, “Mario Maripuu: Today I Feel Like Producing Russian Propaganda,”and let me explain its underlying idea and what I intend to demonstrate over the coming days—namely, how the mainstream propaganda machine operates on social media with all of its supporting mechanisms.
We have all heard how various fact-checkers, Propastop activists, and strategic communication specialists have claimed that they are engaged in identifying covert Russian propaganda. To do so, they maintain different teams on social media (trolls) whose task is to attack posts and their authors and twist information whenever it conflicts with the mainstream narrative established in the Republic of Estonia. What made my article different, however, was that I openly informed readers from the very beginning that the article itself was Russian propaganda—that it did not conform to the prevailing narrative in Estonia. By doing so, I deprived the “trolls” of the opportunity to arrive in the comment section and convince readers that it was Russian propaganda. What amused me was that they still showed up beneath my post and began discussing precisely the point I had already made at the very beginning—that it was propaganda. To put it simply, I placed an apple on the table and said, “This is an apple,” and then the trolls arrived to prove all over again that it was indeed an apple—and a very dangerous one at that! In doing so, they revealed that their team is not exactly the brightest group around.
At this point, many readers are probably wondering how to recognize such trolls. An ordinary person who publishes non-political posts will probably never encounter them, but beneath political posts you have certainly noticed users with absurd usernames. One example is a user called AI vs Rumalus (“AI vs Stupidity”). There are many similar accounts. I have blocked most of them, but apparently they simply return under different names. In the case of AI vs Rumalus, it is quite obvious that attempts to shape public opinion begin already with the username itself. Since AI is rapidly expanding throughout social media and the internet in general, the intention seems to be to imply that so-called “propaganda” creators rely on AI, while the word “Stupidity” suggests that the propaganda creator is foolish or an outright idiot. As under my own post, the account attempts to write very scientific-looking and intellectual comments, which in turn reveals its strategy: to portray the target as ignorant and uneducated. Usually, the main troll is accompanied by satellite trolls who praise the main troll’s comments, after which they thank one another. This pattern has repeatedly appeared in the comment sections of my articles, so it can fairly be described as an established teamwork strategy among trolls.
For trolls, it is extremely important to arrive immediately after a post has been published and flood the comment section with negative and disparaging comments. The goal is to create hostility toward the article among readers and thereby shape public opinion, even though public opinion may not actually resemble the picture created by those trolls in the comments. As a result, they encourage self-censorship among readers, discouraging them from expressing their own views. Weaker content creators sometimes even stop publishing altogether because they cannot withstand the criticism—especially when hostile comments appear almost immediately. To all content creators: do not be afraid. This situation has been artificially created precisely for you.
Naturally, Facebook itself also contributes to this through various restrictions. Comments and reactions are hidden; sometimes you cannot even reply beneath your own post, and in other cases certain users are removed from the platform altogether. Some of the best-known examples are Donald Trump in the United States, whose accounts were eventually restored, and Ülle Pukk in Estonia, who most likely will never return because she lost three million monthly views.
Many of you are probably wondering how such troll movements emerged on Facebook in the first place. Years ago, many of you will surely remember Facebook job advertisements seeking moderators. Today, those positions, in my view, belong to people who support a liberal, globalist worldview, and they have turned Facebook into an ideal machine for mass psychological conditioning. Through fact-checking—performed in Estonia’s social media space by Delfi—the truth is, in my opinion, withheld until the very last moment. Examples include reporting on COVID-19 vaccines, Ukrainian biolaboratories, and many similar issues. Worst of all, they censor people without bearing any responsibility themselves. They dismiss facts as misinformation and construct new “truths” which, years later, may prove to have been false—but by then it no longer matters because, at the time, the falsehood had already served its purpose.
Today, one of their main accusations against those they consider truth-tellers is simply:
“This is Russian propaganda!”
Dear reader and fellow content creator, do not let yourselves be influenced by them, because if you do, you have already lost—and they have already won.
— Mario Maripuu, editor and host at eestieest.com, political activist
