Conspiracy theories used as anti western propaganda?

Having been watching Russia Today now and then during the last
three years you can't avoid seeing people, who usually, don't get air
time in western media get it here. People like Alex Jones, Jim Stachowiak
from American Resistance Radio
and Gerald Celente are all on this show to speak their mind.
They even run segments on 911 conspiracies.

It is interesting that RT is doing this. But i don't think it's about
free speech and honest journalism. I started to think about this and
now i decided to post it online.

Lets start here.
Here comes a fact that drives me up the wall.
People have startet saying things on RT comment sections like
"You have to watch Russia Today to get the truth."
or
"RT is good honest reporting."
or
"Just found RT. I will never go back to mainstream."

Like Russia Today or Al Jazeera are some kind of super honest objectivist
stations that, unlike western media, acctually bring up these theories.
This is something i find almost typical of the conspiracy community
and that is that it is very easily duped.
When Russia Today puts out this stuff it's not because they are good and
honest journalists. They do it for the same reason all the other TV stations do it.
Propaganda.
Russia Today is a propaganda station just like Fox News.
They just have different agendas.
They just seem honest to conspiracy theorists because they bring up these
ideas now and then. Conspiracy theorists usually hate the western media but
when, for example, Glenn Beck brings up FEMA camps then conspiracy people just
love him and Fox News for putting him on.
But Fox News isn't doing it because they are honest and believe in bringing
you the truth and give these theories a platform.
They do it now because a democrat is the president and Fox thinks it's a great
idea to tap into the segement of the population, who usually are right wing,
who believe in these theories and to galvanise them.
But the second a republican becomes president you can be sure that the flow
of conspiracy theories on Fox is going to be cut of like that *snap with fingers*.

The Fox example also shows that a campaign like this can backfire.
Glenn Beck has taken a lot of flak from the media for talking about FEMA
camps and conspiracy stuff and it has seriously hurt Fox News as a credible channel.

So back to RT. Why are they bringing conspiracy people on to talk about their theories?
I personally think it has some roots in, for example, Alexander Dugin's book
"Foundations of Geopolitics"
A summary on wiki states:

"The book declares that "the battle for the world rule of [ethnic] Russians"
has not ended and Russia remains "the staging area of a new anti-bourgeois,
anti-American revolution." The Eurasian Empire will be constructed "on the
fundamental principle of the common enemy: the rejection of Atlanticism,
strategic control of the USA, and the refusal to allow liberal values to
dominate us."

Military operations play relatively little role. The textbook believes in a
sophisticated program of subversion, destabilization, and disinformation
spearheaded by the Russian special services.
The operations should be assisted by a tough, hard-headed utilization of
Russia's gas, oil, and natural resources to bully and pressure other countries.
The book states that "the maximum task [of the future] is the 'Finlandization’
of all of Europe"."

I think that says a lot about Russian policy. Yes the west is trying to similar things
but this is how power politics work and anyone who doesn't get that is, i'm afraid to say,
very naive.

To us here in the west it's quite obvious that all the people that RT has on do their own thing
and are separate from each other.
Gerald Celente for example is not synonymous with Alex Jones, even if he from now and then appear
on his show, and vice versa.

But when you put them all together under one banner as westerners with a perspective,
who usually hold negative views on western global policy, the message that they are broadcasting
becomes clear:
"The evil west who right now is trying to control the entire globe
is about to sink. But there are a few honest westerners, like these people,
out there that are trying to expose this capitalist Bilderberger elite and their
imperialist western agenda and we are so honest, because we believe in giving
you "the truth", that we give them an outlet."

The purpose of bringing these people on is of course subversion, to make all these theories
seem credible and to sow distrust of the west so they will instead turn to Russia.
Psychological warfare and propaganda.
Basically a very very sophisticated version of trash talking your
enemy and making him seem like the evil one.

And no i'm not saying that the elites here in the west are all good and want
whats best for the population at large but what i am saying is that we shouldn't
praise Russia Today for putting conspiracy people on the tube because that
is just switching your alligance from one elite to another. From the western elite
and their propaganda to the eastern elite and their propaganda.

So don't be so naive to think that the truth is going to come via some
TV station. Just because it's in another country it doesn't mean it's objective.

Does anyone else think like me or do you object?

i agree with some of what you say and i understand your sentiment.

every newsstation probably has some kind of agenda.

but...

Russia Today is a propaganda station just like Fox News.

Russia Today hasn't been caught in the blatant lies Fox News has been caught in.

i'd go with RT anyday.

let's say it a tad different.

i think RT is one of the most honest news stations out there right now.

RT rocks


""Just found RT. I will never go back to mainstream."

Anyone who says this is a fool , mainstream + RT + independant reporters+ forums should all be tools on your search for truth. If you dismiss anyone of them your just limiting your information.

I watch all the MSM i don't take sides i make my own opinion

RT is good for many things , and they got some hottie reporters also lol

They go after stories most MSM rather not thread.


RT has a great record of consistancy and like the above comment said hasnt been caught in blatant lies.

They love to get all aspects to the story and not be so biased.


RT today understands thats its a information war.

Why not get all the sides of the information war to be one of the better news outlets?

Seems like a win win to me



Even RT crew get the dirty stick and they get into the thick and thin of things lol

Your question is one too rarely asked among conspiracy theorists. Who benefits from disseminating certain "theories"? They have been used throughout history to further specific agendas. Not all conspiracy-theories are created and published by normaltons.

I think it would be very revealing to find out what c-theories come from China, what theories come from Iran, what theories come from the Arab world, etc.

Alternative news source does not automatically equal bias-free news source.

reply to post by Metallic Monk


I'd say RT News is doing a good job of exposing the Western Imperialist propaganda better than any other channel out there. Even though RT News may have a Russian bias, its still better than nothing.

But the problem is, most people who are used to the mainstream media, will think RT News and other unorthodox channels which provide in their view, a different alternative than what they normally see on topics like Iran, Afghanistan or even Libya, see at as crazy "conspiracy theories" and propaganda against the West.

In reality, all the evidence is somewhere out there - both on Mainstream and Alternative news sources even though it may not be deliberately covered during primetime news hours. It really depends on who's actually bothered to go deeper down the rabbit hole.

Ahmadinejad comment about Israel deliberately mistranslated for Western Propaganda to demonise Iran - Guardian News

Experts confirm that Iran's president did not call for Israel to be 'wiped off the map'. Reports that he did serve to strengthen western hawks.
My recent comment piece explaining how Iran's president was badly misquoted when he allegedly called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" has caused a welcome little storm. The phrase has been seized on by western and Israeli hawks to re-double suspicions of the Iranian government's intentions, so it is important to get the truth of what he really said.

I took my translation - "the regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" - from the indefatigable Professor Juan Cole's website where it has been for several weeks.

But it seems to be mainly thanks to the Guardian giving it prominence that the New York Times, which was one of the first papers to misquote Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, came out on Sunday with a defensive piece attempting to justify its reporter's original "wiped off the map" translation.

THREAD: Ahmadinejad NEVER wanted to "wipe Israel off the Map". He only wanted a regime change!

reply to post by yourboycal2

and they got some hottie reporters also

reply to post by Skyfloating

Who benefits from disseminating certain "theories"

It was the question I asked on the first topic I posted on ATS.

Russia today is obviously propaganda which has a slant on the news it reports...simply because it brings up and addresses stories and points you would like to hear does not mean it is truthful, it is simply coming from a different angle than many other media outlets. As always it is best never to trust a single source of information.

Why aren't they reporting on Russia selling the tools to run a clandestine nuke program, and the ICBM's to launch the product?

Yeah, you're right and anyone with a brain already knew it. Welcome to the club, now you have to ask yourself...

Why isn't the FBI questioning men handing out money and food at #OWS? It would infringe upon their 'liberties', those same liberties will protect the next terrorist, so they can take them away from you. Is he going to be screaming "ALLAH AKBHAR!" or is he going to be screaming "FIGHT THE NWO!".

The answer is hard to swallow, but your idea of freedom and individuality is now irrelevant.

DARPA Wants to Master the Science of Propaganda

Mark Twain once tried to distinguish between the storyteller’s art and tales that a machine could generate. He observed that stringing “incongruities and absurdities together in a wandering and sometimes purposeless way, and seem innocently unaware that they are absurdities,” was the province of the American storyteller. A machine might imitate simple formulas behind yarns, but never quite master them.

The Pentagon’s freewheeling research arm is hoping to prove Twain wrong. Darpa is asking scientists to “take narratives and make them quantitatively analyzable in a rigorous, transparent and repeatable fashion.” The idea is to detect terrorists who have been indoctrinated by propaganda. Then, the Pentagon can respond with some messages of its own.

The program is called “Narrative Networks.” By understanding how stories have shaped your mind, the Pentagon hopes to sniff out who has fallen prey to dangerous ideas, a neuroscience researcher involved in the project tells Danger Room. With this knowledge, the military can also target groups vulnerable to terrorists’ recruiting tactics with its own counter-messaging.

“Stories are important in security contexts,” Darpa said in an Oct. 7 solicitation for research proposals. Stories “change the course of insurgencies, frame negotiations, play a role in political radicalization, influence the methods and goals of violent social movements.” The desire to study narratives has been simmering for a while in the Defense Department. A Darpa workshop in April to discuss the “neurobiology of narratives” added momentum to this project.

In the first 18-month phase of the program, the Pentagon wants researchers to study how stories infiltrate social networks and alter our brain circuits. One of the stipulated research goals: to “explore the function narratives serve in the process of political radicalization and how they can influence a person or group’s choice of means (such as indiscriminant violence) to achieve political ends.”

reply to post by CasiusIgnoranze


I don't care what it says in Revelation or any other apocalyptic text from any religion.
If you are not a christian this is not any proof at all. It's just your interpretation.
And I never understood this defence of the regime in Iran either. Iran is not such a fun
country to live in to put it mildly.

But this also speaks to the topic of this thread. When you have selected an enemy and
they bash them with any means necessary you are bound to make many strange bedfellows.
People who think that zionists and Israel run everything tend to ally themselves intellectually with
both radical islamists and even nazis. Just as long as you hate zionists you are in the club.

I mean stop for a moment and think. When they are done with the jews who do think is next?
Lets say that the muslim fundamentalists get their way and wipe out Israel and turn the middle east
into a rebuilt second caliphate superpower. As superpowers tend to go they will eventually start to turn
their weapons against someone else. Now who do you think is next. Russia? China? The US?
Maybe all of them.

It's just like if the Axis forces had won WW2. The Nazis would have taken Russia and then marched into
China to support the Japanese Empire there. Then they would have turned towards the US.
Germany attacking on the east coast and Japan on the west coast and they would have met in the middle.
Then there would have been a standstill while they both carried out ethnic cleansing campaigns, killed of
potential troublemakers and scared the peoples of the occupied lands into submission.
When that is done you have two totalitarian empires controlling huge parts of the world. Now the race is on to see who of these two will win the ultimate war for global domination.

Speaking of conspiracy theories and propaganda in the same sentence, how about this: conspiracy theories (and other ATS-type stuff) are developed up by the enemy as propaganda calculated to weaken a target.


Think about it:

Who better to start a conspiracy theory that the US government is run by people evil enough to kill innocent American citizens in 9/11 than the Muslim extremists who perpetrated the heinous crime?

Who better to claim that Oswald didn't assassinate Kennedy than the Soviets who executed the plan so magnificently (including getting rid of the evidence of Oswald himself) that the official government position is that Oswald acted entirely alone, including planning the assassination?

Who better to cast doubt on Egypt's cultural identity, place in history, and collective morale by claiming the pyramids were designed by aliens than Israel?


I say: those who develop conspiracy theories are geniuses working in the propaganda departments of the world's nations and those who believe that conspiracy theories are true are suckers who are unwittingly helping the enemy.


Discuss.

RT is better journalism and more honest than the fascist communist propaganda of western media.

Some people are so driven to find conspiracy that they will question anything and everything until their dying day.
Others will listen, then look around for any evidence, then make up their mind. Some places get it "right" more than "wrong". RT is one of those places.

If you think everyone is against you, you're wrong. I'm not out to get anyone. I'm just speakin my mind on the world. I know many people who are not plotting against anyone. There's a world of good folks too scared to say or do anything, yet. You're not alone. Don't think that. There are some people just trying to "tell it how it is."

reply to post by ludwigvonmises003


So has RT's team of crack journalists exposed who was behind the assassination of Anya Politkovskaya yet? Oh, wait... that was an actual conspiracy. They're not allowed to report on it. They could get killed if they did.

Totally ridiculas statement, you should be ashamed of posting that title IMO. We have illegal banking dictators in both greece and italy now and other countries soon to follow. This is not a conspiracy theory its an actual conspiracy! I am an engoishman And I am responsible for many a youtube video showing how the elite are corrupting our freedom and democracy, I am a westerner.

You need to open your eyes mate, the enemy isnt over seas its in your damn government!

reply to post by TheMindWar


Sorry, I am having a real bad day. I am seeing bankers steal peoples life savings and taking positions of power across europe. It wont be long before they start putting really bad stuff in the water supplies where they labotomise people over night to stop an uprising.

I am so damn angry today, appologies unless we have some kind of declaration of war against the corruption and pedophilic child killers in power we are finished.

Yes R.T is anti-western propaganda - this has been the Russian speciality par excellence, misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, deception etc - they have put huge,huge huge effort into it, over the decades - personally I am sure the NWO has subcontracted out the cultural subversion of the Western world to them, with the CIA running interference for them.


As for Fox news - ok clearly biased and upfront about it - but they are in my opinion the most balanced and fair of the News media - they are still old school where politics is seen as a contest of ideas - unlike the rest of US media dominated by leftists, where Politics is war, and the first casualty is the truth.

Yes R.T is anti-western propaganda - this has been the Russian speciality par excellence, misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, deception etc - they have put huge,huge huge effort into it, over the decades - personally I am sure the NWO has subcontracted out the cultural subversion of the Western world to them, with the CIA running interference for them.


As for Fox news - ok clearly biased and upfront about it - but they are in my opinion the most balanced and fair of the News media - they are still old school where politics is seen as a contest of ideas - unlike the rest of US media dominated by leftists, where Politics is war, and the first casualty is the truth.

Yes R.T is anti-western propaganda - this has been the Russian speciality par excellence, misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, deception etc - they have put huge,huge huge effort into it, over the decades - personally I am sure the NWO has subcontracted out the cultural subversion of the Western world to them, with the CIA running interference for them.


As for Fox news - ok clearly biased and upfront about it - but they are in my opinion the most balanced and fair of the News media - they are still old school where politics is seen as a contest of ideas - unlike the rest of US media dominated by leftists, where Politics is war, and the first casualty is the truth.

Yes R.T is anti-western propaganda - this has been the Russian speciality par excellence, misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, deception etc - they have put huge,huge huge effort into it, over the decades - personally I am sure the NWO has subcontracted out the cultural subversion of the Western world to them, with the CIA running interference for them.


As for Fox news - ok clearly biased and upfront about it - but they are in my opinion the most balanced and fair of the News media - they are still old school where politics is seen as a contest of ideas - unlike the rest of US media dominated by leftists, where Politics is war, and the first casualty is the truth.