Disinfolklore
The 12 Tool Way to decode and counter disinformation. Disinfolklore focusses on the folklore-like archetypes immanent in today's most manipulative memes.
In 2015 I met a woman in a village near occupied eastern Ukraine. She told me her sister in St Petersburg wouldn't believe her, when she told her 🇺🇦 was a free country whose government was not committing Genocide. "I'm your sister, why do you believe TV over me?"
I dedicate my work decoding and countering Disinfolklore to that good lady. I dedicate it also to all those who lived in her fairy tale-like village. Until, that is, Russia, in search of mythical Nazis wholly conjured out of their own Disinfolklore, transformed their wooden homes into biological dust.
You see, Disinfolklore literacy is not just a Good-to-Know skillset to help us navigate our mega-complex AI-mediated communications' landscape today. Understanding how to recognise and counter Disinfolklore is essential to preserving our communities and the post-WWII legal and social order.
What Is Disinfolklore?
"I need to understand what this IS before I can fight it."
The Troll Redefined: "Any emotion-moving activity of body, speech and mind"
(Infolklore)
(Disinfolklore)
The question isn't whether you're being trolled — it's how to discern is this a Positive, Negative, or Neutral troll. That's what the 12 Tools do →
The Twelve Tools
"Show me the method. I want to DO something."
"What archetype is being weaponised?"
"What's triggering your troll radar?"
"What is the Mana in this meme?"
"Inner realm or outer realm?"
"What's your emotional triage?"
"Is the meaning generous?"
"Is the meme's Mana right?"
"What archetypes are immanent in the meme's energy?"
"Is the meme promoting patience or urgency?"
"Should I allow this meme into my mind?"
"Final synthesis — getting your eye in"
The Negative Chain
How Disinfolklore operates — the mechanisms of control:
The energy signature of every Disinfolklore Galaxy
Propaganda disguised as story, operating below conscious awareness
How Disinfolklore conceals its operation. Stealth Genocide as its most devastating expression
We become passive watchers. Agency stolen through narrative
Analytical Lenses
How to perceive what is being done to us:
The cognitive division every item of Disinfolklore activates
The subtle energy we exchange; the well-spring of identity
The jurisprudence: Laws of Contagion, Similarity, and Opposites
The lenses through which we perceive Disinfolklore
What Disinfolklore targets: our Moods, Attitudes, Intentions, Motivations
The cross-cutting lens: misogyny as core signature of Disinfolklore
Structure and Mechanics
How the system is built and sustained:
"A accuses B of provoking A." The dominant trope in Russian governance
The totality of our current information environment
Closed-loop narrative ecosystems: MAGA, Ruschist, Brexit, CCP
The infrastructure: platforms, troll farms, surrogates, trusted people
OCEAN profiling, Cambridge Analytica, behaviourism
The foundational redefinition: any emotion-moving activity
Advanced Concepts
How You Fight Back
Counter-Disinfolklore: a modular memetic defence system. Like a goldsmith, "you have assayed by rubbing, cutting, and melting."
The Vocabulary of Disinfolklore
"What are Galaxies? What is Mana? What is War Magic?"
Start Learning
"Where do I begin? What's right for my level?"
Evidence-Based Thematic Groupings
"Show me the evidence. Which Galaxies are active?"
Cast of Archetypal Characters in Russian Disinfolklore
Disinfolklore doesn't operate through abstract forces. It operates through people filling archetypal roles — each one a case study in Tool 1 (Archetypal Literacy) in action.
The Essential Reads
"What are the most important pieces to read?"
The Twelve Tools in Action
"Show me the method applied to real disinfolklore."
The Work in Different Shapes
"What formats can I consume this in?"
The Book
"What's the complete argument?"
22 chapters in three parts. The complete argument — from the Stanytsia Luhanska bridge to Counter-Disinfolklore.
Understanding the threat: from the bridge to Little Green Men.
The evidence: from Kreminna to Bakhmut, provocation logic to the fog of war.
The tools to fight back. The Code of Positive Trolls. Rearchetyping.
Stay Connected
"How do I follow the work?"
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Ten Years on the Frontline
125M+ impressions. 608K+ likes. 196K+ shares. Over 788 moments of engagement, endorsement, and impact.
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