Newspapers Amplify Spectacle

Such a Disinfolklore tale might even paint a graphic picture of your city or town being targeted by a hypersonic missile with a nuclear war head. So, you experience fear. And your response, the Disinfolklorist hopes, will be to halt any effort you are contemplating to help Ukraine resist Russian genocide.

Here, two Irish newspapers with no intention to repeat Russian Disinfolklore end up doing so. They even reprint graphics meant to illustrate the Russian-sourced meme about threatening nuclear war that originated in Russia.

Source: Nuclear Disinfolklore

This is the amplification mechanism in action: Irish newspapers, with no intention of serving Russian interests, republish nuclear threat graphics sourced from Russian Disinfolklore. The spectacle self-propagates through well-meaning media. The graphic paints YOUR city targeted by a hypersonic missile — personal, visceral fear designed to suppress any impulse to help Ukraine. The Disinfolklorist does not need to control the newspaper; the spectacle’s emotional payload ensures its own reproduction.

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