Russian accounts shared AI-generated images of apocalyptic versions of German landscapes engulfed in chaos and crime. In my framework, this is sympathetic magic — the creation of images intended to bring about the reality they depict. Image, mage — it’s that sound, from early Indo-European languages. You cannot remove images from minds. You can teach people to recognise the magical mechanism.
Source: Sympathetic Magic · Podcast: Can’t Dismantle a Spell Only (Dec 2025)
AI-generated imagery is Frazerian Sympathetic Magic at industrial scale. The etymological link — image/mage from Indo-European *magh- (to be able, to have power) — reveals the deep structure: creating images IS making magic. Russian Storm-1516 operations generate apocalyptic visions of European cities intended to bring about the reality they depict (Law of Similarity). Content removal cannot extract these images from minds already infected. Only Archetypal Literacy — recognising the magical mechanism — provides immunity.
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