This is a misunderstanding, I believe.
What people need to understand is that 'words have consequences'. The 'truth' isn't that important in communications because people can't discern it.
People don't know, and often do not care what the truth is.
Putin, Xi etc. can easily convince millions of Europeans of their view of the world, which will mostly be based on lies. It's a key pillar of their respective foreign policies.
That disinformation has material effects in civil culture.
So put another way: we don't want to 'completely ban' content from Russia, but rather, not make it part of the populist lexicon.
It's a bit like removing a TV station from broadcasting as one of the 'major channels'.
If Europeans conscientiously choose want to get RT, they can. But the West shouldn't allow Russia or China to broadcast directly into people's homes willy nilly. My god man.
Information is by far the most powerful weapon.
If either Putin or Xi lost their power to censor, their respective governments would collapse, frankly I suggest both of them would be literally dead. Very quickly, within a few months.
The internet is giving us the biggest lesson in 'Critical Theory' imaginable (i.e. competing narratives) and of course, we have our own narratives (and internally huge competition over them), but still, some truths are a bit better than others.
What people need to understand is that 'words have consequences'. The 'truth' isn't that important in communications because people can't discern it.
People don't know, and often do not care what the truth is.
Putin, Xi etc. can easily convince millions of Europeans of their view of the world, which will mostly be based on lies. It's a key pillar of their respective foreign policies.
That disinformation has material effects in civil culture.
So put another way: we don't want to 'completely ban' content from Russia, but rather, not make it part of the populist lexicon.
It's a bit like removing a TV station from broadcasting as one of the 'major channels'.
If Europeans conscientiously choose want to get RT, they can. But the West shouldn't allow Russia or China to broadcast directly into people's homes willy nilly. My god man.
Information is by far the most powerful weapon.
If either Putin or Xi lost their power to censor, their respective governments would collapse, frankly I suggest both of them would be literally dead. Very quickly, within a few months.
The internet is giving us the biggest lesson in 'Critical Theory' imaginable (i.e. competing narratives) and of course, we have our own narratives (and internally huge competition over them), but still, some truths are a bit better than others.