Who Do We Choose to Be?, Second Edition: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity

by Margaret J. Wheatley

Today these campaigns (organized by the Russian State and the Internet Research Agency led by a close ally of Putin) use all available internet and media channels to create a “firehose of falsehood.”21 Russian web brigades create tsunamis of blogs, bots, opinion columns, spokespeople, and trolls in a deliberate campaign to overwhelm all available media. These firehoses of falsehoods are deliberately set to be rapid, continuous, and repetitive, with no commitment to objective reality or consistency of message. They demonstrate “a shameless willingness to disseminate partial truths or outright fictions. In the words of one observer, ‘new Russian propaganda entertains, confuses and overwhelms the audience.’”22 The Russian origins of these internet disinformation campaigns were confirmed by noting that the bulk of their activities happened during Russian working hours and fell off during weekends and Russian holidays!