Hacker News Reader

Comment by kieselguhr_kid | Hacker News Reader

OK but what's the upshot wrt this story? Now that someone knows about its connection to the CCP, does it change how we ought to think about it in any way?

View on HN

Yes. If this wasn't state-driven, it'd be a somewhat-humorous prank. If it is state-driven, it becomes a situation straight from 1984, where the protagonist's job is quite literally to rewrite history.

If you applied the same criteria to Western media, you'd conclude that the vast majority of them is state-driven too.

(Note that this is not whataboutism, but rather a proof that this behaviour is widespread and pretty much normal, which contrasts with article's rethoric)

I do, and I have. That said, the extremely-predictable "what-about-western-media" tu quoque that occurs anytime someone leverages a criticism towards any Second World nations is as tired of a counter-propaganda strategy as the propaganda it's used to deflect attention from.

Edit: just noticed that you're a self-proclaimed 50 Cent Army member. It's all making sense now - you're an actual propagandist. For anyone curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party

Wow. Sometimes here on HN I've seen comments that totally sound like CCP garbage but didn't have proof that they were actually connected. Thanks

Fascinating how for some Americans everything that is not their own state propaganda sounds suspicious; just like in USSR in the fifties.

Doesn't the fact that it's reported in state-owned media suggest, although not prove, that it's not state driven? Why would they invite extra scrutiny to their disinformation campaign by publishing an article about it?

Not really. It's a common strategy called "controlling the narrative" and it has been in play since the early days of public relations and propaganda, largely considered to be pioneered by Ivy Lee[1].

Regardless, I only posed it being state-driven as a hypothetical anyways. But state media reporting on the matter does little-to-nothing towards disproving that hypothesis.

[1]: https://pracademy.co.uk/insights/ivy-lee-and-the-origins-of-...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com