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Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality

Part 1

            The first example of battles over reality presented in Pomerantsev's works is the changes in political governance that do not necessarily act as per the will of the people but based on what leaders. A simple definition of democracy is that it aims to listen to the needs of the people and act on those desires. Almost all countries in the world have a democratic constitution that gives citizens the sovereign power to select their leaders. Democracy means a situation where a group of people is selected to lead for the benefit of the majority, but this has not always been the case in many parts of the world. For example, Peter Pomerantsev opines that “Early in the Putin era, the Kremlin, for example, mixed paeans to Soviet greatness with Western reality shows and Western consumerism. When a leadership embraces different ideologies so easily, how are opposition forces to find a space to project theirs?” (Pomerantsev 45).

The second example of the war on reality, as presented in Pomerantsev's work is an increase in the damaging effect of social media. One of the main information outlets in the digital era is social media. Surprisingly, this outlet does not always offer reliable information to consumers' knowledge, which has led to increasing fallacies. Pomerantsev deliberate on this contentious matter and indicates the expected value of social media has not been attained “I see people I have known my whole life slip away from me on social media, reposting conspiracies from sources I have never heard of, some sort of internet undercurrent pulling whole families apart, as if we never

 really knew each other…” (Pomerantsev xii). Instead of social media guarantying the quality and efficacy of information sharing, it has taken an active part in spreading conspiracies.

I have also observed some own examples of the battle of reality in the real world, mainly in the field of employment. When growing up, parents were always vocal about the importance of education towards the accomplishment of life goals. This position has not changed since education is still a fundamental necessity for life successes. However, recent life experiences show...