Diaries of the war in Ukraine - You thought you knew propaganda? Think again

I have been talking a lot about propaganda - brainwashed, zombified Russians believe insane stories, thrown at them by Kremlin.

And for the first time in my life, I felt it on me about a week ago, when the Russian monsters bombed Mariupol.

My friend sent me a bunch of links (to Russian sources - there’s a surprise!) claiming that it was all fake. That the girl wrapped in a blanket was wearing clever makeup, and that in fact the whole thing was staged by the Ukrainians.?

The Russians bombed it because they were told that the maternity ward was a military base and the women and children had been evacuated before.

They even staged a few video clips of doctors kicking heavily pregnant women out of that maternity ward.

The whole thing was so convincing that for a split second I actually doubted what I was seeing on the news over here.?

It felt like a thick fog started spreading in my head, paralysing the part of my brain that thinks logically. It’s dulls something that makes you a reasonable human being and turns you into a zombie.

It switches off something in your brain and makes you turn 180 degrees.

Looking back at that experience, I find it fascinating how quickly you can be made believe anything. It takes seconds. I actually want to understand how they do it. Is it NLP, hypnosis? Seriously, what is it?

It took me only a few minutes to doubt my own sanity.

And then I forced myself to snap out of it. I actually physically had to shake my head.?

I realised just how stupid it was. The whole world’s press was reporting the same story and they are all lying - seriously?

I tried reasoning with my friend, but she said that the only reason the world press reported the same news is because the Ukrainian government fed that info to them.

That’s when I understood that she had already decided what to believe. And it really didn't matter what I said or how much evidence I presented.

It took me a few minutes to start doubting everything, they have been poisoning her mind for eight years.

This is the story of one person. Now multiply that by Russia.

The majority of Russians don’t actually understand that there is a war in Ukraine.

They are told that their army is liberating the Ukrainian people from nationalists and neo-nazis. They believe that the Ukrainian government is bombing and killing its own people.

They are told that the big scary West and the enemy of the world, NATO, are out to get them, so poor little Russia is simply protecting itself.

And zombified Russians are eating it up, without doubting or questioning anything. And if presented with evidence to the contrary, they don't even talk to you.

No wonder a huge majority of their population is supporting Putin. They think he is God.?

There is a history of using propaganda in Russia. The whole USSR empire was built on brainwashing and repressions.?

By some miracle, Michael Gorbachov managed to blow the whole thing up in the 90s, but bad habits die hard.

Although Ukraine became independent in 1991, it took us almost 30 years to even begin to shake off the culture of corruption and Russian ideology.

Now Russia is at it again.?

As well as killing thousands of innocent people, they spread fakes on Ukrainian Telegram channels and social media.?

They have invested as much into brainwashing techniques, as they have into their army. Maybe even more.

In contrast, every half an hour, Ukrainian TV and radio channels encourage people to verify any information they received before they share it.

The representatives of the Ukrainian government are comfortable saying - I don’t have those figures or I can’t verify that info as I don’t know.?Or they simply say - we are not sharing that information at the moment.

They all understand that they are fighting for their people’s minds, as much as for their lives.?

?They are encouraging people to think and analyse before believing anything.?

I have never been more proud of my country. I have never been more proud of being Ukrainian.?

We will most definitely win, despite everything.

And here is a cool thing, we are gonna win without any propaganda.