'War for people’s minds’: Expert explains mechanisms of hidden influence

MINSK, 18 April (BelTA) – In contemporary conflicts, the battle for people's minds is growing stronger, Elena Ponomareva, Doctor of Political Science, Professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) said in the latest episode of the V Teme [On Point] project on BelTA’s video channel.

“Technologies are improving, and blood is not always visible because the struggle is over people’s minds. Today, the issue is often not about the occupation of territory, but about the occupation of minds. That is, when certain narratives are planted into people's heads, they think they make a certain decision fairly, consciously, and so on. In reality, these are technologies of reflexive control,” Elena Ponomareva said.

According to her, this primarily concerns social media. Creating various lines of discord, including in the media, is one of the most important technologies.

“Many things s intertwine in the network aspect. This could be the women's movement, the fight against violence, environmental issues, natural disasters, for which, naturally, poor leadership is blamed. Indeed, there are a great many problems in countries. The question is how these issues are highlighted and to what extent this can play a destructive role,: she said.

This tactic is being used today with respect to Iran as well, the expert noted. For example, in the media, illustrative material is selected tendentiously: readers and viewers are shown only “horror stories”.

“The human psyche is such that it will react more quickly to some terrible incident than, for example, to yet another newly opened kindergarten somewhere in Gomel or, say, near Krasnoyarsk. Because that is a positive thing, which for some reason is perceived as something obligatory and routine. But in reality, it is the labor of a huge number of people,” the MGIMO professor emphasized. “The war for minds is waged on all levels: this includes upbringing, education, cinema, literature, music, show business, and computer games. It is very difficult to fix everything at once, because we have been under the spell of the bourgeois and all things glossy for almost 30 years. We need to restructure. The process is underway, but we would like it to unfold more quickly.”