Last Thursday, I tried to access the RT website. As you might know, RT used to stand for Russia Today.
RT is the Kremlin’s answer to CNN — a source of generic news, more or less fact-based, which are nonetheless filtered and shaped to push a certain viewpoint and agenda.
I tried to access the RT website because I had gotten sucked into reading news about the Ukraine war. But all the news sources I was reading were American or European journalists and analysts, and their data sources were ultimately either the Pentagon or Ukrainian government announcements.
So I wanted to see what the Russians have to say.
It turned out I cannot.
The RT site is blocked throughout the EU. When I type in the URL, I get some kind of security exception which none of my browsers can get around without special evasive maneuvers.
I remembered hearing something about this early when the war started. And sure enough, I soon found a video of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, saying that Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik are now banned across Europe because they spread lies and threaten to “sow division in our union.”
Like I said, there’s no doubt RT is manipulative, biased, and has its own agenda. But so are all of our other sources of news, including the ones that get state funding either in the EU or the US.
And when a politician like von der Leyen says she is restricting access to information because she doesn’t want division among the people she rules… well, this reminds me of something I truly believe:
A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points. That’s a statement by Alan Kay, who is something of a genius inventor, technology prophet, and expert on learning and education.
The inverse also holds:
A consistent and uniform perspective, designed to minimize division, leads to a loss of IQ. Maybe not 80 points, but 15 or 20 for sure.
Perhaps you don’t agree with, not in the current situation, not when there’s a black-and-white crisis like the current war in Ukraine.
But perhaps you’re like me, and you intuitively believe in the value of broader viewpoints and longer-term thinking.
If you do, I’d like to suggest you take on other position even when it seems repulsive. Even when you firmly believe it to be propaganda, manipulation, or even straight-up lies.
At worst, it will turn out to be a topic for a new email to your list. At best, it might mean a transformative change in perspective, worth an extra 80 IQ points.
For more possibly perspective-shifting ideas:
You might like to know I write a daily email newsletter, mostly about persuasion, influence, and copywriting. You can try it out here, until the European Commission blocks me from spreading divisive ideas.