Psychotechnologies in the information wars: the anatomy of a publication about Vietname

Abstract

Research is devoted to the analysis of the article ‘Vietnam Finds an Old Foe Has a New Allure’[1], which was published in the influential newspaper ‘The New York Times’ in 2000 and was soon translated to Russian. In this article the material is given in a special way that prompted the formation of a negative opinion about the regime in Vietnam. As a result of applying psychotechnologies after reading this article usual reader cannot arrive at a clear logical conclusion, but certain emotional “precipitate” nevertheless remains. Professionally prepared information thus forms a kind of “distorting mirror”, which greatly distorts perception of the world. In the course of the study it is concluded that the article published in the well-known newspaper encloses a psychoactive text, which contains predefined suggestions. In this paper are shown specific examples of psychotecnologies with contradictions, therapeutic metaphors and information phantoms used in the article. Refs 16. Figs 2.