Constructing simulacres as an element of modern information warfare

Paul Valery

Purpose: to analyze and disclose the role and significance of simulacres in the context of modern information wars.

The methodology became the main methods as general science - analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalization, and such kind of methodological principles as transdisciplinarity and systemic.

Results It was discovered that construction and use of simulacra in the confrontation between states, as well as in the struggle for political power today, has become of a total character, which is especially manifested in the context of armed conflicts and information wars. It is established that modern media for one or another purpose constantly generate simulacra, and the information that surrounds a person in her everyday life is quite often distorted (false), since the simulacra distorts the truth, and reality is translated into a so-called hyperreality, when the overwhelming part Individuals (human beings) can not distinguish a copy from the original, which is a real danger to its life. It has proved that the total (character of the use of simulacra in the postmodern era raises a real danger to national security, as well as the accumulated over the centuries of cultural values of modern civilization.

The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the article proves and reveals the mechanism of creating simulacres for the active functioning of information warfare.

The practical values of the results of the present study may be useful within the framework of the struggle for the information space for the sake of national security and the preservation of independence.

Keywords:technologies,information,massmedia,

simulacrum, television information wars.

The article discusses the preconditions for the emergence of a social phenomenon, which are denoted by the concept of "simulacrum", the methods used for its creation in mass media, and also how and for what purpose it is used during information wars.

Keywords:technologies,information,massmedia,

simulacrum, information wars.

Technological progress of the early twentieth century contributed to the intensification of the processes of informatization of society. At the same time with the satellite television, which became massive , greatly contributed to the formation of the social structure of the information society and its culture. Unfortunately, we can see now there is a distortion of the mass consciousness by TV news, quizzes, TV - show that form in the mind distorted reality. The consequence is the destruction of a holistic view of the world, since the traditional system of economic, political, cultural and other values is distorted, and the scientific achievements, which were expected to create limitless possibilities for the further development of earthly civilization, in reality, formed the potential of unprecedented in the era of brutality. An important part of it is information.

A striking example was the confrontation between the former USSR and the United States when one of the factors which contributed to the victory of the latter was spread false (distorted) information to the general public and providing the public with false facts about the enemy. This was the distorted reality by which, so to speak, "fed" society and pro-government elites in various states. It should be noted that normally the war (as "cold", "hot", "hybrid", etc.) closed society and promote greater control of government institutions over society and technology development is only help in it.

Philosophers, sociologists, political scientists and other researchers have long drawn attention to the significant impact of technology on the consciousness and value orientation of people and in particular, through creation of copies of reality. This phenomenon in philosophy was called simulacrum. In Latin, this term is translated as a likeness, a copy or a picture of something that does not really exist. Today it can be a copy of whatever you want and what the meanings are, both in art and in politics.

Literature review The research of simulacres was engaged in the following scientists, such as J. Baudrillard, G. Deleuze, O. Khoma, S. Kucepal, V. Lukianets, V. Lyakh, V. Okorokov, O. Skalats'ka, O. Sobol, V. Yarosh about the tsats and others. Such scientists as S. Grinyayev, O. Kalinovsky, G. Kissendzher, A. Krudskyi, G. Pocheptsov, E. Toffler and others studied the technologies of creation and use of simulacres as elements of modern information wars. In particular, in their work they revealed the essence of simulacres as a social phenomenon and their role in achieving strategic national goals in the process of inter-state confrontation. At the same time, our analysis of the works of these and other scientists allows us to conclude that the relevance of further research on the technologies of creating simulacres, used in modern information wars.

Introductionis to analyze the creation of simulacra, that are used during information wars.

To achieve this purpose, the following tasks were set:

- to find out the specific features of the simulacrum and the methods used by the media for its creation;

- to analyze the potential possibilities of using simulacra in modern information wars.

Presenting the main material. If in the industrial era, the aggressor tried to capture the territory with the help of military force, then in the information age, the main task is to obtain total control over the individual, his value orientations. Therefore, the information field serves as a strategic ground for resolving and conducting a war against one or another state in order to destroy national identity, sociopolitical destabilization and disorientation of its pro-government elite in various spheres of life (political, economic, etc.). That is, the very information activity is able to change such components of the vital potential of the state as national mentality, material, social and cultural values, moral state of the population, and others. The new information paradigm of the 21st century means that the spatial capabilities of the state in advancing their national interests are determined by its information superiority in the virtual space, and not merely its military or economic power, as in previous decades. At the same time, simulacres serve as a weapon aimed at forming in the right sense of social consciousness and, thus, domination in the global space.

The term "simulacrum" comes from the Latin simulacrum, idola, phantasma. This term is found in the works of ancient scholars, for example, Plato examines the manifestations of simulacra in art, arguing that it generates "copies of a copy" that are increasingly moving away from the source of "real", true being. [13]. For example, a photograph is a simulacrum of the reality that is reflected on it. At the same time, the simulacrum is not necessarily the exact representation of the real object, as, for example, in a photograph. They can also be drawings on the sand, the translation of real history in their own words, etc. In view of this, I. Polozov, in particular, defines it as "the pseudo-thing that replaces reality, the image of the absent reality, the plausible likeness" [1, p 860] .In the modern scientific discourse, the concept of" simulacrum "was introduced by Georges Bataye in the future this phenomenon was actively investigated by representatives of various branches of scientific knowledge, in particular, by the philosophers G. Deleuze and J. Baudrillard [1,3].

So, according to J. Baudrillard, the simulacrum is primarily a product of simulation, under which he understands the replacement of the real world with an imaginary but more acceptable (understandable) person as a real existent. The author characterizes the present as the era of general simulation, which creates hyperreality, which covers all spheres of individual life, which in the postmodern period does not distinguish the present from fiction [2, p.15]. At the same time, he emphasizes the fact that in the creation and distribution of simulators the main role played by various media. "From the point of view of production of simulacra, the most ambitious and large-scale role is the media sphere, covering all areas - political, biological, medical, psychological and others, and the essence of the information itself, which spreads the mass media, has nothing to do with the "reality" the facts", he argues [10, p.13].

It is worth mentioning that in the modern world the appearance and functioning of political simulacra are the most noticeable, the number of which, as evidenced by the historical experience, sharply increases during political crises. In order to characterize the course of events in these crises, their causes, as well as the consequences of politics, managers and academics, the concept of "information warfare" is often used. It is characteristic that in countries where there is a media-centric system of communication, the main means of manipulation of mass consciousness, as a rule, becomes news management, which is based on fairly rigid management of any information flows using modern psychological and media technologies.

An illustrative example of creating of simulacra during the conduct of the information war was provided by the United States, whose purpose was to form the negative attitude of the Americans to the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. For this, in the late 1990s and early 1991, the vast majority of American TV channels showed a girl from Iraq (Naire Naire) with bruises on face and tears in his eyes, describing how soldiers of the Iraqi regime in one of the maternity homes in Kuwait threw newborn babies on the cold floor and left them there to die. To reinforce the effect of her words, her lawyer commented with trembling in her voice and with tears in her eyes. But shortly after the start of the Gulf War, it turned out that the role of this tired refugee was played by the daughter of a Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, which had nothing to do with what she convincingly said «The development of certain significant events during both campaigns was attended by the international PR company "Hill and Noulton" with headquarters in the United States. In 1990, her specialists came up with a "history of the nurse Naire," which had a direct impact on the advancement of the idea of a war against Iraq. Subsequently, it turned out that the story was fictional, and Naira, daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the United States and a member of the royal family, never worked in the hospital", - wrote E. Osokina [8].

Another example is Russia's information war against Ukraine, which began in 2014 and continues to this day. Russia used the same scenario against Ukraine as the US against Iraq. In the midst of the war on the Donbass, Russian TV channels broadcast a television message about a "crucified three-year-old boy" in which a woman- eyewitness from western Ukraine was telling how she saw the death of her son and wife "militia" from the Ukrainian military on the central Slovyanskaya square. The events of the narrated history had no evidence, the whole story was completely fictional [5]. The scandalous plot has received a significant response in society. Some saw an example of extreme unprofessionalism and the use of Russian state media in the information warfare to incite hatred and hostility; others proved that "misinformation" and "lies" became the norm for Russian state-owned media, while others recalled this TV story as an example of one the most vivid manifestations of the so-called "Post-truth politics", which has lately dominated in various social systems, among which Russia holds an honored place.

A strong influence on public opinion was made by plots of Ukrainian and Russian mass media during the annexation of Crimea in 2014, which created simulacra, in three spaces: physical, informational, and virtual. Here is an artificial change in one picture of the world another, designed to mask what is happening. Here are some of the accents of this new type of military action, which the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, Colonel-General Volodymyr Zarudnytskyi, drew attention, however, calling it a model of the colour revolution:

• "Today in an era of globalization, the state became morally vulnerable, its meaning and authority weakened. As a result, it's easier to disassociate the state than to conquer its weapons ";

• "A country - a victim of aggression with leadership and support from outside itself kills itself. In the course of internal armed conflict, the human potential of the state is destroyed, the economy is destroyed, and political independence is lost. In the population of the country - victims of aggression there is a complete loss of orientation in the coordinate system "friend - stranger". Instead of uniting in the face of external aggression, part of the population comes into conflict with the rest of its people. In this case, the aggressor acts as the "defender" of one of the parties to the internal conflict, provoked by them. Victim countries, often without knowing who an aggressor, are defeated and rejected in their development for 15-20 years ago";

• Criminalization of the war: "It is actively involved in criminal structures. Impunity and permissiveness lead to the fact that the fighting is conducted by a gangster and terrorist methods".

Thus, the mechanism for using simulacra to influence people's minds has become one of the effective ways of generating public opinion through the media, and a thorough analysis of the above examples can reveal certain methods and methods of constructing of simulacra with the help of the media during the information warfare, among which, in particular:

- method of personification of an event (as a rule, a political event is covered in the context of the fate of an individual ("nurse Naire", a woman who lost a single child during the bombing, etc.);

- visualization of information (if the verbal component prevailed in the provision of political information through the media in the 1990s, then the emergence of satellite television, technologies for the creation of virtual reality opened up new possibilities for influencing the human psyche through visualized images. Such influence is based on the sensory-emotional experience of man, to which he tends to trust more than words [7, p.14]);

- widespread use of metaphorical images (the metaphor is known to be the means of transferring meaning from a more familiar phenomenon to a less familiar one, for example, if, for example, using

Adobe Photoshop to depict a well-known political leader in the clothes of the SS, who stepped into a boot on a child's corpse, then in the minds of the addressee there is, as a rule, a negative attitude to this policy);

- submission of verbal and visual information in the context of value orientations of most citizens of this state.

The latter deserves special attention. This is due to the fact that in modern media the most frequent means of presenting political information are such frames (discourses) as "human rights violations", "protection of the interests of the state", "national interests", "terrorism", "extremism", "environmental threat'' and so on. Therefore, the use of a peculiar "scapegoat", which allegedly is responsible for all the inconveniences in the community, and thus the catalyze of the negative energy of people around him, is a fairly widespread way of consolidation around the leader ("savior", "defender", etc.) ), that is, ultimately, it is about constructing the image of "The Enemy" as a rule, any nation, political party or its leader, a state, a religious group, etc. [7, p. 16]. Obviously, "scapegoat", taken in the context we considered, is a typical kind of simulacrum, used for purposeful influence on the consciousness of man.

It is worth noting that it is possible not only to use simulacra for strategic purposes directed by one state against another, but unfortunately they can be used by certain political elites in the struggle for power, so to speak on national terrains, which can result in the destruction of the socio-cultural code (national idea), which, of course, can become a real threat to national security. In particular, the destruction of historical memory, cultural and ideological-religious values, language In the context of the foregoing, the current state of affairs in Ukraine raises many questions. In particular, Ukrainian history and cultural values, each government treats its own way, periodically speculates on linguistic issues, and recently actively intervenes in the realm of religious life.

Conclusions

2. Unfortunately, modern media for one or another purpose constantly generate simulacra, and the information that surrounds a person in her everyday life is quite often distorted (false), since the simulacra distorts the truth, and reality is translated into a so-called hyperreality, when the overwhelming part Individuals (human beings) can not distinguish a copy from the original, which is a real danger to its life.

3. The total (comprehensive) character of the use of simulacra in the postmodern era raises a real danger to national security, as well as the accumulated over the centuries of cultural values of modern civilization.

References

1. Baudrillard, J., 2013. Simulacres and simulation. Tula: Tula publishing.

2. Lies. Crucifixion on the First Channel, 2014//http: //www.stopfake.org/lozh-raspyatie-v-efire- pervogokanala/?PageSpeed=noscript

3. Deleuze, G. Logic of meaning; Foucault, M. Theatrum philosophicum, 1998. Moscow: "Rarity", Yekaterinburg: "Business Book", 1998.

4. Deleuze, G., 1998. Foucault. Moscow: The Publishing House of Humanitarian Literature.

5. Zhukovsky V., Pivovarov D., Rahmatullin R., 1998. Visual thinking in the structure of scientific knowledge. Krasnoyarsk: Publishing of Krasnoyarsk University.

6. Knight, K., Lomas R., 2006. Key of the Hiram. Moscow: Exmo.

7. Neumann, E., 2009. Deep psychology and new ethics. Moskow: Academic project.

8. Osokina, E., 2007. US Policy Regarding Iraq (Conflicts 1990-1991 and 2002-2003) // http://www.riatr.ru/2007/ATR2007-4-WEB/13p104-111. pdf

9. Polozova, I., 2009. Simulakr, Encyclopedia of epistemology and philosophy of science. Moscow: "Canon +", p.1248.

10. Pechenkina, O., 2013. Era of total simulation, or artificial resurrection of reality, Baudrillard J., Simulacres and simulation. Tula: Tula publishing, pp.3-16.

11. Rahmatullin, R., 2012 Hermeneutic function of the image in the process of learning, Bulletin of the Karaganda University, №4, pp. 74-79.

12. Rahmatullin, R., 2014 Erich Neumann on the role of "scapegoat" in the formation of a conflict, Young Scientist, №13, pp. 235-237.

13. Ferron, V., 2001. The theory of "simulacres" by J. Baudrillard: "Nostalgia for the present", Bulletin of the Voronezh State University. Series. Humanities, №2, pp. 223-235.

Размещено на Allbest.ru