Singapore's sanction against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine has drawn some criticism among anti-West elements in the country. This is exacerbated when US claimed that Russia has turned to China for military equipment to which China declared it is "not a party" to the war. Many pro China elements naturally have anti West sentiments and view this as western propaganda. In a survey in 2021 it was found that about 64% of Singaporeans view China favourably in general.
Many anti West people think that the US and NATO's increasing military presence in Eastern Europe and their supply of weapons to Ukraine to fight Russia are the real accomplice of the war. Though it is not verified many also believe some media news that biological weapons are being produced in labs in Ukraine with US support. Apparently the Kremlin has embarked on a misinformation campaign using Twitter to justify Russia's invasion. These find easy targets at anti West segments of society in the world.
On the other hand pro West netizens viewing Western media coverage of the horrors of Russia killing civilians and children in Ukraine; and Western countries planning to charge Russia for war crime and genocide find it hard to believe that there are fellow netizens who can approve of such a brutal 'unprovoked invasion'.
At the end of the day it boils down to where one gets information from. There is tendency for people to search or fall for information that aligns with their pre existing views. I cannot believe it when I read that many Singaporeans rely mainly on Telegram App for information.
However with so much fake news and misinformation campaign proliferating, how does one navigate. Does one have to fact check everything one reads? For example many fact checking sites on the Ukraine crisis have sprung up recently.
Though I am not pro West I do rely a lot on Western and local media for news in general. However having read some justification of the Russian invasion from quite prominent people, I began to wonder whether Western media can be really trusted to present an objective view.
Gosh so much effort is needed just to get a right perspective into anything. I think of 50 years ago when I was in secondary school. To do research on any serious subject I had to go to the National Library Reference section for books and journals/newspapers which could only be read on location.
The sheer joy of a day's findings and an ice kachang as a reward thereafter. Today if I am serious about finding some true facts about anything, I have to put in a lot more effort navigating through various media, links and websites and then decipher what is fact and what is misinformation. On top of that I have to be aware of my own personal bias. Often I walk away more confused than ever thereby reinforcing my feeling that the World is becoming more and more confusing to me.
Is this an age thing? Hmmm....I don't know
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