Imagine, dear reader, the following scene: a young pregnant woman runs away from a maternity hospital recently bombed by the Russian army in the city of Mariupol. She shows wounds on her face and tightly hugs a blanket against her belly, fear is seen on her face; Already in the street, safe, scenes of destruction caused by the shell can be seen.
Well, this image taken by a photojournalist from the Associated Press agency became one of the most iconic photographs of the war between Russia and Ukraine and has provoked a strong disinformation campaign on the part of Russia that accuses it of faking the situation. .
The image quickly went global and that’s when false accusations that the photo had been “staged” appeared on a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel.
This photograph, which may well be a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize, shows the urgency of a society that is suddenly plunged into a catastrophic war, but it also shows us the capacity and inclination of a country to design disinformation campaigns and thus confuse to the world. The last actions have a name and consequences: POST-TRUTH.
Post-truth is the phenomenon that occurs when objective facts have less influence in defining public opinion than those that refer to emotion and personal beliefs. In a word, emotion rules more than reason.
During the presidency of Donald Trump, the post-truth concept had a great echo, since it tried to explain the anti-establishment instinct and feeling that catapulted Trump into the Oval Office in 2016, and also led England to stage encounters and disagreements around the Brexit that finally led its citizens to no longer be part of the European Union. A political and socio-economic fact that many English people today regret.
What led Russian forces to downplay and misrepresent the effect Marianna’s photograph had on the world?
The answer to this question revolves around the high level of sensitivity that this type of scene provokes in society. Who likes to see a pregnant young woman (29 years old) running away to protect her child from enemy bullets?
Marianna herself makes the Russian strategy clear by saying: “My photo was used to spread lies about the war.” Surviving the attack, which is what we should be feasting on, our character of the week faced the other aggression: misinformation and her hostility against her and her family.
It is clear then the disqualification of the fact when using the post-truth that has left the truth behind, as in postmodernity it was intended to overcome modernity.
The phenomena that accompany post-truth such as lies, ignorance, misinformation, populism, denialism and propaganda foster the idea of massive deception.
Let us remember today another of the photographs – iconic like the one of the Vietnamese girl who runs along with other children fleeing from Napalm. For 40 years we have kept that story alive.
An image will always speak more than a thousand words.
We’ll meet later.
Federico Torres Lopez.