By now, we should be aware that Russian intelligence services have been trying to influence opinion in Western democracies. In the U.S., for instance, the simplified narrative is that the Kremlin, as Vladimir Putin stated, wanted Donald Trump to win. However, the broader and more accurate story is that a divided and distracted United States serves Russia’s interests. The same strategy applies to Europe, evidenced by Russia’s support for the Brexit movement.
Russian interference appeared in various forms. It wasn’t exclusively pro-Trump; they played both sides by promoting pages that supported “Black Lives Matter” as well as “Blue Lives Matter,” pro-Trump groups, and “resisters.” While getting Trump elected was one objective, the larger goal was to create distrust across cultural spheres, including race, immigration, law and order, and even health.
What surprised me was discovering that the Russians had established a Facebook page called “Mindful Being.” According to AdAge, there were more than 290,000 accounts following at least one of these pages, which were created between March 2017 and May 2018. The most popular pages included “Aztlan Warriors,” “Black Elevation,” “Mindful Being,” and “Resisters.” Many other pages and Instagram accounts had few or no followers.
The Kremlin effectively weaponized mindfulness, though this isn’t the first instance of such an occurrence. The New York Times published a quiz article that lets readers guess which paired posts came from deceptive Facebook pages. It’s a useful exercise to improve your ability to spot misinformation and learn more about Russian tactics.
I managed to identify all the fake posts correctly, but luck played a role since these fake pages were quite subtle. The pages had to appear genuine to amass likes, so most content on “Mindful Being” seemed harmless. This particular page existed for only two months before it was taken down, likely setting the stage for more divisive content. Below are examples of posts meant to create mistrust.
It’s clear how seemingly innocuous inspirational content can lure people in, later leading to posts that foster distrust in the news media and science. This ties into one of my side projects, my Fake Buddha Quote blog. The skills used to verify the authenticity of quotes can also help in assessing whether a Facebook meme is trying to manipulate you.
In my book “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buddha,” I discuss the practice of verifying quotes, memes, and news stories. I don’t want to promote it too aggressively, but the book is available for preorder and is both interesting and amusing.
I came across your article about “weaponized mindfulness” and thought you might be interested in how I got here. I was researching neuroscience related to meditation and felt uneasy about the vague use of terms like “mindfulness” and “altruism” in scientific contexts. This has become more problematic as attempts to quantify these complex categories increase, often presenting them as rigorous science.
Using measurements like fMRI or surface electrodes, some research connects meditation and mindfulness to observable physical correlates of human behavior, intending to improve treatments for mental illnesses and stress-related conditions. While these efforts are generally well-intentioned, there’s a simplistic belief that everything quantifiable is scientific and thus worthy of funding. This belief can lead to superficial thinking and a reduction in deeper discussions about principles, replaced by simplistic empiricism.
The expansion of computer science into other fields reinforces this by mapping abstract concepts onto numerical scales, which can lead to flawed comparisons and rankings of human behaviors and expressions. These measures can trivialize complex and subjective aspects of human nature.
One concerning trend is the idea of “weaponized mindfulness,” like how a fighter pilot might need to be mindful while carrying out a bombing raid. There’s evidence that military institutions might fund research to make pilots more mindful while suppressing emotional responses, enhancing their effectiveness in missions.
Similarly, mindfulness apps promoted by companies like Apple, combined with increasing surveillance and censorship, can lead to systems resembling China’s social credit system. This system rewards or punishes people based on monitored behavior, affecting their social standing and opportunities.
This idea led me to search “weaponized mindfulness,” which brought me to your page. I enjoyed your article but don’t entirely agree with the notion that Russia was solely responsible for the political outcomes in the U.S. We may face new challenges, like potential claims of interference from other countries.
In the future, we might even have to deal with mindfulness meditation spam robots.
Best regards,
Reiner