The rhetorical question in disinformation is the use of unquestionable fake facts, leading to a question that doesn’t actually require an answer.
Example:
Russian propaganda asks its audience a seemingly simple question, but gives it the appropriate context, which pushes the listener to the conclusion the manipulator needs:
– We liberated Kherson from neo-Nazis.
– We allow farmers to sell their products to russia and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
– We have protected (read: blocked) your ports.
– We have blocked social media, which only interfere and incite hostility.
And here is the main question: “Who benefits from blocking ports and blackmailing the world with hunger?”
The conclusion comes naturally.
Thus, disinformers push the reader to the conclusion they need, but don’t voice it, ending the text with a rhetorical question. The readers come up with this conclusion themselves, believing it to be their own.
