this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2025
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[–] npdean@lemmy.today 7 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Brought to you by the unbiased news source - kyivindependent.com

[–] Bamboodpanda@lemmy.world 47 points 6 months ago (2 children)

"Brought to you by the unbiased news source – kyivindependent.com"

This kind of snarky dismissal is a textbook example of the genetic fallacy. It's rejecting an argument or claim solely because of its source, rather than engaging with the content, the evidence, or the reasoning behind it.

Yes, The Kyiv Independent is Ukrainian, and yes, it likely carries national bias. Just like literally every national outlet does during wartime. That doesn’t automatically invalidate every fact it reports, especially when those facts are supported by third-party evidence and international bodies.

In this article, for example, the claim about the child adoption "catalog" is backed by:

Screenshots from Russian occupation websites, figures from Save Ukraine ( a long-standing NGO) and references to internationally verified abductions; numbers confirmed by Ukraine's ombudsman, the ICC’s arrest warrants, and other human rights organizations)

So even if you don’t like the outlet, you're still responsible for engaging with the facts, not just rolling your eyes and calling it propaganda.

Dismissing credible, corroborated claims with a one-liner is lazy and cowardly. If you're going to talk about war crimes and mass abductions, do better than a meme-level deflection and actually engage the facts. This isn’t some Internet drama without consequences; it’s the systematic erasure of children.

[–] npdean@lemmy.today 1 points 6 months ago (5 children)

Dismissing Russian media reports occurs way more commonly but no one says anything then.

[–] bigboismith@lemmy.world 19 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Russian media rarely if ever cites their sources, and when they do they are dubious at best

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 points 6 months ago

and mostly because putin control what russian media puts out as well.

[–] Bamboodpanda@lemmy.world 17 points 6 months ago

Ah, so now we're on to classic whataboutism fallacy. Pointing out that Russian media gets dismissed (often for good reason) doesn’t make it logically valid to dismiss any report just because of its origin.

If you think The Kyiv Independent is questionable, that's fine! Interrogate the claims. Ask:

What are the sources?

Are they independent?

Can they be verified elsewhere?

The same rules apply to Russian media and every other claim.

But using other fallacies doesn't justify your response. Saying “Well, people dismiss Russian media too” isn’t a defense. It’s just avoiding the argument again.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 14 points 6 months ago

What-aboutism. I love how generic and useless you're being.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 8 points 6 months ago

Russian sources arnt legitimate, and are filled with propaganda, so its generally ignored. it would be deleted on reddit as it would here as well.

[–] FelixCress@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Your point is?

[–] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 12 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Here's another older source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/trump-ukraine-children-russia-war-kidnapping-evidence-b2717730.html

Children from Eastern Europe have been considered prime trafficking victims for several decades now. They are usually white and easily accessible, often sitting out on the streets.

Here's a documentary about Romanian street children: https://youtu.be/HDiIrdzFGCY

Here's Robert Maxwell trafficking them: https://www.nli.org.il/he/images/%20nnl_archive_al990040300950205171/NLI#$FL45875197

There is substantial evidence that torture, snuff, rape, bestiality, and CSAM materials coming from Russia are made by Putin's request and put out by his request to accrue blackmail on the people who view them online. A large part of what many world leaders want today are just straight up children and babies as a commodity.