“Territory of Delusions” with Igor Prokopenko on Ren-TV — recently my favorite TV show. It lacks common sense, verified facts, objective views, or any attempt at sober analysis. But it has a concise, prominent, one-sided, and resolute presentation of the authors’ point of view. I want to believe that it fully coincides with the point of view of the entire power vertical served by these journalists. That’s why I watch it: to understand exactly what the authorities want, so that I believe.
I like the work of Prokopenko. He doesn’t get distracted by opponents’ opinions, doesn’t complicate the narrative with factual evidence, doesn’t clutter the airwaves with quotes and real expert names, doesn’t detail or clarify. He speaks not to the listener’s brain, but to their heart. He generalizes and simplifies: “Western theorists,” “global experts,” “European leaders,” and “British scientists”. He clearly and concisely divides the world into “ours” and “theirs”: “our engineers” and “Russian soldiers,” “American soldiers” and “European gays,” “Rothschilds” and “Rockefellers.” He is very easy to understand, his words don’t require a second thought. He presents brightly and convincingly.
Interestingly, he doesn’t always criticize the West and praise Russia. Initially, this is surprising, as all his dogmatic rhetoric at first glance looks like pure propaganda of Russia Putin. However, very soon you begin to understand that it’s not always the case.
In one segment, he has American idiot generals commanding obese lazy soldiers, and in another — these malicious and dangerous scoundrels use any opportunity to ruin our lives. In one segment, all of Georgia is populated by Nazis, and in another — they are a fraternal people who need help. In one, Poroshenko is a criminal, and in another, a victim. In one, Russia thrives, and in another — its population dies from diseases, hunger, and total corruption.
After watching this info-trash for several hours, you begin to understand what exactly they want from you. Not love for Putin, not hatred for Trump, not sympathy for Georgian children in the hands of Nazis, and not belief in the inviolability of our borders. Not at all. They expect us to be ready to have simple and categorical judgments on the most complex and important issues.
When I hear the phrase “global experts have confirmed” for the first time, I want to ask, which experts exactly are being referred to. When I hear it a second time a few minutes later, I smile and understand that they don’t intend to present any experts to me. When I hear it for the tenth time, I realize that there are no experts, there never were, and there never will be. And they are not needed. They want me to stop looking for experts, to stop analyzing, to stop doubting and relying on logic. To stop thinking and start judging and condemning.
When I started this political blog several years ago, I had an old acquaintance who read me on Facebook. She read and commented on my first articles and always asked me who I was actually supporting? She expected me to take a clear position, especially on issues like Crimea and Donbass, Putin and Ukraine, the Russian and Ukrainian languages. She wanted to know precisely, whose side I was on? I urged her not to seek categorical and unequivocal truth, but to see contradictions and conflicts between different equally interesting points of view. In the end, she deleted me from friends with the words, literally: “Your blog is empty!”
Unlike my blog, Igor Prokopenko’s shows on Ren-TV are not empty. They are filled to the brim — with absolute truths. And it doesn’t matter whose side these truths are on. What matters is that they help the viewer calm down, stop hesitating, cease worrying, exhale, and take one of the proposed positions: either for or against.
First-level propaganda calls out: “For the Motherland, for Stalin!” This propaganda apparently works significantly less effectively than second-level propaganda: “For!”
If Goebbels, the first major master of propaganda, needed a people convinced of the inevitable victory of National Socialism, then modern propagandists need a people to be persuaded. To achieve this, we need to learn how to take one of two positions and stick to it until the end.
Many years ago, I had an argument with a fairly educated and believing Jewish friend. He was trying to prove to me that in the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Arabs are solely to blame for not allowing the young developing state of Israel to exist. I, on the other hand, tried to show him that both sides of the conflict have their own truth, and there are also many legitimate claims on the side of the Arab world. For some time, we passionately exchanged facts, and then he fell silent, looked me in the eye, and asked, “Whose side are you on, anyway?”
Listening to the arguments of both sides, weighing opinions, asking questions, seeking answers, doubting and admitting mistakes is much more difficult than knowing whose side the truth is on. Modern propaganda plays precisely on these weaknesses of ours and develops them. It no longer explains why National Socialism or Communism is the highest form of social organization. It simply teaches us to vote for one of the proposed options. And to do it quickly, emotionally, and wholeheartedly. It teaches us to seek enemies and friends without wasting time on intermediate stages of analysis and fact-checking.
It is much easier to control a population trained in this way than those who do not rush to vote for one of the “truths” but are used to seeking the truth somewhere in between.
To paraphrase my Facebook acquaintance, it can be summarized that a modern “empty” person is the one who lacks a clear opinion on any pressing political issue. Doubts, they are just an obstacle on the way to a bright tomorrow!
Translated by ChatGPT gpt-3.5-turbo/42 on 2024-04-20 at 17:52
