Decades ago, most Americans assumed (incorrectly) the American press reported true (or mostly true) things. In theory, you could read the newspaper (remember newspapers?) and have a basic idea what’s going on. In general, it sorta’ worked. If the press reported that the president was in Tallahassee or that it rained in Baltimore, it was reasonably likely to be more or less true.
In the same era, the Soviet Union emitted a steady stream of propaganda. Nobody, not even Soviet people, thought the propaganda was true. Nonetheless, people carefully studied the propaganda (which was known to be false) in an effort to figure out what the Kremlin wanted people to believe. This is one aspect of what was called Kremlinology.
If, for example, there was an article about the glorious people’s tractor factory exceeding production quotas for the zillionth time, perhaps this meant steel production was actually happening… or maybe the Soviets were telling us they’d die of starvation before they’d buy a John Deere tractor, or maybe it was Tuesday. This was all taken very seriously.
One day the Soviet union collapsed; it happened very quickly and (thankfully) without massive bloodshed. American “intelligence” agencies had not the slightest clue it was going to happen. Honestly, they seem a little unclear of the difference between the Soviet Union of 1990 and the Russian Federation of right now. Clearly, “intelligence” agencies were wrong then and likely wrong now.
American “intelligence” agencies that couldn’t figure out that a massive globe spanning empire was on the brink of economic collapse in 1990, now spy on Americans in 2022. Individuals once referred to as citizens and now referred to as civilians. We reside in a massive globe spanning empire which is on the brink of economic collapse. Meanwhile, our “intelligence” agencies pick sides in domestic politics and federal law enforcement agencies seem as likely to cause crime as they are to detect and thwart it.
Regardless, the concept of Kremlinology persists. We can’t help it. We are monkeys evolved to seek patterns and try to understand our environment; even one awash in lies. Many of us in 2022 read propaganda in hopes of ascertaining the intent of incompetent, illegitimate, clueless geezers who are still clinging to power despite long ago demonstrating they haven’t the shadow of a hope to govern wisely or even interact logically with reality. Just as Russian people read Pravda in 1990. What are the lies trying to trying to say?
Here’s a bit of propaganda I recently noticed. I’ll leave the conclusion up to you. What do you think the lies are trying to say?
Love that USA today image. Using my long dormant Kremlinology hat, the “food is best by” snippet is really an attempt to plant the concept that there will be shortages and scare everyone into buying goods, then finding out that they are not needed (yet).
I for one constantly battle my spouse on this, her first impulse is to throw out anything past printed date. Coming from a far more frugal and foreign background that has actually lived periodic scarcity of staple foods, I try (without much success so far) to explain that canned and long life foods such as chocolate bars, rice, dry pasta and dried fruits are almost eternal unless there is mold or bugs, and perfectly edible or usable in cooking.
And yes, I do maintain a modest stock of goods, at least 6 months worth. Of course SWMBO might starve rather than eat what can be created from it. Hope to never have to find out.
It’s like the whole world is stuck in a revolving circuit of Dunning-Kruger effect, Gell–Mann amnesia and Kremlinology.
But the good news is almost everybody is convinced their “reality” is correct and are willing to fight for their “reality” with the most derogatory, dehumanizing retorts in the most vicious way they can.
The good news in that is that it’s only words and a few bruises… for now.
I thought things would implode over a decade ago. I still think so, and that’s my punishment for thinking.
Imagine how easy life would be to have no internal monologue, believe what’s in the popular media without verification, ignore history (the trends and human/environmental records, not the History Channel), have a make-work job that is your identity, and outsource your every need from food to the most trivial repair.
I’ll take my punishment over the eventual rape, starvation, literal enslavement, stabbing, shooting ot clubbing that is the lot of The Unthinker of whatever variety.
AC
Citizens vs Civilians is not accident. It’s deliberate messaging to the outer party. As usual it carries two levels of meaning. The obvious is that government bureaucrats are set apart from the mere subjects of the state. More subtly, it reminds the outer party that there is no distinction between the lawful occupants of the nation and anyone who might simply occupy space within the borders; citizenship is no longer a meaningful concept to the authoritah.
For the Self-styled ‘Utopian’ Overlords infesting modern day America; ‘SUBJECT’ has a much more palatable ring to it than the horror of a self-empowered independent citizenry. They’d prefer ‘sharing’ the country with Eloi to having to acknowledge and respect the desires of an informed and self-aware Electoral.. Hence the Totally (un)predictable and Utterly (non)preventable situation at our Southern Border. The mass import of a replacement class for all those pesky Free-Thinkers is well underway.
They don’t want to share with the Eloi, they want to harvest them like crops. In a related observation, I’ve started referring to certain parts of society as “vote farms”.