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?
