Who needs the media template "fans will tell the truth and the West will love us again"?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In recent days, hundreds of assessments of the 2018 FIFA World Cup have been published in blogs, newspapers and on TV, the essence of which was most vividly expressed on July 6 by journalist Andrei Medvedev: “Hundreds of thousands of fans came to us - and instead of Muscovite Mordor they saw a quite hospitable country where they are welcome … We saw comfortable cities, we saw our girls. And so we defeated the stupid Western propaganda, which is now forced to write something like "well, yes, they were able to hold the championship, but they still have a dictator." We opened Russia to the world”.

On July 11, material by Sylvana Menjusic was disseminated with similar thoughts: “In recent days, there are practically no media outlets where they would not publish a political analysis of Putin's successes, and where they would not come to the conclusion that the Russian president is the absolute winner of this championship. From "Forget what is happening on the field - there is only one champion" to "The Kremlin's tactics in this championship are bearing fruit" - all the responses sound in unison. “All this is done so that when we return home, we will tell how fantastic the country is Russia, and what an impeccable organizer Vladimir Putin is,” one of my fellow travelers in Russia told me ten days ago. Seeing the better side of Russia, [people] will return to England, Belgium, France or Spain, forgetting about Crimea, about the violation of human rights and the rights of the LGBT community, about the murders of opposition leaders, about political prisoners and the autocratic rule of the president."

Close in pathos and the previously published scandalous statement of the press secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov. After the match between the Russian national team and the Spanish national team, the British newspaper "The Independent" wrote that our country "did not know such a triumph since 1945". It is clear that this is both a lie and a mockery, but Peskov commented on it this way: “Such enthusiastic epic assessments of this triumph are understandable from an emotional point of view. Probably, if you look at many streets of Russian cities yesterday, including Moscow, in many respects it was comparable to the chronicle of May 9, 1945, except perhaps without fireworks. But this is not a war, this is a sport and it unites people."

Igor Shishkin, Deputy Director of the Institute of CIS Countries:

I believe that Peskov's statement is already simply beyond the line of good and evil. To compare victory in a football match with Victory in the Great Patriotic War is absolutely beyond the bounds of morality. I in no way think that Mr. Peskov is a stupid person. He knows perfectly well what he is doing. It only speaks to how the current Russian propaganda works. The authorities need now to promote their image by any means, and now - no less than an attempt to present itself in the role of the organizer of an event equal to Victory. Well, let it remain on the conscience of the press secretary - so to speak.

But in my opinion, there is a much more serious topic in the story of the coverage of the World Cup. And this topic is directly related to the security of Russia. Although Peskov's statement, of course, says a lot about our government and, accordingly, about the security of our country. But now I mean just a hysterical campaign in almost all media - and this does not mean an amazing unanimity of journalists, but an information campaign. A campaign of veal enthusiasm for the fact that thousands and thousands of foreigners have come to us. These foreigners have seen the true face of Russia, will return to themselves, to Europe, to America, and the attitude of the West towards Russia will change. I believe that this immoderately enthusiastic journalism is on a par with the famous scene, which made a lot of noise throughout Russia. I mean the applause of the State Duma deputies to the senators from the United States - this, I think, is on everyone's lips. A lot of accusations followed against the deputies, a lot of lightning was thrown. What was not said about them - how they humiliated the country, etc. But! Let us be aware that the stories on all TV channels, on all electronic media and in influential newspapers that “the West has seen the true face of Russia” do not fundamentally differ from the humiliating scene in the State Duma. This comes from the same source - the desire to become part of the West by any means. Remember the famous phrase: "Let Dunka into Europe"? So, the information support of the World Cup in this vein shows how large the number of these Dunks is in Russia and how much these Dunks control the information space of our country. And this is not a safe thing at all, not at all.

Now there are many publications with forecasts: how will the end of the meeting between Putin and Trump go? Some say nothing, others are full of enthusiasm. Still others, since there are such publications as well (by the way, there was a very good publication by Nagorny in Zavtra on this topic), they fear that this meeting in Helsinki will not become a new Malta. It is about a meeting between Gorbachev and Reagan, at which, it would seem, nothing concrete was agreed upon. But it was precisely that meeting that set in motion the mechanism for the destruction of the Soviet Union. We know very well how it turned out for all of us. And there are publications that such a thing, in principle, can happen in Helsinki. But let's be aware of the fact that no Gorbachev could have done what he did if not for the support not only of the immediate top of the party and security forces, primarily the KGB (who decided to overthrow the Soviet Union in order to “enter Western civilization , In order to become part of the Western elite, grabbing socialist property in their pockets), but also a very large part of the active stratum of Soviet society at that time. You will remember what a euphoric attitude towards the West was. The West was like an ideal. Everything could be done for the sake of acquiring this ideal. Let me remind you that Moscow and a couple of other large cities of the current Russian Federation voted in a memorable referendum against the preservation of the Soviet Union. And what is happening now, in my opinion, shows how strong these sentiments are still in the so-called creative stratum of Russia.

Let's look at two stories - a standing ovation from the deputies and a veal delight that “they saw the true face of Russia”. For deputies. Yes, there are many explanations in the spirit that such an awkward scene happened due to a violation of the protocol - “we were confused, sorry, it didn't work”. But the conference room was not sitting on candy wrappers. Our deputies like to represent as a bunch of not quite balanced people, but there are no empty wrappers. These are people who have gone through the most serious screen of selection and struggle for the chair. These are people who know how to take a punch. They may have different goals, different moral values, etc. But these are not candy wrappers, which you can just dissolve into an unexpected event, but hardened good experts in politics. This time. Second. Often, the excuses say that lawmakers were simply not very successful in showing Russia's desire for good relations with the United States. Have mercy! In this case, the deputies should be considered idiots. And they are not. By the way, among the deputies there is a huge number of people who have gone out of business. And they certainly know that if you want to conclude a deal with someone, then jumping with delight and shouting how important it is to you means purchasing this product 3 times more expensive than it actually costs. It's elementary. If you want to establish relations with the same American senators, then you do not need to squeal with delight at their mere sight. And they applauded - and they gave a standing ovation.

Now let's return to the second story, seemingly not very related to the first. We turn on any channel: in all messages about football, in addition to who scored what goal to whom, the main cross-cutting theme, the red line is the “delight that foreigners experience from the view Russia . They are interviewed, they tell how they will come to their place, tell everyone what real Russia is - and everything, everything, everything will change. And here, let's think again from the point of view of common sense. Journalists with higher education do the same. These stories are published by editors, experienced people are not enthusiastic schoolgirls. So, someone who is sincerely in his right mind and sober memory can say that the West behaves towards us the way it behaves, is taking the policy that it is undertaking - because it does not understand Russia? Because they really do not know what is happening in our country?

Now let’s rewind a little, and it turns out that the theme “The West does not understand us” is eternal for Russian Westerners. Because always, to their veal delight, absolutely pragmatic actions were followed from there in accordance with the own national interests of the Western countries. And we needed an explanation: why did it happen, why did the pro-Western policy turn out to be failures for our country, to put it mildly? The answer of the Russian Westerners: "Well, they simply did not understand us, they do not know us." So, I will remind you that back in the middle of the 19th century, the largest Russian geopolitician Nikolai Danilevsky wrote on this topic about the same statements by the then completely pro-Western Russian press. In the 19th century, it was also completely pro-Western, just as it is now. As well as culture as a whole - because of which, in fact, the Russian movements The Mighty Handful and the Wanderers arose as resistance, as an act of artistic feat. So, Danilevsky wrote: "Stop deceiving yourself and the Russian society -" The West misunderstands something, does not know something. " The West discovered the secrets of the universe, the structure of the universe, the West learned the structure of the cell. But the West does not know that bears do not walk on the streets of Russian cities, and that Russian officials do not eat the children of their servants for breakfast.” It was written in the middle of the 19th century, and now the same theme is running on all channels.

And, of course, the last inconsistency of this campaign. Does anyone sincerely believe that even if all these thousands and thousands returned and said something good, they could influence the policy of the West? Does anyone continue to sincerely believe that Western democracy is the rule of the people? Remember, once we had a very good statement that in the 90s we realized that Soviet propaganda lied a lot about what was happening inside the country. But, as it turned out after the fall of the Iron Curtain, she spoke the truth and only the truth about what a capitalist society is. So, again, apart from enthusiastic schoolgirls and unbalanced people, all normal adults who deal with political topics know perfectly well that in the West politics is not determined by crowds, that democracy is not the rule of the people. Democracy is a system of power that ensures the power of big business. And so that these fans do not think there, if the policy that the West is now pursuing in relation to Russia is beneficial to the real masters of the Western states, it will be pursued. Those who conduct the information campaign cannot fail to understand and not know this - there are also candy wrappers there, as well as in the meeting room of the State Duma.

Now let's think about why all this is happening? If something absolutely does not correspond to common sense and at the same time it is done by people who for a minute cannot be suspected of stupidity and ignorance of the subject, there is only one reason. And it boils down to the following. There is an expression "a drowning man grasps at a straw." We understand that, from the point of view of common sense, you cannot be saved by grasping a straw. And the one who is drowning also understands - but grabs. This is probably the best explanation for the behavior of some of the deputies (I emphasize, not all deputies, but some of the deputies), and the information campaign that is now being conducted in the Russian media.

Since the mid-1980s, what is now called the elite has been formed in our information system, in power. She is absolutely pro-Western - the elite, for whom the West was the light in the window, for whom the symbol of success was a Swiss bank account, a castle in Great Britain, and for complete happiness there is also a “house” on the Cote d'Azur. And it doesn't even matter that only a few could afford this very castle in Great Britain and a yacht in the Mediterranean. A huge number of those who could never make money on luxury and know this. But for them this is an unattainable dream, this is what you need to strive for. Here it is - the West, here we are - there. And the most successful ones have already implemented it. They have money over there, their families over there, children get education over there, grandchildren over there, citizenship over there. Everything is already built. And suddenly - a crisis in relations with the West. For them, it is a catastrophe of their entire life: “How? We go there. And suddenly the West is hostile to Russia. And what to do? " In the West, they are beginning to seize accounts - only a few still have it, but they still understand that this can continue to go on. The locks can be closed, and even if they don't, if you run over there - sorry, what did you buy these locks for? Loot here. Will anyone allow you in the UK to plunder the British population in order to maintain your castle? The entire life strategy of our rich people was built on prosperity - there, so that families, clans, generations were - there, and fed on the "cattle" - here. And suddenly this world collapses. Yes, we have a fairly rigid vertical. And only a few dare to openly oppose the state course. The rest are forced to blame, to tell now on all channels, when they are interviewed (or the journalists themselves make stories), about “what a terrible West”. But inside, they are the very Dunks who dream of going to Europe …

And suddenly there was hope, suddenly American senators entered the conference room! This also means that there is a chance that the idols recognize that we are our own, bourgeois, we are ours, Western.

Thousands and thousands of fans have arrived? They will bring to themselves the information that we have "clean European cities". How does the mayor say what he did from Moscow? European city. I believe that after the capture of Moscow, as a direct European, Napoleon would have turned Moscow into a European city more consistently. Not to mention Hitler. The Europeans themselves somehow know how to do something European better. He did not say that he made a wonderful Russian city. He does not pronounce the Russian word. He did not say that he made a wonderful Russian city. He said about an achievement: "I am making a wonderful European city." They are all mentally, with livers - there. And for them the current conflict so much wants to present and explain to themselves and to others, as a chain of misunderstandings and accidents. That someone, somewhere, someone misunderstood. Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich just had a falling out.

But this absolutely irrational desire to grab at straws can explain what is happening in the media now, this calf delight that "Europeans came and saw how good we are, what we ourselves are Europeans." And this is not just a diagnosis of the layer that controls the media and largely controls the government. This is a very serious threat to national security. We just don't know now how the meeting in Helsinki will end. I think there are only two people who know what they want to negotiate about - Putin and Trump. But even Putin and Trump don't know what they can agree on. It is pointless to guess now. As well as it is pointless to shout: "Everything is lost!" In any case, there has never been a situation so far when Putin has surrendered the state interests of Russia. I know that others may have different points of view, and now I am expressing my point of view. But what is important now is not what is in the head of one particular Putin, even the president. The story in the State Duma and the campaign on all, by the way, not only federal, channels are important. This is the same in electronic media, it is also in social networks. Therefore, Westernism flared up not only because they were ordered from above to plant it. The press campaign shows how strong the environment that Gorbachev relied on, betraying the Soviet Union, and how numerous it is at the top of today's Russian society.