inscitia on Nostr: At the end of the 1980s, Theodore Dalrymple sensed that the communist regimes around ...
At the end of the 1980s, Theodore Dalrymple sensed that the communist regimes around the world were on the verge of collapse. So he decided to visit these countries as soon as possible to see them before the likely changes to come. His impressions are collected in the book The Wilder Shores of Marx. An excerpt from the book that I remember often is the following:
"I came to the conclusion that the purpose of propaganda in communist countries was not to persuade, much less to inform, but to humiliate and emasculate. In this sense, the less true it was, the less it corresponded in any way to reality, the better; the more it contradicted the experience of the persons to whom it was directed, the more docile, self- despising for their failure to protest, and impotent they became."
Every time I see the blatant lies told by the powerful and by the legacy press, that snippet comes to my mind.
"I came to the conclusion that the purpose of propaganda in communist countries was not to persuade, much less to inform, but to humiliate and emasculate. In this sense, the less true it was, the less it corresponded in any way to reality, the better; the more it contradicted the experience of the persons to whom it was directed, the more docile, self- despising for their failure to protest, and impotent they became."
Every time I see the blatant lies told by the powerful and by the legacy press, that snippet comes to my mind.