High Crimeas and Misdeamors 0
At Asia Times, Daisy Sindelar offers six lesson that can be drawn from Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Here’s one, which also serves to explain the modus operandi of Fox News and the Wingnut World News Network; follow the link for the rest:
4. It’s Not Lying If They Believe It
Both Adolf Hitler and his propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels were avid proponents of the “Big Lie,” a falsehood so flagrant, and so consequential, that people choose to accept it rather than believe its teller capable of such underhandedness. Putin, whose KGB training and rumored plastic surgery have rendered his expression all but unreadable, has employed several Big Lies — and innumerable little ones — in his Crimea campaign:
1) Russians are having their rights violated;
2) He is upset by the idea of Russians having their rights violated;
3) Power in Kyiv has been seized by fascists;
4) The situation is so dire Ukrainians themselves are fleeing to Russia;
5) No Russian troops entered Ukraine;
6) “We are not considering [annexing Crimea].”
Even in instances where such claims were demonstrably false — as in Crimea, where Russian soldiers willingly identified themselves to journalists — there has been no tangible downside to the lie. Cracking down on the few remaining free news outlets in Russia has only made it easier to sell this alternate narrative at home.
And in related developments.
