km. Sure, one can well categorise the current propaganda of Western media and politicians against Russia and its President Vladimir Putin. The article by Hans Köchler in Current Concerns No. 2 of 7 February offers a very good analytical frame for this. And there are still the dissenting voices in one’s own countries or in one’s own language – one almost wants to say NATO samizdat* – be it infosperber, the Nachdenkseiten or the Anti-Spiegel, to name just a few.
Nevertheless, it is becoming increasingly unbearable what is now being hammered into people’s minds and souls every day. One must really speak here of a conformity of large parts of our media world. The reality is turned upside down: Russia is supposed to be the aggressive warmonger that disregards the law – and NATO is supposed to be righteous, peace-loving and ready for dialogue, but unfortunately forced to take tough countermeasures against Russia.
Michael Lüders, in his latest book, “Die scheinheilige Supermacht. Warum wir aus dem Schatten der USA heraustreten müssen” (The Hypocritical Superpower. Why we must step out of the shadow of the USA), he reviewed literature on the subject and illustrated the manipulation techniques of our media with many examples.
The dangers of this conformity are great. Millions of people in our countries only get these messages. People are affected even if they do not want to believe what is constantly coming down on them. Propaganda is a form of violence against spirit and soul, and it violates everyone.
Add to this the fact that those who have (so far) publicly expressed themselves differently within the power elites are bombarded with media broad sides and pilloried – be it the former Inspector General of the German Navy, the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder or those parts of the German Social Democrats that deviate even slightly from the US and NATO line. Campaigns are staged to intimidate and silence those who are attacked, but also the people who dared to think alike.
It is true that everyone can also see, hear and read the other side. Russian websites in German or English: the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the website of the Russian President or even the German-language websites of Russian media. It is easy to see that things are presented differently there than here. As a precaution, we dismiss these voices with the accusation of “disinformation” – while our media are supposed to be “quality media” with “quality journalism”. And of course, only the others are accused of “propaganda”, according to the principle: “Stop thief!”
Who has the time and the strength to inform themselves on all sides and then form their own opinion? Nevertheless, the basic idea remains: “Have the courage to use your own reason!” And brace yourself inwardly against everything that is out to sow enmity and turn people, peoples and states against each other. •
* In the Soviet Union and later also in large parts of the Eastern Bloc, the term “samizdat” referred to the dissemination of alternative, mostly forbidden literature that did not conform to the system via unofficial channels. For example, texts were copied by hand or typewriter, photocopied or otherwise reproduced and then passed on privately from hand to hand.
Our website uses cookies so that we can continually improve the page and provide you with an optimized visitor experience. If you continue reading this website, you agree to the use of cookies. Further information regarding cookies can be found in the data protection note.
If you want to prevent the setting of cookies (for example, Google Analytics), you can set this up by using this browser add-on.