Propaganda and economic policy
Pozharsky wrote well about the real effectiveness of propaganda.
Russian propaganda is propaganda... of postmodernism. She is not trying to convince us that there is no corruption in Russia. She simply says that corruption is everywhere. They say that nowhere in the world there are any bright ideals, but there are only endless "power relations" disguised with all sorts of tinsel. In the West, there is also theft, oligarchs and a police state. They just disguise themselves more gracefully - a rich experience.
...
This has a demoralizing effect. If there are no ideals and guidelines in the world, then what is the point of trying to change something? Especially at the risk of your own neck. This demoralizing effect is combined with the propaganda "show of force". As a result, the real victim of propaganda is not the one who fell in love with Big Brother. It's more like a self-satisfied sucker who doesn't believe in anything at all. He is convinced that, firstly, any protest is useless (especially non-violent), and, secondly, self-interest, meanness and other "realpolitik" rule the whole world. The self-satisfied sucker will make fun of the "oppositional hamsters" from above, being sure that it was he who squandered how the "real world" works. But this lack of ideals turns him into an atomized social plankton, which turns out to be food for anyone ranging from the state to the ordinary mafia. After all, every time when plankton tries to get up from the couch, he is stopped by his own inner voice, repeating "not everything is so simple", "think about who benefits" and similar wisdom.
And here we can even admire a little the real effectiveness of propaganda. Well, it is necessary to manage to convince a person of his superiority, at the same time turning him into a completely helpless creature.
I discussed a similar topic here.
This largely fits in with the fact that Russian propaganda is aimed at imitation of political involvement: “Of course, a system where propaganda works to imitate politics and civic participation, and does not mobilize forces to achieve its goals, is not totalitarianism. This is also tyranny, but it would be better to call it nihilitarism - the realm of deceit, simulacra and the silent majority.
After rereading my post and what Misha wrote, I had an idea in my head regarding economic policy in Russia. Authoritarian regimes are often prone to populism (in fact, democracies also have such tendencies, but there it is much more difficult to make the wrong decision due to checks and balances, although it also becomes difficult to reverse decisions). But economic policy in Russia is not about populism at all. Regime stability is more important than development. The only thing that has value is to be feared, so that there is no real dream that is worth living for. A passive and atomized society is an excellent environment for maintaining the status quo.
The countercyclical policy is extremely tough, not about populism. As for the growth strategy, it simply does not exist. Yes, there is near-populism in the rhetoric, they say, import substitution, everything is our own, Russian, but there is nothing large-scale and is unlikely to happen. Only what you have to do is forced.
No truly large-scale projects in sectors where Russia has no competitive position. No more Japan's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Industry, which is busy restructuring industry enterprises and coordinating industry development. Large projects involve the mobilization of resources, and the mobilization of resources is their redistribution, the emergence of new players and the destruction of the status quo. But the status quo has its own value. I'm not saying that we need to listen to Glazyev or Dugin, but that a growth strategy is actually needed. Nothing can be achieved without structural reforms.
And Gelich's fantasies will remain anime dreams. And thank God. And we need a completely different dream. The dream that not even an ideal, but a free society is a giant step forward.
In the meantime, Russia remains a country of victorious whatabautism, which fits perfectly into the strategy of maintaining the status quo.
Grigory Bazhenov 2022-07-27
