TV key to Putin's authoritarian regime in Russia

[Electric Monk]

Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia
By Peter Pomerantsev



Reviewed by: Graeme Voyer

TV key to Putin's authoritarian regime in Russia

'THERE is no such thing as objective reporting." This is the credo of the managing editor of Russia Today, the Russian news channel.

But as Peter Pomerantsev learned, this facile relativism serves as a convenient rationale for the Russian government to engage in systematic lying through the media it controls.

(snip)

Russian television, Pomerantsev discovered, is integral to the authoritarianism of President Vladimir Putin's Russia. But while television in the Soviet era was dull, television in the Putin era is a smorgasbord of Western-style sitcoms and reality shows, all designed to keep the populace distracted. Real social problems, such as widespread corruption, are never discussed.

(big snip)

Thus, in Pomerantsev's account, the new Russia is a lot like the old Russia: "This isn't a country in transition," he writes, "but some sort of postmodern dictatorship that uses the language and institutions of democratic capitalism for authoritarian ends."

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http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/TV-key-to-Putins-authoritarian-regime-in-Russia---289964031.html

[uhnope]

1. Great analysis.

Yes though "Russia is a lot like the old Russia," RT and the government-controlled media is very 21st century: "some sort of postmodern dictatorship that uses the language and institutions of democratic capitalism for authoritarian ends."

[fasttense]

2. There is NO such thing as democratic capitalism

Capitalism is all about inequality. The more authoritarian a country, the more capitalistic it can be. He with the capital rules capitalist countries. Those born with the capital, or those who are thieves and steal their capital, rule those without capitol. A working man has almost NO say in a capitalist government. Just look at the US government where what the majority favors rarely is enacted. And where everything including government and laws are up for sale. Capitalism and democracy really can NOT coexist. The US and other countries try to force them together with laws regulating capital but the excessively wealthy always end up getting the upper hand.

So now Russia in the guise of Putin is playing the same game as Rupert Murdoch and the Saudis or the Waltons and the Chinese. The US capitalist government opened the doors and invited in Putin and Russia Today. Glad to see Murdoch get a run for his money.

[Blue_Tires]

3. I was amused to read that one of their most popular dramas

is an Edward Snowden avatar who betrays his country and his high-ranking intelligence job to hand over information and eventually defect to Russia...

(Granted, the show is a bit different in that it takes place in the 1980s? and the protagonist already had ancestral roots in Russia)

[Electric Monk]

4. On a related note, perhaps, season three of The Americans starts tonight

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2149175/

[Blue_Tires]

5. Haven't seen it, but I will say "The Game" on BBC was sublime...

I always wanted to ask -- Who is your avatar supposed to be? A snowman? A ghost?

[Electric Monk]

6. It works on different levels. On one level, it's an Ohm symbol, but it's also a monk's cowl

Last edited Thu Jan 29, 2015, 01:30 AM - Edit history (1)

Electric Monk

and the face is a Type I electrical outlet


Cleared that up, I hope?