May does not only the month of the great Victory, but also a month of holidays teaching and education in a broad sense. It contained in itself the Day of Slavic writing and culture, international Museum day, national libraries day and world press freedom day. However, on the “cultural front” are not doing as well as we would like. The reasons for this reflects the well-known publicist Sergey Kara-Murza.
In the rough and tumble helps the mind
In the close to Russia’s regions is becoming more “hybrid” war. It has burned Libya and Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, millions of refugees fleeing to Europe. Already defeated “almost our” Ukraine and Georgia in April suddenly broke out of the “frozen” conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh between Azerbaijan and Armenia, there is strong pressure on Transnistria.
Nevertheless, there are some grounds for optimism: behind – a great experience to gather under a death threat, in a kind of military unit. But now the Russian society and the state. The events of 2014 in Ukraine, we were not ready. The threat was underestimated, the shot missed and the consequences we will reap for a long time – and we, and Ukrainians. Why? In my opinion, in addition to the rest of our weaknesses played a role rather dilapidated and in some places collapsed Bastion of reason and common sense of the people”.
Reasons for this were the long ideological crisis in the USSR (the renewal of social forms of being not able to keep up with the new generations), then a cold civil war under the guise of perestroika, then reforms impacting on the health of society and the state. Our economists (advisors) in the nineties wrote a doctrine of reform that brought down production and science, launched a process of degradation of education. Reputable scientists have warned about the inferiority of the chosen model, did not listen to them. In 1996, the American experts working in Russia, wrote: “the Policy of economic reforms have failed because it gave rise to a mixture of fear and ignorance.”
Fear is understandable. What is the nature of ignorance? Why was this made serious mistakes. The fact that a huge army of economists have ignored the knowledge: “Over the past fifty years, economic science has explained why and under what conditions markets work well and when this happens” (Dzh. Stiglitz).
Vladimir Putin said: “the First stage was associated with the dismantling of the old economic system… let me Remind you, during the prolonged economic crisis, Russia lost almost half of its economic potential.” This loss is quantitatively greater than in the Great Patriotic war. She struck the entire population of cultural trauma, which as a concussion, has damaged the thinking skills and reasoning. This is a problem affecting all society.
Of course if it is treated, it is very slow, and no. It is necessary to make a diagnosis and arrange treatment.
The goal of “hybrid” war – the destruction of all institutions of the target country
The mind obliges the authors of the controversial doctrine to consider the criticism and respond to it: to admit their mistakes or to defend their ideas. But the reformed community has not followed any reaction. Nothing. Instead of understanding and correcting errors was a chain started the process of “breeding ignorance”. Not only that, disfigured school and marginalizovani balances science, through the media began to pump it in all layers of the population.
As a result, students (and many professors), you can’t feel of such systems as a society, the people, the economy and the crisis. Talk about the elements: who is about oil, who on currencies, who is about prices. But all the scraps of yarn ball that rolls, unwound and zamatyvaetsya. This separation logic is lost and not visible context, the Association of the system with many environmental factors. For example, economists often offer their programs out of the crisis, without taking into account the state and structure of society.
However, the crisis cannot be understood outside the context, it permeates all systems of society and the state and becomes a special type of being. Similarly, we do not understand the modern “hybrid” war, which we are already involved. Its goal is the destruction or reformatting of all institutions and systems of the target country, i.e. Russia. And the destruction is carried out not so much a “hybrid” fighters from abroad, how much the ignorance of our elites, even without the “fifth column”.
Renowned sociologist Oleg Yanitsky in the structure of modern war highlights the critical weapon type, as the information influence on the consciousness and system of values. He writes: “My colleagues are still not aware of the fact that beginning in 1991 the introduction into the mass consciousness of the Russians of consumer ideology and a corresponding way of life has far-reaching negative social consequences.”
Why do his colleagues (scientists! – S. K-M) do not realize that it disarm “staff” of the country against which the war begins? Because of their thinking is taken important blocks of knowledge, and emptiness filled with ignorance. But if it happened with the brain of the nation, one can imagine the state of our society. It’s easiest to see on the knowledge about the history of our twentieth century. Are aware of the great force exerted on the thinking of the images of the past: they will create chaos – a man loses his footing and stumbles over a flute of the pied Piper. A new story began to write literally – in the form of textbooks. In Russian society there was a natural resistance, the Ukrainian proved to be more pliant, the fruit of which was the Maidan and all the subsequent.
Through false values – to the rejection of common sense
But we have “masters of discourse” managed to steer a divided society in the “battle of phantoms.” Intellectuals suddenly loved Peter Stolypin and put him first – above Alexander Nevsky, Peter the Great or Georgy Zhukov. All is forgotten. In metro hung instead of advertising portraits of Stolypin with his dictum: “You need great upheavals, and our great Russia”. I know not that even conservatives warned him that instead of destruction of the peasant community will … the revolution. And so it happened. Stolypin gave his all to the cause of the split of the peasantry into classes of rural bourgeoisie and the proletariat and failed. His reform was useful in that it gave all a clear experiment
The reasons for the collapse explained renowned economist Alexander Chayanov. In the agricultural sector of Russia since the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 and until 1917, coexisted large capitalist farm and peasant family farm, which led to the destruction of the first. Land-hungry peasants paid for the land more than the allowed rent capitalist agriculture and the prices for land far exceeded the net profits from these lands received in their operation by the owners.
Unprofitable farming, the destruction of the community would be a disaster. Who remembers that today? It is amazing that Stolypin became the idol of intellectuals who talked a lot about morality and hated KGB. Witte gave him this evaluation: “In his dissolute management Stolypin did not adhere to any principles, he has corrupted Russia, finally corrupted Russian administration, absolutely destroyed the autonomy of the court… Stolypin has corrupted the press, has corrupted many layers of Russian society, finally, he has corrupted and destroyed all dignity of the State Duma, drawing her in your Department.”
A quirk in the thinking of the Russian intelligentsia became possible only because a considerable part of it was plunged in ignorance. The exaltation of Stolypin is a profanation of national history. Except with these symbols of Russia “will rise from knees”?
For example, in people’s heads is introducing the utopia that the farmer will feed the people (“in America”). What? The farmers we have 25 percent of the acreage, and produce 10 percent of the gross output. They have the productivity of the land is almost twice lower than that of large farms, former collective farms. Nonetheless, to date the Ministry of agriculture called farming “the present and future of the country.” The Minister recently in the NTV confirmed it. Farms, family farms largely provide for the growth of agriculture, he said, “farmers account for 10 percent of the marketable products. This is only the beginning”. Wow, the beginning, when farming nurtured for a quarter century!
To put up barriers of agnotology
The public doesn’t know that it was thirty years ago, the condition of the village today, as in Russia of cattle (cows), etc. the People just don’t “boot” a lot of problems, which nevertheless are vitally important. Statistics are published, but it also should comprehend.
It is unlikely we can take comfort that the decrease in the level of knowledge happens not only in Russia – in the West, not better. But there sounding the alarm. The term “agnotology” –the deliberate spreading of ignorance. About what contribution it is making propaganda, the article says journalist John. Kenyon, which analyzes the work of the historian of science from Stanford University, Robert Proctor, who showed, both in business corporations and in politics use technology “ignorance is strength”. Tobacco firms forced people to question cancer risks of Smoking, and policies consciously transform the ignorance that we all have there spots, in the fundamental principle of existence.
In the United States found a bunch of: “propaganda creates ignorance.” It is most effective in history. At the time, even American historians have been shocked that President Bush has criticized Franklin Roosevelt for the signing of the 1945 Yalta agreement.
Him in the American press is reminded that Roosevelt and Churchill there was little choice. The red Army had already occupied a large territory of Eastern Europe and was preparing to storm Berlin, and the public in the US and UK wanted to make a quick end of the war, not prolonging it for the sake of “saving Europe”. Plus, enlightened Bush journalists, Washington wanted to enlist the help of the Soviet Union in the defeat of Japan. “It is sad and even a little scary to realize that our President, wrote in the Boston globe” Michael Wormser, – has such weak own knowledge and understanding of the world”. If these are the representatives of the ruling elite, to say nothing of the mass electorate!
Does this mean that we should raise his hands up? No. Realizing that today is not in the best condition the head of the majority of our population, the government can and should include protection mechanisms.
Media: to find the balance of press freedom and responsibility
Its share in the thickening gloom in the public mind introduces not only propaganda, but popular culture is consumed via electronic media. Add to this the Internet, that already drew the attention of scientists in the United States, because it is a platform where anyone can expose themselves an expert and sow further seeds of ignorance. All this must be considered in the development of the doctrines of “information security”.
These doctrines need updating. For Russia became extremely important wave of information warfare and problems of balance of freedom and responsibility of the press. It is clear that any information war, especially if its operations are supported by strikes from outside by “our” media in the country, causing Russia to its “transition state” very great damage.
In these wars, the most soft, now incorporate powerful new information technologies as powerful new technologies the impact on the consciousness, feelings, imagination and memory of large communities. It is the result of great work of Western scholars in all fields of human Sciences. Over such weapons are numerous teams of psychologists and anthropologists, culture experts and linguists, etc. We are lagging behind in these areas, not built a protective system and opened our national information space.
Emergency protective agent dialog, a joint awareness of the meaning that is poured on us from the ether. It dialogues with loved ones, and through the media with all the people. This requires to dramatically expand the print capabilities of the discussions with clear criteria of responsibility. Standards worthy of a dispute are known, and in the interest of the state to give citizens access to such “everyday plebiscite”. Without this, the scab of ignorance will increase.
Benefits for the state of ignorance of the masses can only be tactical and short-term. In strategic terms, this factor is a threat to the country, and extraordinary and relevant. In this state, we cannot achieve any consolidation of the company, neither the nation, nor to find a way out of permanent crisis creeping. That threatens the very historical existence of Russia.
