Thread: Elections in Belarus

Originally Posted by Hanna

And who's doing it, if not the US military and multinational corporation.

Well, let's think. The authorities of the country you're now in? I wouldn't be any surprised...

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Well, let's think. The authorities of the country you're now in? I wouldn't be any surprised...

Hardly!
Belarus is incredibly bad at promoting itself abroad, and tweaking public opinion in other countries. Its attempts at promoting its views seem almost naive, and in addition the Belarussian government is not playing the diplomatic game with the EU at all; it seems they've given up
The tourist information available is also not slick, enough said about all this.
Of course, in MY view, all of that makes the country more likeable.

But if you look at Belarus from a Western/Anglosaxon market driven perspective, what they need is:
1) A kickass good PR agency
2) A top class spin doctor
3) SEO optimization of Belarus based sites
4) If you are going to be a bit black-hat, then a team of top class hackers..

and much, much more.

It's evident that a lot of what they are doing in terms of politics and promoting the country (tourism) is just a modern-day extension of what the USSR did in those areas. This model of tourism and PR is outdated today, at least if you look at the matter from a "Western" perspective.

Compare the reality of Belarus: "There is nothing particularly sinister going on here, people are super nice and the country looks very well kept everywhere."
...with the myth about Belarus: "This is an oppressive dictatorship where everybody is super poor, there is corruption and everything is falling to pieces. "

The average European believes that the USA is a much better country than it really is, and that Belarus is a worse country than it really is.
So who has the better propaganda?!

Per the US state department's information page about Belarus (which is the FIRST hit on Google) it says that the KGB comes into peoples hotel rooms and check their bags when they are out... Police regularly stop people on the street and ask for documentation. People are sometimes prevented from leaving the country, including foreigners, the risk for theft is very high because people are so poor ETC, ETC! None of this has turned out to be true.

If you take the USA on the other hand, the sophistication with which it promotes itself and conducts these "psy-ops" operations is fantastic.
The way they manipulate public opinion not only in their own country but across the world is unmatched, ever!
You have commercials, films, papers, NGOs, Psy-ops and lately now internet operations to push their view.
Most people don't even realise that they're being affected by it.

And Eric C. After all this, I have an eerie feeling that I should perhaps show you a captcha....
And why are you saying "I wouldn't be ANY surprised" what kind of funny English is that? Several times you have written like a non-native speaker of English. What's up with that? Are you American as everyone assumes, or some other nationality?

Originally Posted by Hanna

And Eric C. After all this, I have an eerie feeling that I should perhaps show you a captcha....
And why are you saying "I wouldn't be ANY surprised" what kind of funny English is that? Several times you have written like a non-native speaker of English. What's up with that? Are you American as everyone assumes, or some other nationality?

Oh no! Did I just screw up the whole thing revealing myself? I'm a bad robot, I let down my creator!

It seems to me, Hanna, that in your childhood some commies seriously affected your view on many things. Do you know who else thinks of a person whose opinion is different as a bot, and equates "I assume" to "everyone assumes"?

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Oh no! Did I just screw up the whole thing revealing myself? I'm a bad robot, I let down my creator!

It seems to me, Hanna, that in your childhood some commies seriously affected your view on many things. Do you know who else thinks of a person whose opinion is different as a bot, and equates "I assume" to "everyone assumes"?

Ok I think this comment proves that you are "probably" not a bot... we shall see

No "commies" affected my views in my childhood, the only thing that's different was that I wasn't under the influence of quite as much junk culture and conservative indoctrination as the average American, so therefore I developed the ability to view other cultures and countries from a neutral perspective instead of labelling them according to the latest "axis of evil" list.

And as an adult who's been truly ensnared in capitalism, in one of its global hubs for the last 10 years, I am am just letting off some steam by thinking of what a good world we would have if some of the ideals of socialism could be implemented. That is not exactly extreme, half of Europe has the same opinion. Being AGAINST imperalism and exploitation doesn't automatically make a person a "commie" there are many nuances on that scale.

Originally Posted by Hanna

Per the US state department's information page about Belarus (which is the FIRST hit on Google) it says that the KGB comes into peoples hotel rooms and check their bags when they are out... Police regularly stop people on the street and ask for documentation. People are sometimes prevented from leaving the country, including foreigners, the risk for theft is very high because people are so poor ETC, ETC! None of this has turned out to be true.

How can you know that isn't true? Just because it hasn't happened to you? But I told you, exploring a country as a tourist doesn't give you a detail view on such things. I have a couple of friends there, and they all have been telling me since the middle of 1990s they live in a great country which happens to be so (no, it would be like sOOO) unlucky with its authorities. And when you hear anything bad about that country in mass media, is it so hard to think for a bit and realize it's all about the oppressive regime, not about the people and the country itself? I don't know what else to say, please WhiteKnight, bsod, whoever living there, tell us something on the issue... do you like everything about the way the things are done in your country? (I once asked something like that, but I guess that needs to be shown up once more...). And is everything that appears in the foreign media about situation in your country always completely wrong? What could you confirm and what would you call a lie or misinformation from what Hanna has written about the country (that had been taken from mass media)?