BTL dictatorship

We have seen it all before. The propaganda machine running at full speed. They control the media. They control the police and the judiciary system(*). It is fair to say they control the situation in Poland.

Twenty years after the fall of communism the communist-style propaganda is as strong as ever. Of course the decorations have changed in the meantime. The actors are dressed in new, more modern clothes. However this is only a change of an outward appearance, not the substance. The language is smarter. The aim is the same: to not let the democracy take root in Poland. To keep control in the hands of one sector of the society: the former communist junta.

The Poles are deprived of normal news and any sensible analysis of the news, coming from either outside or inside the country. A typical "news" program is a primitive mix of disasters and accidents. Politics is shown as an endless, incomprehensible quarrel. Even the term difference of opinion (różnica poglądów) disappeared. It was replaced by emotions. The favorite phrase in the so-called "Polish media" is it evokes emotion (wzbudza emocje). Opinions can be analyzed and presented logically. Emotions need not be explained. Emotions are not logical.

Was there ever such thing as the "fall of communism"? I don't think so. To say "the fall" implies a process that wasn't controlled by the communists. We know now that the departure from communism was simply a managed transition to a new, smarter form of dictatorship. It may be called a distributed dictatorship. Or BTL dictatorship. BTL stands for below the line marketing. Marketing szeptany po polsku. It is a dictatorship with no official central committee, no official central institution. Nevertheless it is a form of dictatorship, where brainwashing is done continuously with the highest intensity possible.

The politruks are now sitting on the editorial boards of Gazeta Wyborcza, Dziennik, Rzeczpospolita, etc. And of course in some other places, not necessarily having an institutional form and official name.

(*) The case of the kidnapping and killing of Krzysztof Olewnik is a perfect example of it. Scores of the police functionaries, the prosecutors, the "journalists" (funny name for political crooks and propaganda soldiers) are going around endlessly, ignoring obvious facts and connections of the people involved in the kidnapping and the following cover-up. The prosecutors "forgetting" to carry out the routine procedures on the crime scenes, accusing the kidnapped and the family that they organized the kidnapping themselves (!). This single case is enough to dismiss the supposed "rule of law" in Poland as nonsense.