I have been grappling with the problem of ideology (economic, political, geopolitical). How do we get people to reconsider beliefs and narratives which are held with such deep conviction they automatically dismiss other ways of understanding?
Those beliefs and narratives have been spoon-fed us, as if they were mother’s milk, by a system which constantly reinforces them. As part of that, the system also blocks and smears attempts to question them.
That dynamic has been visible in the characterization of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The British gutter press (Daily Star of Scotland) prints defaced images of President Putin with a little Hitler-styled moustache. In the US, the middle class magazine American Heritage front-paged it Spring 2022 issue with a similar image, accompanied by a web-posting titled “The Fuhrer in the Kremlin.”
Elite newspapers like The Guardian cannot even report on a summit meeting between Presidents Xi and Trump without making disparaging and belittling comments about President Putin. Their Washington correspondent headlined his story “Trump swoons over soulmate Xi – are you feeling jealous, Vladimir?”
And The New York Times regularly chokes on using President Putin’s appropriate title in references to him. That denigrating stance is exemplified by The New York Times op-ed by the late former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, in which she described him as “small and pale” and “almost reptilian”. That language would not pass muster according to the paper’s own community comment guidelines.
The coverage is intentional. We lap it up, and it reinforces our prejudices and our allegiance to the ruling narrative. But what if the coverage is falsee? What if it is intended to manipulate us and shape public thinking?
It is not an issue of conspiracy, but rather how social systems work. We know we have a dominant ideology which we all partake of. That ideology is produced by and suits our ruling political economic interests. It also guides media editors who also partake of it, and it shapes what the media publishes because the media wants to make profits and it does so by selling material that fits comfortably with our preconceived ideas and prejudices (i.e., our ideology).
In that spirit, watch this off-the-cuff interview (September 2026) with President Putin. You may not agree with his point of view, but one cannot deny his sophisticated intelligence and evidenced reasoning. The contrast with our own leaders (Messrs. Trump and Biden in the US; Messrs. Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Keir Starmer in the UK; and Messrs. Mertz and Olaf Scholz in Germany; and Monsieur Macron in France).
By any standard, Vladimir Putin is an extraordinary political leader. Personally, I am substantially in agreement with the ideas he expresses. Regardless of that, our media coverage is shocking in its disrespectful dishonesty which is aimed at entrenching our attitudes.
