One of the key components of the Communist Oppression was the fabricated reality that was pushed forward as news in newspapers, on TV, on national radio, billboards and school handbooks.
On one hand, it was the leader himself who wanted to keep up appearances. One time Ceausescu had taken his hat off for a meeting with another country leader, but in an official picture that would make him look like a weaker person, so he asked that his hat would be photoshopped back on before being published in the newspaper. And it’s not just the things he’d ask for, he’d just expect for his employees to anticipate his quirky needs and avoid putting him in a less than great picture. Smart, I know! On the other hand, any activity the leader would have was announced. So the institutions would put forward the best rooms, most docile personnel dressed in Sunday clothes, they'd bring forward the best products (even if they were created especially for the occasion). Some say Ceausescu had no clue of what was really happening in the country because everyone kept on putting up a show for him.
(Scott Edelman (an employee of the US State Department and currently an instructor at the US Air Force Academy) took this photo while he was posted in Romania during the mid-1980's.) Now this looks like a distant crazy past, in a distant Eastern country, but propaganda is a powerful tool that has shapeshifted into fake news, thanks to internet and social media. We used to rely on news to find out about the world we can’t reach for ourselves, and we trusted that. There were fewer outlets and the distribution was under control. But now, anything can be published anywhere and fake news are omnipresent. But then again, anyone who lives a regular life doesn’t have the time to check any information. So pick your sources wisely, question everything and always keep in mind that for the truth you hold dear right now, there is someone, somewhere, equally in love with their truth. Never forget about the backfire effect and if this is your first encounter with the concept, here are some resources to on the matter:

• the neuroscience of changing your mind
• how motivated skepticism strengthens incorrect beliefs
• how to fight back against the backfire effect

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