The propaganda spread to influence Greek voters.
Greece said NO! Today I woke up and the sky seemed more blue.
You won't believe the propaganda our TV spread about the referendum this past week! Behind every news channel lies a parliament member, so...
1) ...instead of presenting both sides equally, as they ought to do, journalists brainwashed and threatened viewers 24/7, spreading panic messages of destruction unless we voted for 'yes'.
The opposing view was not even shown on TV, people who didn't agree with it were pushed to the side and not interviewed. This is the amount of time news reports spent showing the rallies for 'no' and 'yes' which took place on June 29 and 30, respectively:
...pretty fair, isn't it? Reporters received strict orders to only interview voters who agreed with 'yes'. And this is professional journalism, how? Destruction was presented as lying behind the corner. You'll lose everything, your (second-hand) cars, your houses (what houses? we still live with our parents, thanks to you), your job (I haven't been paid since February, wow), you won't have food nor meds nor gas!! (even though by law Greece has stored enough meds and gas to last for 9 months). Some of us asked "why don't reporters exchange their button-down shirts and suits with simple T-shirts saying WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE to get it over with?"
2) Footage from the rally against the measures that took place on June 29 was shown as footage for the opposing rally of June 30 (because there were too few people)!! Except for one difference: on June 30th it was raining, so the few people were holding umbrellas. Then why did the news show a massive gathering of people without umbrellas? Because those were the citizens in favor of 'NO' that had marched the day before!
What about this? The actual "NO" gathering of July 3rd that no Greek channel ever showed (because it's unimportant news. Who cares about a bunch of people filling the parliament square and the roads around it?) As a result, only internet users were able to see it.
Some of us trolled by posting pictures of the Jimmy Hendrix or Metallica concert or Saruman's ork army with the caption "Reporting news: massive gathering of people in favor of yes" in case they needed to borrow some more footage. What? We were helping them.
3) By law it is prohibited to show political opinions, either for or against, on Saturday (the day before the referendum takes place. You stop to let people carefully consider their options). Despite this, the channels kept interviewing people in favor of 'yes', even on Saturday when it shouldn't be allowed!
4) News reports kept spreading that in case we voted for 'no', the following day Greece would exit the European Union (even though it's technically impossible; those who have read the legislation know it, but common people don't). ONLY after the voting time was over, that is, on Sunday night, did the channels decide to kindly inform viewers that even in the case of 'no' we would still remain an EU member. Oh. Really now?? =__=
5) An unbelievable blackmail took place all over Greece by some employers. We personally experienced it.
My friend E. who is a nurse in a private clinic, witnessed the clinic director gathering all the patients and informing them that in case "No" was voted, the clinic would be sadly unable to provide dyalisis (kidney treatment which must be done regularly) so they had better vote 'yes'. Threatening patients in need!
Similarly, my friend S' employer announced to all his workers that he would fire any person heard to vote for 'no' and, in case "No" was voted, they wouldn't need to come to work neither on Monday nor on Tuesday. The office would stay closed due to the "difficult political situation". He fired on the spot one of them who dared to voice a complaint.
6) Popular artists, actors, musicians and singers were paid to publicly support 'yes'. They claimed that "we all have been suffering all these years, now it's time to agree with the terms suggested to restore regularity". FB people trolled them, by publishing recent photos of those famous people on yachts or at cocktail parties by the pool and the inscription "we have been suffering all these years" underneath them. They even began a fundraiser for those celebrities' poor children so they could at least eat some bread.
Unfortunately, all this propaganda managed to scare people. It succeded. Ignorant people, retired people, housewives, emploees who didn't want to lose ther poorly-paid job, young people who weren't aware it was propaganda because they lacked critical thinking, believed what the channels said and caved in. They ran to the market and bought supplies, they filled their car tanks with gasoline. They warned those intending to vote 'no' that it would destroy us.
Is it possible that everyone has lost their mind? I wondered these days. Am I the only sane person left? We had no way of knowing what the people were going to vote. According to the (paid) estimates shown on TV, the difference was so slight you couldn't tell (49% Vs 46%). People seemed to prefer "safety" to "dignity", and, according to the news, we were doing the right thing.
Then the results came out: 61% said NO, and only 38% said yes. That is, 2 out of 3 people did NOT agree! Imagine what the results would have been without the propaganda (80-20). Those who said yes are the rich, the entrepreneurs, the politicians and the channel owners who would hate to lose their priviledges. The rest of us, who are carrying them on our backs, have nothing to lose. It was a wonderful moment! :)
You won't believe the propaganda our TV spread about the referendum this past week! Behind every news channel lies a parliament member, so...
1) ...instead of presenting both sides equally, as they ought to do, journalists brainwashed and threatened viewers 24/7, spreading panic messages of destruction unless we voted for 'yes'.
The opposing view was not even shown on TV, people who didn't agree with it were pushed to the side and not interviewed. This is the amount of time news reports spent showing the rallies for 'no' and 'yes' which took place on June 29 and 30, respectively:
...pretty fair, isn't it? Reporters received strict orders to only interview voters who agreed with 'yes'. And this is professional journalism, how? Destruction was presented as lying behind the corner. You'll lose everything, your (second-hand) cars, your houses (what houses? we still live with our parents, thanks to you), your job (I haven't been paid since February, wow), you won't have food nor meds nor gas!! (even though by law Greece has stored enough meds and gas to last for 9 months). Some of us asked "why don't reporters exchange their button-down shirts and suits with simple T-shirts saying WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE to get it over with?"
2) Footage from the rally against the measures that took place on June 29 was shown as footage for the opposing rally of June 30 (because there were too few people)!! Except for one difference: on June 30th it was raining, so the few people were holding umbrellas. Then why did the news show a massive gathering of people without umbrellas? Because those were the citizens in favor of 'NO' that had marched the day before!
What about this? The actual "NO" gathering of July 3rd that no Greek channel ever showed (because it's unimportant news. Who cares about a bunch of people filling the parliament square and the roads around it?) As a result, only internet users were able to see it.
Some of us trolled by posting pictures of the Jimmy Hendrix or Metallica concert or Saruman's ork army with the caption "Reporting news: massive gathering of people in favor of yes" in case they needed to borrow some more footage. What? We were helping them.
3) By law it is prohibited to show political opinions, either for or against, on Saturday (the day before the referendum takes place. You stop to let people carefully consider their options). Despite this, the channels kept interviewing people in favor of 'yes', even on Saturday when it shouldn't be allowed!
4) News reports kept spreading that in case we voted for 'no', the following day Greece would exit the European Union (even though it's technically impossible; those who have read the legislation know it, but common people don't). ONLY after the voting time was over, that is, on Sunday night, did the channels decide to kindly inform viewers that even in the case of 'no' we would still remain an EU member. Oh. Really now?? =__=
5) An unbelievable blackmail took place all over Greece by some employers. We personally experienced it.
My friend E. who is a nurse in a private clinic, witnessed the clinic director gathering all the patients and informing them that in case "No" was voted, the clinic would be sadly unable to provide dyalisis (kidney treatment which must be done regularly) so they had better vote 'yes'. Threatening patients in need!
Similarly, my friend S' employer announced to all his workers that he would fire any person heard to vote for 'no' and, in case "No" was voted, they wouldn't need to come to work neither on Monday nor on Tuesday. The office would stay closed due to the "difficult political situation". He fired on the spot one of them who dared to voice a complaint.
6) Popular artists, actors, musicians and singers were paid to publicly support 'yes'. They claimed that "we all have been suffering all these years, now it's time to agree with the terms suggested to restore regularity". FB people trolled them, by publishing recent photos of those famous people on yachts or at cocktail parties by the pool and the inscription "we have been suffering all these years" underneath them. They even began a fundraiser for those celebrities' poor children so they could at least eat some bread.
Unfortunately, all this propaganda managed to scare people. It succeded. Ignorant people, retired people, housewives, emploees who didn't want to lose ther poorly-paid job, young people who weren't aware it was propaganda because they lacked critical thinking, believed what the channels said and caved in. They ran to the market and bought supplies, they filled their car tanks with gasoline. They warned those intending to vote 'no' that it would destroy us.
Is it possible that everyone has lost their mind? I wondered these days. Am I the only sane person left? We had no way of knowing what the people were going to vote. According to the (paid) estimates shown on TV, the difference was so slight you couldn't tell (49% Vs 46%). People seemed to prefer "safety" to "dignity", and, according to the news, we were doing the right thing.
Then the results came out: 61% said NO, and only 38% said yes. That is, 2 out of 3 people did NOT agree! Imagine what the results would have been without the propaganda (80-20). Those who said yes are the rich, the entrepreneurs, the politicians and the channel owners who would hate to lose their priviledges. The rest of us, who are carrying them on our backs, have nothing to lose. It was a wonderful moment! :)