In Orwell’s Animal Farm, the chickens chant multiple times a day: “Four legs good, two legs bad.” Beyond this motto, their simple minds cannot grasp or produce anything more. The phrase is short, memorable, and conveys a sense of deep conviction. Yet, when the time comes, they seamlessly adopt a revised version: “Four legs good, two legs better.” After all, what difference does it make? When thinking is unnecessary, repetition suffices.
The more primitive and absurd a propaganda slogan, the more frequently it is repeated, and the deeper it embeds itself in flat, uncritical minds. Worse still, it has a flattening effect on others as well. Even those who, under normal circumstances, might prefer a more nuanced and multifaceted view of reality eventually succumb to this pressure, gradually adapting their language to fit the one-dimensional thinking of the majority.
The appeal of slogans stems from intellectual—and, I would argue, spiritual—laziness. Why bother delving deeper, studying, and understanding when a simplistic, often absurd, one-sentence explanation is readily available?
Want to know why the Bolshevik coup of 1917 happened? Simple: Lenin was a German spy, sent to destroy the Russian Empire, arriving in a “sealed train car” to carry out his mission. Why did the Soviet Union collapse? No need to think—Gorbachev was an agent of the CIA, assigned to dismantle the country. And why did 20 million people die during the Covid-19 pandemic? Because Bill Gates wanted to reduce the global population.
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These absurdities, of course, serve specific purposes, and their underlying motives are not difficult to decipher. For example, in Armenia, opposition factions spread claims like “Nikol is Serzh’s creation” or “Nikol is Levon’s brainchild”—not because they believe them, but as a way to discredit their rivals. The expectation is that people will prefer a simplistic explanation. Yet the reality of how Nikol Pashinyan came to power is far more complex—and certainly not the one peddled by propaganda.
An even more insidious mindset is embedded in government propaganda, which claims that the leaders of Artsakh “looted for 30 years” and that “Ruben Vardanyan was sent by Putin.” This narrative serves to justify the government’s, to put it mildly, inaction on these issues. And the truly rotten nature of those spreading this propaganda is revealed in one cruel fact: the people they accuse are now being tortured.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
