Considering that the language, style and attitude of politics and the mass media are largely "dependent on power", they are reflected to the masses as a "propaganda bombardment". The masses, who are not particularly interested in thinking, questioning, criticizing when appropriate, and defending their rights socially, become the primary target of these propaganda bombardments. Even propositions that are shaky in logic and even built on false information can have an impact on non-selective masses through this bombardment of propaganda.
Due to the nature of the job or himself, the politician may exaggerate from time to time (provided that they do not deviate from the facts), and may use very assertive words when appropriate. The society senses the real meaning and intention here and determines its attitude to believe or not accordingly. He does not fall for everything a politician says, he does not see every word as the only truth. It activates its mind, logic, conscience, makes judgments and arrives at a judgment. At least that's what happens in conscious societies.
Our politicians also like to exaggerate, a habit that populism they love so much. There were promises of 2 keys at the time, for example, it is said that today we are closer than ever to being among the top 10 economies of the world. More than a crisis that has been going on for the last 4-5 years, a state of depression and a visible impoverishment besieged the economy and people...
Although, we have recently heard that the number of refrigerators is mentioned as a measure of economic development and enrichment. Hearing this example, the citizen on the street, for example, adopts a similar attitude to defend his party, which he "holds as a team", even if he is suffering from economic difficulties, is unemployed, in debt or poor. Those who talk about economic problems, cost of living, and financial difficulties can talk about the fact that everyone has luxury phones in their pockets, and that everyone has 2-3 cars at their door. These are probably an example of the power of perception in terms of alienating the masses from their own problems as well as the power of propaganda bombardment.
President Erdoğan recently said, “We are the country where gasoline is the cheapest in Europe. The phrase “The people coming from Europe are leaving our country after filling their tanks” was defined as “expressing a truth” in a country with an average public opinion. Everyone would have noticed that the cheapness meant here was valid for people and countries whose income was in Euros, and the result was that the Turkish currency had depreciated. However, at least half of the Turkish public evaluated these words within the strange "old Turkey-new Turkey" comparison that is engraved on their minds and thought that it was a success(!) or mostly wanted to assume it was.
However, the striking or bitter truth still stands before us in our daily life. Yes, the vast majority of the people do not receive their salaries in dollars or euros, or the earnings of traders, artisans are not in foreign currency. Revenues are in TL, but expenses are directly or indirectly related to exchange rates. As such, the loss of value in TL, whether indirectly or directly, melts the money in the pockets of the people. This reality is always in front of us, even in daily life, it is a one-to-one situation. The rising cost of living also makes it difficult to make a living, which is already the top priority of the people.
In an atmosphere where 1 euro is over 10 liras, outsiders of course fill their tanks here. Last year, expatriate young people were laughing in surprise by calculating the euro equivalent of beverage prices in the market. In the video they shot, if the same young people did the same thing this year, they would probably be even more amazed and laugh even more. The euro, which was around 7.80 in July last year, is around 10.20 today because... The depreciation of TL is around 30 percent. In other words, the money in the pockets of those who came to Turkey from abroad increased by 30 percent in TL in 1 year. Of course they will fill the tank in Turkey!
While 1 Bulgarian lev was almost equal to 1 TL in 2010, today the currency of Bulgaria, which is one of the countries with the lowest per capita income in the EU, has reached 5.25 times our currency. That is why there is an influx of Bulgarian tourists to Edirne. Unfortunately, we are in an advantageous position even for Bulgarians, one of the poorest in the EU. The meltdown in our national currency is also equivalent to a decrease in purchasing power.
In other words, our politicians exaggerate the situation a little while using assertive and daring statements and "boast about the decrease in purchasing power", and a certain segment of the society applauds this. Listening to the tube, oil, sugar queue 50 years ago and saying “wow!” Because of these “propaganda bombardments” and “alienation from their own affairs”, people who say that they do not see the onion-potatoes, cheap bread lines, visible impoverishment, terrible waste in public and of course “praise for impoverishment” in 2021.
What can one say other than to be amazed…