???€?????°???°?????°: propaganda
?”?µ???? ?????±?µ???‹ (Victory Day) used to be my favorite Russian holiday. I would always tear up when I saw the veterans, some still slender in their old uniforms, covered from neck to waist in medals and ribbons, marching proudly across Red Square. In the parks, I liked watching shy little kids get a last bit of parental advice before dashing to present a veteran with a handful of flowers.
And for a few years, when we were all friends, I liked watching the other Allied veterans march along with their former Soviet comrades-in-arms.
This year, with another war raging, the fighter jets buzzing my apartment house in rehearsals for the air show seem creepy, not cool. And the drumbeat of ???€?????°???°?????° (propaganda) is like nothing I have ever seen or heard before.
And so I find myself thinking constantly about a word I thought I could put on the dusty top shelf of my mind and forget. ???€?????°???°?????° came to Russian from the Latin propaganda, defined as ???????»?µ?¶?°?‰?µ?µ ?€?°?????€?????‚?€?°???µ?????? (that which is to be disseminated). The word appeared in the 17th-century Catholic Church, which founded a group to propagate the faith to the unenlightened and unfaithful.
And that is pretty much what ???€?????°???°?????° still does — only the faith changes over time and place.
Most of the time, the word has a negative connotation in Russian. In fact, in a dictionary of political terminology, the word is defined in part like this: "???€?????°???°????????" ???°?·?‹???°?»?????? ???????‹?‚???? ?‚???‚?°?»???‚?°?€???‹?… ?€?µ?¶???????? ?????»???????‚???? ???????‡???????‚?? ???°?????? ?? ???????±?‰?µ ???????????µ ?·???°?????µ ?????‚?µ?€?µ???°?? ???????????°?€???‚???µ???????? ?????»???‚?????? ("Propaganda" was the term used to describe attempts by totalitarian regimes to completely subordinate science and any other knowledge to the interests of state policy).
So you find usage like this: ?‘?»?°???????°?€?? ?‚???????€?????? ???€?????°???°?????µ ?»?????? ?‚???‡???? ?·???°?»??, ?‡?‚?? ???€?°?????? ?????? ?????????‚ ?????»?‹???°?‚?? ?‚???»?????? ???? "?€?°??????-?????»?????°??" (Thanks to the ham-fisted propaganda, people were certain that they could only get the truth from the "radio voices" [of America, etc.]).
But not all the ways and means of ???€?????°???°?????° and ???€?????°???°???????€?????°?‚?? (to propagandize) are bad: ?’?€?°?‡ ?????»?¶?µ?? ???€?????°???°???????€?????°?‚?? ?·?????€?????‹?? ???±?€?°?· ?¶???·????, ???????µ?‡????, ?? ???° ???????‘?? ???€?????µ?€?µ ?‚???¶?µ. (A doctor should promote a healthy lifestyle, of course — and by example, too).
???€?????°???°?????° and ???€?????°???°???????€?????°?‚?? can also be used for the promotion of commercial endeavors or products: ???? ???µ?»?°?» ?????‘, ?‡?‚???±?‹ ???€?????°???°???????€?????°?‚?? "?’???€?‚?????·???? ???????????‹" (He did everything he could to promote the Moscow Virtuosi).
Now this is usually ???€???????????? (promotion), done by the noun ???€?????????‚?µ?€ (promoter) through the verb ???€?????????‚???€?????°?‚?? (to promote).
Question: ???°?? ???€?????????‚???€?????°?‚?? ?????????? ??????????? (How do you promote an intellectual book?) Answer: By using a native Russian verb like ???€???????????°?‚?? (to advance, promote).
?? ???€?µ???»?°???°?? ???€???????????°?‚?? ???°???? ?????????? ?? ?????†???µ?‚???… (I will promote your book in social media). This kind of ???€?????????¶?µ?????µ (promotion) seems to be more covert than, say, ?€?µ???»?°?????€?????°?‚?? (to advertise) or ???€???????????‚?? ?€?µ???»?°???????? ???°?????°?????? (carry out an ad campaign).
And all of it comes under the big umbrella of ???°?€???µ?‚?????? (marketing), which can be ?????????µ?€?‡?µ???????? (commercial), ?????†???°?»?????‹?? (social) or political: ?????»???‚???‡?µ???????? ???°?€???µ?‚?????? ?? ? ?????????? — ???‚?? ???€?????€?°???????€?????°?????µ ???????µ???µ?????? ???»?µ???‚???€?°?‚?° (Political marketing in Russia is programming the electorate's behavior).
And we know how you do that: ???€?????°???°?????°. Here we go again.
Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.
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