The foul air of fear
With biting wit, Pietje Schramouille takes apart the absurdities of our time and shows how fear, as during the health crisis, is used to enslave the population. His antidote: humour. By treating us like idiots, the media forget that we can still think… and laugh.
The daily carioca
The American journalist Henry Louis Mencken said at the beginning of the 20th century: “The aim of politics is to keep the population worried and therefore demanding to be made safe, by threatening it with an uninterrupted series of monsters, all of them imaginary”.
It worked very well with Covid. No reason to stop. They have recreated a cold war like the one we lived through from 1947 to 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall. We weren’t afraid. Life went on. During a programme by Frédéric Taddéï on socialism, Gaspard Proust came out with this dazzling line: “Do you know any socialists who fled east after the fall of the Wall?”[1].
War in Ukraine
It’s crazy that this war waged by Volodymyr Zelensky, who used to play the piano with his genitals on prime-time television, against the monster Putin should revive the fear syndrome… Especially since Trump confronted Europe with its responsibilities: “The paradox is that, for a long time, 500 million Europeans have been asking 300 million Americans to defend them against 140 million Russians”. The line comes from Donald (yes, another one) Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister. A neighbour of Ukraine.
A godsend for our subsidised crap media
The media are suffering enormously because of the economic crisis, hence fewer ads, falling sales and subscriptions, competition from the internet and the disinterest of millennials. So clickbait is the order of the day. Every journalist has to become a buzz-maker. Never mind the bottle, as long as you get drunk.
I’d love to sit in on an editorial meeting; it must be an absolute blast. The great daily brainstorm on psychotropics. I don’t know what they’re taking, but it’s strong stuff.
On Sunday 16 March, I’m slumped in front of my magic screen and I come across the RTL TVI news along with 458,072 other viewers. I discover a mind-boggling 4-minute report on “Belgians preparing for war”[2]. The high point is the search for a cave to take refuge in. A cave… They want to turn us into the Flintstones. I’m laughing so hard I’m crying.
A quick search shows that there are 1,500 caves in Wallonia. That would put 3,000 of us in each cave. The surrealism is total. The Overton window has been blown apart. We swallow grotesque information without a murmur. Dumbed down as we are. Petrified by fear. I can’t bring myself to believe that people study journalism for five years to tell us such nonsense.
On LCI, the litany of retired officers playing Stratego, except that in their game the flag can move too. It’s much funnier.
We are hitting rock bottom, friends. Good news: that’s where you find your friends. Look at who is around you. Who is clear-headed. Who smiles. Who grimaces. Who stares at their feet. Wake up, people.
1 April is cancelled
The media blooper reel never stops. I propose that on Tuesday 1 April, the sponsored media tell the truth. Nothing but the truth. It will do us good. I promise to buy your newspapers, read them and watch your TV news with great devotion.
So that these deadly media come to an end. Once and for all, in our cities of fear, let’s dance the Carioca…
Pietje Schramouille
The opinions expressed in this opinion piece are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent those of BAM!
Standfirst and illustration by BAM!
[1] ? Gaspard Proust DÉMONTE l’hypocrisie GAUCHISTE ! ? #GaspardProust #Gauchiste #Berlin - YouTube
[2] RTL info 19 heures S2025 E75 RTL info 19 heures (16/03/25)
