The author Vladimir Surkov, used his pen name Vladislav Surkov to publish today's book report. 'Almost Zero' published in 2009 is a fascinating character study of the author. He was essentially Putin's spin doctor before falling from grace back in 2020. [1]
His strategy inverts our common understanding of media manipulation. Let's review a few politicians who found creative ways to use the media. For example, let's say Berlusconi in the early 2000s was the prototype. He controlled the media, giving him access to control the narrative, eventually swaying the public to elect him into power. Technically, he started a private media company, which at the time was unheard of in Italy, as all media was state-owned. This introduced a parallel narrative to the people, undermining the state's purview.
Trump, on the other hand, is the media. (The medium has evolved from the TV set to the social media platforms.) He is the center of attention, he does not have ownership of the media channels, and yet the media gobbles his voice to increase their revenue. Surkov is a bit different. What the Russians did was they sponsored all fringe ideas and let the narrative play its natural course among the people. One day they sponsor pro-life platforms, only for the next day to sponsor liberal democracy and then neo-fascism. And then the remarkable part was they did this all in the open. Truly, a fascinating political operative.
My criticism of this book is he makes a compelling argument for the dissent, the disdain, and the meaninglessness of American consumerism. But he misses the mark that it is not the idea in itself, which was a botch, but the underlying money. As a digital currency dabbler, I don't see this world we live in today as some doomsday, everything is going to zero, but to the contrary, it takes infinity to get from zero to one. It is that challenge to get from A to B which I strive to live in and with.
