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State television, from which a significant number of Poles get their news, consistently smears, in aggressive and defamatory language, the political opposition and anyone who thinks differently from the ruling party.
Olga Tokarczuk
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote highlights the dangers of biased media that attacks opposing views and reinforces the ruling party's narrative.

Olga Tokarczuk's quote emphasizes the role of state-controlled television in shaping public opinion through aggressive and defamatory language against political opposition. It illustrates how such a media environment can create a hostile atmosphere for dissenting voices and undermine democratic discourse, leading to a polarizing society where only one narrative prevails.

Themes

MediaPoliticsTruthOppressionFreedom

In practice

Example use cases

Discussing media bias in a political science class.

More from Olga Tokarczuk

But the fact is we did have colonies in the east of Poland, we did have a slave economy there. But this is not common knowledge - or part of our national myth. It goes against the current romanticised view of the government, and much of the country, that Poles have always been victims, never oppressors.
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My books are not 'political.' I don't make political demands. They actually describe life. But when we look at human life, politics creeps in everywhere.
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I think that first-person narration is very characteristic of contemporary optics, in which the individual performs the role of subjective center of the world.
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The world is a fabric we weave daily on the great looms of information, discussions, films, books, gossip, little anecdotes.
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I first read Sigmund Freud's 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle' as a young girl, and it helped me to understand that there are thousands of possible ways to interpret our experience, that everything has a meaning, and that interpretation is the key to reality. This was the first step to becoming a writer.
Olga TokarczukRead
Well-written novels make you more empathetic towards other people. You can identify with someone who isn't you. You can change your identity. A 14-year-old boy can become Anna Karenina. It is a miracle.
Olga TokarczukRead

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