Potemkin Politics

Fake actors cast as real people to manipulate the public's perception.

Aug 23, 2024

∙ Paid

“Evildoers and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving others and only fooling themselves.” II Timothy 3:13

A realistic 18th-century depiction of Russian Queen Catherine the Great riding in an open carriage through a village in Russia. The scene shows painted facades of elegant buildings in a 'Potemkin village' style, with Queen Catherine admiring the false beauty of wealth and prosperity. Behind the facades, run-down sheds, houses, and signs of poverty are subtly visible. The image captures the contrast between the illusion of grandeur and the hidden reality, with the Queen dressed in regal attire, surrounded by attendants, and villagers looking on. — General Grigory Potemkin deceived Catherine the Great by creating fake, prosperous Russian villages to make the Queen think Russia was prosperous.

“Those who know don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” - George Santayana

A Potemkin Village (pronounced ‘puh·tem·kin’) is a phrase German writer Georg von Helbig coined in his biography of Russian general Grigory Potemkin (AD 1739-1791).

Grigory Potemkin wished to impress his Queen, Catherine the Great. He sought to fool Catherine into thinking that an area of Russia over which Potemkin was responsible was far more prosperous than it was.

Thousands of peasants were stage-managed for this purpose. Potemkin gave the peasants better clothes and told them to wash themselves. He painted hundreds of facades in front of peasant wooden homes and shacks to cover the reality of poverty.

Since then, the phrase “Potemkin Village” has been use…

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