The unchallenged perpetuation of stupidity

Reader Discretion is advised – extreme mambo jumbo conspiracy theories following.

Ο ελληνικός λαός είναι δυσκολοκυβέρνητος και γι’ αυτό πρέπει να τον πλήξουμε βαθιά στις πολιτισμικές του ρίζες. Τότε ίσως συνετισθεί. Εννοώ, δηλαδή, να πλήξουμε τη γλώσσα, τη θρησκεία, τα πνευματικά και ιστορικά του αποθέματα, ώστε να εξουδετερώσουμε κάθε δυνατότητά του να αναπτυχθεί, να διακριθεί, να επικρατήσει, για να μη μας παρενοχλεί στα Βαλκάνια, να μη μας παρενοχλεί στην Ανατολική Μεσόγειο, στη Μέση Ανατολή, σε όλη αυτή τη νευραλγική περιοχή μεγάλης στρατηγικής σημασίας για μας, για την πολιτική των ΗΠΑ
Χένρυ Κίσσινγκερ

The Greek people are difficult to govern and for this reason we must attack it’s cultural roots. Maybe then they’re going to come to their senses. I mean, we should aim to destroy their language, their religion, their cultural and historical reserves, so that we can neutralize their ability to develop, to distinguish, to dominate, to seize to harass us in the Balcans, to seize to harass us in the Eastern Mediterranean, in the Middle East, this whole neuralgic region of great strategic importance to us, to the US policy.
Henry Kissinger

Lakis Lazopoulos is a famous greek comedian with a long history of successful TV shows. Nowadays he’s responsible for the stand-up show of «Al Tsadiri News» where he satirizes the (some) politicians, the greek star system and various international events. Sometimes makes some good points but usually he slides towards populism, narcissism and nationalism that is majoritarian in the Greek Left, (I don’t even mention the Right as I feel that they’re ex officio nationalists in Greece). Still he enjoys a wide support from greek audience and his show is consistently the most successful one in greek TV.

In his latest show he recited the excerpt above and attributed it to Henry Kissinger, former chief of the US State Department. This invented excerpt, known as «The Kissinger Statement», holds a special place in the heart of greek nationalists and devotees to conspiracy theories. It serves as a sign of US evilness and jewish/ zionist’s etternal effort to hurt Greece, (as Kissinger is of jewish origins). These people are neither a small, nor are a marginal minority and the range of people who endorse the statement above as authentic is impressive: from the prominent Greek Communist Party parliamentary L.Kanelli, to other PM’s like S.Papathemelis, to the former Greek President of Republic C.Sartzetakis ! There have been a couple of articles stating the inauthenticity of the speech and H.Kissinger office has denied it; even the US Embassy has protested since some claimed that it was a non-paper deriving the Clinton/ Simitis talks in 1997. Still these articles have been widely ignored and scores of newspapers have reprinted it, hundreds of articles mention it and it often appears during TV shows and on the internet.

For those interested there is an excellent article by Ios, (here) which recounts the various aspects of this story when it re-surfaced in 1997. I’ll limit myself in mentioning that each time the statement appears to have been made at different dates, on different media and nobody has ever proved that the aforementioned statement did ever actually appear on any media; unarguable an invented story. I.Pretenderis in an article gives his interpretation of the obsession of the Greek Right and Left with the conspiracy theories and in particular the Kissinger Statement. I quote some interesting passages from his article that can be found here, since I agree with many of his conclusions:

Why so many good people in Greece feel that they live in a state of generalised and unsubstantiated conspiracy against their national identity? (…)
The react because the school of thought they express cannot exist without fear, without threat, without the unacknowledged admission of an ongoing conspiracy; a conspiracy that justifies the inward and defensive stance they hold. They defend themselves because somebody threatens them, threatens them insidiously, conspiratorially and without pause. (…)
Maybe for this the various conspiracy theories are mobilitated: not only as a threat towards all but also as an interpretation mechanism of a change that some cannot comprehend and thus accept.

I should also add that greek writer Dimitris Sarantakos has claimed that the Kissinger Statement is only an adaptation of Lord Palmerston’s speech regarding the Pacifico Incident in 1850. For the sake of honesty I must admit that the only speech I now of who was his Civis Romanus Sum speech where his makes no similar statements. Still as others have pointed out it would be blatantly foolish of H.Kissinger to have a secret plan against Greece and then go on and declare it to the delight of the whole world. In any case I rely the logic of the reader as not to have to prove how blatant or stupid this lie is; plus I remind again that no media that are reputed to have published it ever actually did.

Normally I wouldn’t have dealt with conspiracy theories which seem to flourish under the greek sun but having them repeated in the most successful show of greek TV is kind of disturbing. This rumor, as I said, is replayed each time one wishes to either show how US hates Greece, or the international Judaism through prominent Jews aims to destroy Greece. It’s interesting to see how a Left-oriented public figure as Lazopoulos slides towards nationalism and adopts an anti-american/ anti-jewish rhetoric which would find eager supporters among the voters of the extreme-right and racist party of LAOS. For me it’s only yet another sign of the red/black informal alliance which dominates the cultural landscape of Greece and has yet to find a worthy adversary.

This lack of contradiction to the endemic populism/ nationalism is what I find unacceptable. Lazopoulos can say pigs fly and ask us to believe him. What I cannot understand is how various reporters and politicians have no trouble spending litres of ink, (or keystrokes), to comment on one or another aspect of his show but fail to comment on the nationalism which is characteristic in his shows as the Theodorakis Letter nationalistic delirium proves, (blog post by j95). I mention journalists and politicians but of course this failure also holds true for the greek society, that feeds on these conspiracy theories where americans and jews are the unchallenged protagonists. It would not be untrue to ask oneself if this unopposed propagation of stupidity is responsible for making the blatantly racist views of LAOS becoming mainstream, for the public reward of anachronistic politicians in al political parties and allowing persons like Liakopoulos to become household names. Stupidity is not innocent and I agree that goes hand in hand with it’s partners: fear, ignorance and habit; it should not go unchallenged unless we want one day to be swallowed by it.

May the virtuous El of Liakopoulos protect us and help us ward off further insults to our good sense and save us from Saviours who think that they know more…

PS. Read more in greek in Wolf’s Lair Abyss and Μπουκάλια στο Πέλαγος. Also Roides has written an article on Yannaras, a greek journalist which despite the continuous proofs against the authenticity of the Kissinger Statement continues to mention it.