I recently came across the word ‘Vranyo’ in an article written by Michael Binyon in the Times. (14/09/18) It comes from the same people who brought us Glasnost and Perestroika and is one of those words that sum up a whole story in one word. For those too young to remember, Glasnost and Perestroika were penned in the 1980’s and 1990’s to describe Mikhail Gorbachev’s program to make Soviet society more open and transparent. Vranyo, on the other hand, covers the rest of modern Soviet history and has become more meaningful in the time of Vladimir Putin’s leadership.
Michael Binyon describes Vranyo as, ” meaning to tell a lie that you do not expect anyone to believe but that is told purely to save face. (The Times, 14/09/19)
This approach to the truth has been amply demonstrated by Mr Putin when he has made statements about the Crimea, Ukraine and the Skripal assassination attempt. Winston Churchill had a view on the Soviet attitude to the truth, ” the Russian Bolsheviks have discovered that truth does not matter so long as there is reiteration . They have no difficulty whatever in countering a fact with a lie which, if repeated often enough and loud enough, becomes accepted by the people.” (Churchill, 1950) Mr Putin, of course, is not the only politian to tell lies and a politician at the other end of the spectrum has something of a reputation in this regard. Although the Mueller report cleared Trump of spying for Russia and left the question of obstruction open, the presidents truthfulness or, lack of it became evident in the report. There is a kind of a childlike view of the truth with Trump, nothing cuddly or innocent but low and cunning when cornered. If we could transport little Trumpy back to earlier times and ask whether he cut down the apple tree, after a millisecond pause, he would respond that he couldn’t tell a lie and that it was the Brits who did it! There is something of a thread here, although one must be very careful in using any material applying to the President as so much of it is generated by the ‘anything but Trump’ camp, The Presidents language has a childlike quality to it. I am not sure that I would go as far as Emily Shugerman when she writes in the Independent that Trumps vocabulary is at the level of an 8 year old (Independent, 9/01/18) but in a way what you see is what you get with Trump and it seems to insulate him against accusations that would sink another leader.
I don’t think that Donald qualifies as a purveyor of Vranyo as he lacks the cold calculating, disciplined intellect that Putin possesses. However, we do have practitioners closer to home in the shape of our local muppets Statler and Waldorf, played by Mick Wallace and Clare Daly who returning from a trip to Venezuela declared that there is plenty of food and no humanitarian crisis there.(The Sunday Times, 21/04/19) If the Red Cross were paying any attention to messers Daly and Wallace they would be a little surprised as they have just delivered medical equipment, generators and medicine to Venezuela. Someone should also tell the UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock who warned that “an estimated seven million people were in dire need of humanitarian assistance” (BBC News, 17/04/19) This represents some 25% of the population in Venezuela.
Since 2014 an estimated three million Venezuelans have emigrated from the country citing a collapsed economy, hyperinflation, food shortages, health issues (e.g. the return of malaria) political oppression and lawlessness. Statler and Waldorf didn’t seem to bump into any of this in their travels. One of the three million emigrants criticised Waldorf’s claim saying that, “It is either a huge sign of ignorance or a huge sign of blindness, that Daly is saying there is no hunger in Venezuela.” ( The Sunday Times,21/04/19) To follow the theme of the essay so far, we have to ask the question as to whether Wallace and Daly are speaking Vranyo or, a straight lie (lozh) or, suffered from blindness. Just to make things interesting I think that it is a combination of all three options. I think that there is a political blindness that doesn’t accept that any socialist country can fail. I think that the lie is the things they must have seen and heard but refused to acknowledge and I think that she exercises Vranyo when she talks about the one sided media and presumably lumps in three million emigrants, the Red Cross and the UN humanitarian chief in that group. Well done the Muppets!
Referenses
The Times, 14/09/18, Michael Binyon, Lies, dammed lies and lies you don’t expect anyone to believe.
Winston Churchill (1950). “Europe Unite: Speeches 1947 and 1948”, London, Cassell https://www.azquotes.com/author/2886-Winston_Churchill/tag/lying
The Independent (UK), 9/01/18, Emily Shugerman, Trump Speaks at Level of 8 year old. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-language-level-speaking-skills-age-eight-year-old-vocabulary-analysis-a8149926.html
The Sunday Times,21/04/19, Rosanna Cooney, Venezuelans Enraged by Daly’s Denial of Hunger.
BBC News, 17/04/19, Venezuelans receive first Red Cross aid amid crisis, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47960734?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cp3mvpm3933t/venezuela-crisis&link_location=live-reporting-story