The alleged quote from the Nobel Prize of Alexander Solzhenitsyn about lies is widespread on the network. We checked whether Solzhenitsyn really said this.
The alleged quote Alexander Solzhenitsyn has been circulating for several years in social networks And onlinequotes. It is often mentioned in connection with criticism restrictive measures during pandemia Covid-19, with hashtag #Navalny or in attitude Russian propaganda during a “special military operation” in Ukraine 2022. At the hearing in the Hague in the case of the crash of the MH17 flight, the daughter of one of the dead “quoted” Solzhenitsyn in her performance. Edition The Insider It wrote: “She began her performance by reading in Russian a quote from the“ Gulag Archipelago ”Solzhenitsyna:“ They lie, we know that they lie, and they know that we know that they are lying. ” This phrase about the lie, supposedly belonging to Solzhenitsyn, can be found on the Internet not only in Russian, but also on English, French, German And Chinese languages.
According to The Insider, a quote about lies is taken from the Gulag Archipelago. IN text The works of the key word “lies” are mentioned seven times, but the quote that interests us is not found there even in meaning. Solzhenitsyn discusses a lot about lies and inaction in his article "Live not by lies" or in interview Time magazine, where the Nobel laureate says that "our lie has become not only a moral category, but also a state pillar." But in these texts it was not possible to find an accurate quote. In the rest works Solzhenitsyn in Russian and English is not such a quote either.
Search in Google by the phrase gives out different variations and formulations, but nowhere is the work from which the quote is borrowed. The same phrase, translated into English, is also attributed to Solzhenitsyn in English -speaking sources and also without indicating the work. One of users Twitter found a similar statement in the speech of the American Admiral Arly Berke. In 1963, at a hearing in the US Senate Committee, Admiral Burk He called their American colleagues do not trust the USSR when it comes to disarmament obligations:
“Soviet people, communists are misleading masters. I was at conferences with them, with the Communists, when they lied about obvious things. They lie. They know that they are lying. They know that we know that they are lying, and nevertheless they lie, and they are not at all ashamed when they are caught for lies, because if they have power, they don’t care. ”
A similar phrase in English is found in trailer To the 2016 documentary “Hypernormalization” of the director Adam Curtis: “We live in a world where the powers that be deceive us. We know that they are lying, they know that we know that they are lying, they don’t care. We say that we don’t care, but we do nothing. And nothing never changes. This is fine. Welcome to the world of post -truths. " The trailer does not indicate who owns the quote.
An earlier source in which the quote of interest to us is almost literally found - book The writer Elena Gorokhova, “Mount Kroshki, who emigrated from the USSR, emigrated from the USSR, based on the memories of her childhood in the Soviet Union. At the age of 24, Gorokhova emigrated to the United States, so her books are published in English. Translated into Russian quote It sounds like this: “The rules of the game are simple: they lie to us, we know that they lie, they know that we know this, but still continue to lie, and we - pretend that we believe them.”
Until 2019, a quote about lies on the Internet, as a rule, attributed Elena Gorokhova. In 2019, this quote in English began to appear in Twitter Already with an erroneous indication of the authorship of Solzhenitsyn. Most likely, from the English -speaking accounts, erroneous attribution fell into Runet.
So, there is no similar quote about lies in Solzhenitsyn's texts. Probably, the phrase is attributed to him, since Solzhenitsyn is considered one of the most famous Soviet dissidents who openly criticized communism and political repression in the Soviet Union.
Image on the cover: Site Solzhenitsyn.ru
Incorrect attribution of quote
Read on the topic:
- A.I. Solzhenitsyn. "Live not by lies"
- Arzamas. Test: Will you understand Solzhenitsyn?
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