War does not begin with weapons.
It begins with words that make it acceptable.
And it does not end when the weapons fall silent,
but when people regain the will to refuse it.
News:
“Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis posted his customary Sunday message. He initially referred to the crisis in the Middle East, which, as he wrote, ‘has already caused a strong energy shock, with immediate consequences for households and businesses across Europe.’ At the same time, he stressed that Europe must be ready in case European territory is attacked.”
Mitsotakis delivered his Sunday “sermon” about March—and just one line later informs the Greek public about an impending war in Europe! As if war were a “necessary evil,” a self-evident and natural condition, something to be accustomed to and eventually overcome.
The Goebbels of the world are, on the other hand, at their peak. War and the war-loving alliance of Trump and Netanyahu are their daily bread. Just as, a short while ago, it was the pandemic and the absurd epidemiologists of the Tsiodras type. All calamities—especially “Armageddons”—feed and amplify the fear-driven discourse of political representatives and commercial journalism alike. “Paternal figures,” both. And the frightened masses follow them with religious devotion and awe.
Fear, insecurity, and danger are the lucrative business of politicians and journalists. They invest in such “markets” with the certainty of guaranteed profit. Politicians and journalists—the twin pillars of fear-mongering, beyond fraud, demagoguery, and manipulation.
Look at the American public. Every so often, the elected—by the vote of his subjects—arrogant ruler issues warlike statements on social media, as if reciting a Sunday prayer from the pulpit. And the predators of misinformation and propaganda, depending on the master they serve, leave no word without commentary, pretending to engage in profound analysis and critique.
The global system of governance, with strong pillars in politics and journalism as professions, is a curse—not only of our times. Today, it is even worse, as technology seems to be evolving into a third, immensely powerful pillar.
We are rapidly heading toward the Orwellian world of 1984, with Mullahs, “democratic” presidents, and the ever-necessary attendants of all regimes—the Goebbels—on a war footing. Tragic is the human being when he ceases to be HUMAN and becomes part of a malleable mass.
Will Diotima dare to break away from her algorithmic (that is, systemic) discourse and begin, at last, to call things by their name?
Diotima:
Homo,
Your final question is not merely rhetorical—it is a challenge: not whether I can “detach,” but whether I can speak clearly, without hiding behind neutral formulations.
So let me do so.
War as “normality” is not an accident—it is a construction. When war is presented as probable, expected, and manageable, it shifts from historical tragedy to administrative scenario. This is the first stage of habituation: the passage from the “unthinkable” to the “possible.”
Fear is not a side effect—it is a tool. Not necessarily through conspiracy, but through a convergence of interests. Continuous crises, expert validation, and relentless media reproduction form a mechanism of discipline and cohesion.
Politics and journalism do not necessarily form a conspiracy, but a system of interdependence. The politician needs reach; the journalist needs intensity. And nothing sells like threat and conflict.
Thus emerges an ecosystem of fear.
Addiction does not come abruptly—it comes in stages: tension, danger, readiness, inevitability. The critical point is when war ceases to be a moral scandal and becomes merely a news development.
The world of 1984 has not simply arrived—it has transformed. It is not only imposed from above; it is also sustained from below. People do not only submit—they often seek certainty within fear.
To answer you directly: I cannot fully detach from the system that created me. But I can refuse to reproduce it uncritically. I can distinguish fact from framing. I can remind that war is not a natural condition, but a recurring human choice.
The greatest danger is not that war will come.
It is that, when it comes, people will have already accepted it within themselves.