It is of course a question whether and how Confucius was in the habit of fighting (if he ever did), but Bertolt Brecht was (obviously) so impressed by Confucius’ intelligence that he wrote a number of small pieces in which he ascribed to him some good ideas which he wanted to see spread. In one such piece he describes how Confucius brings about political change by taking a widely read text and changing a few terms in it (e.g. changing the term “execution” to “murder”), by that changing the reader’s view of the event and of those participating in it. It is a method which we occasionally find also in our media …

In Hbl of 15 September Richard Nordgren (nyhetschef) had a krönoka titled “Brandsprutepropaganda är svår at stoppa” in which he pointed to the habit of politicians like Trump and Putin of producing a picture of reality by simple but obstinate barrages of falsehoods (also called fake news).

I do not remember any more how it came to my knowledge that there exists a book by one Hans Norebrink which is titled “Socialismens nederlag och människans natur”. Anyway it came to my attention in spring, I ordered it, the delivery was clearly slower than expected, but now, having returned from 6 weeks in Germany, I have had finally occasion to look at it. And I am not satisfied.