Grand lies certainly pay in our grifter economy
Viral lies are the hottest currency — if they could be turned into stocks, the chart would never dip, the dividends would never stop, and not even the Milky Way would be the limit
Recently, I stumbled upon a Substack note featuring a photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin, accompanied by the following fake quote attributed to him: “95% of the world’s terrorist attacks are orchestrated by the CIA.”
I instinctively knew that this alleged statement must have originated from a clickbait exercise designed to garner more followers and paid subscribers. After a while, memes like these take on a life of their own as a lie repeated a thousand times becomes accepted truth, especially when they are uncritically relayed by sources deemed “credible.”
The Substack note, unsurprisingly, became hugely popular in no time, generating more than a thousand likes and hundreds of restacks. The comments section was filled with adoring ramblings like “Putin is 100% correct”, “Putin spoke the truth”, “Putin is a true leader.” To give the post some semblance of verisimilitude, there were hesitant comments like “I hate to say this but Putin is right on this issue” etc. Some commentators even hoped that US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) imperator Elon Musk and President Donald J. Trump would join hands with Putin to overhaul the current world order.
But here is the reality check: There was no way Putin could have made such a statement. The Russian political elite simply lacks the spine to call out the CIA’s terror hydra worldwide. Many prominent Russians have been assassinated — possibly with CIA involvement — since Moscow launched its “special military operation” in Eastern Ukraine in 2022.
If Putin had indeed made that statement, he would have subjected the Kremlin to a relentless diplomatic firestorm and additional sanctions. In reality, Putin actually praised the CIA for an intel that allegedly foiled a planned terrorist attack in Russia in December 2017.