Opinion
Even the most ruthless propaganda is pervaded by rules and limits. If it exceeds these limits, it not only fails to rouse public feeling but it can also backfire against its architect. PASOK’s secretary and party spin doctor, Costas Laliotis, has already overstepped this mark. The overwhelming majority of public opinion has indeed mentally crossed out past political sins. They have done so not because they have been convinced of the innocence of those involved or because they possess a weak memory; rather, they rightly deem that the country has to move on, that the great challenges facing the country allow no room for sterile partisan confrontation and empty talk about the past, and, finally, that our current political elite has learned from the past and is now capable of meeting the great challenges of our era. Laliotis and the proponents of his tactics now come to refute the above public convictions. They are trying to convince us that current problems are insignificant when compared with political events that took place 15 years ago; that the axis of the public activity is a bleak past and not a hopeful future. The fact that opposition New Democracy has displayed a sober and moderate stance toward Laliotis’s stirring up of the past maximizes the guilt of the government which should be held responsible for misleading the public and for trivializing the country’s public domain… The entrapment of the government in self-inflicted dilemmas such as heroic resistance against everyone or humiliating withdrawal that will harm our national interests, shows a lack of political farsightedness. Even at the last minute, the government has to strive for a positive solution, tough as this has now become due to its awkward handling.
