459934 | 25 May 2025 | 22:49

The lies and fabrications of the past have reached their limit and we have grown so accustomed to them that we no longer pay them any attention

  They are trying to deceive us in every possible way. The National Theatre "Ivan Vazov" announced that on the eve of May 24th, tickets for its performances will cost 5 and 10 euros. This was supposed to suggest that there, in the sanctuary of Bulgarian theatrical art, they have already embraced European values and achievements. In fact, you will not be paying with euros, but with levs - 9.78 and 19.56 levs, respectively! Well, this trick deserves the first place in the childish pretense surrounding our acceptance into the eurozone.

 Instead, they could have told us that they remain committed to the glorious achievements of our First Theatre, to its dazzling past, if it still matters - even if their tickets are still sold for doomed levs, and their loyalty to Western values is confirmed by adventures with Malkovich. However, we never heard a serious debate about his work on Show's play. And then the fines and the scandal were enough for us to imagine that we were already part of the world - but in the theatrical business and in culture and art, this is a much more complex process than our flirtation with the euro.

 C. Rizova almost caused a mass apoplectic attack on her spectators, at the very least, she certainly threw them into euphoria, without even wanting a single euro cent from them. He was speaking with a specialist in administrative law about the transport strike in the capital - which, according to his guest, turned out to be not exactly a strike, but also not civil disobedience, but something else, which is not known what exactly; and that's why in the end they defined it as another insidious plan of our otherwise ruined politics, everything can be attributed to it, it's so impersonal and powerless.

 And then suddenly Rizova was hit by the rarely encountered enlightenment in the television profession, which made her ask her conversation partner: "What will happen if I decide to be quiet now and leave the studio, what will follow?".

 How what - nationwide joy, shouts of "Bulgarian Heroes" and so on - a prejudiced television critic would exclaim and he would be right. But let's try to be restrained and only assume that many viewers will be encouraged that Ts. will set an inspiring example for his fellow hosts and they will achieve much more conscientious results if they leave more time for their guests or even let them speak for themselves in the studio; and finally they will realize that trying to penetrate into a topic or guest will not happen if they only try to out-talk them.

 At first, most of today's hosts do not even seem to want to learn anything from the next conversation in which they have jumped into. They do not even suspect that they need to be more humble - this word may seem inappropriate to them, but it is not, if they believe that their show is a temple and in it, the discovery of Truth or at least some knowledge can be achieved with a certain humility. But few hosts understand this and are not worried at all by the fact that they leave the audience with the impression that their mouths are bigger than their heads.

 C.R. became interested in what would happen to her if she left her own studio. However, it turned out that this was just a threat - something like the continuous hybrid attacks against Bulgaria's European orientation, which only our most cunning politicians believe in. Viewers may have been disappointed with the outcome with C., but this is television, it is not obligated to constantly provide you with pleasure.

 However, Rizova did a very good job a week earlier when she broke down all the charlatan propaganda about salaries in Bulgaria. According to the national statistics, it is a common habit to throw out selected facts without any hesitation that cover up the truth, but television channels eagerly consume and broadcast them. They announce, for example, that the average salary has increased by just over 11 percent in a year - and after the good news, the media's mindless euphoria follows.

 But among all the praise, on "Face to Face", a sober voice was heard - that of Maria Mincheva, Deputy Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, who once again convinced us that we live in a country that can easily be called "Charlatan Territory". It turned out that only three hundred thousand people out of a total of two million and three hundred thousand working Bulgarians receive the praised salaries of over three thousand leva. The IT sector, which is often used as a showcase, pays good money, but only to 130 thousand people. A large part of the employed population is in Sofia - 800,000 out of 2.3 million. The most people are employed in the processing industry - over 440,000, but their average salary is just over 2,100 levs. The gap between a few big cities and the rest of the country is simply monstrous. It is inevitable to reach the conclusion that the population is in a state that could lead to tragic conflicts.

 A large part of it is simply abandoned and has to settle for a miserable existence. False are the hopes that the drama can be prevented to some extent by increasing the share of young educated people - because a significant part of Bulgarian students remain practically uneducated. It seems we are truly doomed.

 Charlatanism springs from everywhere, as if there is nothing else. Lies and fabrications about the Past have reached their limit, we have become so accustomed to them that we no longer pay attention and they do not do any work for the government propaganda.  

 In these days the Bulgarian National Television sent Simeon with some kind of special vent, intended for highly light-hearted material. He, in turn, did not miss the chance to boast about his damaged memory - among all else he did not bother to explain why, after blooming here as the Messiah Savior, he was completely erased from collective memory, even mentioning Kostov still ignites some sparks, albeit of antipathy. However, Simeon seems not to exist and never existed - in the 2023 elections, the party with which he boasted to be named after him, gathered only 0.27% of the votes. The nation made a unprecedented move, returning it briefly to the image of Simeoncho before sending it to the forgotten pages of history. His tour here will bring back mainly unpleasant memories - not only of his skills as a real estate broker but also of the foresight of the genius Salvador Dali, who in 1939 used a childhood photo of Simeon for his famous painting "The Bulgarian child eating a rat."
 
 His falsehoods about NATO were a prime example of his charlatanism, meant to convince viewers that our joining the Alliance in 2004 was also his accomplishment. Yet just five years earlier, he claimed it was a costly pleasure and we should think twice - January 1999, "Every Sunday" program, with Anton Stefanov.

 In the last three to four years, the public's attention has been captivated by the Kirchovtsi - the boys of Radev, whom he called "charlatans" and he did it relatively quickly, while others have still not caught on to fraternal manipulation with them; even a purely Bulgarian political model was created - the so-called "construction", an incomparable tool of power that proved that politicians here can thrive even when they voluntarily have to swallow increasingly large doses of abomination.

 The current interpretation, however, of political maneuvers lacks precision and in most cases is deeply unjust: Radev is the man of the Kremlin, but his chosen representatives are not, despite their audacity during the Great Gas Crisis to openly trade with the same Kremlin; no less audacious was their attempt to push a company owned by a person close to Putin into our energy sector. But they are still seen as small-time hustlers, scammers who quickly grab what they can for themselves and are always more convenient - convenient to be hidden Russian agents in the midst of all the charades.

 Nowadays, the charades have become uncontrollable, and the state has adopted this regime and does not hesitate to do so on any occasion - as if its very existence depended on it. And maybe the truth is exactly that, but she still doesn't have the courage to make it public.

 More contributions to the charlatanry were reported on television while I was writing my column: for the first time, the wealth of Bulgarian households has exceeded one trillion leva. 70 percent of it is in real estate. However, their prices have been inflated for years. The most important information was missing: how is this wealth distributed.

 It has always scared us because it would show the devastating gap between the people. The boasting with a trillion was accompanied by the news that Trump, Putin and Zelensky are invited to continue their negotiations at the village of Zabardo. The mayor of the village was sure this would happen, as he had already written a song about Trump, performed by the group "Eurobabies". And a maturity expert said on TV that English is our second mother tongue.

 Everything is fine. Slowly but surely we are going crazy. Special for "Trud News".