Popular Approval of Censorship?

Breaking news: a new survey shows that nearly 60% of Russian citizens approve of the government’s efforts to censor media!!! (AFP) Oh wait, these numbers are coming from the Kremlin controlled the Russian Centre for Public Opinion Research (VTSIOM), never mind. It never fails to take my breath away when Russia’s officials succumb to such discrediting Soviet-style tactics to shape opinion. At the very least, the propagandists should publish these kinds of surveys before they choose to shut down a newspaper like the eXile – give us a little help in suspending our increasingly burdensome disbelief.