Bus tickets as the example of the power of mass suggestion.
In general, state-owned media are the most powerful source of mass hypnotism in Belarus. However, a couple of times every year they are rivaled by the state-owned public transportation networks.
While riding in a bus in Minsk you can barely avoid the lady (men dislike this job for some reason) who would insist that you buy a ticket (if you happen to ride as a stowaway).
In August the “conductors” (this is the official position of the lady in the bus) sold tickets for 500 rubles.
In September, the Ministry of Economy made its usual “farewell-to-summer” surprise: the ticket fare went up by 20%, or 100 rubles.
However, instead of 600-ruble tickets, the bus ladies are offering 300-ruble tickets, two pieces for each passenger.
If you buy a ticket at a kiosk, you find a nicer 360-ruble version - alas, for 600 rubles again.
For some reason, the rise of the ticket catches by surpruse not only passengers, but also the public transportation operators, at least in Minsk, forcing them to sell the older versions of tickets. As a result, every day hundreds of thousands of passangers have to pretend that the 360-ruble-ticket costs 600 rubles – until the new version of the tickets is printed.
By the way, not just the public transportation fares went up this September. Bread, milk and vodka are also getting more expensive at the order of the Ministry of Evonomy. And it will be the state-owned mass media job to make people pretend that their life is getting better day by day. In a country, where people believe that 360 equals 600, this should be an easy task.
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