Economist Aidarkhan Kusainov analyzed the information space of the country on his Telegram channel. He called the conclusions the brilliance and poverty of information and political technologies.
Brilliance…
Against the backdrop of declining incomes, reductions in social assistance, problems with access to healthcare services, and the unavailability of medicines, central themes have become indebtedness, health through bans and restrictions (vapes, energy drinks, betting with advertising restrictions, unhealthy food), and domestic violence.
From a technological point of view, everything is wonderful:
The problem of people’s incomes, which is likely at the root of the «indebtedness» of the poor (according to experts), is not being discussed — instead, there is a fierce defense of the poor from creditors.
Failures in healthcare are not being discussed; instead, health problems are at the forefront.
How much fairer and legally protected the country has become is not discussed; instead, the protection of women is paramount.
Good choice:
These are social problems affecting the right segments of the population (low-income earners, responsible parents with children, women).
They are obviously socially non-losing.
They are the most hype-worthy. Indebtedness and business restrictions provoke opposition from businesses, sparking PR actions, heating up the information space, and making «fighting evil» even more difficult and super-heroic.
Correct alignment:
Almost all of this is initiated by deputies, making Parliament strong, active, and a very heroic player, defending citizens from woes and pushing, making work and criticizing the Government.
The Government is to blame for slowness, resistance, and inadequacy.
In total, we have a strong Parliament, protecting people’s interests and pressuring the Government.
Poverty…
Hype is a short-term story because it touches on a topic that is curious (important here is what is curious) to everyone, affects everyone, but is not the key importance for the majority.
Firstly, the unpleasantness is that «hyped» initiatives, as a rule, do not actually concern society.
Domestic violence The stories of some families are terrible and emotionally gripping for any person (both men and women), but the vast majority of families in Kazakhstan are, thank God, normal, healthy, friendly families, so the theme does not actually concern the overwhelming majority of the population.
Health, betting
Stories about addictions also emotionally grip. But the vast majority of the population is not directly affected by gambling addiction in their everyday lives; the proportion of smokers has been at the same level for almost a decade (statistics help), about the fact that sugar is the «sweet death», «Salt — white death», and «fatty food — is a scary thing» were talked about back in the 70s in the USSR, but somehow the country was not scared.
Indebtedness
All experts either deny the very existence of the problem or acknowledge its relevance for very narrow niches of the population. The issue of loans is important, curious, and interesting to wide layers, but «indebtedness hindering life» is relevant for a very small proportion of the population.
Secondly, solutions to hype are harmful.
«From January to November 2023, the volume of sales of cigarettes and cigars increased by 68.7%… a sharp increase in cigarette sales this year becomes a noticeable phenomenon. One of the presumed factors of such growth is the ban on vapes». And vaping is cheaper than cigarettes.
Restrictions on MFIs will lead to difficulties in obtaining loans for the poor (these initiatives are specifically aimed at this).
Healthy eating is a rather expensive thing. Energy drinks, as a source of caffeine, are cheaper than coffee; sweet drinks are cheaper than candy; «junk and unhealthy food» is called that because it is cheap. So all this focus on health and financial literacy directly hits the poorest, worsening their lives. And domestic violence and critical gambling addiction, which destroy family budgets, are still more often due to hopelessness, hopelessness, which is more characteristic of low-income groups, against which all the concern about health and indebtedness is directed.
Conclusion…
Hype is important as a distraction tool for carrying out some systemic change, a fateful decision that society may not like.
If such changes do not occur, and in the main issues — (in this case, income, salaries, social security, healthcare, perceptions of price increases, and expectations about them) everything stagnates and degrades, then society simply exits the information space, ceases to trust the authorities, and all the hype concern turns into irritation, and initiatives evoke rejection.
And at some point, inevitably, sobering will come, and questions will arise to all hype generators — what are you really fighting for?
Credit must be given to the President, who hinted in January that economic growth and hype in the information space are not as important (numerous warnings to bloggers and experts on various topics), as the welfare of the people.
It will be interesting to see if this hint will develop on February 7. (referring to an extended government meeting with the president)
