The old Soviet joke is that there is no Tass in the Pravda and no Pravda in the Tass.  My Soviet Studies professor at Miami University, who told us that one and who spoke Russian fluently, said that Tass meant “truth” and Pravda, ‘news.”  That made its make perfect sense to us. 

That was in the early 1960s, and I had not thought about it for awhile, but then this paragraph showed up in a new story I read in the Washington Post.

“Specifically, mobile internet — yes, it may be disabled to ensure the safety of our citizens,” Andrey Svintsov, the deputy chairman of the Committee on Information in the State Duma, the country’s lower house of parliament,[1]  said, according to Tass, a state-controlled news agency. “People will finally get a break from the endless viewing of unnecessary videos.”

There are two ideas here.  One is that “the safety of our citizens” is at stake.  A case could be made for

that, if necessary.  The ill effects of the Internet could be cited and could be shown to be inconsistent with “public safety.”  Svintsov does not do that in the quote provided and “safety,” although it could be justified, is not often used in that way. 

The other one is better, to my mind.  It says that a) people will b) finally c) get a break, from the d) endless viewing of e) unnecessary videos.  If it were possible to imagine crowds of Russians locked into large rooms where they are compelled to watch videos they did not choose and do not want to watch, I think “get a break” could be justified.  Chairman Svintsov does not offer such a case, so we are left to understand that the Russian people are going to get a break from watching videos they choose to watch.

“Get a break” is consistent with “endless viewing” only if the viewing is not voluntary.  All you would have to do if you wanted a break is to stop watching.  Apparently that is not available.

Of course, it may well be that the videos that are being watched are “unnecessary,” but it would bring a good deal more clarity to say just why they were unnecessary and to specify exactly what videos or kinds of videos are necessary.  Presumably, people would choose to watch the ones they thought were necessary.

My suspicion, however, since it is Russia, is that Chairman Svintsov has in mind a more state-centered notion of “necessary.”  If there are videos that support the state or that clarify citizen obligations to the state, I suspect that they would not be found unnecessary.

And since this is my first post for the new year, let me wish you a clearer sense of what videos are necessary to you and a more urgent sense of everything that does not involves videos at all.

1]. The upper house is called the Federation Council. Analogous to our Senate.