Four Stages of Twisting Truth & Lies by Tyrannical Leaders

"Life makes no sense if you have to tolerate endless lies. I will never accept this system, which is built on lies, i will not stop my fight against this junta." ~ Alexei Navalny

"We now live in a country with a thousand political prisoners, a country where each week there are new trials, where people are put in jail because they liked something on the Internet." ~ Alexei Navalny

"Russia spends enormous, senseless amounts of money on the army and the police. We have one of the top rankings in the world when it comes to the number of police officers - but when it comes to the number of murders, we are also right at the top." ~ Alexei Navalny

It is quite a subtle and systematic way into the distortion of truth

Twisting truth actually begins with altering perception when facts cease to be what they seem to be. The tyrannical leader and his supporters know that the first step is in controlling what people see and hear to eventually change our reality. Then they decide to make a choice from the facts or distort the context of events to make it work. Historically, democratically elected authoritarian leaders work will appeal more to emotion than to reason. A partial truth that is given the right propaganda slant can confuse just as much as a flat-out lie. The point is, though you need to understand, that is not intended toward persuading everyone, but towards sowing 'doubt' throughout majority of society such that you might be questioning things you once held true.

Once the perception of realities crumbles, the groundwork is laid for keeping false thoughts

This is the age of noise, especially via viral social media, but also with traditional news media outlets, lies or careless mistakes spread unchecked. Battleground of social media, an endless stream of conflicting accounts is meant to exhaust your ability to notice fact from fiction. Individuals that support their convictions and political beliefs are repeated and amplified and dissenting opinions are screened out amplifying the falsehoods, ensuring that these gain credibility and weight among the like-minded. Here, you face a critical danger, such a flood of intensity leads to confusion, and in that confusion, you will take convenient untruths over inconvenient realities.

But as the lies multiply, they become normalized

This is the curious transformation that the lies are undergoing. The normalization of falsehoods is perhaps that evil and effective. Exposure to misinformation for a shrinking duration of time erodes your skepticism. Even if you suspect the lie, its consistent repetition makes it familiar and familiarity breeds acceptance. Terms like "alternative facts" now make everyone see the truth, not as that which is proven, but as a matter of opinion, and opinion becomes "so called truth." Critical thinking has grown very unpopular in such society; sometimes, it is even pointed out by educated and experts, but rarely heard.

And at the end, the whole process is reached - institutionalization of lies

Lies no longer whispered in secret; it is very much proclaimed from the halls of power - mass media, government executive branches, justice law courts, social media influencers. Such lies acquire frightening legitimacy when accepted by leaders and institutions. They penetrate policies, traditions, and culture itself. At this stage, truths are more than just obscured; they are actively undermined. Public questioning of the lies marks you out as an enemy, a subversive voice in a society without evidence or reason.

This requires vigilance

Like every other disappearance of truth, so too its fading comes not by sudden disappearance, but through an erosion process. This requires vigilance and an unrelenting determination to support evidence, to resist what is false. The truth is that this fight for truth is not easy, but it is the only real safeguard against a society governed largely by lies and manipulation. Alexei Navalny lived such a life as an activist and a truth-seeker advocating for democracy under a Putin regime in the current Russian society.