BARANOVICHI, 1 September (BelTA) – In real life things are different from what they look like in the internet, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko told reporters as he visited Baranovichi State Vocational and Technical College of Service Industry on 1 September, BelTA has learned.
“What we experience in the virtual world can differ from what we see in real life. We switch on iPhones and other phones and we stare at them all the time. We are getting an illusion of some other life. Some of our people are already living in this illusionary world,” the head of state said commenting on the way some mass media outlets are covering the situation in Belarus.
The president believes that many things look exaggerated due to the impact of mass media. For example, the number of people participating in rallies is reported incorrectly. In his words, there are some reliable calculation methods that show that the real numbers are distorted. “The reported number of people taking part in these demonstrations or rallies is 10 or even 20 times bigger than it really is. However, it is not the matter. It is more important to understand who these people are, why they take to the streets and what they want. They want nothing,” the president said.
“Living in their virtual space they started pushing the government for a dialogue. The word ‘dialogue' sounds really good, does not it? But tell me, who should we have this dialogue with? For example, I can hold a dialogue with you from morning till night, we can argue, you can agree or disagree. However, it is not the matter. They do not want any dialogue. It is impossible to maintain a dialogue with them, because 30% of them do not have any say. I said yesterday: we hear the opinion of school students, but they do not take any decisions, because they do not have such a right yet,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko admitted that the government made some mistakes in its work with young people. “We see our mistakes,” he said. “Now we are analyzing them. Both the government and the Belarus President Administration are drawing conclusions from the latest events,” the head of state said.
According to the president, young people often lack experience to make an objective assessment of what is happening. “Some young people think that they do not need to work hard in order to live well. I think they will change their attitudes as they will grow older,” he said. In this regard, the head of state praised other young people, for example, students of Baranovichi State Vocational and Technical College of Service Industry. “They will not go astray, because they know from childhood what hard work is. We should have paid more attention to those who have not experienced hard work yet and those who have not seen how things have changed over time to be able to compare them,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.