I think it was Solzhenitsyn who said the USSR perpetuated bizarre lies purposely. The intent wasn’t to make Russian believe the lies. Russians were expected to repeat the lies no matter how outrageous. By repetition they made the citizens complicit in the falsehoods. By giving voice to the lies citizens demonstrated that they were powerless. Nah, never happen here…
The Chinese virus has taught us that:
Dining in restaurant bad 
Raiding subway good 
Shaking hands bad 
Wrestling good 
Walking alone on beach bad 
Getting hair done while all salons are closed, good
The silly shit will continue until further notice.
