Michel de Notredame (1503-1566), better known as Nostradamus, is a famous astrologer from France in the sixteenth-century. He was supported by the patronage of Queen Catherine de Médici, for whom he wrote numerous verses implying the downfall of her rival, Elizabeth I of England. Obviously, these predictions did not come true. His most popular work was The Prophecies, first published in 1555, which has remained in print to this day.[1]
Nostradamus wrote his prophecies in an ancient form of French worded so ambiguously that it could be interpreted to mean almost anything a reader desired. As a result, his followers have been able to credit him with predicting a wide range of calamities including the great London fire of 1666, the rise of Adolf Hitler, the Iranian revolution of 1979, and the events of September 11, 2001. However, Nostradamus’s supposed predictions are only ever noted after the fact. There has never been a case in which a verse by Nostradamus has been used to accurately predict an event before it occurred.
His prophecies became part of the popular culture of the 20th and 21st centuries and they become the subject of hunin print to this daydreds of books, movies, and also the media interest in his life and prophecies does not subside. Throughout history, however, his prophecies have been used in political propaganda as well as in a number of deceptions cases in which verses have been falsely attributed to him.
During World War II, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels tried to exploit Nostradamus’ prophecies in the service of the Nazi regime. At the outbreak of World War II, Goebbels renewed Nostradamus’ predictions to suit his desired outcome, and began distributing such renewed prophecies in the form of pamphlets throughout Germany, predicting a great victory for Germany and the brutal destruction of Western enemies of the Third Reich.
Interest in Nostradamus’ prophecies has risen sharply since the collapse of the Twin Towers or the 9/11 event, thanks to verses sent by e-mail in which Nostradamus allegedly foretells the tragedy. However, the verses were not actually written by him, they were the work of an anonymous hoaxer.
Another popular article from Nostradamus’ prophecies in the Macedonian media was recorded in October 2018. He cites the alleged prophecy: “In modern times, Macedonia will soon be ruled by an unprincipled ruler who will try to destroy the name of Macedonia and the Macedonians in general, just to please the other rulers, but he will not succeed because the people of Macedonia, will remove this ruler from the throne, after the arrival of the new emperor in Macedonia, things will normalize and the new emperor of Macedonia will be loyal to the people and will not allow anyone to play with the name of Macedonia. ”
The article mentions “a king who wants to change the name of Macedonia” and although the name of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev is not written, it is completely clear that implies to him. The text says “in modern times”, but the fact is that Nostradamus never wrote a specific time of occurrence and his verses can be interpreted differently. He also rarely wrote the names of countries, and most often described the locations by geographical location. There is no evidence that in his books he mentions Macedonia many times. If indeed there is such a part for Macedonia, it is unclear why it is not in the verses. His prophecies were written in four lines, in verse and in the form of verses and riddles. In the article where it is claimed that Nostradamus wrote about Macedonia, the text that Nostradamus ostensibly wrote is not in verse, but a prose text, which was not the case with the work of Nostradamus wrote crithink.mk.
While the portal balkanskapravila.com, in addition to the text, even has an illustration of pictures by Nostradamus and Zoran Zaev.
In May 2019, a terrifying prophecy by Nostradamus was widely circulated on portals in North Macedonia as well as in neighboring Serbia, where the prophet allegedly predicted that Pope Francis would be assassinated in the Dushan’s royal town and thus the third world war would begin. “Roman high priest, be aware not to get close to the town being rinsed by two rivers, because you will spit blood in the month when the roses are blooming” – this is stated in the revived adaptation of the text of the deceased prophet, whose prediction is being decoded on the portals магазин.мк, сигнал.мк и скопје1.мк
Initially, it was believed that Nostradamus predicted the tragic event to happen in Belgrade. However, conspiritors refresh this theory with new data, according to which they indicate that Nostradamus actually meant the city of Skopje, because here flow two rivers Vardar and Treska, and in 1346 year, the Serbian emperor Dusan was crowned. The Pope ended his visit to the Republic of North Macedonia on 07.05.2019 and again the alleged prophecy of Nostradamus proved to be incorrect.
The latest abuse of Nostradamus’ prophecies is that he foresaw the pandemic of COVID-19 and China’s rescue role. He allegedly mentioned in his prophecies a “great plague” that would rage in the “sea city” and the “noble lady” who intervened and fought. The “city of the sea” has been identified with Hong Kong, claiming it will be severely affected by the virus in the future, and the “noble lady” who will save the world from the virus is either China or a female figure in the Chinese government.[2]
The European Union anti-fake-news task force tracked down the Nostradamus story, whose variations are now widespread on the Web, to an obscure propaganda outlet, Ukraina.ru, created to promote the Russian position on Ukraine and Crimea.[3] The online news portal Ukraina.ru has been operating from Moscow since June 2014 – the early days the conflict in Ukraine. It is part of the Russian state-owned media holding Rossiya Segodnya.
Therefore, it can be concluded that Nostradamus’ prophecies throughout history have been an inexhaustible topic of spreading propaganda and false news, in order to persuade the reader to believe certain news or information, which will directly or gradually lead him to certain behavior or action. Propaganda is a developed skill for social programming of the behavior of the masses or certain population groups, so the reader should developed a critical thinking in order to distinguish whether the information comes from a verified and credible source or works for misinformation, propaganda and spreading false news.
[1] http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_prophecies_of_nostradamus
[2] https://euvsdisinfo.eu/nostradamus-and-coronavirus/
[3] https://bitterwinter.org/coronavirus-twitter-and-nostradamus-chinese-fake-news/
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