Amid ongoing wars and looming threats of new conflicts, three European leaders embarked on a train journey to Kyiv, aiming to contribute to a ceasefire in Ukraine. Dressed casually and in a relaxed atmosphere, they opened the door of their compartment at one point to allow photojournalists to capture the necessary shots.
But what was the outcome? Suddenly, it seemed as though the weapons in Ukraine had fallen silent—no casualties, no destruction. Attention shifted to a tissue left on the table where French President Emmanuel Macron had been seated. While common sense suggests it was merely a tissue used by someone with a cold, allergies, or after a sneeze—left there perhaps due to the absence of a nearby bin or the possibility of needing it again—it became a global issue. The tissue was not retrieved from the bin for forensic analysis to determine its contents, but even if it had been, few among those propagating conspiracy theories would have been convinced it contained human fluids rather than cocaine.
These theories were not confined to fringe corners of the internet but were adopted—and perhaps even fueled—by governments, with Russia leading the charge. “After pushing Zelensky into yet another hellish scheme to derail a settlement and prolong the bloodshed in Europe, it’s like a joke: a Frenchman, an Englishman, and a German got on a train – and did a line. Apparently, they were so out of it they forgot to hide the paraphernalia – a small bag and a spoon – before the journalists arrived,” wrote Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
Now, how does one prove they are not an elephant? That the tissue is just a tissue, which Macron attempted to remove upon recalling its presence, much like one would remove any other unsightly item from a historic journalistic frame—a banana peel or a half-eaten croissant, for instance. In this case, a white tissue. French newspapers and the Élysée Palace endeavoured to counter the narrative: “When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs,” stated the Élysée.
In an era where the human brain is more developed than ever and has access to unprecedented amounts of information, it is astonishing how both information and intellect are utilised. Therefore, at any given moment, we must be prepared to prove that we are not elephants.
