Two things are currently frightening me in Ukrainian society.
The first is the appeal of certain individuals to freedom of speech and democracy.
Certain individuals, meaning those who, relying on freedom of expression, introduce into public discourse narratives such as “we need to stop the war” (as if the victim has any other choice but to resist before a maniac’s knife), “the war is an invention of politicians, and ordinary people are against the war” (interestingly, these fools write this in free Ukraine, not in Russia, where for just the word “war,” you get lengthy prison terms), “let’s give up the Donbas, they will leave us alone” (no, they won’t leave us alone. Even at Chop, they won’t leave us alone), and so on.
Yes, Russian IPSO and bots are working, but I constantly encounter pages of living people, where in the comments you indeed realize these are their, albeit foolish, thoughts.
Especially striking was the position of a woman from Kyiv (some gestalt psychologist) who declared she doesn’t understand why this war is happening and why to suffer from shelling, and when pointed out that the Russians in Bucha couldn’t care less about these high-minded reflections and just killed everyone, she flatly denied, saying history cannot have a conditional mode. And that someone was killed there, but how it would be now, we don’t know. Seriously, she wrote exactly that.
(Update: A screenshot of her post was sent. If you’re interested, go to her comments and “enjoy”).
Regarding the conditional mode, let me make a lyrical digression, and as someone who, along with comrades, implored civilians to evacuate from shelling, only to face dismissive “don’t panic” comments from them, and then saw their bodies the following days, I will explain.
Homo sapiens differ from animals not only because they constantly fear the “invisible tiger” (animals only fear the real tiger, run from it, stress out, but then calm down and live their happy lives when the tiger is gone. Humans, even with a cloudless present, constantly worry about “invisible tigers”—expectations from winter, currency exchange rates, the boss’s mood, etc.).
A much bigger empirical revelation for me in 2022 was that homo sapiens are also inclined to greatly underestimate threats to themselves and their loved ones, ignoring obvious danger signals and, interestingly, even the deaths of their fellow tribesmen.
“Well, it was the neighbor whose head got blown off by the mine, not me.”
“I’m guarding the house here so it doesn’t get looted. So what if the neighbors’ yards are burning right now.”
These are real stories.
(Civilian analogies: “It was another unlucky tagger who got burned by hundreds of volts on the roof of the train. That won’t happen to me,” “That was a careless biker. I’ll manage to wheelie just fine and show everyone.”)
Their confidence that everything will be okay can only be changed by Russian metal or fire that sprays their gray matter on the wall behind them. And even then, we don’t really know what these wretches think in the last milliseconds of life.
Overall, there is nothing strange about such a question of “we don’t know what would’ve been.”
Just an interesting case for psychiatrists.
The second point that scares me is pacifists. Usually, they enjoy a pleasant life abroad, traveling and dealing with everyday concerns, yet they persist in trying to comment on local events like the “criminal TCC,” “concentration camp,” and so on.
Discussions with them on the topic “why is there no pacifist state” (or libertarian-anarcho-something) are pointless.
They can’t comprehend that mere persuasion won’t stop a Russian who’s come to rape your wife, daughter, mother, and toss you dead into a sewer drain.
They don’t realize that where too many pacifists arise in a population, a massacre happens later, and then there are few pacifists left.
It’s convenient to be a pacifist, preaching peace and love, life balance, traveling, pleasure, and other nonsense, when a well-armed army surrounds your world of pink ponies, protecting you from those who dream of shoving their peaceUN into your peace-rear.
And as soon as the tide turns, pacifists flee beyond the horizon, behind the battle lines of other armies, which now somehow have to protect them.
Why am I saying all this?
The problem is that in democratic countries, citizens who don’t want to become a defenseless herd of sheep are forced into slaughter because some want to “negotiate” and others want to be pacifists. It’s impossible to fix either of them.
Freedom of speech and democracy are good. But there is a limit where these things can and should be restricted.
I think Ruslana Radchuk talked about educating children in Germany with instances where freedom can be restricted: (paraphrased in my own words, because I can’t reproduce it exactly) what should be prohibited is what ultimately leads to the cancellation of freedom of speech and democracy.
Like what happened in Nazi Germany, where the murderers of millions of people came to power entirely through legitimate political means.
Therefore, all public discussions should be filtered through the template “will Russia come here as a result of these proposals.” If the answer to this question is “yes,” this discussion should be stopped.
Stop mobilization? Do not resist? Negotiate? Feel sorry for the draft dodgers complaining in this “concentration camp”?
All the best.
By the way, as someone who communicated with some residents of Irpin and Bucha in March-April 2022, even then thoughts were being voiced that “if we hadn’t resisted and just surrendered, the Russians wouldn’t have done such things.” This was said by adults with voting rights, standing next to the bodies of their neighbors in black bags.
It seemed like a delusion, Stockholm syndrome, but that’s how it is. I’m neither a psychologist nor a psychiatrist to study this leper colony of insignificance. There are gestalt therapists for this, but as we can see, not all of them can encourage citizens to close the gestalt of “protecting oneself and one’s family.”
Meanwhile, there is good news. Truly.
We are living through this, resisting, and our society is not only physically opposing Russia but also inventing an antidote for the fools who are for “peace with the Russians, just so no one dies and nothing explodes.”
The 5th year of the 12-year war, and we’re still holding on.
Now imagine the discussions that will take place in democratic societies around the 5th article.
I honestly feel sorry for them.
For those among them who will be ready to fight the horde that is currently mobilizing men in the occupied territories (what about the concentration camp, mom’s cherries?) and preparing a whole generation of children for a future war.
I’d like to remind you that young people who were under 10 years old in 2014 are already fighting with us now.
So don’t blame yourself for shutting the mouths of idiots. This is not a violation of freedom of speech or democracy.
Anyone who imposes pro-Russian or pacifist narratives must be silenced by any conscious citizen who wants to survive and end this war within this generation.
Have a great day.
