Tim Snyder recently wrote a piece called Trump's Hitlerian Month in which he talks about emotional logic and fascism. The links are worth following, too.
Thank you for sharing! I hugely admire the work of Timothy Snyder. I saw his latest artcile but haven't read it yet. I'll check out the other links you shared as well!
Hi Darya! Really important stuff here about the so-called “Russian soul” and the behavior of the Western press. You make a very interesting point about emotional immaturity and moral superiority. I like how short and clear this piece is and I read it several times, but I don’t mean to discourage you from writing longer ones. If you keep writing this way then I believe that eventually you will break through.
I certainly had more than enough of the depressing Russian soul when I lived in Moscow in the early 1990s. People trudged around in the bitter cold, worn down by the challenges of everyday life but feeling there was nothing they could do to change it. Even the heady hopes of the Yeltsin coup failed to deliver any lasting transformation. ‘Life is hard, but that’s our fate, what can we do?’ So bleak.
I know what you mean. Growing up in Belarus, which borders Russia, and being immersed in Russian culture and Russification, I experienced the same. “Russian soul” is a very depressing, dark, and hopeless place. Ukraine, Ukrainian culture and mindset are in stark contrast to this.
I think you mostly captured it: those of us born and raised in the Western Powers have more in common with the Imperialist mind set than that of the Colonized, and certainly the narrow mindedness of the self righteous plays a factor as it takes an ability to rationalize and think critically.
But we should also never underestimate that in order to see russia and its barbaric medieval soul, one has to admit to being wrong about past glorifications, sentiments and sympathies, and actually admit that those who know russia best are those who have suffered the most, and this is a bridge too far for most especially for those people and institutions which have built careers and reputations around their supposed understanding despite having been proven wrong by what we see daily.
You are right. They will never be convinced nor admit to being wrong.
Thank you, Mark. I absolutely agree with your observation that the inability of people to admit that they are wrong is one of the key factors in Western glorification and whitewashing of Russia and Russians. As you said, for many, it’s a question of their reputation and the image they built about themselves. For others, it’s emotional immaturity because only emotionally mature people understand that admitting that you were wrong is the strength, not the weakness.
We all see that the old systems and ways are not working anymore — not in terms of defense and peace in the world, not in terms of clearly assessing reality and learning from the long history of Russian colonialism and aggression. However, I believe that things are slowly starting to change as more and more people become aware of this.
That is a very interesting suggestion - that such people are emotionally immature. And I think that is definitely one characteristic of such people.
I always appreciate the Bible contrast of the wise and the foolish. Particularly in the book of Proverbs. Because certainly, we deal with many fools, and they are all alike in what they do and/or say. Likewise, I've found most Ukrainians and their supporters to be of a different character, wise, self-aware and empathic.
"It’s too unprofitable to write about atrocious Russian crimes and the primitive reasons behind them"
I had this exact same conversation with my foreign friend this summer. He sent me a couple of links to news articles about "imprisoned russians," who rebelled against the war in some way. I felt really bizarre receiving them, so I started a conversation.
How come each imprisoned russian person has an entire article dedicated to them in liberal media, but there is no trace of reporting on Ukrainian POWs? Soldiers from Azov? Ukrainian children stolen by russia? In better-case scenario, you'd get one article in a couple months on each of these topics.
And then I thought something horrible, which as well might be true: Ukrainian deaths are not as interesting anymore. It's been 10 years of Ukrainian deaths. It's not "breaking news" at this point. Rather, something normal, mundane. Why bother?
Then, another thought: it's not interesting to write about russian crimes either, because it suggests the worse about human nature. Well, if you write about a few who rebel - that's interesting, that attracts attention. As Kurt Vonnegut has written in "Slaughterhouse Five:" there is nothing intelligent to say about the massacre.
…first: it’s not a “conflict” it’s an invasion and aggressive war, a genocide, but not a conflict
…and second:
…rusha is a GENETIC GARBAGE, it’s not derogatory it’s what happens when throughout the whole history of the country and last century they literally exterminated all intelligent and free thinking people generation to generation and only people left who did that or those who kept their mouth shut in order to survive, that country always was full of criminals, not much to lose there, we used to say if someone got locked up, they got from a “big prison” to a “small” one, major problem of putin’s country that it HAS NO HUMAN RESOURCES to build society that makes sense for the rest of the world, its all gone with all those republics, which they were milking all through the soviet years, to become their own sovereign entities, which infuriated putin, a country of people who never ever think of their future because everyone knows nothings good is coming tomorrow, dreadful place in and out, Ukraine on the other hand is different, but it’s three times smaller population then rusha and its loses are very unequal not by quantity, but by quality of loses with future potential to rebuild their country, any war is a horrible thing, specially for the nation that did not want it, but have to face it and spend precious resources not on making their people live better, but for the simple task to survive, FUCK putin ! …GLORY TO UKRAINE 🇺🇦 !
If I may also share some links:
Tim Snyder recently wrote a piece called Trump's Hitlerian Month in which he talks about emotional logic and fascism. The links are worth following, too.
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/trumps-hitlerian-month?r=8jzxn&utm_medium=ios
The New York Times Is Failing Our Country by Mark Jacob
https://open.substack.com/pub/stopthepresses/p/the-new-york-times-is-failing-our?r=8jzxn&utm_medium=ios
To Beat The Devil by Kris Kristofferson
https://youtu.be/dNEiUoegCGQ?si=SpzzjsskfVqSbxis
Lyrics
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kriskristofferson/tobeatthedevil.html
Thanks
Thank you for sharing! I hugely admire the work of Timothy Snyder. I saw his latest artcile but haven't read it yet. I'll check out the other links you shared as well!
Hi Darya! Really important stuff here about the so-called “Russian soul” and the behavior of the Western press. You make a very interesting point about emotional immaturity and moral superiority. I like how short and clear this piece is and I read it several times, but I don’t mean to discourage you from writing longer ones. If you keep writing this way then I believe that eventually you will break through.
Thank you so much for your support and encouragement, Paul!
I certainly had more than enough of the depressing Russian soul when I lived in Moscow in the early 1990s. People trudged around in the bitter cold, worn down by the challenges of everyday life but feeling there was nothing they could do to change it. Even the heady hopes of the Yeltsin coup failed to deliver any lasting transformation. ‘Life is hard, but that’s our fate, what can we do?’ So bleak.
I know what you mean. Growing up in Belarus, which borders Russia, and being immersed in Russian culture and Russification, I experienced the same. “Russian soul” is a very depressing, dark, and hopeless place. Ukraine, Ukrainian culture and mindset are in stark contrast to this.
Aren’t they just! I only went to Minsk once in 1991 - wish I had been able to see a bit more of Belarus …
This is truly perplexing and infuriating.
I think you mostly captured it: those of us born and raised in the Western Powers have more in common with the Imperialist mind set than that of the Colonized, and certainly the narrow mindedness of the self righteous plays a factor as it takes an ability to rationalize and think critically.
But we should also never underestimate that in order to see russia and its barbaric medieval soul, one has to admit to being wrong about past glorifications, sentiments and sympathies, and actually admit that those who know russia best are those who have suffered the most, and this is a bridge too far for most especially for those people and institutions which have built careers and reputations around their supposed understanding despite having been proven wrong by what we see daily.
You are right. They will never be convinced nor admit to being wrong.
Thank you, Mark. I absolutely agree with your observation that the inability of people to admit that they are wrong is one of the key factors in Western glorification and whitewashing of Russia and Russians. As you said, for many, it’s a question of their reputation and the image they built about themselves. For others, it’s emotional immaturity because only emotionally mature people understand that admitting that you were wrong is the strength, not the weakness.
We all see that the old systems and ways are not working anymore — not in terms of defense and peace in the world, not in terms of clearly assessing reality and learning from the long history of Russian colonialism and aggression. However, I believe that things are slowly starting to change as more and more people become aware of this.
That is a very interesting suggestion - that such people are emotionally immature. And I think that is definitely one characteristic of such people.
I always appreciate the Bible contrast of the wise and the foolish. Particularly in the book of Proverbs. Because certainly, we deal with many fools, and they are all alike in what they do and/or say. Likewise, I've found most Ukrainians and their supporters to be of a different character, wise, self-aware and empathic.
I agree!
2.5 years of Russian evil and barbarity in Ukraine should tell any reasonable person the Russian soul does not exist
💯
"It’s too unprofitable to write about atrocious Russian crimes and the primitive reasons behind them"
I had this exact same conversation with my foreign friend this summer. He sent me a couple of links to news articles about "imprisoned russians," who rebelled against the war in some way. I felt really bizarre receiving them, so I started a conversation.
How come each imprisoned russian person has an entire article dedicated to them in liberal media, but there is no trace of reporting on Ukrainian POWs? Soldiers from Azov? Ukrainian children stolen by russia? In better-case scenario, you'd get one article in a couple months on each of these topics.
And then I thought something horrible, which as well might be true: Ukrainian deaths are not as interesting anymore. It's been 10 years of Ukrainian deaths. It's not "breaking news" at this point. Rather, something normal, mundane. Why bother?
Then, another thought: it's not interesting to write about russian crimes either, because it suggests the worse about human nature. Well, if you write about a few who rebel - that's interesting, that attracts attention. As Kurt Vonnegut has written in "Slaughterhouse Five:" there is nothing intelligent to say about the massacre.
I agree with everything you wrote ❤️🩹
…first: it’s not a “conflict” it’s an invasion and aggressive war, a genocide, but not a conflict
…and second:
…rusha is a GENETIC GARBAGE, it’s not derogatory it’s what happens when throughout the whole history of the country and last century they literally exterminated all intelligent and free thinking people generation to generation and only people left who did that or those who kept their mouth shut in order to survive, that country always was full of criminals, not much to lose there, we used to say if someone got locked up, they got from a “big prison” to a “small” one, major problem of putin’s country that it HAS NO HUMAN RESOURCES to build society that makes sense for the rest of the world, its all gone with all those republics, which they were milking all through the soviet years, to become their own sovereign entities, which infuriated putin, a country of people who never ever think of their future because everyone knows nothings good is coming tomorrow, dreadful place in and out, Ukraine on the other hand is different, but it’s three times smaller population then rusha and its loses are very unequal not by quantity, but by quality of loses with future potential to rebuild their country, any war is a horrible thing, specially for the nation that did not want it, but have to face it and spend precious resources not on making their people live better, but for the simple task to survive, FUCK putin ! …GLORY TO UKRAINE 🇺🇦 !