Have you ever seen or read those detective stories and thrillers where the main character is being framed, accused of a crime they have never committed? In a movie the main character works miracles to get evidence and prove they are not guilty. Watching or reading a story like that is a great pastime for the audience. Though I have always hated plots like that. Now I’m living it at a national level as a Russian.
In real life it is not that funny, a nightmare, actually. Reading western fakes, I do feel trapped in a second-rate movie. Moreover, I have all the evidence proving I’m not guilty, but I’m locked in a soundproof box of opaque glass. People see a distorted image of me and cannot/refuse to hear what I say. Many laugh, many follow the story as if it were a sports event. By the way, I absolutely hate the betting attitude of the so-called pro-Russia crowd.
Imagine a storyline where a rich guy takes a machine gun to save his relatives kept as hostages by some maniac. This maniac is indoctrinated to hate this specific rich guy and his family by a group of those who hope to get the rich guy’s property and money after he is convicted of excessive self-defence or killed by the maniac (whichever comes first). It could be a great thriller. By the way, dear Hollywood guys, the idea is free if you are reading this. I think it would be a better vehicle for Keanu Reeves than that silly John Which franchise he is trapped in.
I hope the analogy is clear. The real life is not a Hollywood movie though. In a movie at least someone is interested in truth and justice. In real life the majority are interested in the show that must go on, in more and more war porn. Impoverished West that has come to one of the points in its history where it is again overpopulated and exhausted in terms of money, land and resources turned its greedy eyes to Russia, set it up as a villain, and the last thing it wants is truth.
Intelligent people in the West see how cartoonish the whole thing is, but the majority have their minds formed by movies with cartoonish villains. They now think they are a collective Batman or Antman, or Captain America waving the LGBTQQIP2SA [sic!] flag. They are ready to defeat dirty, silly, inferior Russians lead by evil Putin.
Speaking of dirty, inferior Russians, I cannot help noticing that all the stereotypes about Russians are still in place, and mostly they are grounded in what medieval Europe was, not Russia. Russians have never been dirty and never were ignorant to the point where they killed cats or burned too many women (interestingly, in medieval Russia mostly men were accused of witchcraft, if at all, but it’s another long and interesting story).
The framing situation is unfortunately not new. It has always preceded genocides. Remember the blood libel (also invented in the West, by the way)? Remember how Hitler tried to justify his crusade to the East? Speaking of the crusades… Well, nothing is new under the Sun. This too shall pass, and I hope to live to that moment without turning into a handful of radioactive ashes.
That’s why mobilization was inevitable. And believe me or not, Russians have never been known for mass desertion, even if the CNN tries to persuade you of it.
Maria,
You wrote another fine post and make excellent points. Forget Batman and Captain America. We have Rocky and Bullwinkle! Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle are from the Soviet Era and battled the evil spies Boris Badanov and his sidekick Natasha.
Glad you liked it!
It is quite funny that you mention burning women in Medieval Europe. Anyone would be immediately reminded of the Spanish Inquisition. However, the Spanish Inquisition documented around 300-800 (sources differ) burnings of alleged “witchs”, while Germany killed around 40,000 women on this account, and England another thousands of Catholics as “heretics”. But what remains on the collective psyche is the Inquisition (which, by the way, wasn’t an Spanish invention nor the only Inquisition).
I guess History repeats itself: the powerful-country-of-the-time gets smeared by its enemies, because they cannot tackle it head-on. Sad.
For me, it is difficult to figure out what is true, and not exaggerated and/or propaganda. Protestants demonized Catholics and visa versa
Well, the interesting thing is as recently as in 19th century Francisco Goya was brought to the court of inquisition (twice, the last time for painting a naked woman), it’s a historical fact. He was not burned, but it was not completely out of question even then. My point was not to smear Spain in particular, but to emphasize that Europe has no reason to consider itself a superior race/civilization, etc. Its history has as much darkness as human nature can hold.