581
Russians Are Strangely Stumped About Why Moscow Is Getting Bombed
(www.thedailybeast.com)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
581 points (97.7% liked)
News
23397 readers
1671 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.
Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
7. No duplicate posts.
If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners.
The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Most of us just afraid. There're more and more cases of prosecuting people for "discrediting Russian army", for refusing to be conscripted and so on.
Fear of going to prison is almost in genes, due to the loong history of being heavily oppressed by own government.
Is it better to lose life, freedom and loved ones in the pursuit of an unjust war in Ukraine that will provoke further violence at home? Or, is it better to direct violence at home against the ones who would send you or your loved ones to be killed fighting the Ukrainian people who themselves are just trying to defend their loved ones and their homes?
If you are too afraid and unwilling to fight back against the architects of your current torment, are you not already imprisoned?
That's a lofty sophism. There's a huge difference between some philosophical imprisonment and a real one.
You are right. That's fair.
You know, as an American, I have difficulty trying to figure out how to react and resist against my country's imperialistic endeavors, among other things. Many other things. I think our police probably share more qualities with yours than they have differences, as one for instance.
But, I think that, again, when family and friends, neighbors and loved ones are being conscripted in a draft and killed in a war that isn't even a matter of self-defense, but that is also inviting retaliation closer to home that philosophy becomes much less lofty. Much more practical.
When you are being forced into seriously unjust actions that invite current harm AND future harm, that calculus seems much easier to figure out. When there is already harm being directed at you by your government, the path of less harm might just be taking direct action to solve that source of all the attendant problems.
I sincerely hope the Russian people can find a way to limit the harms their government is targeting them with. And, that they find a way to prosper and contribute and enjoy both the fruits of their labor AND their renewed place in a world that can similarly find itself on a better track. Because, honestly, humanity as whole is a fucking mess and we all need each other right now and going forward.
Secret of passivity of an average Russian is in eternal "maybe" in our heads: maybe government won't notice me, maybe I will be spared, maybe a situation will fix itself somehow. We even have special term for it: "авось".
It's all learned helplessness.
As for me personally - I have decided that if they will try to conscript me then I will try to flee or go to prison rather than actively participate in that war.
I'm sorry to hear it's like that, and sad to report it's getting that way here, more and more; though we don't have a word for it, yet.
You sound like a good person. Glad to have chatted. Best luck.
So it looks like you think "maybe" it is not going to affect you, and you are only willing to do anything once it does. I think that is in general how everyone there thinks. "Maybe it won't affect me" but by the time it does it is already too late to react. If you want to flee, do it now. Don't wait for the "maybe". Because if you do, it will be too late to react.
Over 100,000 dead Russian soldiers paid with their lives. What did that accomplish?
Amazing how the wagnerites drove 3/4 the way to Moscow and then gave up. They can't even coup, when they hold all the cards.
Plus, most Russians are fucking FOR the war.
I don't know. Why are you asking me?
I don't know where you take that one from. It's not like we can have independent polls here in Russia and people a certainly don't feel safe to answer honestly.
I, of course, only have anecdotes, but very few people I know support war.