We were all kids once, and so were our parents. Our grandparents had a childhood, too.
As kids, we learned about human decency and values through stories and animated movies,
basically the same playlist for everyone.
Over time, the leaders of the world changed, with secretaries-general giving way to presidents.
However, children were always expected to be taught kindness and honesty — not aggression and hypocrisy.
How does it happen, then, that people we love the most are sometimes hateful and warmongering?
These are not the values that children’s literature and animated shows teach,
not the values that our parents worked to instill in us, and not the values that we try to instill in our children.
Let’s talk about how it happened and what we can do about it.
HYPOCRISY
Here's a good example for you,
in 2021, Russia pompously celebrated Prince Alexander Nevsky’s 800th birthday.
Well, technically not “Russia,” but “Putin's regime.”
Every once in a while, it uses the image of this specific ruler, who played a rather controversial role in Russian history.
Anyway, Nevsky it is, then.
However, while the celebrations of the prince’s 800th birthday were still in full swing,
the former Oldenburg school along with the Alexander Nevsky house church in Moscow was being torn down.
Both political opposition figures and members of the public, as well as descendants of the church's patron,
tried to save the historic building, but it was ultimately destroyed, along with Moscow’s many other heritage sites.
Why the lesson in Moscow’s history, you’d ask?
It’s just that this local story exposes the core principles of Putin's system.
It comes up with a certain controversial idea, which isn’t quite a big deal in the first place.
Because later, its own actions begin to contradict that very idea. This is where the real problem lies.
Since recently, as you know, Russia has “always been the last bastion of traditional values.”
It has always been that way, even if we’ve learned about it just recently.
The same principle kicks into play here. The idea of Russia being a bastion of family values is in itself a questionable one.
This ideology is incompatible with the Russian president, who refers to his daughters as "these women."
It's also out of step with the Russian political elite, where it's almost expected that they have their own harems.
It doesn't align with the divorce rates, the median income of young families, the child benefit money,
or the accessibility of kindergartens and clinics.
Even in major cities, the notion of a uniquely Russian emphasis on family doesn't hold up when confronted with the realities
of sidewalks and intersections that aren’t exactly stroller friendly, but this is just the tip of the iceberg...
DESTRUCTION OF THE FAMILY
The real big deal is that Vladimir Putin has not only espoused, but actively promoted traditional family values.
Unfortunately, this has taken a disastrous toll on the family institution in Russia in 2022.
In the name of defending traditional families, Putin has implemented policies that have separated husbands from wives,
fathers from children, and adult children from their elderly parents.
Regardless of what our president says, even the pre-war share of single-parent households in our country was through the roof.
And now with each passing day, wives are being widowed and children orphaned in increasing numbers.
But it’s not only the families of the conscripts that are being eroded by the war that Putin started.
Big wars often lead to the disruption of all kinds of social bonds, including family bonds.
Couples get divorced, siblings are having bad blood between them, and children disown their parents, or vice versa.
A common scenario goes like this: the husband has suddenly turned into a raging militarist,
so the wife can no longer put up with him.
This happens, but it also happens in reverse.
It is also not uncommon for older generations to be horrified by the violence and aggression displayed by their kids and grandkids.
A chunk of my channel’s viewership are pensioners, who sometimes message me about how the younger generation
is parroting aggressive and violent ideologies heard on TV. This is not what they taught them!
I have the utmost respect for my senior audience, and I’m grateful for your support through views and comments.
However, a sad reality is that during domestic disputes, it is often our parents, grandparents,
and even great-grandparents who stick up for the military aggression.
There are objective reasons behind this phenomenon. As we grow older, we tend to spend less time with our elderly relatives.
And as we do, TV and radio give us a run for our money.
TV and radio always have time for you, they’ll never say they’re too busy or too tired. Unlike us, they are always on hand.
Older people are typically more credulous and prone to being overwhelmed by a barrage of information.
Scammers often use this to their advantage by winning their trust and then manipulating them through rhetorical shenanigans,
leaving little time for proper contemplation.
Intelligence is not a factor in this situation, as even impeccably educated individuals, like scientists, college professors,
or bank workers, end up getting hoodwinked.
Propagandists are just like these scammers, and they don’t even need to cook up smart ruses to let themselves in.
They are already in your homes. Ready to lie and fool anyone who turns on TV for a daily news bulletin.
SOVIET GENERATION
The silver lining, though, is that vileness is not a defining trait for all people from the Soviet era.
Slogans like “No mercy for the enemies of the people!” and “Shoot them like dirty dogs!” petered out with the death
of Joseph Stalin in 1953.
Those who went to school in 1954 or later were exposed to a different rhetoric and slogans as they grew up.
Beginning with Khrushchev, Soviet propaganda emphasized the pursuit of peace and human happiness rather
than promoting the idea of war as a natural state for our country and that human life is overrated.
No one would have dared to spit out such ideas in a country where millions of former front-line soldiers were still alive.
This was true even for the previous generation whose formative years were synced with the aggressive, Stalinist propaganda.
In fact, it was the wartime generation that, once Stalin was dead, made sure that their kids and grandkids were guided
not by militaristic sentiment, but by the slogan of “peace at all cost.”
These kids and grandkids are now our grandparents and parents.
But why is it so important?
Because despite the psychological trauma inflicted by the Soviet era, we cannot say
that our older relatives are insufferable curmudgeons.
That it is their very nature to wish death and anguish upon others.
This is simply not true.
The surge in cruelty and blatant disregard for human kindness is disturbing, but it’s a recent and artificial phenomenon.
In the past, even under Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, and Gorbachev,
those who opposed the government were not dehumanized as "scum of the earth" or "a flock of snorting pigs."
Not even in a night terror could you imagine a prime-time radio host going on about “traitors of Russia with a bicycle ass”
and “deviant uneducated f****ts.”
It is the norm of the day, but it hasn’t been around for long.
And this means that we can fight off and eliminate the stain left by Putin’s propaganda.
Because it is indeed a stain.
The propagandists’ dehumanizing rhetoric is nothing but fresh mold. Yes, it may seem to have spread all over the place.
But at the moment, it can simply be removed. It hasn’t had much time to take roots yet.
LOVE YOUR RELATIVES
Say what you want, but even under the hypocritical and deceitful Soviet system, our relatives grew up
and learned with literature and animated movies that promoted standard human morality.
And while it is for a reason that the system itself demised, the works by children’s authors and animated show directors didn’t.
Take the story of Cheburashka.
Its entire narrative still rings true.
If you come across someone who is different, you shouldn’t bully or humiliate them, but rather help them
ease into society as an equal.
Gena the Crocodile is a prime example of civic activism indeed. First, he helps Cheburashka fit in.
Then he organizes a coliving for lone animals. After that, he has a role in developing public spaces.
And finally, he supports the environment.
A civil rights advocate, a volunteer, an urbanist, and an environmentalist.
A foreign agent!
I would certainly offer that croc to join my party!
Along with Bonifacius the Lion and Leopolde the Cat from other Soviet children’s animated shows.
Starting in 1961, when the animated adaptation of Gianni Rodari’s book hit the theaters in the USSR,
Cipollino became an instant favorite revolutionary among the Soviet kids.
Just look at the dissident conversation Cipollino is having with his dad through the prison bars:
“You were thrown in jail along with criminals?”
“Of course not! We are all honest people here!”
“Why are they in prison then?”
“You see, Prince Lemon is allergic to honesty.”
Who would have called Cipollino, his dad, or his friends extremists that must all be imprisoned?
When exactly did Prince Lemon and Lord Tomato become our heroes?
When we were little, our parents and grandparents would show us quality animated movies.
The books they read to us were perfect stories.
From Soviet authors to Russian classics, where every other protagonist opposed the reign of tsars.
The time has come to repay our debts. The people who raised and educated us are not evil.
They’re just deafened by the din of propagandist screams.
We’ve had videos on our channels explaining how to debate the war with facts and evidence.
And these videos hold true to this day.
But when facts and reasoning don’t work, just try to remind your loved ones of the values
that they taught you and the values that they themselves were raised to appreciate.
Our battlefield is not somewhere near Bakhmut and Soledar. It is right here.
Our channel has around five million unique viewers from Russia.
Each one of you can fight the system to save the souls of your loved ones.
Our principle is that we don’t yield to Putin what matters most to us.
Like, for example, he decided to monopolize our shared memory of the Great Patriotic War and its soldiers.
Guess what, no deal.
I’m not refusing to make documentaries about WW2,
even though the regime uses that war and the Victory of 1945 to justify its own aggression.
It is now vitally important to reflect on and understand history, to discuss facts honestly and objectively,
so that people could draw their own conclusions.
It is even more important to stand up for our families. Putin talks about family values as if he privatized them.
At the same time, he sets up Russian families for destruction. There’s no way we’re letting him do it.
And we will preserve the true family values.
From your comments, I know that many of you are feuding with your parents over the war.
Maybe it is time to rekindle your bonds.
How about you reminding your parents of the beautiful childrens’ books they read to you when you were a kid,
about the animated movies that they showed you?
And maybe this will lead them to reconsider their takes.
It will not work right away. But give it a shot!
See you tomorrow.