A lot of Russians have no idea what’s going on. Rural communities get their information from state media and their local politicians.
I remember people in rural areas of my East European country being interviewed about politics and they were completely clueless. Some thought the president was still the same guy who was violently overthrown in bloody revolution over a decade before. Many would vote for whoever their mayor told them to vote for. I remember someone being asked why she’s voting for someone and her answer was “because he’s the president” (he was running for a second term). She honestly didn’t know how it all works and found it natural to vote for the president, not some other guy.
So yeah, if people like that are told those guys are oppressed and we sent an army to liberate them, they’ll believe it and support the war. That doesn’t mean they deserve to be victims of that war.
You realize the interview only showed the people who give the best sound bites? I bet you could find someone living in Washington DC who still thinks Clinton is President. And maybe someone who thinks Hillary Clinton is President.
People are responsible for who they vote for. Being uneducated is not a good excuse when there’s only a few choices. It’s not like they’re being asked to run the entire country. If they are voting, they have a major responsibility and entire years to make up their minds.
Those villages didn’t have electricity or running water at the time. They lived in the middle ages. My wife’s grandparents lived in such a village. Her grandfather was thrown out by his parents as a kid because he was too small. He lived in the woods, surviving on roots and berries for years. Who is president was the least of his concerns. If the guy who gave him a piece of land to call his own told him that the best candidate is X, then that’s who he’d vote for.
There were thousands of villages like that one all over the country. Reporters didn’t need to hunt for he best soundbites, just pick a random village and you’ll get all the material you need.
In most of those placed the mayor would come down before elections bringing gifts and telling them how everything they have is because of his party. And they have no reason not to believe him, since he’s the only contact they ever have with any type of politics.
Russia has had democracy for 33 years. The people living on the Ukrainian border have electricity and running water. They are not idiots. You are acting like missing a few comforts makes people so stupid they can’t take care of their own lives.
Guess what? Most people who voted for George Washington for President lacked running water. And all of them lacked electricity (except Ben Franklin I guess). They figured it out because you don’t need running water or electricity at all. If you can run a farm and feed yourself, you can figure out who is lying to you and choose your leader.
Russia had democracy for less than 5 years before there was a constitutional crisis where Yeltsin got impeached, defied the constitutional court, staged a coup and consolidated power away from parliament and towards the presidency. By 1996 all the TV channels in the country were under control of his political allies. Later on, Putin was hand picked by him specifically for his personal loyalty over any other quality. But putin didn’t even have to work that hard to consolidate power- all the tools of authoritarianism fell into his lap.
But putin didn’t even have to work that hard to consolidate power- all the tools of authoritarianism fell into his lap.
Are we still pretending Putin wasn’t behind to the FSB blowing up apartment buildings in Moscow in a false flag operation to justify a brutal war in Chechnya? That’s how he consolidated his authoritarian power, seems like a bit of work to me.
I would say no. It isn’t as much “work” as sending in the tanks from the regular army to shell a competing but legitimate branch of government, and having a SWAT team machine gun hundreds of protesters.
I get what you’re saying but it’s still supporting the war. It’s like if someone grew up bigoted because of their upbringing. Guess what, they’re still a bigot.
Your choice to be ignorant about the world doesn’t excuse you when the world bites you in the ass. We can only hope the war at their doorstep is a wakeup call.
A lot of Russians have no idea what’s going on. Rural communities get their information from state media and their local politicians.
I remember people in rural areas of my East European country being interviewed about politics and they were completely clueless. Some thought the president was still the same guy who was violently overthrown in bloody revolution over a decade before. Many would vote for whoever their mayor told them to vote for. I remember someone being asked why she’s voting for someone and her answer was “because he’s the president” (he was running for a second term). She honestly didn’t know how it all works and found it natural to vote for the president, not some other guy.
So yeah, if people like that are told those guys are oppressed and we sent an army to liberate them, they’ll believe it and support the war. That doesn’t mean they deserve to be victims of that war.
You realize the interview only showed the people who give the best sound bites? I bet you could find someone living in Washington DC who still thinks Clinton is President. And maybe someone who thinks Hillary Clinton is President.
People are responsible for who they vote for. Being uneducated is not a good excuse when there’s only a few choices. It’s not like they’re being asked to run the entire country. If they are voting, they have a major responsibility and entire years to make up their minds.
Those villages didn’t have electricity or running water at the time. They lived in the middle ages. My wife’s grandparents lived in such a village. Her grandfather was thrown out by his parents as a kid because he was too small. He lived in the woods, surviving on roots and berries for years. Who is president was the least of his concerns. If the guy who gave him a piece of land to call his own told him that the best candidate is X, then that’s who he’d vote for.
There were thousands of villages like that one all over the country. Reporters didn’t need to hunt for he best soundbites, just pick a random village and you’ll get all the material you need.
In most of those placed the mayor would come down before elections bringing gifts and telling them how everything they have is because of his party. And they have no reason not to believe him, since he’s the only contact they ever have with any type of politics.
Russia has had democracy for 33 years. The people living on the Ukrainian border have electricity and running water. They are not idiots. You are acting like missing a few comforts makes people so stupid they can’t take care of their own lives.
Guess what? Most people who voted for George Washington for President lacked running water. And all of them lacked electricity (except Ben Franklin I guess). They figured it out because you don’t need running water or electricity at all. If you can run a farm and feed yourself, you can figure out who is lying to you and choose your leader.
Russia had democracy for less than 5 years before there was a constitutional crisis where Yeltsin got impeached, defied the constitutional court, staged a coup and consolidated power away from parliament and towards the presidency. By 1996 all the TV channels in the country were under control of his political allies. Later on, Putin was hand picked by him specifically for his personal loyalty over any other quality. But putin didn’t even have to work that hard to consolidate power- all the tools of authoritarianism fell into his lap.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Russian_constitutional_crisis
Are we still pretending Putin wasn’t behind to the FSB blowing up apartment buildings in Moscow in a false flag operation to justify a brutal war in Chechnya? That’s how he consolidated his authoritarian power, seems like a bit of work to me.
I would say no. It isn’t as much “work” as sending in the tanks from the regular army to shell a competing but legitimate branch of government, and having a SWAT team machine gun hundreds of protesters.
I get what you’re saying but it’s still supporting the war. It’s like if someone grew up bigoted because of their upbringing. Guess what, they’re still a bigot.
Your choice to be ignorant about the world doesn’t excuse you when the world bites you in the ass. We can only hope the war at their doorstep is a wakeup call.