DameDePiques
4788
116
5
At the beginning of the XXth century, my great-grand-father fled Russia to France. His little brother fled to Finland, and the other brothers stayed in Russia. So I have distant cousins in both Finland and Russia.
During the Chechen War, I decided I didn't want anything to do with the Russian side of the family (they were so proud of the son fighting there!). But it turns out one of the Finnish cousins was still in contact with the Russian cousin, and when the war started in Ukraine, this is the message he received. He was so distressed he shared it with us.
At first, I hesitated to share private correspondance, but as you can see, there is no personal stuff here, this is all regurgitated propaganda.
We know of the Russians who get arrested for protesting the war, and I honor them. But the sad truth is, there are also educated, English-speaking people, who have access to internet and international news, and still they believe (and WANT to believe) Putin's bullshit.
And their son fought in Chechnya. They KNOW what the Russian army does.
xlugiax
Had*
NonstopRampage
Once this is settled, I'll welcome my russian friends back. After a gutpunch for supporting a maniac who threatened us all with doomsday.
VirtualHugger
KaraokeLemur
Thank you for sharing, this gives us an insight
RoxaDragonheart
This is sad...
KimLouise89
#fuckputin
amismenow
Yeah I don’t even understand this. Even if all that was true why would they attack and kill people in response.
FrogBotherer
Sadly it's safer to move with the crowd than against it, especially in Russia where opposers get punished with *extreme* prejudice.
PorkFriedSquirrel
Yeah, let's make sure we drive that nazi leader from Ukraine who just happens to fucking be Jewish.
StinkyBlumbus
Achieve peace by bombing cities, raping women, killing civilians and looting everything not nailed down
mcgrand1
My mother-in-law is Ukrainian, but she lives in Rostov. She totally believes Putin is saving her relatives across the border.
DameDePiques
That's quite horrifying.
pushingchildrenintotraffic
Propaganda is a hell of a drug, man.
PrivateDuds
The propaganda is burnt into Russian culture deep. If Putin died now and Russians somehow got to choose, they'd choose some other asshole.
pflugerville
"Europe has repeatedly united against Russia - under Hitler". Yikes, is that just a misphrase or what they're taught?
pflugerville
Also, they go from speaking about anti-west rhretoric straight into nazis. A big gap between those two which speaks to their propanganda.
donthideyourright2
It's your duty to let them see they are being fed false info and burt their bubble
Omnimorph2112
To anyone this heavily sedated by the propaganda, any evidence you show them will be dismissed.
FrogBotherer
Quite often the case is that any evidence presented that contradicts the current belief gets mentally reshaped to reinforce it.
DameDePiques
That's what my Finnish cousin was trying to do, I think. Good luck to him!
qweesdy
I worry that the truth is between Russian propaganda and Western propaganda. After Trump I can't assume USA is immune to misinformation.
qweesdy
(given the number of people that still support Trump; is it safe to assume we are less deceived than Russians?)
ManaNoBananas
A core principle of disinformation: if you cannot fully control the media, saturate the public with so many complete and blatant lies (1
ManaNoBananas
that they no longer believe it is possible to know the truth. Make them give up on knowing the facts. This exhaustion is submission.
Fips
I do not understand how they are so afraid of a *defensive* alliance like NATO. No rockets will reach you if you don't shoot first.
Wuz314159
Russia invades Chechnya. Russia invades Georgia. Russian invades Ukraine. "The West wants to invade Russia!!"
push2play
77 years of anti-West propaganda does that to people.
Fips
Ye, true. It's fucking sad.
DameDePiques
The entire Europe allying itself WITH Napoleon AGAINST Russia was a level of history-re-writing I wasn't ready for.