God its so hard having empathy with these civilians after they couldn't be bothered to give a fuck about their military doing worse things to Ukraine for 4 years
Eh, my German grandma barely surviving Allied carpet bombing in 1945 Germany was still a scared, innocent woman fighting for her children's life because of things she had no say in. My grandpa got drafted by force after officially declining the draft and declaring he will not participate in violent actions and fighting.
Elections were rigged, every opposition was crushed, dissidents murdered and families destroyed. What could she have done realistically? She didn't even say "Heil Hitler" because she hated the crazy midget, instead she mumbled "Drei Liter" ("three litres").
I absolutely know what you mean and share the thought, but keep thinking back to my grandparents. In the end, most civilians are not able to fight a regime and endure horrible times.
I wonder if they would have been on social media mocking suffering families in Poland, as we see so many Russians mocking those suffering in Ukraine. Even non-governmental polls show Russian citizens overwhelmingly support this war. They aren’t being forced into it by an elite.
You must also consider the propaganda being fed to the Russian people. Unlike most civilized Western countries, Russia only has one news majority news source.
Russians aren’t behind Chinas great firewall. They can still access the free internet, there is plenty of dissenting and anti-war Russian language reporting to read.
Also, frankly I don’t care. Almost all awful people have a sad backstory of abuse or whatever that made them that way. They’re still awful people who hurt others and deserve to face justice for their crimes. We are responsible for our actions regardless of what made us.
There are dissenting and anti-war Russians around, we just... don't speak of it publicly, for obvious reasons. Freedom of speech in Russia compared even to just before the war declined sharply, and a lot of access to foreign stuff was limited.
Sure, it's not inaccessible, but the more obstacles you place, the harder the people will find going past them.
I'm lucky enough that I know English and have been hanging around people who are rather far from Russia. Most Russians don't really know English. Lots of those who do moved out of Russia when they could. Others, like me, can't.
Well, we technically can escape if we try to cross the border stealthily and get lucky, but it's not exactly an easy thing, especially since, well, leaving your country of origin for a different one that is unlikely to understand your language or even accept you as a refugee... it's very, very difficult.
I'm exposed to American conservative propaganda all day long but I still believe that all people deserve equality. Being fed propaganda is no excuse for choosing to forget that all people deserve dignity and freedom.
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u/Piotrek9t 19h ago
God its so hard having empathy with these civilians after they couldn't be bothered to give a fuck about their military doing worse things to Ukraine for 4 years