It’s sad to witness the animosity towards Russia. The responsibility lies with Putin and those who actively support him - they seized power and manipulated the populace, and commit war crimes. Not all Russians do that. Despite his suppression of independent media and the severe penalties, including up to 15 years of imprisonment, for engaging in not only “anti-war” but even “pro-peace” protests, a significant number of people continue to oppose the war.
Putin’s narrative revolves around the notion that “in the West, they harbor hatred towards us, attempting to dismantle us.” By uttering “fuck Russia,” unwittingly or not, you’re just endorsing Putin and his propaganda. Please don’t do that. Instead, say “fuck Putin”.
Russian here. Just to clarify, most of us won’t get upset if someone says “Fuck Russia”, as we understand that you mean “Fuck the Russian state” - lots of us been saying the same for a long time, as, believe it or not, living in an authoritarian state ain’t fun.
The line gets crossed when people say “Fuck Russians”, call for oppressive measure against Russian nationals, celebrate their deaths or even outright attack them. That’s fucked up.
Unfortunately though, Putin himself isn’t raping Ukrainian women, blowing up kids, destroying crops, etc. That’s on the Russians who are in Ukraine doing these things. As they showed in Nuremberg, following orders is not an excuse.
This is all done by soldiers, who are out there in the battlefield. Most of them don’t have no phones nor internet. The only ones who would ever hear such message are not the ones involved in it. None of my friends raped Ukrainian women, nobody in my family blew kids up, I personally didn’t destroy any crops, why accuse all of us of something we didn’t do? Words like that are just pushing away people who don’t believe Putin’s lies.
That’s on the Russians who are in Ukraine doing these things.
Are your friends in Ukraine doing these things? I said there are Russians doing these things, not Putin. Other innocent Russians of course should not be blamed for the actions of these people, but innocent Russians should stop blaming mean people on the internet and instead call out the citizens who are making Russians look bad through committing war crimes.
It would be nice if it was just Putin. And it’s true that lots of Russians are opposed to the war. It’s even probably true that lots of them are as apolitical as they can be, just doing whatever they have to do to survive day by day.
But there are lots of Russians who support him. Even outside of Russia. There is, in fact, a large portion of the population that approves of him, despite the invasion into Ukraine. A lot of it is retired people, of course, but also shit-tons of people who listen mainly to Russian news sources, and therefore believe Putin’s propaganda.
Even if Putin were assassinated the next day, his replacement wouldn’t be much better. Hopefully they’d pull out of Ukraine, but they would likely be just as chauvinist and nationalist as Putin. Russia’s political spectrum is, unfortunately, very close to “50 shades of nationalism”, to the point where even Navalny had to curry favor with them to build up sufficient support. And nationalists (and fascists) tend to do stupid shit like invading neighboring countries.
I would agree that “fuck Russians” is going a step too far. But if Russia’s international reputation is shit right now, it’s no one’s fault but Putin’s, and it is unfortunately well-deserved. And, whether we like it or not, when you say “I’m from [country]”, that country’s reputation will affect how people see you. So if individual Russians around the world are facing stigma, that’s really unfortunate, but it’s the inevitable outcome of shit like this. It’s nothing new — after WWII, Germans had to deal with the exact same shit.
It’s not Putin who’s committing torture, rape, and genocide of Ukrainians. It’s not Putin who’s sailing the warships, driving the tanks, laying the mines, and pushing the buttons to launch missiles. And even if there are a significant number of russians who oppose the war, the majority of them don’t. The animosity towards russia will continue to be justified until russia stands firmly against genocide.
My intention was not to upset you, but rather to offer a perspective that looks beyond a blanket condemnation of a whole country. I believe in addressing issues by holding those in power accountable for their actions while recognizing that not all individuals within a nation support or approve those actions.
If it’s not Russia, it’s Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, etc. etc. etc.
The only thing our people love more than war is being told they’re right when their preferred nightly news program gives them excuses for why our country is spending all of our money on war.
Removed by mod
It’s sad to witness the animosity towards Russia. The responsibility lies with Putin and those who actively support him - they seized power and manipulated the populace, and commit war crimes. Not all Russians do that. Despite his suppression of independent media and the severe penalties, including up to 15 years of imprisonment, for engaging in not only “anti-war” but even “pro-peace” protests, a significant number of people continue to oppose the war.
Putin’s narrative revolves around the notion that “in the West, they harbor hatred towards us, attempting to dismantle us.” By uttering “fuck Russia,” unwittingly or not, you’re just endorsing Putin and his propaganda. Please don’t do that. Instead, say “fuck Putin”.
Russian here. Just to clarify, most of us won’t get upset if someone says “Fuck Russia”, as we understand that you mean “Fuck the Russian state” - lots of us been saying the same for a long time, as, believe it or not, living in an authoritarian state ain’t fun.
The line gets crossed when people say “Fuck Russians”, call for oppressive measure against Russian nationals, celebrate their deaths or even outright attack them. That’s fucked up.
Overall, I agree with your points.
Unfortunately though, Putin himself isn’t raping Ukrainian women, blowing up kids, destroying crops, etc. That’s on the Russians who are in Ukraine doing these things. As they showed in Nuremberg, following orders is not an excuse.
This is all done by soldiers, who are out there in the battlefield. Most of them don’t have no phones nor internet. The only ones who would ever hear such message are not the ones involved in it. None of my friends raped Ukrainian women, nobody in my family blew kids up, I personally didn’t destroy any crops, why accuse all of us of something we didn’t do? Words like that are just pushing away people who don’t believe Putin’s lies.
As I said…
Are your friends in Ukraine doing these things? I said there are Russians doing these things, not Putin. Other innocent Russians of course should not be blamed for the actions of these people, but innocent Russians should stop blaming mean people on the internet and instead call out the citizens who are making Russians look bad through committing war crimes.
It would be nice if it was just Putin. And it’s true that lots of Russians are opposed to the war. It’s even probably true that lots of them are as apolitical as they can be, just doing whatever they have to do to survive day by day.
But there are lots of Russians who support him. Even outside of Russia. There is, in fact, a large portion of the population that approves of him, despite the invasion into Ukraine. A lot of it is retired people, of course, but also shit-tons of people who listen mainly to Russian news sources, and therefore believe Putin’s propaganda.
Even if Putin were assassinated the next day, his replacement wouldn’t be much better. Hopefully they’d pull out of Ukraine, but they would likely be just as chauvinist and nationalist as Putin. Russia’s political spectrum is, unfortunately, very close to “50 shades of nationalism”, to the point where even Navalny had to curry favor with them to build up sufficient support. And nationalists (and fascists) tend to do stupid shit like invading neighboring countries.
I would agree that “fuck Russians” is going a step too far. But if Russia’s international reputation is shit right now, it’s no one’s fault but Putin’s, and it is unfortunately well-deserved. And, whether we like it or not, when you say “I’m from [country]”, that country’s reputation will affect how people see you. So if individual Russians around the world are facing stigma, that’s really unfortunate, but it’s the inevitable outcome of shit like this. It’s nothing new — after WWII, Germans had to deal with the exact same shit.
It’s not Putin who’s committing torture, rape, and genocide of Ukrainians. It’s not Putin who’s sailing the warships, driving the tanks, laying the mines, and pushing the buttons to launch missiles. And even if there are a significant number of russians who oppose the war, the majority of them don’t. The animosity towards russia will continue to be justified until russia stands firmly against genocide.
Fuck Off
My intention was not to upset you, but rather to offer a perspective that looks beyond a blanket condemnation of a whole country. I believe in addressing issues by holding those in power accountable for their actions while recognizing that not all individuals within a nation support or approve those actions.
If it’s not Russia, it’s Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, etc. etc. etc.
The only thing our people love more than war is being told they’re right when their preferred nightly news program gives them excuses for why our country is spending all of our money on war.