One of the more unpleasant things about the Russian media feeds today is the lack of empathy for the Ukrainian dead. Their images are constantly reshared with the claim that their deaths "prove" the West is evil, that the world hates Russians, and that Russia is under threat.
Civilian deaths are instrumentalized as a means to persuade the viewer that the war is necessary, justified, not yet broad enough in scope, that it cannot stop until the "end" is reached. What that end is, of course, remains unspecified, but we know it has to be *extreme*.
All the while, of course, the Russian media is screaming that the West/Ukraine has faked evidence of killings or even killed civilians deliberately in order to justify a war against Russia. It's all projection. It's all totally topsy turvy.
But not once have I seen a post or update that says: "We, Russians, are devastated to see this loss of life. It's a tragedy. We are thinking of the families." No. It's always: "Ukrainians killed Russians. The West wants war. We must destroy."
Everything in the Russian info sphere is repurposed to fight war in the present and future. All empathy is designed to be subjugated to the state’s desires. All language beyond the state’s is unspeakable. This is totalitarianism.
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