Thread by @betelgeuse1922

Due to recent Durov-related events, I had way more communication with fellow Russians online than usual. It was not pleasant and I've noticed a mindset shift, that was pretty much expected. It can be described as:
- I am tired of acting like I care.

Only the most disgusting "patriots" used slurs and wished death to Ukrainians during the first year of the war. It wasn't acceptable. Until now.
The new mindset of the liberal-ish Russian emigration opinion leaders looks pretty much like Trump's "America first".

It starts as "we need to focus on ourselves" but nobody wants to focus on the void, so it turns into "everything behind the wall is bad and dangerous". And in the very same Trump fashion, it blooms and thrives as "we are the victims of the global conspiracy".

Every day I see it growing. I watch people being proud of hating Ukrainians - even those who are opposing Putin repeat the same genocidal talking points about the evil/stupid West and Ukraine that doesn't deserve to exist.

- You can stand on your knees as much as you like, you cuck, it's pathetic and you lost your mind, leftie. How can you be such a cannibal to wish your own people death? We will never forgive and never forget you for that. You should feel ashamed.

I hear this a lot.

It gets even more bizarre when these people who avoid Russia like wildfire call me out for being brainwashed by the West. I guess, by their logic, you can only understand The Truth about this country by being as far away as possible.

fix: full-scale invasion

But it's not a rant about degradation. Well not only the rant. Why does this happen? Why did I expect this shift to come soon?
Imagine that someone asks you to hit a wall. You say ok and hit it. And then you are asked again and again. And you hit, and you don't know why.

That's what happens with people who were asked to feel guilt and shame but never took the time to think about that.
"I lived a normal life and my country was OK until it wasn't and all of a sudden I AM GUILTY. ARE YOU KIDDING".

From this perspective, this entire war is the act of almighty gods, the hurricane, the disaster way out of our control. And all the hatred, all the sanctions, everything that happened later is unjust and cruel.
And it even could sound plausible until this recent shift.

Now you can see that very same:
"I came to your place, I don't like how I feel after seeing what I see. You will pay for that" mindset.
"You deserve to burn and die because I am tired of being perceived as a bad guy for NO REASON".

This giant glowing "NO REASON" is the reason. I remember everybody laughing at de-colonization back in 2022. I remember because I was one of those who thought that was just a funny stretch. Well, laugh now, when Russian opposition proposes Ukrainians to call them masters.

I remember that moment very well when I first understood how my perception of reality was shaped by that "very funny empire". Slow Estonians, stupid Americans, barbaric Chechens, friendly yet alien Finns, little-brothers Ukrainians. It was all there, right in my head.

What was not there, were the Winter War, 2 Chechen wars, famine in Qazaqstan, Latvia, and Georgia, and generations that lived a life and died while being milked and generalized and sovetized and destroyed by the country I am supposed to be proud of.

It wasn't nice. Suddenly, the war was not the act of god, but a natural fallout of all the denial and casual cruelty.
Hitting the gas button on the lighter and laughing "That's all the gas you ever get" to any other 12 y. o. with a Ukrainian surname. Great, Denis. Just great.

It felt dreadful. The entire mindset with день победы and Менделеев and Достоевский and загадочная русская душа was collapsing under the weight of new information. That nightmare where you stay naked in front of the class was basically my national id at that point.

For me this is not gonna be over any time soon. You need to take the nastiest spoon and scrub this bullshit out for ages to feel at least some difference. All the "we are one nation", all the "we were better together", all the "it wasn't that bad". It was bad. We made it worse.

And that's why I hate the opposition rants. They waste time by singing "Big in Japan" to an addict.
Yes. 30 years of addiction will end when you choose to stop and it's gonna be just fine. No consequences. You can stop whenever you feel that's right.

I am poisoned. You are poisoned. We have very little time to experience at least a fracture of normal life. And if we keep lying to ourselves, we will die in a Berlin shitter in 1983. Look at the veins of anybody who thinks I am wrong.

I don't expect a happy ending. but the key to any positive change is to show what we are and what we bring with our culture, heritage and actions.
*laugh track*
Now I see that denial just gets worse. Thread over.