Thanks, exactly what I was looking for! 😄 As a Norwegian pretty much everyone sides with Ukraine, and I have not really challenged that view for myself. I have just accepted the narrative “Russia = imperialistic & bad. Ukraine = democracy & good”. So it’s probably a good idea to try to understand it
To be honest I’ve been trying to avoid that as well. Impossible to completely stay free of the bombardment of the Official Opinion, but I mostly read local newspapers and skip any opinion pieces on international matters in those too. So I have enough stress knowing there is a war, I don’t need to hear bullshit justifications from any side, and maybe aside from going to demonstrations I can’t do anything to stop it anyway, so I’d rather not blast my brain with power politics I cannot change.
And I have accepted my lack of power. I can’t even keep my own emotions under control most days, let alone convince anyone else I’m somehow more knowledgeable or wise.
Understandable! It’s one of the more difficult topics for westerners like us to grasp, and it took me some time to come around to the ML consensus on the Russian Federation (ie, it isn’t imperialist if we accept Lenin’s analysis, and actually is anti imperialist even if run by bourgeois oligarchs).
Thanks, exactly what I was looking for! 😄 As a Norwegian pretty much everyone sides with Ukraine, and I have not really challenged that view for myself. I have just accepted the narrative “Russia = imperialistic & bad. Ukraine = democracy & good”. So it’s probably a good idea to try to understand it
Good on you for being open to non-western propaganda sources. Curiosity seems to be mostly dead in the lemmy liberal scene.
Feels morally wrong to intentionally seek out the aggressors propaganda.
Why? You’re constantly inundated by your own side’s propaganda, might as well see both sides for context.
To be honest I’ve been trying to avoid that as well. Impossible to completely stay free of the bombardment of the Official Opinion, but I mostly read local newspapers and skip any opinion pieces on international matters in those too. So I have enough stress knowing there is a war, I don’t need to hear bullshit justifications from any side, and maybe aside from going to demonstrations I can’t do anything to stop it anyway, so I’d rather not blast my brain with power politics I cannot change.
“I don’t get information from either side, but I sure do have strong opinions about which side is the aggressor that I got from… Somewhere”
Ignorance is bliss, but knowledge is power.
And I have accepted my lack of power. I can’t even keep my own emotions under control most days, let alone convince anyone else I’m somehow more knowledgeable or wise.
Look after yourself first and foremost, then if you have extra energy, you can start to help others.
Understandable! It’s one of the more difficult topics for westerners like us to grasp, and it took me some time to come around to the ML consensus on the Russian Federation (ie, it isn’t imperialist if we accept Lenin’s analysis, and actually is anti imperialist even if run by bourgeois oligarchs).