Pastukhov: Russian society is seriously ill. He will have to be treated for a long time. This task is more difficult than changing the regime

This post is not about war (at least not about war directly), but about humanity in general – that is, about nothing. Who is waiting for analytics or just an essay on a hot topic, can simply scroll through this page, writes political scientist Vladimir Pastukhov.

Unfortunately, I cannot (cannot) turn off the news selection function on my phone, which the program built into it by someone does, focusing only on the language I have chosen. Thus, having accidentally swiped the main page more to the right than necessary, every time (and many times) I plunge into the world of news of the average Russian inhabitant, who draws his ideas about the world from such resources as Yandex, ura.ru, as well as from an endless unverifiable stream of sites and sites that parasitize on the gossip column. I will not write about all-pervading state propaganda, although all this is there in abundance. Today, a little about something else, about what is located between the layers of propaganda, like cream on a cake between cakes. This is what people read for the soul and from the heart, and what the Internet throws to the surface, focusing solely on the existing demand (by click-through rate).

What is the most demanded reading among the Russian inhabitant today? Reports of other people’s deaths and terminal illnesses, both real and fictional. People revel in the pain of others. And if it is not enough in real life, then they eagerly read the fictional stories about incurable diseases, inevitable death, unbearable and inevitable suffering of everyone who is at least somewhat, at least a little bit known to them. Well, propaganda, of course, uses it. He tries, since there is already a demand, in the first lines to slip something about the deaths and illnesses of all those whom the Kremlin does not like. But this is not the main thing in this case.

It looks extremely ugly. This rubbish literally littered the whole space of reading, which the “little man” of modern Russia lives in. For a long time I tried to understand what is the secret here? Why do they need it? Why is their finger reaching out to click on these heartbreaking headlines? Finally I realized: they are so happy for themselves. In this form (probably the only one at the moment) happiness is now available to them only. They get physical satisfaction from the fact that this is not happening to them, but to someone else. This is especially nice when it happens to someone who is higher in the social hierarchy than they are. So they virtually equate themselves with the greats and even become higher than them.

Kombed’s instincts, which seemed to have dried up and disappeared for a hundred years, suddenly fluttered to the surface again. And it becomes clear that by themselves they will not go anywhere under any regime: totalitarian, authoritarian or democratic. Russian society is seriously ill. And before entrusting himself to him, he will have to be forcibly treated for a long time. This task is more difficult than regime change. The regime will end on its own, either with Putin or even sooner. People who avidly read news about other people’s diseases will remain.