At 8/15/22 06:34 PM, OPTlMUS wrote:
Just passing by, just wanted to post one thought :)
There were many wars and military conflicts in internet era, and this is the first one, in which the weaker side got massive support from American and European people (BTW - not the whole world). This made me wonder, what is special with Ukrainian people. Why they deserved such support, while others didn't... Which leads me to conclusion, that no one actually cares about people and lives. The only thing, that make Ukraine special - is their enemy, Russia. And American propaganda made a very good job, to make people hate Russia (which in some cases transforms into hating Russian people).
Well, if you think, supporting Ukraine and donating to their funds make you a good person - ok.
But it's interesting to think, would you do the same thing, if that was a local conflict, and no one was speaking about it 24/7 in news? Some people are dying somewhere... who actually cares, right? =)
P.s. War is a very complex thing. There are no just good guys, and bad guys...
Many people support Palestine and condemn Israel. I'm not going to comment on that, just stating a fact. Same with what happened in Afghanistan decades ago.
There have been some invasions done by islamist groups, the latest of which was done by al-shabaab. What can Russia sympathists possibly do to, say, a random teacher in the US, compared to some crazy muslim who wants to collect the sweet sweet money and glory from some Fatwas? People don't condemn those because they're afraid. They know they can shout "fuck Putin" anywhere they want in their country without fear. You can't even show a picture of mohammed without getting a death threat or two.
Then there's the fact that Ukraine is right next to NATO and the EU borders. Everyone feels very threatened. If a NATO member is afraid, so is everyone else. USA is a NATO member too. We're all involved. But I'm sure that people from South Africa and other non-NATO countries don't care as much as us. Finland shares a border with Russia. They want to join NATO, but Putin keeps escalating.
Finally, there are the actual invasions for a reason. A real reason, not a "denazification of Ukraine". Gambia was invaded in 2017 by some western african countries to deal with a dictator. Everyone was pretty much on board with it, even the US, the UN and China. It's something that the western world will never see the repercussions, and can only send well-wishes.
Now, I'm not going to pretend that Ukraine is a bastion of free speech and equality, but it did not deserve an invasion. They have a democratic government, not a dictator. They don't have their military flexing at the border. The vast majority of people in Europe support them because:
- They understand that what happened was wrong
- They could very well be next
- There's an obvious emergency situation, which shut up the most hardcore conservatives and their hatred for refugees