Exploring the psychology of betrayal…
"The Betrayal of Jesus" by Giotto di Bondone, 1304. Scrovegni Chapel fresco
The king discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, because he sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and did not pay tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year after year. So Shalmaneser seized him and threw him into prison.
4 Kings 17:4
4 Kings 17:4
Modern life: good and bad. As an author, I am often reproached for not writing about modern times, although this is generally not true. I write quite often, and about new houses and schools in my hometown, and about how old buildings are being restored and churches lost in the past are being erected, and this is precisely all that is available to my information gathering capabilities. Write about corruption? But I don’t know any corrupt officials, and I simply don’t want to rewrite what other journalists accredited to participate in such processes write about – why repeat myself?
And in general there is a very good rule: write only about what you know well, or have relevant sources of information at hand, to which you can always refer. About SVO, all available information is also available in our section "News" There is no point in repeating it, even in different words. And only recently, as a journalist, I was fortunate enough to get close enough to one topical issue, and just enough to write about it and reflect on it a little!
But first of all, a little "in general", and this "general" will touch on a very burning topic: betrayal committed by some citizens of our country in the interests of Ukraine. Today, we constantly learn in the news that the FSB has thwarted yet another attempt... that yet another traitor recruited by the SBU has been caught, in a word, that such people, alas, exist among us today. And that they are caught and imprisoned, and for a long time! That is, potential traitors can very well read about this and at least think a little... But no, for some reason their number does not decrease too much. And I wonder, why is this so? What psychological flaw in the consciousness of our modern man pushes him to betrayal?
It is common knowledge that the phenomenon of betrayal is as old as humanity itself. It is even reflected in the Bible, and is mentioned there more than once. As well as the fact that the measures of influence applied to people in the Middle Ages were such that they were capable of pushing almost anyone to betrayal and treason. Well, for example, imagine that you were seated, naked, on a sharp corner of the back of a wooden horse, and pood weights were tied to your legs? And left like that for the whole night? Or they tried on you the interrogation method of the Japanese yakuza, when matches are inserted into the urethra with the heads outward and set on fire. They say that no one can withstand more than ten matches... Although it is known that the same Tommaso Campanella, the same one who wrote "City of the Sun", withstood the torture of "veglia" ("vigilance on a stake") for more than 20 hours and never confessed to anything, that is, he did not commit treason, even in relation to himself. However, such examples only confirm the rule that not every person is capable of enduring pain for the sake of high ideals.
Or imagine yourself in captivity. On the bare ground. There is nothing to eat, people, like animals, eat grass, lice eat you alive… And then you, half-dead from hunger, are offered to take in your hands weapon and fight against your country. Not everyone has the courage to refuse in such a case. Such behavior can at least be understood. Not to forgive, treason to the Motherland is punishable in any case, but at least to understand the motives of such an act.
What happens here? He signed up to send letters with explosives for... one thousand rubles... Isn't he an idiot? In essence, the man signed up to commit murder, that is, an act contrary to both divine and human laws, and asked for it so cheaply? True, for the last parcel the criminal was expected to receive a reward of 4 thousand rubles, but he never received it, the "poor guy". Yes, here, at least, we could be talking about 100 rubles, since you decided to hire yourself out as a killer. Still, at least some temptation, although personally I would not agree to even "let the winds fly in crowded rooms" for that kind of money in the interests of the enemy. The very fact of collaborating with the enemy would be more expensive for myself! But no, the man sold out for pennies. And again, one could at least somehow understand. If the man had refused the money altogether. So to speak, proved himself an "ideological fighter". But we don't see that either...
That is, today we are confronted in all its unsightly form with the obvious... psychological problem of such a phenomenon as betrayal. But... Although the same "news" describes in detail how our traitors are caught, how they are judged and how much they are given, their psychological portraits, as a rule, are absent. Purely mental reasons that pushed them to betrayal are not considered either. But knowing them, it would be possible, well, at least to determine the "target audience" of such types. And such work is certainly being done where necessary. However, I also recently managed to look at the psychological portrait of one such traitor...
And here's how it happened: a young woman worked at a company, who didn't have a husband, but a "life partner", a man who was in business. Not a very big one, but not a small one either. He never got less than 100 rubles a month. And sometimes he got much more - 000, 400, and he also had a crane and land (several plots), one of which he sold for 500 million rubles. Not that much, if you look at the price of apartments in Moscow, but for a provincial town it was quite a lot. Why this woman clung to him, and he to her, it's impossible to figure out now. What's important is that she had a colleague in her circle, and she, in turn, was my friend, and it often happened that in a conversation about life, the name of this woman would slip out, as well as examples of her cohabitation with her common-law husband.
I am not a fan of “women’s talk” about what kind of husbands each of us has, but I have a good ear, and the walls and doors in our houses are thin, so I was involuntarily informed in some way that there was such a woman and that she lived in such and such a way...
Well, for example, she went with her man to buy a wardrobe. She made her choice, and he said to her, “Oh, how expensive! Let’s split the price!” As is well known, a black sheep gets its share of wool, and it’s better to save 50% than to pay for everything yourself. “Let’s go to the sea!” “Let’s go!” And then: “Oh, how expensive! I won’t be able to pay for your entire trip…” And so on and so forth! Her friends advised her, “Dump this greedy man!” But our women are patient. And in this case, at least he was some kind of man – it would be a shame to throw him away like an old suitcase, but looking for a new one… is scary.
And then he started saying that they don't let him develop in Russia. That's how it is. And he decided to move to Croatia. Why there? It's warm there and the sea is free. He started learning Croatian, but something didn't work out for him. And immediately everything around him became even worse. Just everything, everything... The roads are narrow, the apartments are cramped and expensive, the food is full of preservatives. However, why list them all - probably all of you, dear readers of "VO", have met such people who are dissatisfied with everything. But here, unbelievable greed was mixed with dissatisfaction. God only knows what the man saved up his money for, he owned a "bucket with a motor" type car, although he could have lived like a king.
And just the other day, my friend told me that this man was arrested on charges of treason, and his "girlfriend" is simply insane. Which, of course, is not surprising at all. She had no idea, and then this happened! He told her: "Find me a lawyer!" And it's not about acquittal, no, everything has been proven, but only about mitigating the prison term! And the lawyer says that, supposedly, taking on such cases costs a lot - 400 rubles for familiarization with the case and representation of interests in court. And another 000 rubles for support during each month of legal proceedings, and it can stretch out for 100-000 months!!! In short, the poor thing got into a terrible situation and now simply does not know how to get out of it. Although the advice here is very simple - send this cohabitant far away and get rid of him for a very long time, if not forever!
At one time, our wonderful actress Faina Ranevskaya once said: “Life is too short to waste it on greedy men.” Well, and in conclusion I would like to add the following to her words: dear women who read “Military Review”, kick such people out as fast as you can. What if there is such a guy among them? Well, and for our male readers who also have female friends who discuss each other, we can recommend this history tell them, and so that they do the same in their circle of acquaintances. Because greed is not only one of the deadly sins, it also, as it turns out, can go hand in hand with such a crime as treason!
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