War and Peace: "Games" in the Darkness
Teenagers in the subway something eagerly viewed on their smartphones. I thought a new game. It turned out - a video of how people were killed and burned in Odessa. Our neighbor - a middle-aged, ailing, zatyukanny wife and life, suddenly pulled out of the closet blue takes VDVshnika and moved to the east. To former colleagues. Found the meaning of life and death. The war, which for many years was something abstract, has now become a reality in its most terrible form - civil conflict. Our great-grandfathers in 1945 did not think that their descendants would call each other's fascists and with the same hatred of the enemy as they destroy the countrymen ...
A few months ago, it was hard to imagine that on our farm called Ukraine, there will be barricades in cities large and small, to drive through the streets Tanks, shoot mortars and explode Molotov cocktails. Already someone, and the Ukrainians least of all resembled the Balkan brothers, who enthusiastically took up weapon during the national feud 90's. Which, it would seem, of the economic Ukrainians fighters? Money to earn extra money, “to start a garden of cherry colo hachi”, to cultivate a vegetable garden, to go to a cafe, to open a private shop, to Italy a dishwasher or to Russia as a loader - this was the minimum program for the majority of ordinary people in the last 20 years.
In general, at first they went to Maidan without interest, reluctantly, as if to be noted. Then they got into it. For several months, militarized. By winter, quite a significant part of people who would like to make war formed and finally formed. From nationalists to paintball players. And what: if you can shoot and kill, and for it nothing will happen because of the exclusivity of the political moment, then why not use this opportunity?
Recently, an online survey was conducted on the topic: "Why do people so eager to fight?". We interviewed both Russians and Ukrainians, and those who live abroad. Mostly intellectual public. The answers for the most part sounded banal, but they came across quite interesting ones.
For example, they wrote that a significant part of the male half of our society (both Ukrainian and Russian) has lost its taste for life. It is here, in Kiev, or even more so in Moscow, that there is a chance to drastically change your destiny, to achieve something meaningful that you can be proud of. And what opportunities in provincial Omsk or Slavyansk? They live - as in a dream. Drink, smoke, sit at the TV or behind a computer. Who has a job - work. Who does not - toil from idleness and lack of money at the same time. Few people adore their loved ones so much - their wives, children, parents, in order to dive into a family with their heads and get a surge of vitality from it. As a rule, everything is boring - work, and others, and life itself.
And here story presents a unique chance - to die, so with music. Hold a weapon. Play with death in the lottery. As one of the survey participants wrote correctly, we still die, sooner or later. Not at war, so from illness or old age. And those who go into battle, they are not going to die. They believe that it is their bullet will not touch. In addition, when a good men's company is selected and all of them embrace hunting passion, the instinct of self-preservation goes into the background. And people sometimes work miracles that they did not expect from themselves. And it raises the spirit and inspires optimism. It is not by chance that people climbing on the rampage often get out of the fight without a single scratch. And they feel quite happy these moments. What they have not been for many years.
Another motive is the ideological part of the population. The topic of dying for the faith, for the principle that Putin did not pass or that Bandera did not crawl was always relevant. This echoes the “protective gene” historically embedded in our subconscious: protection of one’s own life and territory, protection of the mother and child, of the race as a whole.
“Protective instinct” makes even those people who in everyday life try to avoid death - they try to lead a healthy lifestyle, eat healthy food with vitamins, go to medical examinations, etc., etc. Such an audience is not uncommon in war, especially civil. But, as a rule, she quickly retreats from the war zone, realizing that the brutal reality does not correspond to the idyllic-patriotic picture painted in their imagination. And the failed fighters become inquisitive onlookers or sympathizers. Almost fans, infecting their excitement and curiosity of others.
However, all of the above applies to people from 25 years and older. But rather, to those who are already behind 30. Young people have their own motivator to play war games, fight to the skull fracture and pour fire mixture into bottles to burn people. This is a virtual infection.
In Ukraine (and in the world too), over the past decade and a half, a whole generation of people has formed, above all, youths brought up in aggressive computer games. “We talked with some teenagers of 16-17 for years who participated in mass battles, threw Molotov cocktails, killed people with canes in the doorways ... These were the ones that our parents and doctors“ supplied ”to us or the police brought, psychologist Elena Vorobyova. - And almost 99% of these guys grew up behind computers. They played shooters for days with fake deaths, blood, and "spare lives." More than half of them “spiced up” their leisure with horror films, thrillers and other things, where, again, the murder was something everyday, unreal, and even funny.
These children came into reality with a very definite stereotype that hurting and dying to another is not scary, not forbidden, and even fun. That die for fun, and almost everyone has a spare life. They become aware of the incorrectness of this theory only when the pain touches them. If this injury did not "lay down" on anesthesia in the form of alcohol or drugs. Then even their own injuries do not cause their fear at first. And only when the sobering effect of pain or loss of consciousness comes, do they leave the euphoric trance and begin to realize with horror what troubles they have done. After that, the mechanism of self-defense and justification is activated. Tears begin, a simulation of repentance and a promise to “no longer do” bad things, ”the socio-psychologist concludes.
Like many other experts, she is confident that the massive loss of life since the beginning of this year has radically reformatted the psychology of the Ukrainians. The taboo on death, suffering, the use of weapons was removed. Camouflage, violence, ritual actions connected with the war came into fashion. And this, alas, for a long time. It will take at least two years of a calm life before the epidemic of militancy will decline.
The conditions for this are needed the same as in the Balkans after the end of the war: switch attention to business, to one's own achievements, to human values, not ideological values. Again, an increase in wealth. What we can not expect exactly. Therefore, in Ukraine there will always be enough bored, disappointed men of all ages who, either from the hopelessness of life, or under the influence of computer games, will continue to look for adventures in arms. “And the power, creating any kind of punitive detachments“ Storm ”,“ Dnepr ”, the National Guard and others, only encourages such instincts,” the psychologist is sure.
I found the confirmation of her words right in my yard. On the fence, where they usually put up announcements about the super-profitable sale of the next consignment of confiscated goods, there hung a small but bright poster: “Record on trainings and seminars on“ Psychology of street fighting ”. We guarantee the development of technical, psychological and tactical techniques applicable in a street conflict. Practical classes are held in a fitness club such and such (and the name of the club with the address). Cost of 100 UAH / training. "
Well, what can I say - the trend of the season. Fitness fights! I can even imagine the dialogue: “Where are you going?” - “I am at a pole dance school (“ stick ”for a striptease, who does not know, is the author). And you? "-" I - in the pool. And you guys? ”-“ And we go to street fights to mutate the enemy’s ultras, Colorado, putlerov, Natsik, Bandera, or whoever comes to hand ”after class.
Our poor grandfathers-great-grandfathers, who had been starving for four years, were cold in the trenches, went to captivity hell, pulled out of it, went to their deaths and died with the belief that their children would live better, now they are turning in mass graves. From the nightmare to which we so rapidly came. They believed that they were protecting us, their descendants who were not yet born. And they pay with their lives so that we, who come after them, get rid of what they had to go through.
The current 9 of May is the most vulnerable Victory Day in my memory. Over the years that have passed since the collapse of the USSR, it has greatly leveled out in the minds of people. At the end of perestroika, when the discussion about the war began and the books of Mr. Suvorov were published, drunken teenagers appeared on the avenue of glory with bottles of beer trampled by veterans. Then began the alternative marches of the UPA. Skirmishes between old people with mutual insults and "fights" on crutches. Then the authorities tried to rectify the situation and, in imitation of Russia, “fouled” military parades and theatrical shows with the type of soldier’s porridge.
Finally, now we have come to the point where we no longer have a holiday. There is a vague sensation of anxiety. And (not at all, and at some) obvious signs of remorse. I would like to somehow express my gratitude to the old men, who have remained a few. But it’s scary to go to the Eternal Flame, especially with a child: suddenly a crowd of thugs jump out, beat. On the other hand, try something critical. Say to people with icons singing along with Jeanne Bichevskaya's ballads: zayut, spit, obzvut. Tolerance? What, fig, tolerance!
In a generalized psychosis, it is very difficult to maintain the equanimity of the spirit. A vicious circle constantly arises: from hopelessness - aggression, it gives rise to reciprocal aggression, the situation worsens, and a new round of hopelessness begins. And so - in a spiral. According to Gestalt psychology, an “unfinished action syndrome” arises, and until you finish it, you do not finish your enemy with a stick on the asphalt, you will not have peace and moral satisfaction. For peace to come, you need to end the war. But how?..
Information