Rules

I AM NOT DEFENDING RUSSIAN SOLDIERS. I AM NOT DEFENDING RUSSIAN SOLDIERS. READ THE WHOLE POST BEFORE YOU START DOWNVOTING ME FOR BEING A RUSSIAN BOT OR WHATEVER.

No, this isn't a "Ukraine bad because Putin/Russia good" post - I'm not a vatnik. No, I don't defend Russian soldiers - they are after all illegally invading Ukraine. But honestly, this mass demonization of Russian civilians (non-soldiers) has to stop for numerous reasons.

1. You're directly fueling Putin's propaganda with this sort of "deport all Russians", "all Russians are subhumans" etc etc. The propaganda works on the basis that "the West is Russophobic".

2. This "all Russians are bad because Russian soldiers committed evil war crimes in Ukraine" logic could be applied to anyone else. Are all Ukrainians to blame for Volhynia? Are all Israelis or all Jews to blame for Palestine? Should we start deporting Chinese people because of Xinjiang? etc, etc...

3. People who start generalizing every Russian as a child-eating beast from the deepest depths of hell are no better than the Nazis and white supremacists who called every Jew a parasite. This is the same rhetoric that justified the Holocaust, that justified the Rwandan genocide, that justified basically every genocide ever...

4. There are Russians who have spoken out against Putin. Are they bad as well because they're Russian? If yes, what's the point of speaking out against Putin or the war? If no, stop generalizing Russians.

5. Consider people descended from Russian immigrants. Should they be ashamed to be of Russian descent, even if their ancestors left Russia two centuries ago? Should they suffer from self-hate? Even if they don't consider Russia their home, should they be attacked simply for having Russian heritage?

6. Not even Germans were dehumanized for committing the Holocaust. Sure, they were called insulting names - calling a German soldier a hun is the equivalent of calling a Russian soldier an orc. And that's fine. But I don't think people were calling German civilians subhumans.

Ultimately, the reason I'm against dehumanizing Russian civilians as a whole is because xenophobia, racism, discrimination is bad. That is something the majority of people believe. Yes, Ukraine should win against the invader. Yes, Russian racism against Ukrainians and anyone who isn't a Slav (remember the "Slavs only" landlords?) is also bad. Russia can't claim to be fighting against Nazis when also employing their own Nazis (Wagner, Rusich). But at the same time, we can't call circa 140-160 million people subhumans because of the war.

Addendum: Recently, a Russian actress was cast in One Piece. People on Twitter immediately got angry and started opposing her being cast because Russia was invading Ukraine - even though, to my knowledge, she never said anything about the invasion. That's insane. That is, to say, Russians should not immediately be banned from every industry just because Ukraine was invaded. The US recognized interning every Japanese person in the US was wrong. We should've moved past racism years ago. Why's this still going on?

Most of us are feeling distressed about Trump right now, but I don't want to succumb to panic or grief ! I'd rather focusing on news that bring us hope, even if I don't feel too great about the American election now. Actually, this is why I'm making this post - I think we'd all need it right now

Apparently, Trump is the new president. The man who worsened bigotry, caused countless innocent people to die during the Covid crisis, and is responsible for the assault on the Capitol on January 6th 2021. Don't people realize he'll make things worse in Ukraine since he's a Putin bootlicker ? And I'm not even talking about the legislation he could make pass, or Project 2025

I know that not all Americans voted for him, but I'm still disappointed ! Those who voted for him literally saw what happened when he was president, and they still didn't learn their lesson. I'm European, but I can't help but feel worried about the future because of this 😭

What do you guys think ? (I'd like to have your opinions)

(Please remove if this isn't the place to vent about this)

Is it cheating to screenshot FSTDT?

Fuck Israel's treatment of Palestinians. But clearly the mods of that subreddit only see the war as an opportunity to spread thinly-veiled antisemitism towards gullible leftists.