Cannibals and pacifists: who wants war here

Substitution, harmful, dishonorable, is taking place today. When those who, in general, do not care about everything except themselves, are passed off as pacifists and money-grubbers of the world. This substitution, on the one hand, is done intentionally, and, on the other hand, follows from the spirit of the times. But, one way or another, the only important thing is that it is done.

On the pages of IA REGNUM my text “Halloween during the war” was published, and a little earlier another text – “You can’t run away from yourself. Who are they, where are they, who betrayed their Motherland? The first conveys the feeling of the division of our society, when some fight on the front lines, while the latter rage in a drunken stupor. This could be called a classic “feast during the plague”, but rather, we are dealing with pathological shifts in consciousness – both social and personal. This is something like schizophrenia, heavily mixed with fear, intertwined with excitement from the nearness of death.

The second text told about those who fled abroad today – first of all, about those who moved from comfortable creative spaces to other similar ones, but already outside of Russia. Both the first and second texts end, in fact, with one question: have the conclusions been drawn, and will Russia be updated, ideologically and personnel?

These two texts received quite a strong reaction, both on social networks and by e-mail. Including negative feedback. Of the entire spectrum of claims, one can single out the main one, formulating it as follows: “You don’t understand anything! These people just don’t want war. They do not want to participate in the destruction of other people. They are for peace.”

But excuse me: who wants war? Who is eager to kill the unfortunate and die himself? According to the logic of those who today flee the country or want to escape, as well as those who have joined them morally and ideologically, those people who are today on the front line or those who help them. And, of course, those who, in principle, do not oppose the Russian army. So, as I said, a substitution is being made.

After all, can pacifism be selective? Can the rejection of one war be combined with the acceptance of other wars? Hardly. And miraculously, it turns out that the pacifism of ladies and gentlemen, who suddenly opposed the war in unison, having fled beyond the borders of Russia, was born either on February 24, or on the day when the authorities announced partial mobilization. Before that, we observed the silence of lambs, eating well and living comfortably.

Were these people pacifists when the US bombarded Belgrade with tomahawks? Okay, too far an example. Were these people pacifists when the Armed Forces of Ukraine fired on Luhansk, and there were corpses on the streets? Were they pacifists when Gorlovka was thrashed with shells? Perhaps then they spoke out against the war? Perhaps they at least wrote a post on social networks that this is not possible? No, there was a viscous silence. The silence of the lambs, satisfyingly eating and living comfortably.

The pacifism of sheep in wolfskins (I will allow myself this image) is born solely by the fact that they were taken out of their comfort zone, by the fact that they were prevented from living the way they used to. And this is not pacifism – this is the slavery of comfort, the slavery of consumption, the slavery of one’s own habits and comforts.

Pavel Pepperstein has a great story about how Moscow gave up in a holiday atmosphere and a new life began. So, I’m sure that all these wonderful bright-faced characters would gladly surrender their homeland for the right to eat burgers at McDonald’s, buy Finnish furniture and go on vacation to Courchevel. Or what do they like? What are their morals?

There is nothing strange in this. The consumer eventually devours himself and begins this “feast” by eating such annoying “atavisms” as the feeling of the Motherland, conscience, honor. After all, he is a slave who is obsessed with getting pleasure, enhanced by the fear of death. But what about pacifism? And what about decency?

Of course, we are not talking about all those who left. Not on your nelly. And in my acquaintances there are worthy people who have taken the appropriate position for ideological, and not for “gastronomic” reasons. But their voices are much quieter.

Well, who in this case wants war? Who is the cannibal who dreams of killing children and turning cities into ruins? Here is another change. Cannibals are marked not only by the military, but also by people, for example, sewing clothes for them, people who buy body armor for the army. They all seem to be parts of one big evil that wants only to absorb.

But such an idea, strongly reminiscent of stigmatization, is either total stupidity or deliberate denigration. My friend from Yalta, who today organizes training camps for DPR and LPR fighters, is originally from Gorlovka, and since 2014 she has consistently opposed the war. A guy, a military man, with whom I talked in a military hospital, he was lying there with a wound, he told me: “I knocked out a tank, but I myself think: if only everyone were alive …” Do these people want war?

Expand your horizons, talk to those who are returning from the front line, or to civilians who have been under shelling in the Donbass – what will they tell you? Will they be bloodthirsty?

It is absurd (or is it still vile?) to think that all those who today are not outside the borders of Russia or are not sitting, covering the Russian army with obscenities, dream of war and yearn for it as a method and goal. Any adequate person does not accept war. Any adequate person dreams of peace. Here, unfortunately, only the laws of this world do not allow, as Tolstoy wrote, to put one person against another in order to decide the outcome of a global conflict. Before there is peace, one must win.

In 2014, when the massacre began in the Donbass, I still had the opportunity to speak on Kiev television, although I was already in close proximity to the status of “persona non grata” – and then I asked questions again and again: “Why not try to resolve the conflict peacefully?” way? Why is no one demanding peace in Kyiv or Lvov?” However, people were silent – they were satisfied with the fact that their own troops were shelling the Donbass.

And then in the Red Ray, I looked into the eyes of a mother who had lost her son. And then I myself was under shelling in Pervomaisk. It was 7 years ago. And back in 2015, my article ended with the words that if everything continues like this, then there will be a war in which people will die on both sides of the border – yes, everything will end in a big war, I wrote. It was so obvious, so monstrous, like the end of the world, but no one was in a hurry to talk about peace. And now we got what we got.

It is very convenient to be a cannibal or a pacifist according to the situation. One thing is profitable today, and another tomorrow. It is much more difficult to be consistent and bear full responsibility for this sequence. However, only such consistency and intransigence can bring the long-awaited peace closer.