A Time of Heroes
Introduction
This post is based on the my Special Article for Coffeebuyers —Putin 4, which has now been revised over and over again. The article however covers a wide range of topics besides this. It has been delayed on account of the Iran -Israeli war but hopefully will be finished soon.
Putin? Antichrist?
I looked at the pictures of Mr. Putin trying to look for a trace of humanity. I should have known better . Margaret Thatcher
If you try researching Vladimir Putin on the Internet, you will find a plethora opinions about who— and what he is. Most of them--in English at least--are like Thatcher’s. He is not a person, not a human being – he is something else—satanic, alien and dangerous— a “murderer”, a “killer”, “soulless”.
In the West, Putin is one of the most hated leaders in history, usually conflated with an artist gone bad known as Adolph Hitler or a seminarian gone political called Joseph Stalin.
“Western” cultures love hate.
Hate
In the US and Europe , ordinary people, world leaders, academics, journalists, politicians, all agree Putin is a monster — they only disagree on the kin . There are so many variations of the calumny that this generates, expressed with a thoughtless, irrational viscerality.
Hatred has as many faces as those who are driven by it.
Sometimes it is directed at a people.
Black people, native Americans, Latinos, Jews, Arabs, Muslims. People of a different tribe, as with the Hutus and Tutsis. We understand this kind of prejudice very well, and pretend that we don’t think that way — when of course we do.
Prejudice towards identifiable groups is one thing.
Other times, hatred attaches to an individual, usually an outlier such as the smart fat girl in the 10th grade with zits, somebody who stands out and cannot defend themselves.
Whether the object is a group or an individual, hatred dehumanizes not just its target but those infected by it.
A little biology goes a long way
That depersonalization and dehumanization is because hatred is as unnatural as it is “normal”…..
Animals feel anger, fear, helplessness just as we do – but they do not hate.
Hatred you see is abstract. Its etiology is not biological but behavioral, which is to say social.
Despite what some psychologists say, I do not believe it is not rooted in the mid-brain, the amygdala, but in the neocortex in the part of the brain responsible for “executive function”, which means a set of “heuristics” to manage social responses and perception— a concept popularized by Kahneman in “Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow”. The book was a best seller since most people think too fast to understand stuff like this and too slow to notice that they don’t understand.
Such heuristics are acquired from others in the form of beliefs, attached to images and emotional triggers. They inhibit, control and structure imagination and thought so that we can fit into socially regimented groups. They are our internal “AI” programming our behaviors – always derivative, always reflecting an a-logical consensus.
Person A sees Person B. Bells go off, lights on. Little sirens in the mind. Hormones and neurotransmitters like Substance P, catecholamines, and certain types of serotonin . The Putamen in the central brain, which controls fuck / fight / flight responses activates.
Beliefs can generate a maladaptive biological response like irrational hatred. But those beliefs are learned.
Are you programmed?
So when someone tells you they “hate” Vladimir Putin it is not them speaking--but other people — parents, teachers, friends—even the media.
That is also why prejudice can shift suddenly, why Jews and blacks and gays were once the object of ridicule and targets for violence; then suddenly not – paradoxically loved for their “difference” as long as they conform to middle class norms. “Sure, he’s gay but just like you and me, married, monogamous, has kids.”
Prejudice is never natural. It is derivative.
So, our view of Putin has little to do with who the man actually is but part and parcel of a belief system generated by an unequal society in which some people must always dominate others, ultimately be more “important” than others – more valuable – more human, deserving of respect, if not love! And others must be abominations. Ironies abound.
O Captain! my Captain! (Walt Whitman)
Whitman, who believed he “contained multitudes” mourned Lincoln, as the “Captain” of the Nation more than he did the 750,000 people who died and the many more maimed.
Seeing is believing?
No, believing is seeing. Or rather seeing of a kind for the people who hate Putin, do not actually see him.
The question there fore arises….
Who is Putin really?
The answer is simple. He is you and me. At least, that is the best place to start if you want to know about him — or, for that matter, anybody else.
He is many sides. He is a person, shaped by birth and upbringing, parents and friends, challenges, and circumstances. Just like you and me.
If you look at the wealth of biographical material available and testimony of people who know him personally, listen to his videotaped interviews in which he is remarkably candid, he is different from what Margaret Thatcher “saw”.
“I see, therefore I think, therefore I am”.
If you watch Oliver Stone’s documentary on Putin, you see a very, very human Putin—considerate, empathetic, a little shy, with a disarming sense of humor . It is not just what he says, it is his expressions. He is a real person, unlike American presidents, who are creations of propaganda and PR.
He is, contrary to what people think in the West, not motivated by wealth or power.
He is 72 now. But he is still what he was . A boy. We are all what we were.
In this, Putin again is like all of us.
And as a boy he dreamed of being a hero.
The Boy Who would be a Hero.
You will notice that Putin talks constantly of heroes.
How those who fought in WWII were “heroes”.
How those fighting in the SMO are heroes.
How those supporting them are heroes.
The heroism of the warriors who protect the country’s vital interests serves as a moral guide for millions of our fellow citizens outside military service.
They work selflessly to achieve the goals set. These are employees of defence enterprises, economic sectors, science, culture, and the social sphere. Scientists, designers, engineers, and workers provide reliable reserves for the security and technological sovereignty of the state. Millions of people in all regions of our vast country, each in their place, strive to contribute to the common cause. Everyone is united by the main value: love for their home country, involvement in its fate, and pride in Russia and its heroes.
It is “the Time of Heroes”.
He has has program to reward people who have made significant contributions to the SMO, militarily or otherwise, training them and fast-tracking them to executive positions in the government and government industries.
To be trained and then get some executive positions is not an award, not a privilege. It is yet another opportunity to continue serving the Motherland. Well, for some people, in new systems, in a new place, perhaps completely unrelated to their previous experience or occupation, but it is an opportunity to further fulfil themselves and serve the Motherland.
“Heroes” serve and sacrifice for the greater good, according to Putin.
His father and mother were both in their own ways heroic--which means willing to sacrifice themselves, for each other, for their last, surviving child, and for their country.
Putin was that only child. Saved by sacrifice.
And, like many such children, he did not quite fit in. He had to find his own way.
So, he dreamed.
He wanted to be hero. To serve. To make a difference.
That is what drove him. He learned what he needed to achieve his goals. He studied law to join the KGB, the successor to the NKVD in which his father had served during WWII. Although maligned in the West, the KGB had the most integrity of all Soviet institutions.
In 1997, as he prepared to enter politics, he studied economic policy related to resources, which obviously came in handy later. And when he had the chance to serve, he did.
Born to serve, he is still serving. No leader in modern history, with the exception of Xi has made such a difference.
The Boy who would be a hero became a man. And the man was – and is – a hero, according to his own definition of what that means, which is also the definition of honor, a concept that died a long time ago in Western countries, except among a few.
Are you orange and white?
Chappy is orange and white. (Male) orange and white cats are famously sweet. Their coloration is a result of genetic mutation which somehow affects personality.
This phenomenon has important ramifications because it supports genetic research linking genetic mutations affecting behavior in human beings.
We also are friendlier than other primates and that is the result of just over a hundred genetic factors that are tied not only to cognitive and physical functions and behaviors
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Whenever I see or watch Putin, I cannot help but trust him. He shows his shyness, his modestly, and his intelligent command of whatever is his brief at the time. The professed 'hatred' in the West strikes me as confected. Nothing about him warrants it I feel the man has been monstrously maligned. That's how Putin makes me feel, but for reasons I cannot define, I adore Sergei Lavrov. Both of them make our politicians into slimy, dishonest, equivocating pygmies. If Russia invaded the UK, I would be out with a flag and a samovar!
Excellent, Julian. It is obvious that you have had to spend a lot of time researching this. I know a few people that need to read this, but I have my doubts that they will. It’s that Margaret Thatcher syndrome…..