On the “Banality of Goodness” … in the midst of war.

[Tom Paine 1949]

In the midst of war, while nationalist and party-partisan lunatics are busy screaming at each other, many willing and unwilling soldiers are killing each other, and civilians are dying, it is worth stopping and considering the immense human tragedy involved.

Here is a cry from the heart against Putin’s invasion. It is from a liberal writer living in Moscow (of Tatar background) expressing her personal feelings. It is not about politics, or geopolitical theory. She is probably not representative of most Russians today. She grew up at the end of the Soviet epoch, but her view is probably representative of the feelings of her milieu and of many of the 15,000 anti-war protesters arrested so far in Russia.

Anybody have any comments on it, or other personal comments on war and peace, ethics and pacifism in this crazy world we live in?


Author Guzel Yakhina on 'The Banality of Good'
Translated from Russian by Lisa Hayden.

I’m writing this text for my friends, publishers, translators, and readers in other countries. Writing requires clarity of thought and a cool head, so it’s difficult to write now, with my emotions blazing….

Fourteen years of my life – my entire childhood and my youth – took place in the Soviet Union. Communist ideology was already breathing its last by then. As Young Pioneers, we children believed that ideology, albeit halfheartedly…. What we genuinely did believe in … was peace. The propaganda machine … was diligently working away … manufacturing more pacifist rhetoric than communist rhetoric.

“The USSR is a stronghold of peace.” “Peace to the world!” Those slogans were inscribed on the walls of every kindergarten and every school. A lesson on peace was consistently the first task for every school year, for every grade. Songs and poems about peace were part of the program for every Young Pioneer event….

Doves decorated every classroom, every bulletin board, and every pupil’s notebook. We believed in those doves as sincerely as only children can. Belief in peace was an inalienable part of Soviet childhood, instilling that belief in the identity of each of us. That belief seemed unshakable, as if it would last until the end of time….

Today, Russian tanks are moving on foreign soil. I can hardly believe that’s happening. Domestic opposition is so deep. It’s difficult to find words; none of them are strong enough. Bitterness, anger, fear, powerlessness – to the nth degree. The news on February 24, 2022, crushed me. My world wasn’t upended, it was simply destroyed. I don’t understand why the “vaccination” of pacifism didn’t help.

I’m writing on my own behalf, but all my acquaintances and friends feel the same way. Not one person in my close and distant circles supports this war. Social networks are filled with anger as well as requests, appeals, and demands to stop these military operations.

The time has come for simple truths, for repeating them over and over. “No to war.” “Peace to the world.” “Human life is the highest value.” We’ll repeat until this darkness passes. We’ll validate the banality of good so as not to encounter the banality of evil later.

This is not my war. I refuse to consider it mine.

The Moscow Times

www.themoscowtimes.com

 

[Votto]

In the midst of war, while nationalist and party-partisan lunatics are busy screaming at each other, many willing and unwilling soldiers are killing each other, and civilians are dying, it is worth stopping and considering the immense human tragedy involved.

Here is a cry from the heart against Putin’s invasion. It is from a liberal writer living in Moscow (of Tatar background) expressing her personal feelings. It is not about politics, or geopolitical theory. She is probably not representative of most Russians today. She grew up at the end of the Soviet epoch, but her view is probably representative of the feelings of her milieu and of many of the 15,000 anti-war protesters arrested so far in Russia.

Anybody have any comments on it, or other personal comments on war and peace, ethics and pacifism in this crazy world we live in?


Author Guzel Yakhina on 'The Banality of Good'
Translated from Russian by Lisa Hayden.

I’m writing this text for my friends, publishers, translators, and readers in other countries. Writing requires clarity of thought and a cool head, so it’s difficult to write now, with my emotions blazing….

Fourteen years of my life – my entire childhood and my youth – took place in the Soviet Union. Communist ideology was already breathing its last by then. As Young Pioneers, we children believed that ideology, albeit halfheartedly…. What we genuinely did believe in … was peace. The propaganda machine … was diligently working away … manufacturing more pacifist rhetoric than communist rhetoric.

“The USSR is a stronghold of peace.” “Peace to the world!” Those slogans were inscribed on the walls of every kindergarten and every school. A lesson on peace was consistently the first task for every school year, for every grade. Songs and poems about peace were part of the program for every Young Pioneer event….

Doves decorated every classroom, every bulletin board, and every pupil’s notebook. We believed in those doves as sincerely as only children can. Belief in peace was an inalienable part of Soviet childhood, instilling that belief in the identity of each of us. That belief seemed unshakable, as if it would last until the end of time….

Today, Russian tanks are moving on foreign soil. I can hardly believe that’s happening. Domestic opposition is so deep. It’s difficult to find words; none of them are strong enough. Bitterness, anger, fear, powerlessness – to the nth degree. The news on February 24, 2022, crushed me. My world wasn’t upended, it was simply destroyed. I don’t understand why the “vaccination” of pacifism didn’t help.

I’m writing on my own behalf, but all my acquaintances and friends feel the same way. Not one person in my close and distant circles supports this war. Social networks are filled with anger as well as requests, appeals, and demands to stop these military operations.

The time has come for simple truths, for repeating them over and over. “No to war.” “Peace to the world.” “Human life is the highest value.” We’ll repeat until this darkness passes. We’ll validate the banality of good so as not to encounter the banality of evil later.

This is not my war. I refuse to consider it mine.

The Moscow Times

www.themoscowtimes.com

You assume that war and death are the worst outcomes for humanity. However, what if that humanity has become so morally depleted that they become a source of death and oppression themselves, much like how the Jews were treated in Europe? In fact, everything the Nazi regime had done to the Jews had been done to them in Europe for 10 centuries prior, only a little bigger scale.

Then perhaps such wars can be seen as a catharsis, or a necessary purge of wickedness so that society may be reborn on a higher moral plane

But what collectivists/globalists want is the inability of war to rid us of such filth, just a one world government crammed down all our throats, no matter how morally bankrupt it may become.

Just things to ponder....................

 

[1srelluc]

Sorta like the whole "thoughts and prayers" thing.....Trite and easily expressed.