QUORA: How is it that the Russian ignorant, gullible, willing masses of cannon fodder from the days of Stalin still seem to exist,...

[David P]

QUORA: How is it that the Russian ignorant, gullible, willing masses of cannon fodder from the days of Stalin still seem to exist, despite the worldwide digital interconnection and the ubiquity of personal mobile devices?
answered by Ivan Danilov, Lives in Russia, Updated Oct 22

Oh, I’ll tell you how. [photo] Some random photo of kids at a patriotism lesson
Today my son came from school and told me about his day, as usual. As usual he reported some grades, some grievances of his, some things that happened. And among other things he said something around the lines:

‘During Russian literature lesson came our arts teacher, who was very excited, and said that we now can write letters to injured soldiers in the hospital. And the literature teacher, who is very patriotic, said that she was happy to oblige, and that everyone should now go on and do this. “Some of you who don’t want to write a letter are allowed to refuse, but I will certainly remember those traitors and scum”’.

You see, both those teachers, and, I daresay, most of them are happy to make kids believe what they believe themselves. They tell the kids that there are nazis in Ukraine, that Crimea is historically a part of Russia, that there’s no such a nation called Ukrainians, there’s no such a language, and so on and so forth. Apart from that every Monday the kids are being indoctrinated during specifically assigned lesson called ‘Talks about Important Things’. Narratives of those lessons are no different compared to what Russian propaganda says in general, so I’ll leave it here.

[photo] Putin giving a patriotic gibberish lesson on 1st of September 2022

Children at schools in general are not allowed to have their own opinions. Contradicting what the teacher says is a criminal offence (figuratively) and may lead to ugly reprisals (literally). Thinking and behaving differently is strictly forbidden and often severely punished. There’s no place at schools for such things as dignity, self esteem, honesty. Everything the kids are expected to say is exactly what they are being told to say.

So how come Russians are so ignorant and gullible after spending their formative years in an oppressive collectives where they are taught to be ignorant and gullible whenever their superiors require them to be just that? Well, I don’t think that’s a difficult question at all. The answer is — because they used to live in a totalitarian state most of their lives and now they are returning to this ‘comfortable’ living where you are not allowed to decide what to think, not allowed to own an opinion. The real question that nags me here is where my other compatriots who have guts to stand against and resist this monstrous state come from? How do they survive? How they keep on living here and still don’t go crazy?

UPDATE 22 October 2022
I’ve just stumbled upon this video from 3 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Tt1Ly2zzdoY
В детском саду Краснодара ребенка поставили на колени

Here is a kindergarten principal educating a boy of probably 5 years old. She says with a stern voice:
— Look at me! At me I said!
— Stand on your knees! On your knees I said! On your knees!
— And kiss the soil! Kiss the ground, scum! That one which feeds you!
It happened in Krasnodar in spring of 2019, and if Russian official news outlets are to be believed this principal was fired (or should I say she was let go?). The reason she was fired is the fact that the video went public and a lot of people were frustrated over it. I should admit the behaviour of this lady is way over the rim even by Russian standards. But I’d like to point out three distinct matters about this incident.
First, as far as I can see, this esteemed and respectable educator went free. The evil wasn’t really punished.
Then, while the event isn’t a common scene in ordinary kindergartens there are many places where such things go unnoticed for years and decades. Teachers and nursemaids scoff, beat, humiliate and sometimes even torture their pupils whom they are supposed to protect.
Moreover, this lady takes a political and patriotic line in the end of the video, insinuating in the process of physical assault an ol’ good theme of ‘blood and soil’. I think this inclination to direct own sadistic tendencies towards this patriotic theme is a common place amongst quite a few of Russian teachers.

I have no idea what happened to this kid who was the subject of this rabid dog of a teacher’s fit, but I ask myself: what will happen to the kids who were looking upon this scene in years to come? How this traumatic experience will play out in the end? And again, while this case is in the extreme part of the spectre, I can’t but notice that the humiliation and mockery is the part of everyday experiences of so many Russian schoolkids.