Reprinted from hartmannreport.com
" We made the same mistake average Russians are making right now. Repeatedly. It's all about human nature being exploited by ruthless politicians...
At least a dozen times in the past week I've heard American TV commentators wonder out loud how it is that average Russians don't believe the horrors their government has inflicted on Ukraine and its people.
The most common story is of Ukrainian refugees or people under bombardment who've tried to tell friends or relatives back in Russia what's going on and gotten a disbelieving response.
"How could average Russians be so stupid?" seems to be the main line of inquiry.
Another line of questioning wonders out loud if Putin's lock on Russian TV and radio is so complete that, like the old Soviet Union, no truth can get through.
The reality is "none of the above." While Putin does control the media in Russia now, the horrors of the war in Ukraine are not all that difficult to find online.
But Russians are looking at the war from their own point of view, just as Americans viewed our unprovoked and lethal bombing attack on Baghdad in April of 2003. It's "our side versus their side," and that perspective is being used to sell the war within Russia.
Russians aren't any smarter or stupider than Americans, and vice-versa. Ditto for Ukrainians and everybody else on Earth. We're all just human beings with the same vulnerability to "patriotic propaganda."
Hundreds of thousands of years of living in families, bands and tribes - when the success of the group meant survival for its individual members - have conditioned us humans to reflexively trust people we've given authority to, at least until they're totally, utterly discredited.
This is the foundation of our loyalty to sports teams and towns or regions as much as it is our loyalty to our nations. We gain comfort and a sense of safety believing that we're part of something larger than ourselves.
levada.ru/2022/03/30/odo" ","username":"polinaivanovva","name":"Polina Ivanova","date":"Wed Mar 30 16:41:40 +0000 2022","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/FPHJV4IXsAIkb2Z.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/Fg5nwbv61J","alt_text":null}],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":43,"like_count":71,"expanded_url":{},"video_url":null}">
Polina Ivanova @polinaivanovva
Annnd a new poll shows Putin's approval rating in Russia rising sharply to 83% since the war began. From 69% in January. This is from Levada, independent pollster.levada.ru/2022/03/30/odo"March 30th 2022
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