Member-only story
A Confession of a Russian immigrant
What it means to be Russian these days and why it doesn’t suck as much as I thought
You’re an eight-year-old, and your mother has lost her mind. She gets ragingly drunk and rushes to your friend’s apartment, screaming, pissing herself, and cursing. She beats your friend bloody and destroys their home. And when you stand up to her, she takes your phone and locks you in a closet. While she’s continuing to kill your friend.
But you’re eight. You can’t believe your mom is evil. Maybe something is wrong with your friend. Or you. Or the world. But mom can’t be evil. She’s… she’s Mom.
So infantile, isn’t it? A Russian citizen is not a helpless child. She’s an adult and has to be held accountable and responsible.
Russians are unlikely to rebel, and no amount of sanctions will change this.
The problem is, a typical Russian citizen is about as confused and scared as an eight-year-old whose mother lost their mind. In this article, I’d like to show what’s going on in the minds of my compatriots who keep supporting Putin — or not openly denouncing him. I’ll prove that Russians are unlikely to rebel, and no amount of sanctions will change this. And I’ll show a way for the Russian nation to…
