I will share this with my network. Not just for Ukraine, but for the rest of Eastern Europe like Bulgaria who suffers the same deep corruption in their governments.
Lets all forget about the US trying to manipulate the outcome of these riots, already deciding who will be in power.
The only reason the US and by proxy, the EU cares about the Ukraine is so they can put another load of Patriot Missiles there; to protect Europe from Iran and North Korea of course, it has nothing to do with gaining a strategic advantage over Russia.
Finally someone who gets it ... It's not about corruption, it's about control, don't forget that a major gas-line runs through Ukraine, supplying the rest of Europe with gas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Major_russian_gas_pipeline...). The future "wars" will be about resources, which gas is.
The biggest group of protesters are all right-wing and not at all want to belong to Russia, if you ask the opinion of the other part of the Ukranian people you will hear different stories, we only get to see the destruction and get to hear the pro-right-wing protesters. The statement that everything will be "better" when they will belong to Europe is also a misconception. A lot of people in Ukraine live of a pension that ranges around 100 - 200 Euro per month, now don't think these people can afford food from the neighborhood supermarket, prices are too high, they can only survive by going to markets and buying from farms. Imagine what happens when they will join Europe, prices will inflate, pensions will not go up because there is no money for it ... Etc... There's much more behind it ...
Nobody cares about the people, it's all about control and resources.
Same situation in Syria, Only reason the west cares is because they want their 'friendship pipeline', might as well pay radicals to try topple the government so someone who would agree with US policies can be installed.
Joining the EU is probably the worst thing that can happen to Ukraine. Only high performing nations benefit from the EU, everyone else gets screwed by the regulations.
I remember reading an article that had certain people expressing outrage over the fact that Russia would scrap its free trade agreement with Ukraine if they join the EU. They didn't seem to realise that if Russia didn't do this, the russian markets would be flooded with cheap crap from the EU.
> Joining the EU is probably the worst thing that can happen to Ukraine. Only high performing nations benefit from the EU, everyone else gets screwed by the regulations.
This is not the whole story. Broke in their time nations like Ireland or Portugal benefited immensely from joining the EU. While they are not anywhere near "high performance" still, participating in common labor and trade market with enforced regulations standards pulled them out of mud.
Also let's not forget that the alternative is integration into Russian zone of influence. You can doubt the merits of EU, but life as a Russian colony would not bring prosperity (let alone justice) to Ukraine, no matter how many petrodollars circulate in the metropole. Ukrainans will always be an afterthought.
You are spreading some FUD. Foreign politics of US or Russia definitely is in actions here but so what? What if people of Ukraine have actually some ideals and dreams about their future like people in the rest of the world?
OK your name contains "emo" so maybe that's why you don't get it but that's ad hominem from my side.
I certainly hope you were never on any debating team with arguments like those.
Of course the people of Ukraine have visions and dreams about their future. What you are seeing in this video though, or on any western media (and eastern media for that matter) is not indicative of what the Ukrainian people actually want. Jumping onto either bandwagon only because of what you read in your twitter feed is just stupid.
"The Aegis BMD system is the linchpin of the Obama administration's plan for a missile defense umbrella in Europe intended to protect U.S. forces and NATO allies from Iranian short- and medium-range ballistic missiles."
Do your homework. (although I did mislabel the missile system, its aegis, not patriot that are being used here)
So the protection from Northern Korea is also wrong as the name of the whole system was? Your homework wasn't done properly either, don't you think? :D
Well, I'm European and you can't expect me to know details about every military protection plan from the US administration (which are surely a lot), can you?
Googeling it wouldn't have returned useful information with two wrong facts I guess ;)
...and by the way: your link said nothing about the Ukraine! :D :D So again, look at google maps!
theres a word for what I feel when you try to save face after being called out on having no clue.
fremdschaemen
edit: as for nothing being said about ukraine, well......America hasn't gotten the Ukraine under its grips yet? Do I have to spell this out to you? seriously man.
Before blindingly believing what the media tell us about Ukraine protests, a quick Google search about the involvement of the far right in these protests should make you weary of acting in a hurry.
@jmnicolas a quick google search will tell you that that's exactly what Russia wants you to believe. It's mostly intelligent, educated and brave people who are protesting. When on the other side it's mostly criminals (with the president who is a 2 times convicted felon). Far right is there as well, but only a minor part of the protest
If you've never been to a protest, and you should definitely go to a protest now and then, there are always fringe groups present. Far right, far left, plainclothes cops, the completely insane, etc. But in my experience if a protest is well attended, beyond the likes of tea party events and westboro baptist stuff, then it is almost definitely filled with normal people upset about something they feel is unjust.
The problem with videos like this is that they provide no context. It doesn't tell you a damn thing about what's going on. It's a video of a pretty girl shot with a DSLR with a shallow depth of field. Is this even shot in the Ukraine? No idea. Could be a studio pretty much anywhere.
I can recut this video and replace it with scenes from Los Angeles, Oakland, Chicago or New York. Just show some clips of police brutalitiy and say, "Our politicians are corrupt."
Actually it's worse: Most people who spread the information or even created the messages don't know it's a propaganda. This makes the propaganda more deceptive than otherwise.
And again this is extremely one-sided. Propagandistic even. And it makes it to the top of HN. Again. "THE POLICE IS READY TO SHOOT". But she won't say that it's with rubber slugs or that the protesters are throwing molotovs and shooting fireworks (which can deal nasty damage). Rocks are implied, I think.
I tried to really dig into the affair, but it's too complicated with both sides corrupt (like it typically happens in the former USSR), Putin blaming EU for everything while seeding billions to the Ukrainian government, non-transparent government-opposition talks, news sites hunting for sensations... It feels like it's impossible to make an objective (or close to it) idea about the whole situation. And this video isn't helping one bit.
As much as I hate the current Ukrainian government, I'm not sure they have anything better. Pretty horrible situation.
It is difficult to see how Gandhi's methods could be applied in a country where opponents of the regime disappear in the middle of the night and are never heard of again. Without a free press and the right of assembly, it is impossible not merely to appeal to outside opinion, but to bring a mass movement into being, or even to make your intentions known to your adversary.
-- George Orwell
There are places on earth where mere non-violent non co-operation just can't work. Basically because no one knows what you are doing, why you are doing and what your actual story is.
If the opponent force is simply too overwhelming, powerful and has too much sway. Non violent non co operation doesn't help much.
When I was growing up, one of the standard places that used to be cited for this line of reasoning was the Eastern Block. And certainly looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring there was evidence that peaceful protest wouldn't work.
But what happened? Oh right. Peaceful protest brought down the Soviet block.
I'm from Eastern Europe. I'm still not sure if we got extremely lucky (e.g. economical situation of Soviet Union being in very bad condition, US getting technological breakthrough with personal computers) or "peaceful" part actually worked out.
The theory I've heard which makes the most sense is that the CIA and Catholic Church had an alliance of convenience. The CIA provided resources (including training materials), the Church had a network to distribute them where they were needed.
They did a trial run with Solidarity in Poland (not coincidentally the home country of the pope at the time) and then rolled it out on a larger scale after that succeeded.
What brought down the Soviet Block in the end was Mikhail Gorbachev deciding that there's enough blood on soviet hands and that they won't react the same way they did in the Prague Spring. He could have decided otherwise, he didn't. Shall the protesters hope the same will happen now? Didn't work so far.
I'm a little young, so I don't have as much perspective of the recent history as you do.
But every instance of non-violent non-co operation(Lets call it with the name Gandhi gave to it - ahimsa/satyagraha) works only because of the opponents get weak after a point of time. Indian Independence movement worked because in the course of WW2 the British lost the gumption they had earlier to control a nation as big as India. They were running out of resources, ideas and means to stay in India anymore. Gandhi's movement gave British too much bad across the world. Plus WW2 and WW1 had really taken a toll on the British. So it was a mixture of all these things + Gandhi's movement that make ahims/satyagraha work.
I guess its the same with USSR too? Didn't this whole cold war thing come too heavy on the Soviets? The way I understand they were in deep financial crisis and were facing an imminent defeat in Afghanistan.
It's a remarkably complex issue. I would however say that the case that comes to my mind though is not the USSR but Dutch Colonial Indonesia, and the jailing and exile of Sukarno for printing nationalist, anti-colonial material.
This looks on the outside very successful regarding suppressing Sukarno. After all the Dutch succeeded in keeping him contained until the Japanese arrived. However in a closer look you see a slow and steady development of a network of support that Sukarno built in Sumatra while in exile, which was used to support his efforts on his return to Java.
So I am not sure it is so clear.
Another interesting example might be Gorbachev in Russia. Here's someone who was quite clearly a communist and a Marxist, who, nonetheless, was not above critiquing the existing Soviet system in relation to the West and in so doing exposed cracks that caused the whole system to collapse. Gorbachev of course built on Khrushchev in this regard, but it shows that what is important is the alliance and solidarity, and to the extent that non-violence is conducive to that (and it usually is) it usually is helpful.
"can't work" is a strong statement. What we have seen in the arab spring is a new dynamic of "whoever shoots first looses".
Assad in Syria actually used Gandhis example to win in the end: He made sure the most rational, less radical and especially the non-violent opposition was crushed first.
All these "ethnic raids" came from basically "nowhere", maybe they were also encouraged by the regime, and then this contributed to more violence. End result: No opposition that can effectively be supported from the outside, and vanishing sympathy or compassion for the most massive genocide in recent history, much less any hope of peace.
In Cuba, on the contrary, Castro is facing a new, well organized and well disciplined opposition, and is finding it ever harder to attack them.
Basic point here: The stronger force has an advantage when the weaker opponent resorts to hatred and violence. That is why in China, Turkey, Syria and Ukraine we see the government's media outlets put a huge effort into portraying any dissidence as violent and hateful...
The EU was ready to have Ukraine go through another one of their lengthy entry processes where over a period of years requirements are progressively put in place to enable joining the EU.
The current protests erupted when one of the first steps along that path was openly scuttled by Russia applying a huge amount of financial leverage.
It is true that only half of Ukraine wants to join the west, but it's also clear that this is a clash between Russian interests and that of the European-minded population in Ukraine; not with EU/US in any significant way.
There is a lot of schadenfreude going on of course because it's a huge blemish on Sochi as Putin's PR offensive and Western media are eager to rub it in as much as they can.
Ironically enough, according to rumours, this all started because Putin ordered Ukraine's president to 'fix this' before the Olympics started and the unsuccessful police crackdown started the current chain of escalations.
From what I've understood half geographically (which is indeed the majority of the population) wants to actually join the EU and the other half mostly just wants the corruption to stop.
(I did not read the article, just looked at the charts, which look to be in agreement with my personal experience).
I would say that about 20% of the very east part of the country is largely pro Russia, as well as most of Crimea. But even the pro-Russia people don't necessarily think Ukraine should join Russia, almost everyone want's the corruption to stop, as you have pointed out. And I have yet to find a single Ukrainian, Russian speaking or not, who would have anything good to say about Putin. Of course, in most parts of Russia, outside Moscow, you will rarely find anyone who doesn't outright hate that bustard.
I think most people want both Yanukovych and Putin out of their country. So maybe you are right, not every one is pro-EU, but most I would say are unti-Putin.
The EU had Ukraine over a barrel and was demanding that they sign a punitive agreement that would have caused even greater hardship than the country is suffering now. Have you read that association agreement? It is brutal.
What I want to know is why can't Kyiv negotiate its way into the EU in stages, step by step, and at each stage the agreement would be small enough that it could be explained to the people of Ukraine and they could vote in a referendum based on the facts, rather than some fantasy ideal of "sign document, get rich".
I think sometimes something as petty as wanting an ego-trip motivates this post, more so than really caring about disadvantaged people.
I feel everyone gets a temporary jolt of validation from being voted up. However, it should be in exchanged for adding value (being insightful, interesting, useful, funny).
> But she won't say that it's with rubber slugs or that the protesters are throwing molotovs and shooting fireworks (which can deal nasty damage). Rocks are implied, I think.
Well, the protesters can't exactly afford highly sophisticated weapons made to inflict pain but not (too much) damage. They don't have the luxury of spending tax money on expensive equipment. The only reason there are rubber bullets is because they probably don't find it in their self-interest to use something more heavy at the current time. The government can slaughter its own people in a matter of hours if they want to, and face no resistance from some pathetic molotov cocktails.
Maybe the video is one-sided (I haven't seen it yet), but comparing the two sides in the way you do does not make any sense to me.
It seems that Kiev, the capital, happens to be in a region that is dominated by Ukrainian-speaking people, who feel closer to (Western/Central) Europe than to Russia. Therefore, a lot of protests are happening in the capital, which makes it easy for the media to paint a picture of an entire country with a pro-European bent in revolt against its pro-Russian government. That narrative conveniently ignores the huge pro-Russian part of the country.
Things would play out very differently if Kiev were in the pro-Russian part of the Ukraine.
Belgium was split along historical lines but they talked over their differences and found common ground. The result of that was the beginning of the European Union which is why Brussels, Belgium is the EU capital today.
So why can't the Ukrainians solve their problems the EU way?
Because being split between France and the Netherlands is a conflict of slightly different magnitude than being split between Russia and Europe.
And I don't think that if you talk with Belgians many will agree that their model is in any way, shape or form to be used as a model for other countries.
Belgium had a lot of problems recently. Even if it is not on the same order of magnitude than Ukraine, there are conflicts between both parts. Not so long ago, they did not find a way to form a government for several months and they often speak of splitting.
As far as i know Belgium has not yet settled their national conflict between french-speaking and non-french-speaking territories. Any Belgians here to shed some light?
Another side of the medal is, that this very government was elected freely and a lot of Ukrainian people are still supporting it, especially in the East of the country.
Don't get me wrong, the government is far from being a good one and there surly are reasons to demonstrate. But it's elected and the OSCE said it was a fair election overall [1].
Well, in the end I must agree to Aoyagi: this is one side of a complex situation and although it is undoubtedly touching, it's not the whole truth behind the current situation.
Over the last couple of months there is photo evidence of protestors with pistols and sniper rifles. Not to mention the bullets removed from wounded police officers. And who is to say that the gunshot victims were not shot by rivals in the protest camp? Lots of rhetoric and innuendo but very little actual proof beyond the individual incidents that you would find in the USA, Canada or any EU country. When was the last time that police in your country beat up a suspect?
Got any evidence or links for any of that? You get that these are ordinary people, grandmothers as well as students? That these people are protesting having their country stolen AGAIN, by the same people as in 2005 when the Orange Revolution swept the country?
The same phenomena happened in Brazil last year. Right around the climax of the protests, suddenly a couple of too well produced (studio grade) english speaking videos were released aimed at "enlightening" outsiders. The message was also very selective and devoid of content or context.
So take it with a grain of salt, since it seems unclear sponsors are learning to manipulate these kinds of protests into their own agendas. With some measure of success I would also add.
Some observe - correctly - that this is a proxy battle between the US and the USSR^wRussia. Given that choice, I'd be turning out with the anti-Russian crowd.
And lets now think about the fact that Ukraine would suddenly belong to the EU... Then about 80% of the Ukrainian people will endure even more poverty than they have now. In an ideal world yes, it might be better to belong to the EU, IF there was no corruption and pensions would inflate along with all other pricesm and people would even get fair pensions, but let's face it, do we live in an ideal world? A lot of these young Ukraine people have a false idea about the "rich" Europeans and European lifestyle, and yes, I'm speaking out of experience.
The sad fact is that while Russia keeps making active steps, EU only gets "concerned", but nothing more...
It is time for EU to do some real actions (not sanctions...). They should propose some real alternative options, even for Yanukovich - maybe a full EU membership or something similar, bit more than just Association Agreement.
The problem with the EU is, that the different member states have different interests - there is no "European" opinion and therefore no real actions will be done soon...
Ukraine is incapable of a full EU Membership at the moment. It is a highly corrupt country and cannot be accepted into the club. An association agreement would help Ukraine approach European standards in terms of modern law, fighting corruption, but most importantly it would give it access to the common market. Which means they would get a highly effective fishing-rod instead of a short-term supply of semi -fresh fish.
Ukraine is a country of 45 million people and has a nominal GDP of $3,400ish per capita. That's vastly lower than the EU average and would cause all sorts of problems trying to integrate it.
If it was Bosnia or something with a small population, it would be doable. It's political and economic suicide for the EU to offer full membership on a whim like this.
Please, the Ukrainian rebels are pretty much controlled by the US, who are using fascist elements to increase the level of violence. Molotov cocktails and fireworks aren't exactly 'non-violent'. The police response has been quite measured I think...
US diplomat conversation that was recorded by Russia. Was all over the news, except everyone reported the 'fuck the EU' bit, and not the meat of the conversation.
But how did this president became elected? The girl in the video speaks about dictatorship. But is it one? It bugs me, that we do not hear the voices of those in support of the current government. We always get to see the Maidan and maybe some other confined protests in other cities. In the media, it looks like the whole country is uprising. But that can't be the whole truth. If the government has no support at all, it would not still be in power.
The media is full of propaganda and one-sided stories. I like to see more coverage of how people think aside those confined protest areas!
The president was elected in a hotly contested election that attracted international observers from a number of international election watch groups. They agreed that it was mostly a fair election. Roughly as fair as the USA with hacked voting machines and hanging chads. Or Canada with its fake robocalls sending people to the wrong polling stations.
This is a pure propaganda piece that shows nothing other than some skill in video editing and constructing a sound track.
Think, people, think.
Do you want to spread this message in your countries? This summer when there is an Occupy or 99% demonstration in your country, do you want young men in helmets and masks carrying baseball bats and molotov cocktails to take charge of it? Will you carry a pistol with you at the demonstration to shoot police officers?
If not, then do not distribute this video.
Nothing good comes from the kind of violence that these idiots in Kyiv have started. They sit there at the Maidan with a 24 hour diet of patriotic songs and exhortations to valor and courage. If you wanted to set up a camp to train suicide bombers, this is exactly the kind of propaganda barrage that you would use. These people are brainwashed zombies and they are trying to use YOU to infect everyone else in preparation for the REAL zombie apocalypse.
This is no joke. Just say no to mindless propaganda and learn to THINK FOR YOURSELF. It wouldn't hurt to read some history and learn how much can be achieved by tireless negotiation and compromise to build a common ground and a political party. The Hitler style of party building never ends well.
> Do you want to spread this message in your countries? This summer when there is an Occupy or 99% demonstration in your country, do you want young men in helmets and mass carrying baseball bats and molotov cocktails to take charge of it? Will you carry a pistol with you at the demonstration to shoot police officers?
Depends: Will the police by the time the next big Occupy protests start already have shot people without reason? Tortured others to make them give up? Well, then I may consider these things if I still have the bravery to be part of such a protest.
Thank you for this comment. Those people occupying the square in Kyiv are incapable of any form of compromise. They refused to leave government buildings that they occupied, their leaders refused government posts they were offered, and for example recently one of the judges that sentenced protestors to house arrest was shot on the street to death. Why won't they peacefully wait for the next elections which will be in just a year? After all the current president is democratically elected and nobody disputes this.
To my best knowledge and I'm vividly interested in the topic they were not. They were armed from the start. A common type of weapon was a baseball bat with nails. For instance, one of the three oposition leaders, Mr Klitschko (also known for being a world-class heavy-weight boxer), was attacked with a fire extinguisher after he announced a temporary 'cease-fire' to the people on the square. This demonstrates that the protesters, or at least some if not most of them, are not resonable and by no means peaceful.
Imagine this type of peaceful protest in any western capital and those protesters would be now peaceful in jail.
That's not correct. There were two months of peaceful protest before the Hrushevskogo violence by radicals with bats, there were several raids by police to dismantle Maidan at night when most of people are at home - those efforts were answered peacefully with endurance.
Is blocking government buildings for two months paralysing top offices a peaceful protest? This could not last forever. Again changing the government the usual style is more effective than this.
They refused because we know worth of our government promises: they can promise everything and then silently beat and murder activists, change their mind and decisions unpredictably (Europe learned that recently). There's a real lack of trust in regime and it's based on facts and experience. Next elections are going to be a bloody mess of graft, manipulations and violence we have no legal means to cope with. Offered posts were sham to distract people and bribe for opposition leaders to shut up. Yanukovych seems to be incapable of a compromise with people without force. The only thing that forced him to offer those posts was reaction of the world (sanctions, political measures, threats to freeze his "family" accounts in Western banks) to the violence at Hrushevskogo (even not the violence itself, though any patriot would refuse its post after his country is teared apart by his actions, but it is well known that Yanukovych is not а patriot by any means).
And look what this refusal led to. Wouldn't it make sense to democratically ellect a new president if you don't like this one? At least fewer people would die. And also, you had a president from the opposition and he did absolutely nothing to approach the west. Or maybe it is the case that too many ordinary people of Ukraine don't want to be part of Europe but feel more at home with Russia.
This attitude is a big problem at best and purposefully dangerous at worst. In most systematic oppressive situations the smaller voice gets very few moments to speak. All issues are complex and worse yet opaque, but videos serve as smoke, and when your eye follows the smoke sometimes you find fire and sometimes you dont. So now people can peruse their own facts and share this video to others who might jump in the fray.
That's the answer to the comment about "this post does not gratify intellectual curiosity!", thank you.
Don't get this video as it is, look for additional facts about Ukrainian protests, make your opinion - that is a noble goal of the video, though it should be stressed more for HN.
Propaganda: "Information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view". I mean, come on, a beautiful emotional girl, edited video, music, disturbing images. If this is not a text book example I don't know what is.
Propaganda, by nature does not show objective facts and depend on "useful idiots". There are countless examples, parent mention Nazi Germany which had its own propaganda ministerium. In recent history, during the first Gulf war, we could read how Iraqi soldiers pulled infants from incubators in Kuwait City, turned out to be false, but was part of legitimise the war. In the second Gulf war, do you remember secretary Powell's united nations WMD speech?
Honestly memracom, you come across as someone who has never seen it, or worse still, never known it or even tried. What's more shocking is your comment is on the top.
> Nothing good comes from the kind of violence that these idiots in Kyiv have started.
Pick any revolution and you'll know how any good came out of it. This is the last resort and this is the only way.
You know why this is the only way? Because the dictators or the tyrants didn't grab the power as a result of some misunderstanding. It was well planned for years and then executed with precision. Later, once they had it, they made sure, for decades, that the power stays with them and it goes further and further from the people. Now, I have no love for communism, I consider this best for romantic intellectualism on paper but the worst policy in real life. It's not even about that. It's not even anarchy. It's like fighting for your life, you hit with what you got, and what you can.
So no, dialogue is not going to work. They know they are corrupt, they know they are tyrants, they know they are evil. What are you gonna negotiate with them? All they want is to remain in power (unchecked) and that is exactly what you don't want. Where does that leave you?
Very sad you have to compare the Ukrainian situation to the Occupy movements. The Occupy movements had no clear or single aim, virtually no public support and where mostly non-violent.
Even the measures taken against them where mostly in accordance with civil rights, even making unusual allowances for destroying other people's property. The actual violent incidences are nothing compared to the Ukrainian situation.
When peaceful protests are made impossible, violent revolutions are inevitable. When you put thousands or tens of thousands of people in a protest, depending on how outraged they are against the government, it might erupt into a violent revolution. It's on the government to not let things get that far, but not when the revolution is already knocking at their doors, but way before that. When they abuse the power, and pass laws banning protests, what do you think is going to happen? Because this is what the Ukranian government did.
I think you simply don't understand the situation. You won't understand what it means to have no hope against changing your government, even when the government continues to abuse you, while you do what to change things somehow, and you can't wait decades for it to happen, because the government's abuses are too much too bear.
Americans only pretend they want to change things, by liking stuff on Facebook, and then they just accept the situation and live with with, because they are too lazy to even go to a protest anymore.
Until Americans learn how to do a protest like what happened with the Arab Spring, and is happening in other countries, I think you need to stop teaching others about how to protest against their governments, deal?
And why would this not be propaganda of the West? I am deeply touched by the events in Ukraine and wish it stops. But do we know the complete story? I am neither Pro Russia nor Pro West.
This account is from the events in Kiev of January 22 and 23, but I recommend looking at it as a fairly objective look at how things look on the ground, as opposed to the sensationalism: http://zyalt.livejournal.com/984735.html
Obviously things have escalated now with many deaths, but these narratives of government thugs vs. brave people, or police vs. right wing elements, grow tiresome. This is not like Syria, or Occupy. It is a significant, representative portion of the population demonstrating against the government. Plenty of propaganda from both sides, though one should remember that the Ukrainian (and Russian) governments have much more experience with that than the opposition.
I don't know. I haven't heard one compelling reason why Ukraine would be a dictatorship. Instead I get emotional videos and clips of what's probably pretty isolated police brutality. Enlighten me please.
I'm not Ukranian, but I born on Ukraine and live there 16 years. We leave Ukraine at 1996. I'm watching on Ukraine because my school friends live there and I'm care for them.
Here's my opinion - there are tons video's how truck move in police. How footballs fanatics throw molotov to cops. Now they shoot from guns. This is not "only way" - this is just another one opposition politics game who want grab the power.
Damn, she's pretty hot although the accent kind of kills my boner. I wonder though would I have clicked 'Play' on the video without the screenshot of the pretty Ukrainian blonde girl, say in the place of a Ukrainian male partisan of the same age? Was her message more persuasive through her voice and feminine presentation?
The fact that my Ghostery plugin had registered 16 trackers (including Buzzfeed.com) on thoughtcatalog.com (a "experimental" media group based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, not NYC, not Brooklyn but Williamsburg, Brooklyn). Brief browse through their headlines runs the gamut of my typical FB newsfeed a la Buzzfeed about threesome sex, expensive college education, relationship fidelity and women's body image that exploit the insecure and the well-meaning.
The copy reads like the typical HuffPo copy on the Sochi Olympics (the current "hot-button" issue on "homosexual propaganda laws" but no coverage on Chechnya and Russian oppression on the Norther Caucus where we are "partners against Terrorism" now) /China-Tibet issue (where we celebrate the "peaceful and oppressed" Tibetans" but not the similarly oppressed Muslims in Xinjian)/Arab Spring (where we celebrate the initial "Spring of Democracy" and now remain mum on the chaos that ensues in Libya/Egypt/Syria).
Brave New World got it right. Our media has become the soma and reality MTV to validate our own prejudices and tug at our indignation and emotions.
I'm kindda baffled by some of the comments here. The same place where NSA spying is readily condemned, people seem to be oblivious to all the ways in which manipulation works. Generations of exercising democracy tend to make young people blind to all the ways in which it can be detoured, it seems.
There's no question that this video is propagandistic in nature. Both sides release propaganda materials. The only reason you don't see the other ones is that they're in Russian and therefore of little interest in the Western media. We should definitely think the video as little more than another attempt at manipulation, but a lot of skepticism of another kind is unwarranted.
> Do you want to spread this message in your countries? This summer when there is an Occupy or 99% demonstration in your country, do you want young men in helmets and mass carrying baseball bats and molotov cocktails to take charge of it? Will you carry a pistol with you at the demonstration to shoot police officers?
It's easy to describe the occupants of the Maidan in these terms:
> They sit there at the Maidan with a 24 hour diet of patriotic songs and exhortations to valor and courage. If you wanted to set up a camp to train suicide bombers, this is exactly the kind of propaganda barrage that you would use. These people are brainwashed zombies and they are trying to use YOU to infect everyone else in preparation for the REAL zombie apocalypse.
On the other hand, quickly conducting a poll among them would probably let you find quite a few who are equally disgusted by how the "Occupy" movement turned out. Ukraine isn't exactly a democratic country; people get arrested and beaten just for standing in the wrong place, and they are genuinely outraged that peaceful protest has led them to nothing but leg pain.
I wouldn't want yong men in helmets carrying baseball bats and Molotov cocktails down my street, either. That being said, if you stroll around at an Occupy demonstration, you're probably bound to find more people frustrated that they're living in their cars than car owners in Ukraine. It's a place where, if you get pepper-sprayed by the police, you don't end up giving horrible testimonies in the media while the policeman gets a modest disciplinary sanction. You get beaten and tortured, Western media gives you a pat on the back, the policeman gets a promotion. How exactly do you expect people to deal with this non-violently?
> "THE POLICE IS READY TO SHOOT". But she won't say that it's with rubber slugs or that the protesters are throwing molotovs and shooting fireworks (which can deal nasty damage). Rocks are implied, I think.
You also fail to mention the tear gas and the grenades. More than half of last night's dead are civilians. Unless they're really fucking confused and throwing rocks at each other (which, given their steady resistance, they probably aren't), the police is dealing some fairly nasty damage, too.
> But how did this president became elected? The girl in the video speaks about dictatorship. But is it one? It bugs me, that we do not hear the voices of those in support of the current government. We always get to see the Maidan and maybe some other confined protests in other cities. In the media, it looks like the whole country is uprising. But that can't be the whole truth. If the government has no support at all, it would not still be in power.
This is simply not the way it works. Yes, it's the way it works in the US, in Germany, in UK, in Iceland -- countries that have a democratic tradition of hundreds of years or even more.
Given enough interest and control, people win elections by rigging and stay in power by tight group binding. If the Prime Minister, the President, and the Ministers of Internal Affair and Defense are on good terms, how exactly do you think relinquishing power happens? People sit around in a circle and think hm, maybe we should step down?
I can't believe this kind of submission manages to work on HN. This is pure clickbait devoid of any content. Nothing to spark a debate or "gratify one's intellectual curiosity", to cite the guidelines.
It's just "Click here if you want the good guys (us) to win!", and people are clicking. Amazing. And people are wondering why long-form journalism is dying.
Your comment manages to be on top despite having little content. So?
EDIT: HN is not a journalistic site. So don't worry about the decline of journalism in this context.
Personally, I think it is very legitimate to appeal to sentiments, because of the three means of persuasion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric_%28Aristotle%29) pathos foremost agitates people to actions. And sometimes, it is necessary to act (and inform the public). That you disagree with others on this very issue is no reason for insult.
In Rome, do as the Romans. Simias's post has much more content than the video, and makes a self-contained argument. The link submitted presents a page with a video imploring us to... what.. share the video? Because it will make a difference? Why? Also, what are we making a difference in again? Why is the government a dictatorship? When did that happen? (I'm not asking, I'm saying the video doesn't answer any of the above questions, which are critical to the appeal for support)
Honest question, is there such a thing as down-vote for submissions (not comments) on HN? After reading a ton of StackOverflow election posts, I believe adding more self-moderation to HN frequenters could help reduce link bait and improve overall quality. That is, the mods here are active, but so are the readers.
122 comments
[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 239 ms ] threadThe article writer could at least describe the situation after the video player...
What is it about?
Cheers!
It's a young woman talking about the situation in Ukraine.
The only reason the US and by proxy, the EU cares about the Ukraine is so they can put another load of Patriot Missiles there; to protect Europe from Iran and North Korea of course, it has nothing to do with gaining a strategic advantage over Russia.
The cold war never ended.
The biggest group of protesters are all right-wing and not at all want to belong to Russia, if you ask the opinion of the other part of the Ukranian people you will hear different stories, we only get to see the destruction and get to hear the pro-right-wing protesters. The statement that everything will be "better" when they will belong to Europe is also a misconception. A lot of people in Ukraine live of a pension that ranges around 100 - 200 Euro per month, now don't think these people can afford food from the neighborhood supermarket, prices are too high, they can only survive by going to markets and buying from farms. Imagine what happens when they will join Europe, prices will inflate, pensions will not go up because there is no money for it ... Etc... There's much more behind it ...
Nobody cares about the people, it's all about control and resources.
Joining the EU is probably the worst thing that can happen to Ukraine. Only high performing nations benefit from the EU, everyone else gets screwed by the regulations.
I remember reading an article that had certain people expressing outrage over the fact that Russia would scrap its free trade agreement with Ukraine if they join the EU. They didn't seem to realise that if Russia didn't do this, the russian markets would be flooded with cheap crap from the EU.
This is not the whole story. Broke in their time nations like Ireland or Portugal benefited immensely from joining the EU. While they are not anywhere near "high performance" still, participating in common labor and trade market with enforced regulations standards pulled them out of mud.
Also let's not forget that the alternative is integration into Russian zone of influence. You can doubt the merits of EU, but life as a Russian colony would not bring prosperity (let alone justice) to Ukraine, no matter how many petrodollars circulate in the metropole. Ukrainans will always be an afterthought.
And now they get expensive, quality stuff from China and Bangladesh indeed, makes sense.
Russia cared enough to provide several billion dollar relief loans and a 30% discount on gas prices to cancel the negotiations with the EU.
The EU didn't offer any financial aid, because they didn't care particularly much for Ukraine joining the EU.
That's like saying that USA people are dumb MacDonald eathing jerks because they have allowed NSA to happen.
OK your name contains "emo" so maybe that's why you don't get it but that's ad hominem from my side.
Of course the people of Ukraine have visions and dreams about their future. What you are seeing in this video though, or on any western media (and eastern media for that matter) is not indicative of what the Ukrainian people actually want. Jumping onto either bandwagon only because of what you read in your twitter feed is just stupid.
Your first comment is about US only and doesn't mention Russia. You did that only with your last comment "(and eastern media for that matter)".
A good discussion generally consists of points and opinions. There, I said nothing too.
Well, get back to your geography homework and have a look where the Ukraine is located...
"The Aegis BMD system is the linchpin of the Obama administration's plan for a missile defense umbrella in Europe intended to protect U.S. forces and NATO allies from Iranian short- and medium-range ballistic missiles."
Do your homework. (although I did mislabel the missile system, its aegis, not patriot that are being used here)
Well, I'm European and you can't expect me to know details about every military protection plan from the US administration (which are surely a lot), can you?
Googeling it wouldn't have returned useful information with two wrong facts I guess ;)
...and by the way: your link said nothing about the Ukraine! :D :D So again, look at google maps!
edit: as for nothing being said about ukraine, well......America hasn't gotten the Ukraine under its grips yet? Do I have to spell this out to you? seriously man.
The problem with videos like this is that they provide no context. It doesn't tell you a damn thing about what's going on. It's a video of a pretty girl shot with a DSLR with a shallow depth of field. Is this even shot in the Ukraine? No idea. Could be a studio pretty much anywhere.
I don't know what's going on in Kiev. This wiki article is all I could find that is well cited: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_up,_Ukraine!
I can recut this video and replace it with scenes from Los Angeles, Oakland, Chicago or New York. Just show some clips of police brutalitiy and say, "Our politicians are corrupt."
I tried to really dig into the affair, but it's too complicated with both sides corrupt (like it typically happens in the former USSR), Putin blaming EU for everything while seeding billions to the Ukrainian government, non-transparent government-opposition talks, news sites hunting for sensations... It feels like it's impossible to make an objective (or close to it) idea about the whole situation. And this video isn't helping one bit.
As much as I hate the current Ukrainian government, I'm not sure they have anything better. Pretty horrible situation.
-- George Orwell
There are places on earth where mere non-violent non co-operation just can't work. Basically because no one knows what you are doing, why you are doing and what your actual story is.
If the opponent force is simply too overwhelming, powerful and has too much sway. Non violent non co operation doesn't help much.
But what happened? Oh right. Peaceful protest brought down the Soviet block.
They did a trial run with Solidarity in Poland (not coincidentally the home country of the pope at the time) and then rolled it out on a larger scale after that succeeded.
But every instance of non-violent non-co operation(Lets call it with the name Gandhi gave to it - ahimsa/satyagraha) works only because of the opponents get weak after a point of time. Indian Independence movement worked because in the course of WW2 the British lost the gumption they had earlier to control a nation as big as India. They were running out of resources, ideas and means to stay in India anymore. Gandhi's movement gave British too much bad across the world. Plus WW2 and WW1 had really taken a toll on the British. So it was a mixture of all these things + Gandhi's movement that make ahims/satyagraha work.
I guess its the same with USSR too? Didn't this whole cold war thing come too heavy on the Soviets? The way I understand they were in deep financial crisis and were facing an imminent defeat in Afghanistan.
This looks on the outside very successful regarding suppressing Sukarno. After all the Dutch succeeded in keeping him contained until the Japanese arrived. However in a closer look you see a slow and steady development of a network of support that Sukarno built in Sumatra while in exile, which was used to support his efforts on his return to Java.
So I am not sure it is so clear.
Another interesting example might be Gorbachev in Russia. Here's someone who was quite clearly a communist and a Marxist, who, nonetheless, was not above critiquing the existing Soviet system in relation to the West and in so doing exposed cracks that caused the whole system to collapse. Gorbachev of course built on Khrushchev in this regard, but it shows that what is important is the alliance and solidarity, and to the extent that non-violence is conducive to that (and it usually is) it usually is helpful.
Assad in Syria actually used Gandhis example to win in the end: He made sure the most rational, less radical and especially the non-violent opposition was crushed first.
All these "ethnic raids" came from basically "nowhere", maybe they were also encouraged by the regime, and then this contributed to more violence. End result: No opposition that can effectively be supported from the outside, and vanishing sympathy or compassion for the most massive genocide in recent history, much less any hope of peace.
In Cuba, on the contrary, Castro is facing a new, well organized and well disciplined opposition, and is finding it ever harder to attack them.
Basic point here: The stronger force has an advantage when the weaker opponent resorts to hatred and violence. That is why in China, Turkey, Syria and Ukraine we see the government's media outlets put a huge effort into portraying any dissidence as violent and hateful...
The current protests erupted when one of the first steps along that path was openly scuttled by Russia applying a huge amount of financial leverage.
It is true that only half of Ukraine wants to join the west, but it's also clear that this is a clash between Russian interests and that of the European-minded population in Ukraine; not with EU/US in any significant way.
There is a lot of schadenfreude going on of course because it's a huge blemish on Sochi as Putin's PR offensive and Western media are eager to rub it in as much as they can.
Ironically enough, according to rumours, this all started because Putin ordered Ukraine's president to 'fix this' before the Olympics started and the unsuccessful police crackdown started the current chain of escalations.
Is that not correct?
(I did not read the article, just looked at the charts, which look to be in agreement with my personal experience).
I would say that about 20% of the very east part of the country is largely pro Russia, as well as most of Crimea. But even the pro-Russia people don't necessarily think Ukraine should join Russia, almost everyone want's the corruption to stop, as you have pointed out. And I have yet to find a single Ukrainian, Russian speaking or not, who would have anything good to say about Putin. Of course, in most parts of Russia, outside Moscow, you will rarely find anyone who doesn't outright hate that bustard.
I think most people want both Yanukovych and Putin out of their country. So maybe you are right, not every one is pro-EU, but most I would say are unti-Putin.
What I want to know is why can't Kyiv negotiate its way into the EU in stages, step by step, and at each stage the agreement would be small enough that it could be explained to the people of Ukraine and they could vote in a referendum based on the facts, rather than some fantasy ideal of "sign document, get rich".
I am very curious about the punitive aspect of it though.
I've never heard of it and unless it's hidden deep inside the treaty I also can't seem to find any punitive measures there.
Do you have any pointers on that?
I feel everyone gets a temporary jolt of validation from being voted up. However, it should be in exchanged for adding value (being insightful, interesting, useful, funny).
Well, the protesters can't exactly afford highly sophisticated weapons made to inflict pain but not (too much) damage. They don't have the luxury of spending tax money on expensive equipment. The only reason there are rubber bullets is because they probably don't find it in their self-interest to use something more heavy at the current time. The government can slaughter its own people in a matter of hours if they want to, and face no resistance from some pathetic molotov cocktails.
Maybe the video is one-sided (I haven't seen it yet), but comparing the two sides in the way you do does not make any sense to me.
Also, I think it'd be useful to think about how western countries would handle this kind of "protest".
It seems that Kiev, the capital, happens to be in a region that is dominated by Ukrainian-speaking people, who feel closer to (Western/Central) Europe than to Russia. Therefore, a lot of protests are happening in the capital, which makes it easy for the media to paint a picture of an entire country with a pro-European bent in revolt against its pro-Russian government. That narrative conveniently ignores the huge pro-Russian part of the country.
Things would play out very differently if Kiev were in the pro-Russian part of the Ukraine.
So why can't the Ukrainians solve their problems the EU way?
And I don't think that if you talk with Belgians many will agree that their model is in any way, shape or form to be used as a model for other countries.
Kiev was settled by a group that, although they were linguistically part of Northern rather than Eastern Europe, gave their name to Russia.
Fun fact, this group also effectively began the Russian Orthodox tradition.
I am referring of course to the Kievian Rus, for whom Russia was named, but who were basically to the Russians what the Normans were to the French....
Don't get me wrong, the government is far from being a good one and there surly are reasons to demonstrate. But it's elected and the OSCE said it was a fair election overall [1].
Well, in the end I must agree to Aoyagi: this is one side of a complex situation and although it is undoubtedly touching, it's not the whole truth behind the current situation.
[1] http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/110818
So take it with a grain of salt, since it seems unclear sponsors are learning to manipulate these kinds of protests into their own agendas. With some measure of success I would also add.
It is time for EU to do some real actions (not sanctions...). They should propose some real alternative options, even for Yanukovich - maybe a full EU membership or something similar, bit more than just Association Agreement.
If it was Bosnia or something with a small population, it would be doable. It's political and economic suicide for the EU to offer full membership on a whim like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSxaa-67yGM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26079957
The media is full of propaganda and one-sided stories. I like to see more coverage of how people think aside those confined protest areas!
Think, people, think.
Do you want to spread this message in your countries? This summer when there is an Occupy or 99% demonstration in your country, do you want young men in helmets and masks carrying baseball bats and molotov cocktails to take charge of it? Will you carry a pistol with you at the demonstration to shoot police officers?
If not, then do not distribute this video.
Nothing good comes from the kind of violence that these idiots in Kyiv have started. They sit there at the Maidan with a 24 hour diet of patriotic songs and exhortations to valor and courage. If you wanted to set up a camp to train suicide bombers, this is exactly the kind of propaganda barrage that you would use. These people are brainwashed zombies and they are trying to use YOU to infect everyone else in preparation for the REAL zombie apocalypse.
This is no joke. Just say no to mindless propaganda and learn to THINK FOR YOURSELF. It wouldn't hurt to read some history and learn how much can be achieved by tireless negotiation and compromise to build a common ground and a political party. The Hitler style of party building never ends well.
Depends: Will the police by the time the next big Occupy protests start already have shot people without reason? Tortured others to make them give up? Well, then I may consider these things if I still have the bravery to be part of such a protest.
They do that in Canada. I've lived here for 3 years and there have been several incidents in the press. Ukraine has no monopoly on this.
Imagine this type of peaceful protest in any western capital and those protesters would be now peaceful in jail.
Don't get this video as it is, look for additional facts about Ukrainian protests, make your opinion - that is a noble goal of the video, though it should be stressed more for HN.
Propaganda, by nature does not show objective facts and depend on "useful idiots". There are countless examples, parent mention Nazi Germany which had its own propaganda ministerium. In recent history, during the first Gulf war, we could read how Iraqi soldiers pulled infants from incubators in Kuwait City, turned out to be false, but was part of legitimise the war. In the second Gulf war, do you remember secretary Powell's united nations WMD speech?
> Nothing good comes from the kind of violence that these idiots in Kyiv have started.
Pick any revolution and you'll know how any good came out of it. This is the last resort and this is the only way.
You know why this is the only way? Because the dictators or the tyrants didn't grab the power as a result of some misunderstanding. It was well planned for years and then executed with precision. Later, once they had it, they made sure, for decades, that the power stays with them and it goes further and further from the people. Now, I have no love for communism, I consider this best for romantic intellectualism on paper but the worst policy in real life. It's not even about that. It's not even anarchy. It's like fighting for your life, you hit with what you got, and what you can.
So no, dialogue is not going to work. They know they are corrupt, they know they are tyrants, they know they are evil. What are you gonna negotiate with them? All they want is to remain in power (unchecked) and that is exactly what you don't want. Where does that leave you?
Even the measures taken against them where mostly in accordance with civil rights, even making unusual allowances for destroying other people's property. The actual violent incidences are nothing compared to the Ukrainian situation.
No sign of any civil rights there...
I think you simply don't understand the situation. You won't understand what it means to have no hope against changing your government, even when the government continues to abuse you, while you do what to change things somehow, and you can't wait decades for it to happen, because the government's abuses are too much too bear.
Americans only pretend they want to change things, by liking stuff on Facebook, and then they just accept the situation and live with with, because they are too lazy to even go to a protest anymore.
Until Americans learn how to do a protest like what happened with the Arab Spring, and is happening in other countries, I think you need to stop teaching others about how to protest against their governments, deal?
Obviously things have escalated now with many deaths, but these narratives of government thugs vs. brave people, or police vs. right wing elements, grow tiresome. This is not like Syria, or Occupy. It is a significant, representative portion of the population demonstrating against the government. Plenty of propaganda from both sides, though one should remember that the Ukrainian (and Russian) governments have much more experience with that than the opposition.
For me it would be enough to get scared.
Here's my opinion - there are tons video's how truck move in police. How footballs fanatics throw molotov to cops. Now they shoot from guns. This is not "only way" - this is just another one opposition politics game who want grab the power.
The fact that my Ghostery plugin had registered 16 trackers (including Buzzfeed.com) on thoughtcatalog.com (a "experimental" media group based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, not NYC, not Brooklyn but Williamsburg, Brooklyn). Brief browse through their headlines runs the gamut of my typical FB newsfeed a la Buzzfeed about threesome sex, expensive college education, relationship fidelity and women's body image that exploit the insecure and the well-meaning.
The copy reads like the typical HuffPo copy on the Sochi Olympics (the current "hot-button" issue on "homosexual propaganda laws" but no coverage on Chechnya and Russian oppression on the Norther Caucus where we are "partners against Terrorism" now) /China-Tibet issue (where we celebrate the "peaceful and oppressed" Tibetans" but not the similarly oppressed Muslims in Xinjian)/Arab Spring (where we celebrate the initial "Spring of Democracy" and now remain mum on the chaos that ensues in Libya/Egypt/Syria).
Brave New World got it right. Our media has become the soma and reality MTV to validate our own prejudices and tug at our indignation and emotions.
There's no question that this video is propagandistic in nature. Both sides release propaganda materials. The only reason you don't see the other ones is that they're in Russian and therefore of little interest in the Western media. We should definitely think the video as little more than another attempt at manipulation, but a lot of skepticism of another kind is unwarranted.
> Do you want to spread this message in your countries? This summer when there is an Occupy or 99% demonstration in your country, do you want young men in helmets and mass carrying baseball bats and molotov cocktails to take charge of it? Will you carry a pistol with you at the demonstration to shoot police officers?
It's easy to describe the occupants of the Maidan in these terms:
> They sit there at the Maidan with a 24 hour diet of patriotic songs and exhortations to valor and courage. If you wanted to set up a camp to train suicide bombers, this is exactly the kind of propaganda barrage that you would use. These people are brainwashed zombies and they are trying to use YOU to infect everyone else in preparation for the REAL zombie apocalypse.
On the other hand, quickly conducting a poll among them would probably let you find quite a few who are equally disgusted by how the "Occupy" movement turned out. Ukraine isn't exactly a democratic country; people get arrested and beaten just for standing in the wrong place, and they are genuinely outraged that peaceful protest has led them to nothing but leg pain.
I wouldn't want yong men in helmets carrying baseball bats and Molotov cocktails down my street, either. That being said, if you stroll around at an Occupy demonstration, you're probably bound to find more people frustrated that they're living in their cars than car owners in Ukraine. It's a place where, if you get pepper-sprayed by the police, you don't end up giving horrible testimonies in the media while the policeman gets a modest disciplinary sanction. You get beaten and tortured, Western media gives you a pat on the back, the policeman gets a promotion. How exactly do you expect people to deal with this non-violently?
> "THE POLICE IS READY TO SHOOT". But she won't say that it's with rubber slugs or that the protesters are throwing molotovs and shooting fireworks (which can deal nasty damage). Rocks are implied, I think.
You also fail to mention the tear gas and the grenades. More than half of last night's dead are civilians. Unless they're really fucking confused and throwing rocks at each other (which, given their steady resistance, they probably aren't), the police is dealing some fairly nasty damage, too.
> But how did this president became elected? The girl in the video speaks about dictatorship. But is it one? It bugs me, that we do not hear the voices of those in support of the current government. We always get to see the Maidan and maybe some other confined protests in other cities. In the media, it looks like the whole country is uprising. But that can't be the whole truth. If the government has no support at all, it would not still be in power.
This is simply not the way it works. Yes, it's the way it works in the US, in Germany, in UK, in Iceland -- countries that have a democratic tradition of hundreds of years or even more.
Given enough interest and control, people win elections by rigging and stay in power by tight group binding. If the Prime Minister, the President, and the Ministers of Internal Affair and Defense are on good terms, how exactly do you think relinquishing power happens? People sit around in a circle and think hm, maybe we should step down?
It's just "Click here if you want the good guys (us) to win!", and people are clicking. Amazing. And people are wondering why long-form journalism is dying.
EDIT: HN is not a journalistic site. So don't worry about the decline of journalism in this context.
Personally, I think it is very legitimate to appeal to sentiments, because of the three means of persuasion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric_%28Aristotle%29) pathos foremost agitates people to actions. And sometimes, it is necessary to act (and inform the public). That you disagree with others on this very issue is no reason for insult.