Unfortunately not, these were all real people. These (former) friends had no problem ignoring everything I was saying, telling me to stop spreading bullshit and referring me to endless BBC/RFE/Newsweek articles to 'prove' their point. I think the most disgusting were the concern trolls, e.g. "I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with reality right now, because I thought you were a good person"
I avoid talking about the war(s) generally. Certain of my relatives seem to insist, but I have a technique one might call crap-Socrates where I just ask questions which lead to the other party getting caught up in her or his contradictions and suspending the useless convo for awhile. So my friends remain my friends, insofar as I have any.
I could practice a similar technique with lovers of capitalism but most cap fans have learned to avoid me.
It's a good sentiment, but in speaking about Ukraine one comes up against the 'wall of propaganda', i.e. that people really do trust the MSM and believe that anything negative about Ukraine or positive about Russia is de facto Russian propaganda. Ultimately it's a wall that people have to take down for themselves
Unfortunately not, these were all real people. These (former) friends had no problem ignoring everything I was saying, telling me to stop spreading bullshit and referring me to endless BBC/RFE/Newsweek articles to 'prove' their point. I think the most disgusting were the concern trolls, e.g. "I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with reality right now, because I thought you were a good person"
I avoid talking about the war(s) generally. Certain of my relatives seem to insist, but I have a technique one might call crap-Socrates where I just ask questions which lead to the other party getting caught up in her or his contradictions and suspending the useless convo for awhile. So my friends remain my friends, insofar as I have any.
I could practice a similar technique with lovers of capitalism but most cap fans have learned to avoid me.
It's a good sentiment, but in speaking about Ukraine one comes up against the 'wall of propaganda', i.e. that people really do trust the MSM and believe that anything negative about Ukraine or positive about Russia is de facto Russian propaganda. Ultimately it's a wall that people have to take down for themselves