“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” A keen observation by John Stuart Mills. Little did he know that Russia would operationalize this point to wage war on the democratic world. Quite literally, the main task of Russian propaganda is to convince the “good men” to do nothing while the Russian state attacks its neighbours, helps bloody dictators to stay in power, and supports terrorism around the world.
The propaganda campaign relies on two basic tools. First, it promotes magical thinking that somehow troubles will disappear by themselves. For example, “Some good tsar will instantly solve my problems”, “Putin is seriously sick and will die soon”, or “Russian elites/ Russian people will overthrow Putin.” Second, it stimulates learned helplessness: “I cannot change anything anyway,” “ I am just a small person,” “the global elites control everything.” If enough people believe these messages, a would-be autocrat can do outrageous things with minimal force.
Indeed, Putin needs only social media (another Western invention!) and troll factories (Timothy Snyder explains very clearly how Russian demotivation campaigns work) to send scores of Russians into a meat-grinder war or to bring pro-Russian populists to power in other states. In contrast, Lenin and Stalin needed mass terror to force peoples of the Soviet Union into obedience, and military force in addition to billions of dollars to promote communist parties around the world.
Consider the following statements: “Soviet people will live under communism in 1981”, “Russia will be democratic”, “I will end the war in 24 hours”. What do they have in common? All of them are examples of magical thinking. There is no credible plan grounded in the facts to support these statements. How could a planned economy plagued by gross inefficiency and bureaucracy based on loyalty rather than merit build communism? How can Trump end the war if Putin doesn’t want to stop and perceives Trump as weak? How can Russia become democratic if Russian people do not aspire for democracy? But those who believe in these statements do not need to know the “how” part because they are waiting for a miracle.
The “learned helplessness” is another form of the same doing-nothing paradigm. You are convinced that you cannot change anything so there is no point in action. And if you choose inaction, the “you cannot change anything” statement becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Recall how Russia pushed the West into inaction by drawing “red lines” which considerably slowed down the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and thus allowed Russia to occupy more land and kill more Ukrainians. Many governments in the West were paralyzed because they felt that they could not do anything in response to Putin. “Kyiv will fall in three days, it is futile to help Ukraine” was a common theme. If Ukrainians were equally paralyzed, Kyiv would have fallen in three days. But Ukrainians chose to fight, thus proving that Kremlin’s “red lines” are fake and that, with enough resources, they can defeat Russian aggression.
We have seen many times that a small group of courageous people – sometimes one person – can make a pivotal change. Rosa Parks’ action led to the end of segregation in the US. 79 Ukrainian peacekeepers prevented Bosnian town of Zepa from becoming another Srebrenitsa. Several thousand members of Ukrainian Insurgent Army and Lithuanian “forest brothers” organized uprisings in Kengir, Norylsk and other Soviet concentration camps which eventually led to dismantling of the GULAG system.
Now Ukraine confronts the combined forces of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. Some choose to wait for a miracle (“Russians will rise against Putin”) or freeze in despair (“Russia can’t lose because it has too many people”). But this is exactly what Putin wants. Because Russia can prevail only if the democracies choose inaction instead of supporting Ukrainian victory.
There are plenty of things which democratic governments can do: use frozen Russian assets to provide weapons for Ukraine, apply more sanctions on the crumbling Russian economy, introduce an oil-for-food program, prohibit political parties and NGOs in their countries from receiving Russian money, ban Russian media.
Moreover, there are many things that each of us can do to make a difference. For example, you can donate to Ukrainian organizations. Call your representatives and ask them to support Ukraine. Sign up for an independent media and start reading and asking questions instead of watching TikTok and repeating slogans. Be ready to protect your freedom and freedom of others. Don’t wait until they come for you. Be brave like Ukraine!
Attention
The authors do not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have no relevant affiliations
