Russian Skaters, Politics, and the Russia-Ukraine War

[Erin9]

Yes...very difficult I'm struggling with my feelings a lot...I have become very invested in skating since Sochi (although I enjoyed it before...one of my first memories is going ice skating it was so much fun!) and now it feels like I've been living a lie. Like the biggest idiot in the world.

Of course this is small potatoes compared to the sufferings of Ukraine, so I'm aware I need to get over myself.

I’m afraid I haven’t paid attention. Who was your profile picture of? Plushenko?

Sorry you’ve been having a rough time. It’s difficult/disappointing in general when a favorite athlete, star, etc shows an….unfavorable side to themselves.

 

[4everchan]

Yes- I can see that for athletes, but also for some Russians in general, after being ostracized by a portion of the world.

One wishes it could also trigger the opposite reaction.

 

[Erin9]

One wishes it could also trigger the opposite reaction.

Agreed. It’s possible though.

 

[lariko]

yup.. cannot compare... i experienced a true cultural shock when I moved but nothing like that. I am lost for words these days. I am devastated. I could try convincing myself that this war is "far far away" but it just is not.

Wish it was, yes.

 

[anonymoose_au]

I’m afraid I haven’t paid attention. Who was your profile picture of? Plushenko?

Yes it was.

Sorry you’ve been having a rough time. It’s difficult/disappointing in general when a favorite athlete, star, etc shows an….unfavorable side to themselves.

The hardest part is it makes me uncertain of my ability to judge people, especially those I don't know. How can I be a fan of another skater again? Who knows what they really think and if some day they might reveal something horrible.

 

[Erin9]

Yes it was.


The hardest part is it makes me uncertain of my ability to judge people, especially those I don't know. How can I be a fan of another skater again? Who knows what they really think and if some day they might reveal something horrible.

I thought it was probably him. He’s certainly a great skater.

Awww….sorry to hear you’re doubting your judgment. Hopefully, one day you’ll be able to be a fan of another skater again. There are so many wonderful ones.

 

[beachmouse]

If you go into the realm of music or literature or film/television, there are some truly awful people (*cough* Bill Cosby *cough*) who are truly talented and put out great bodies of high quality and entertaining work.

The hard part is deciding if you are the kind of person who can separate the artist from the work or if they’re too entwined. I usually come down on finding it difficult to appreciate an artist with views I can’t respect but others are different.

 

[4everchan]

If you go into the realm of music or literature or film/television, there are some truly awful people (*cough* Bill Cosby *cough*) who are truly talented and put out great bodies of high quality and entertaining work.

The hard part is deciding if you are the kind of person who can separate the artist from the work or if they’re too entwined. I usually come down on finding it difficult to appreciate an artist with views I can’t respect but others are different.

yeah... it's pretty tough to forgive artists/athletes who are in favour of invading a country resulting in so many destroyed lives.

 

[Novalis]

Yes...very difficult I'm struggling with my feelings a lot...I have become very invested in skating since Sochi (although I enjoyed it before...one of my first memories is going ice skating it was so much fun!) and now it feels like I've been living a lie. Like the biggest idiot in the world.

Of course this is small potatoes compared to the sufferings of Ukraine, so I'm aware I need to get over myself.

You're not alone here. I have also been living in a lie. I failed to see how corrupt and intertwined with politics the whole Russian fs scene was/is. Getting results with what I now believe is a widespread systematic doping use (not here to debate this) and other questionable means only to support a militaristic nationalistic agenda. An evil machinery truly.

I'll be watching the Worlds for sure. And will not pay any attention to whatever competition takes place in Russia simultaneously.

 

[lariko]

Personally, I feel far more outrage toward the officers who order Ukrainian cities to be levelled instead of using the arms and armor to remove the obvious root of all evil, than figure-skaters. That said, yes, anyone who personally supports Putin and war, wears Z, is off my list of humans until they repent. I know that the most isolated and powerless people in Russia are those who are against the war, so completely blocking all communications imo is not right.

 

[florin]

Personally, I feel far more outrage toward the officers who order Ukrainian cities to be levelled instead of using the arms and armor to remove the obvious root of all evil, than figure-skaters. That said, yes, anyone who personally supports Putin and war, wears Z, is off my list of humans until they repent. I know that the most isolated and powerless people in Russia are those who are against the war, so completely blocking all communications imo is not right.

Do you use such actions - exclude persons from the list of human - only to Russians?

Did you apply such actions to the Americans with their culture of glorifying the army (the famous "thank you for your service") when their army was killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans? What is your attitude towards Turkey - they fought against the syrian Kurds a few years ago. Are Armenians and Azerbaijanis supporting their armies in the recent war that was between them still humans for you?

 

[lariko]

Do you use such actions - exclude persons from the list of human - only to Russians?

Did you apply such actions to the Americans with their culture of glorifying the army (the famous "thank you for your service") when ttheir army was killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans? What is your attitude towards Turkey - they fought against the syrian Kurds a few years ago. Are Armenians and Azerbaijanis supporting their armies in the recent war that was between them still humans for you?

Anyone warmongering, yes. But at the moment, Russians are top of the list because they had just made us all pariahs for no discernable reason.

 

[florin]

We in Ukraine are fighting with such fans of excluding people from the list of human.

 

[florin]

Anyone warmongering, yes. But at the moment, Russians are top of the list because they had just made us all pariahs for no discernable reason.

I don't understand what you said.

 

[lariko]

I don't understand what you said.

Russians bathed Ukraine in blood, and themselves--in dirt (I would use a stronger word, but, forum rules...). Which, sadly, includes me, since I was born in Moscow. That's why I am so angry at the Russians specifically right now. Incensed even. You don't live well yourselves there, and won't let everyone else live well. Russia will always reach for you and yank you into the quagmire of its endless misery and madness.

 

[florin]

Russians bathed Ukraine in blood, and themselves--in dirt (I would use a stronger word, but, forum rules...). Which, sadly, includes me, since I was born in Moscow. That's why I am so angry at the Russians specifically right now. Incensed even. You don't live well yourselves there, and won't let everyone else live well. Russia will always reach for you and yank you into the quagmire of its endless misery and madness.

Oh, I get it. You are an ethnic Russian, or you are considered such in the West.

But you have to agree - it was easy for me to get confused You write "You Russians" that is, you distance yourself from the Russians, and at the same time write that you are a pariah.

Well, what can I say? Maybe some kind of rite of renunciation of Russianness will help you? Go to the square of your town and burn the volumes of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Chekhov in front of witnesses. Maybe this will help

btw, why did you decide that we are not living well? I don't know - I live well. I am well fed, shod, live in a separate apartment, have a job, there are no social cataclysms around me. Personally, I feel like a free person, no matter what stories you tell each other in the West (that Russians live in the black, gloomy realm of lies and slavery of their terrible tyrant-tsar evil mad Vladimir )

 

[whatif]

I spoke to a couple of Russian figure skaters recently and all of them genuinely support Putin.
More so than they did before the invasion.
They believe the cause is just and Ukraine deserves what it is getting for being a nazi arbor, an American outpost aiding the US to attack Russia and an existential threat to Russian people.

 

[lariko]

Oh, I get it. You are an ethnic Russian, or you are considered such in the West.

But you have to agree - it was easy for me to get confused You write "You Russians" that is, you distance yourself from the Russians, and at the same time write that you are a pariah.

Well, what can I say? Maybe some kind of rite of renunciation of Russianness will help you? Go to the square of your town and burn the volumes of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Chekhov in front of witnesses. Maybe this will help

btw, why did you decide that we are not living well? I don't know - I live well. I am well fed, shod, live in a separate apartment, have a job, there are no social cataclysms around me. Personally, I feel like a free person, no matter what stories you tell each other in the West (that Russians live in the black, gloomy realm of lies and slavery of their terrible tyrant-tsar evil mad Vladimir )

I am trying to initiate a process of renouncing citizenship with the Russian consulate, but Russians don’t even respond to the emails. Once they are open if that ever happens, i will undertake a trip to Toronto and sit it out there if I have to, until they agree to process the documents. I will not be Russian after this, period. And, yes, as someone who left 25 years ago, I feel zero connection to this Russia of yours. It’s not my country. I am a Canadian. But, thanks to my unfortunate ethnicity, I have to feel like I had been whispering advice into Putin’s ear. I would happily drop Pushkin if it means my hands are clean of this war and Russia could never screw my life again.

 

[florin]

I am trying to initiate a process of renouncing citizenship with the Russian consulate, but they don’t respond to the emails. Once they are open if that ever happens, i will undertake a trip to Toronto and sit it out there if I have to, until they agree to process the documents. I will not be Russian after this, period.

I sincerely wish you good luck, really. Russian is a state of mind, a mentality. If you have such an attitude, then you are obviously not Russian.

The problem is that Westerners will never recognize you as an equal, deep down they will know that you are an outsider, alas. They constantly declare their tolerance, narcissistically admire their beautiful words about it and empty actions. But when it comes to serious (well, like now) - and you're a pariah.

I'm not generalizing right now. I understand perfectly well that individuals can treat you as an equal. But I'm talking about society.

And in this regard, I feel sorry for you.

 

[lariko]

I sincerely wish you good luck, really. Russian is a state of mind, a mentality. If you have such an attitude, then you are obviously not Russian.

The problem is that Westerners will never recognize you as an equal, deep down they will know that you are an outsider, alas. They constantly declare their tolerance, narcissistically admire their beautiful words about it and empty actions. But when it comes to serious (well, like now) - and you're a pariah.

I'm not generalizing right now. I understand perfectly well that individuals can treat you as an equal. But I'm talking about society.

And in this regard, I feel sorry for you.

It’s enough for me to do the right thing. I’d rather be taking scorn here for what the Russians do, than being a party to bombing Kyiv and Odessa.