Queers attack Intars Rešetins while Nevzorov attacks Artis Pabriks
The nation's beloved actor and director, Intars Rešetins, has had to feel on his own skin the new "liberal" reality these days after he dared to write next to this picture: "Where are we going?"
Following this seemingly innocent question, massive virtual bullying was unleashed against Rešetins in the best traditions of totalitarian sects, accusing the "backwards" actor of intolerance, homo/transphobia and Putinism (?!), since the photo in question is also actively used by the Kremlin for its propaganda purposes.
It should be clarified that the photograph taken in Paris at the July 14 (storming of the Bastille) celebrations shows US Public Health Service Admiral Rachel Levine and US nuclear engineer Sam Brinton. Rachel Levin completed her gender reassignment in 2011 and both are activists in the LGBTQ community.
One can only agree that discussing other people's clothing or physical appearance is not good manners, but one must also agree that it is a fairly widespread practice, unless the person being discussed is considered to be on a “protected” list. Everyone can ridicule and mock the dressing styles of different politicians or influencers as much as they like, so from this point of view, the accusations against Rešetins seem a bit far-fetched.
This little incident might not have needed to be written about, because every public figure should realize that nowadays, just like in any other time, there is an etiquette of good behavior, and within this etiquette, to show the slightest confusion about a man in a dress or in women’s shoes is only to show one's "backwardness". One's not belonging to "fine society". Rešetins soon realized his mistake and deleted the tweet. The matter is exhausted, and we can move on.
The problem is different. After almost eighty years of peace, Europe is once again in the throes of a devastating, bloody war in which people are dying. Thousands and tens of thousands of people. Nobody has the slightest idea how many more lives this war will take before it is ended and the absolute evil is neutralized (defeated).
I fully agree that war cannot be a justification for lowering the moral bar for human beings, but at the same time, we have to wonder whether war is the right time for social experimentation and its promotion. As they say on social networks, I’m just asking. The picture of the admiral in a dress and women's shoes does not make one believe that everyone in France, where the picture was taken, understands the gravity of the situation coming from Putin's Russia as an existential threat.
If the Western political class were to demonstrate a united, unshakeable determination to give a sharp counter to Putin's aggressive plans, there would be no question. Unfortunately, the only demonstration of this unbreakable resolve is the sharp, collective attacks on the likes of Rešetins, who can be accused of insufficient tolerance of the so-called queer community for the slightest deviation from the “general line”.
This is not just about Latvia and Rešetins' tweet. It is about the Western world as a whole. There is no belief that the entire "civilized" world has joined hands, following the example of Coelho, to help Ukraine overcome the evils that have befallen it. Every time Western leaders open their mouths and start talking about a “crisis” or a “conflict” in Ukraine (just as Russian officials try not to use the word “war”), the feeling does not go away that they are holding a hot potato in their mouths that they would rather spit out. They just can't afford to do it. So they are in the throes of trying to somehow squeeze between Scylla and Charybdis; between supporting Ukraine and trying not to anger Putin too much.
In Latvia, Defense Minister Artis Pabriks is one of those politicians who is considered to be an ardent defender of Ukraine and a staunch opponent of Putin's policies. But I use the word "considered" for a reason, because he too has come under the fire of the well-known Putin regime critic and debunker Alexander Nevzorov. One may ask: who is this Nevzorov that he should be taken as a yardstick for judging whether someone is an ardent or insufficiently ardent defender of Ukraine? Who is he to be listened to?
Nevzorov is a well-known former imperialist and undisguised Rashist from the perestroika days. For many years he was the darling of the imperial end of the Russian political class and a welcome guest in these circles. Like Putin and his team, Nevzorov comes from Leningrad (St Petersburg) and knows well not only the regime's visible but also its behind-the-scenes workers. He has also been a member of the Russian State Duma for several terms. In other words, an extremely well-informed man who, by his own admission, has suffered all this imperial hallucination fever first-hand.
This last point is particularly important, because there is no better person to understand the disease than someone who has lived through it. Edijs Klaišis, the savior of young people who have gone astray, would hardly have been able to find such good contact with the ones he helps if he had not drunk the bitter cup to the dregs himself. This is how Nevzorov's recovery from the imperialism disease allows him to better understand the horrifying nature of Putinism. What does Nevzorov say about Pabriks?
In a Telegram message from NEXTA Live quoting Pabriks: "Ukraine has so weakened the Russian army that Russia would not dare start a new war until at least two years from now", Nevzorov commented: "Well. Unfortunately, Latvia is also there. Now it too, along with the rest of Europe and the USA, is going to demonstrate the phenomenal gobbling up of the snot that allowed fascism and dictatorship to emerge in Russia. When it was possible to get rid of the problem in two hours, Europe blinked its eyes for eight years and waited for the horrible nightmare to grow. And they got it. And now, it seems, it is just going to shake its finger for a few more years, waiting for Putin to grow back the fangs that were knocked out in Ukraine. Nevzorov."
It is this, in Nevzorov's words, phenomenal gobbling up of snot that threatens our civilization the most, not Rešetins' timid question - where are we going? Although it would also be nice to hear a meaningful answer to Rešetins' question, not just a rant about the "backwardness" of the questioner. Indeed - where are we going?