<story><title>Russians are trying to flee – data from Google Trends</title><url>https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/03/04/russians-are-trying-to-flee-putins-chaos</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vlaaad</author><text>Why would I take responsibility for something I have zero influence over?&lt;p&gt;He did just appear when Yeltsin said that he&amp;#x27;s leaving. He blatantly fakes elections: 146% support is a very telling result of one of these elections. It is a meme in Russia because when you can&amp;#x27;t do anything about it you can only laugh or cry.&lt;p&gt;His 20 years on the throne are a constant stream of murders, poisoning and jailing of people who try to do something about it, and their friends, and their families.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m just a normal person, I want to live a normal live with my wife and kids, I didn&amp;#x27;t choose any of that. Why do I have to risk going to jail for 15 years for mentioning that war is war, only because I was born on the wrong side of the border?</text></item><item><author>bitcharmer</author><text>Judging by the number of Russians taking the easy way out by just fleeing or complaining about the evil west closing their Ikea stores this nation at the moment has zero capacity to take responsibility for their own government.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m afraid it has to get much worse before it gets better. They still don&amp;#x27;t understand that as much as the government is responsible for its people, the people are also responsible for their government.&lt;p&gt;Putin didn&amp;#x27;t magically appear on the political scene with all the power he has now. Russians allowed Putin to happen; now they refuse to take responsibility.</text></item><item><author>optimalonpaper</author><text>No one thinks that a regular Ivan from some russian city (on his own) is responsible for the war and should suffer. And I see how you could (and probably should, at some level) feel sorry for russians fleeing the country.&lt;p&gt;But this is the only way to tell them that they -- collective Ivans, Russian society as a whole -- should stand up and act: they should articulate their content, they should protest against putin&amp;#x27;s policy, and they should stop the war (an alternative would be to accept Ukraine to NATO and finish this war is a day, but that won&amp;#x27;t happen).&lt;p&gt;While they&amp;#x27;re suffering economically, the suffering of Ukrainians is just on another level -- it&amp;#x27;s not about restrictions (e.g. no ikea or facebook or apple products) or money (inflation), it&amp;#x27;s about flattened cities and destroyed lives.&lt;p&gt;I woke up as I heard bombs falling on my city, and I definitely haven&amp;#x27;t felt any sympathy for russians since then.&lt;p&gt;If they feel they don&amp;#x27;t support their country&amp;#x27;s aggression towards Ukraine, they should go protest and stop it -- even at risk of being fined or imprisoned. Otherwise they should just embrace all sanctions and become North Korea imho.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>awb</author><text>Large scale military invasions don’t happen because of 1 person’s will. They happen as a chain of events that offer direct or indirect support that makes it possible. We are all in that chain. From the leader, to their government, to their funding sources, to the citizens.&lt;p&gt;Do you not speak up? Do you pay taxes? Do you support state run businesses? Do you go along with the system as it violently oppressed others and assassinated dissidents? We all have some responsibility to bear.&lt;p&gt;I understand you want a normal, peaceful life, but that is not what the world has chosen for you.&lt;p&gt;You can’t be neutral on a moving train.&lt;p&gt;The question is how badly do you want things to change? What are you willing to do to break your part in the chain?&lt;p&gt;If the answer is nothing, then you’re exactly the kind of citizen a dictator wants. One that will acquiesce as things get worse and worse, while still keeping the trains running on time and willing to look the other way.</text></comment>
<story><title>Russians are trying to flee – data from Google Trends</title><url>https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/03/04/russians-are-trying-to-flee-putins-chaos</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vlaaad</author><text>Why would I take responsibility for something I have zero influence over?&lt;p&gt;He did just appear when Yeltsin said that he&amp;#x27;s leaving. He blatantly fakes elections: 146% support is a very telling result of one of these elections. It is a meme in Russia because when you can&amp;#x27;t do anything about it you can only laugh or cry.&lt;p&gt;His 20 years on the throne are a constant stream of murders, poisoning and jailing of people who try to do something about it, and their friends, and their families.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m just a normal person, I want to live a normal live with my wife and kids, I didn&amp;#x27;t choose any of that. Why do I have to risk going to jail for 15 years for mentioning that war is war, only because I was born on the wrong side of the border?</text></item><item><author>bitcharmer</author><text>Judging by the number of Russians taking the easy way out by just fleeing or complaining about the evil west closing their Ikea stores this nation at the moment has zero capacity to take responsibility for their own government.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m afraid it has to get much worse before it gets better. They still don&amp;#x27;t understand that as much as the government is responsible for its people, the people are also responsible for their government.&lt;p&gt;Putin didn&amp;#x27;t magically appear on the political scene with all the power he has now. Russians allowed Putin to happen; now they refuse to take responsibility.</text></item><item><author>optimalonpaper</author><text>No one thinks that a regular Ivan from some russian city (on his own) is responsible for the war and should suffer. And I see how you could (and probably should, at some level) feel sorry for russians fleeing the country.&lt;p&gt;But this is the only way to tell them that they -- collective Ivans, Russian society as a whole -- should stand up and act: they should articulate their content, they should protest against putin&amp;#x27;s policy, and they should stop the war (an alternative would be to accept Ukraine to NATO and finish this war is a day, but that won&amp;#x27;t happen).&lt;p&gt;While they&amp;#x27;re suffering economically, the suffering of Ukrainians is just on another level -- it&amp;#x27;s not about restrictions (e.g. no ikea or facebook or apple products) or money (inflation), it&amp;#x27;s about flattened cities and destroyed lives.&lt;p&gt;I woke up as I heard bombs falling on my city, and I definitely haven&amp;#x27;t felt any sympathy for russians since then.&lt;p&gt;If they feel they don&amp;#x27;t support their country&amp;#x27;s aggression towards Ukraine, they should go protest and stop it -- even at risk of being fined or imprisoned. Otherwise they should just embrace all sanctions and become North Korea imho.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pilate</author><text>Your prospects of a “normal life” are over. Whether you decide to do anything to improve it now is up to you.</text></comment>