29 March 2024, Friday, 13:05
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State Cynicism Of Highest Standard

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State Cynicism Of Highest Standard
ALIAKSANDR KLASKOUSKI

Most Belarusians are not up to pathos now.

Viktar Dashkevich, the 75-year-old actor of the Yakub Kolas Theater in Vitsebsk, who became the first officially recognized victim of the coronavirus in Belarus, was posthumously reprimanded by Aliaksandr Lukashenka.

Lukashenka once again played his part, he has a habit of looking for someone to blame.

“We suspect that this actor died in Vitsebsk, and he also had pneumonia, and also this virus. Well, we asked (he would be 80 years old tomorrow) ... Why do you go for walks outside, let alone working? ” - this is how Lukashenka commented on the tragedy.

But the leader himself showed bravado

Everything is remarkable in this comment. He didn’t give the name of the honored artist of the Republic of Belarus, added up age, emphasized that the person had a bunch of diseases (with a hint that COVID-19 was there). Well and, most importantly, he made the victim guilty. But didn’t Lukashenka himself defiantly flaunt the whole country in the previous days, assured that vodka, a bathhouse, a tractor and hockey were the best remedies for a newly appeared infection? Didn’t he respond to the TV reporter’s remark that “no viruses seem to affect your schedule,” he said with inappropriate pathos: “It’s better to die standing than to live on your knees.”

At the same time, most Belarusians are not up to pathos. They are forced to neglect the virus and continue to work - some at the machine, and some on stage - for the banal reason that they need to perform labor duties. Indeed, according to Lukashenka, there is no need for quarantine yet and in general “a tractor (in the sense of hard work - edit.) will cure everyone.” Meanwhile, Belarusian actors themselves created a petition demanding quarantine in theaters. That is, to get the opportunity not to “go for walks outside” once again.

Yes, and about age: the pensions of Belarusians are such that if you do not continue working hard, then you are doomed to eke out a miserable existence. Thanks to the native “state for the people”. Old people tear the veins to the last so as not to have nothing but food for thought.

The talent to shift the blame

Finding the culprit is Lukashenka's corporate identity. For a quarter of a century, people have been watching the same performance: how a wise and strict king arranges public reprimands of negligent boyars-subordinates.

The method is as follows: to overestimate forecast indicators from the start, to set voluntaristic tasks. A win-win approach. If they manage to do it by some miracle - glory to the demanding leader, who pushed them as he could, and did not let them idle around. If they fail, you can give vent to righteous anger, and remain in white robes. Also, Lukashenka constantly blames either greedy Russia, or the insidious West, or even the mysterious world backstage, in the country's problems.

Now it came down to a debriefing in connection with the COVID. Lukashenka also nods toward the backstage of the world: they say, let's think about who benefits from this, whether it is a man-made virus. Recently, the same Russia got some sound hiding, because it unilaterally closed the border.

Today, Lukashenka reprimanded a dozen sick Vitsebsk doctors (it seems that in Vitsebsk the situation with the coronavirus is generally alarming):

“These doctors must treat patients, and we treat them. Thank God they are strong people. But it’s not worth it when the doctor neglects basic preventive measures.”

It is difficult to judge whether these people were particularly careless, but in principle, doctors anonymously complain that there are not enough masks and other protective equipment. And indeed it’s a sin to throw a stone at those who are now at the forefront, working flat out. In other countries, doctors also become infected, even die. And not because everyone is completely sloppy, but because it’s like at the front - a random bullet can get you anytime.

State cynicism of the highest standard

The fact that Lukashenka also posthumously reprimanded the first coronavirus victim in Belarus, says a lot about the style, way of thinking of the official leader, and about the specifics of the regime. Well, what did you expect if that “careless” actor spoiled the benevolent picture of official propaganda, cast a shadow on its narrative: blah-blah-blah, see how we are defeating the damned virus under the guidance of a wise leader.

Meanwhile, today in Minsk they began to build stands for the May 9 parade. As usual, a lot of people can gather. Moreover, this action especially attracts the elderly, the old-school public. The old school is strong, but not many of them have strong immune system. And who will be to blame if the planned mass festivities become a colossal hotbed of infection?

But to someone, apparently, the tribute to the ritual is more important. Although in conditions when the coronavirus sets in, this tribute may turn into a delayed sacrificial offering.

The scenario of the pandemic in Belarus over and over again demonstrates to us the state cynicism of the highest standard.

Aliaksandr Klaskouski, Belsat

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