Russians have a naturally downward-trending affect, so they exaggerated the West’s imperfections, got angry over the perceived betrayal of finding out there is no paradise on Earth, and decided to be the anti-West.
Ukrainians, who have an upward-trending affect, chose their favorite coping strategy of being in denial, and spent the last 30 years pretending the perfect West they had imagined in the Soviet times is real. They are as offended when you mention any problems in the West as Russians are when you mention anything good about the West.
I watched in horror how, during the NATO summit in Vilnius last summer, pretty much everybody in Ukraine was absolutely convinced that Biden was going to extend an invitation to NATO membership to Ukraine. When it predictably didn’t happen, people were devastated. Trying to explain to them that Americans are living in a state of deep, unprocessed trauma over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that they (fairly in one case and unfairly in the other) perceive as humiliating, unnecessary catastrophes provoked the stunned shock of a toddler told that Santa isn’t real.
As a result, the very real and concerns of many Americans about the “forever wars”, border troubles, inflation, deindustrialization, etc. aren’t addressed at all. It’s so inconceivable, in this worldview, that Americans can be preoccupied with their own problems that their being distracted from Ukraine is explained as Russian propaganda. I have lost count of how many times I have had to say “this isn’t about you. There are things going on here that are not about you”.
There’s yet another factor in this that I’ll discuss in the next post.
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