What the former USSR nations inherited from the tyranny runs larger and deeper than the obvious. What that system did to the genetic culture of Ukrainians is not evident with the naked eye or a casual conversation with their people.
It took many years of propaganda to get millions to accept the Soviet ‘reality’, and the effects of such deep brainwashing are the main enemy for Ukrainians to beat. All the more insidious, because the enemy is inside each one of them, therefore much harder to recognize and neutralize.
Although the oppressive dictatorship is not present anymore, the effects still linger as hindrance for the people of this great nation to reach at least the rudimentary basis of a true democracy.
What a tyranny (of any shape or color) tries to achieve first, is to convince a population that: 1) everyone except their leaders are lying to them, and eventually that 2) their government is also lying. The first by constant propaganda and censorship, the second is self-evident when they see how corrupt and abusive they are.
Why would a tyrant want this? Because having the people unable to trust anyone trumps having people who love and/or trusts, even their government. Love can become hate in a blink, and they certainly don’t want that. People who can trust, able to believe and act on those beliefs, are dangerous for a tyrant. Not love or hate, but fear is what they seek. Not true followers, but agnostics, cynical people is what they sought, and what they succeeding in producing.
The biggest weight holding down the Ukrainian People today is their widespread mistrust of everyone, including themselves, hence the commonplace lack of assertiveness and optimism that is a salient characteristic of your people. This is not a natural or logical state of mind, is the result of decades of propaganda, fear and domination by forces too powerful and brutal to challenge or even to talk about challenging.
Unable to trust any candidates, how can you organize to win elections, to debate, to fight for (any) cause? The overwhelming reaction is cynicism, as the natural reaction to any ideas or causes when one is infected with the virus of distrust. Few concepts can break through that barrier, becoming an antidote to new ideas, worthy causes and joint efforts.
Once profound mistrust sets in, there is no need for outside enforcers: people limit themselves, unable to believe. The Soviets did a ‘job’ in their people’s minds and souls that will take time to undo.
The wall fell two decades ago, but the presence of the dictators is not need once the people have been inoculated. To exemplify this phenomenon, read this short experiment:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_the_monkey_banana_and_water_spray_experiment_ever_take_place
Pablo Vitaver
Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
