Angry Russians displaced after Ukraine crossed the border and invaded the Kursk region last week have vented their frustrations online to President Vladimir Putin.
The criticisms represent an unusually public show of defiance in a country where any cracks at the leader or military can draw harsh punishments.
The strategy of getting the public to ignore the war by sending oppressed minorities into the meat grinder falls apart when the friends and loved ones of those you’re telling to ignore the war become POWs.
All of the sudden, the treatment of prisoners matters. All of the sudden, the war becomes real.
I wouldn’t discount the Russian capacity to disconnect even in those circumstances.
While it might seem that the Russian population could disconnect under such dire circumstances, history shows that Russians have the capacity to rise against oppressive conditions imposed by their own government. The Russian Revolution of 1917 is a prime example. Amidst widespread dissatisfaction with the Tsarist regime due to economic hardship, military failures, and political repression, the Russian people ultimately overthrew a centuries-old monarchy.
Similarly, the protests and eventual collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s highlight the power of their collective action. The combination of economic stagnation, political corruption, and a desire for greater freedoms led to mass demonstrations that ultimately brought down the regime.
These historical precedents suggest that while disconnection and passivity are possible; they are by no means guaranteed. When the consequences of government actions become too severe—whether through economic hardship, loss of life, or a perceived betrayal of public trust—the Russian populace has shown that it can indeed mobilize to demand change.
Poor Russians though, it always got marginally better at best, and then it got worse again… Hope their next change is around the corner and is longer lasting.
But why? I think it’s because Russians just don’t exhibit a lot of civic engagement. When you see the kinds of things Putin did to get into power, do you think any of those actions would slide in any other well-functioning liberal democracies? Just look at how Ukraine responded during Euromaidan. You just don’t see that kind of engagement happening in Russian society.
So why does it keep getting worse again? Unfortunately, it’s because they let it.
The last sentence in every chapter of the Russian history book:
Not sure if LLM text or real effort, but if the latter - thank you. I think you’re right on all historical points and the conclusion. I think in the current status quo things are just nowhere near as dire for the average Russian as they were during the examples you gave. The economy is doing well for individuals and most probably won’t see war up close even with Ukraine’s incursion. Could be wrong.
This is indeed correct. No need for LLM’s as there are plenty of Russians on lemmy who can just tell. As one myself, I can tell you, it’s still mostly business as usual. Kursk incursion sparked less bang than, say, the Orenburg flooding or Krokus shooting. Economically speaking, the inflation is fucking insane, everything jumped about 2X in the last couple of years. Though still somewhat manageable as society is undergoing a major shift where some salaries, particularly those related to military complex have jumped even more than that, while others remained the same, which put many people way below poverty line. There isn’t really a deficit in anything, some things, like coca cola, were replaced by locally sourced substitutes, while in other cases, if you’ve got money, there’s always gray imports - e.g. I’m getting my monster cans smuggled from Poland at X4 the usual price. Surprisingly, some good things came out of it, too - I freaking love SBP. Visa and Mastercard can suck a big one. As for coffins on coffins, none of my direct friends or relatives went voluntarily or got drafted. The ones who stayed surprisingly got extremely desensitized of the whole situation, seemingly turning to support the regime, or at least so in public. A couple of relatives of a spouse of a relative went in for the money. As far as I’m aware, both are alive, one is fighting right now, and the other returned, already spent it all, and now considers going back again for a round two. All in all, compared to the state of things before past revolutions, as I read about them, not even Ukraine is at that point yet, much less so for Russia.
Full disclosure, the text is my own but some of the historical references were summarized through LMM and copy/pasted.
While Russia has avoided a complete economic collapse, the average Russian is facing a harsher economic environment with higher costs, reduced income, and fewer consumer options.
The long-term impacts of these sanctions and economic adjustments are still unfolding, but they have undeniably made daily life more difficult for many in Russia.
Has it reached a point that matches the historical instabilities that fostered revolutionary action in the past? No; but I do think the potential exists if the current sanctions and poor battlefield performance continue.
Two things are very hard to deny, even with heavy-handed propaganda: the cost of bread & loved ones returning home in coffins.
I would very much prefer if the use of LLMs would be disclosed in messages.
Understandable if the comment is entirely LMM generated, but to imply I should post a disclaimer every time one is used for summarizing content is a bit of a reach IMHO.
LMMs are a tool to be used, like anything else.
Summarising is one specific use of llms that doesn’t actually work.
Strange how it seems to work for me…
I know precisely what I want to say, I’m just asking for the information to be condensed into a concise 1-2 sentence statement.
There’s a big difference in asking it to generate something wholesale vs. feeding it information and asking for that information to be summarized in a clean and easy to understand format.
I would argue that is the best way to use LLMs; it’s basically acting as an editor.
Meaning they could be utter bullshit like a lot of what comes out of LLMs.
In this instance it’s accurate
Then OP should have found a way to present it so that people could more easily verify it and not just expect us all to trust software which constantly lies.
It’s not a 14 page paper, it’s two references to widely known historical events. I feel like I’m going insane…
Prompt: In 1-2 sentences, summarize the Russian revolution”s impact on social unrest.
Responses: Amidst widespread dissatisfaction with the Tsarist regime due to economic hardship, military failures, and political repression, the Russian people ultimately overthrew a centuries-old monarchy.
I’m not saying “create me a story about Russian people revolting”. I’m taking an event I’m already aware of and asking for it to get boiled down to a simple statement.
I would know if it’s lying because I paid attention in high school and college & I know what the Russian revolution is.
This is being blown way out of proportion because people see “LLM” and freak out. I use LLMs constantly in my day to day life for shit like this (and I’m not going to stop). I also feed it things I’ve written and ask it to check grammar and tighten it up. The LLM isn’t “creating” anything in those cases either, it’s just making things easier to read/understand; acting as an editor.
Sorry if that scares you.