Kyiv Independent says the rocket said "for our children"

[Earthrise]

For what it's worth, I think our media may be getting this story wrong.

The message may not have meant the rocket was intended to kill Ukrainian children, it may be an expression the Russians' warped beliefs about the current situation.

Kyiv Independent and another Ukrainian source I saw earlier today say the translation of the Russians' message means "for our children" or "to revenge the children."

If the Russians believe that Ukraine belongs to them and Ukrainians who insist on independence are putting the Russian children's futures in jeopardy then, "for our children" makes sense.

Obviously, Russian soldiers are torturing and killing many children at point blank range, so it's possible they meant that they hoped the rocket would kill Ukrainian children.

But, to paraphrase, people commit the most evil acts, most cheerfully when they believe they are in the right.


Kyiv Independent
https://kyivindependent.com/national/at-least-39-killed-by-russian-strike-on-train-station-with-evacuating-civilians/

[Igel]

1. Whenever you evaluate another person's actions you *must* use their frame of reference.

Otherwise you're entirely you-centric, and assert that the other person is *also* you-centric.

"You" may be a group or you by yourself.

"Theory of mind" applies here.

The soldiers on Telegram indicated they believed they were sending a missile to a train station infested with Ukr fascists. They exulted, until state media corrected the "facts on the ground" with the "truth". Instead of, "We killed fascists! Woo-hoo!" it was "We didn't do this at all."

The view is that the Ukr are oppressed and must be liberated. Their children are the children of fascists, indoctrinated into fascist believes.

If you had the ability to take 3000 kids away from fascists/RW fundies/KKK and raise them to be good progressives with the right values, would you?

And if you believed that their parents/uncles/cousins attacked you, wouldn't it be easy to say that you're killing the fascists/fundies to help the kids be decent people, brought up with the "right values"?

That's putting aside the stories of Ukrainians killing Russian children in the Donbas. If at war with the South and you got wind of a massacre in which Confederate soldiers killed thousands of black kids, wouldn't it be easy for a Black Northern battle group to say, "Those bastards! They killed black children because they were black! Die, bastards, die!" ?

They're lied to. This isn't saying they did good. It's saying they did evil because they were duped.

I'm also not saying they were merely duped. Having watched the country for 20 years or more, they were willingly, eagerly, happily duped.

I read crappy Russian literature. It's how the hoi polloi speak, on the one hand. And it's an insight into the mindset of early 20-somethings, who are unlikely to reject that when they're 30 or 35. My narrative rings true to me, built on reading crappy pop-lit since, oh, 1990. Chisto po-ruski.