How to Find Out What is on the Minds of the Average Russians and Ukrainians

Since I wrote my previous post about the propaganda that Russians are exposed to inside their own country, I came across a couple of more resources that you can use to learn what Russians are exposed to, all of which provide English subtitles.

Julia Davis News on Twitter/X also has a YouTube channel where you can see some of the most WTF propaganda that the Russian government is churning out for its own people. It’s a great alternative for those who don’t want to deal with the cesspool that Twitter/X has become since Elon Musk purchased it last year.

Another YouTube channel that takes a look at Russian propaganda is TV Rain, which was originally founded in Russia an an independent media channel. When TV Rain was shut down by the Russian government soon after it began its invasion of Ukraine last year, the staffers moved outside of Russia where they initially restarted the station in Latvia but TV Rain now operates in the Netherlands. TV Rain’s YouTube channel is broadcast in English and it frequently takes a hard look at the propaganda that Russia is exposed to (while providing English subtitles).

TVP World is an English language channel based in Poland that also takes a very critical look at the Russian propaganda that’s made for Russians through its series known as Break the Fake. (That channel also does general news as well.)

By now you’re probably wondering how constant exposure to Russian propaganda with no opposing viewpoints inside of Russia has affected the minds of the average Russian? By the same token, how have the nearly two-year invasion of Ukraine has affected the minds of the average Ukrainian? The good news is that you can find out through two similar YouTube channels.

1420 is a Russian-based channel that does street interviews with Russians on a variety of topics. Real Ukraine is a Ukrainian-based channel that does the same except they interview Ukrainians. 1420 mostly do the street interviews in Moscow but sometimes Daniil Orain, who runs the channel and does the majority of the interviews, will go on the road to conduct interviews in rural areas or in other cities like Saint Petersburg. Real Ukraine does the majority of its street interviews in Kyiv. (I haven’t seen any videos where they do interviews in other parts of Ukraine so I assume that they basically stick with Kyiv, especially since that country is literally a war zone.) Both channels use English subtitles in their videos.

There are major differences in the videos when you watch them. The people interviewed on the 1420 channel tend to be more skittish or they’ll respond with “Oh, no, that’s too political. I’m not into politics.” Sometimes you can see them looking over their shoulders before answering the question. In contrast the people interviewed on the Real Ukraine channel are more relaxed in their responses and they seem far less skittish and paranoid.

There are times when Daniil Orain from 1420 ends up abruptly cutting off an interview. He generally adds a video clip that’s filmed later where he explains that he had to cut off an interview because he saw a police officer and he didn’t want to risk arrest. That never happens on the Real Ukraine channel.

You can literally tell the difference between the responses on the two channels with these videos that are on similar topics. First, here is 1420’s video where various babushkas are interviewed about their opinions regarding Vladimir Putin as the Russian leader.

Here is Real Ukraine’s video where various people were asked about their opinions regarding Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the Ukrainian president.

The fact is that Russia is an authoritarian dictatorship where even getting caught referring to what’s going on in Ukraine as a “war” instead of the government’s preferred term of “Special Military Operation” could land you in prison. In contrast, Ukraine is a democracy trying to join the European Union so the people there can speak more freely without worrying about going to jail. Those differences definitely show in the way that people respond on camera to the questions that they are given on both channels.

On a different note, tomorrow will be Thanksgiving Day here in the United States. It’s that time of the year where people will spend time with family and friends being thankful for what they already have. The day after that is Black Friday, the first day of the holiday season where people will buy gifts for loved ones, purchase decorations, and do a variety of fun activities (like going to the movies). Here are a few things I found that I hope you’ll love.

Last week I wrote my post on Jackson Hinkle, who’s the most notorious propagandist since Lord Haw-Haw. After I finished that post I found this account on Twitter/X, which is a hilarious parody of Jackson Hinkle. If you’ve taken a look at any of the real Hinkle’s posts for any length of time, you’ll definitely get a laugh out of this one.

Jackson Hinkle (parody)

I know I haven’t mentioned that other war between Israel and Hamas so far but here’s a token mention of that other conflict. At some of the pro-Palestinian marches all over the world there have been people who hold signs like “Queers for Palestine” and similar slogans like that. They hold these signs despite the fact that, in real life, LGBTQ rights in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip are incredibly precarious. In fact, there’s a Wikipedia page that describes how precarious the LGBTQ community really is. Ironically it is Israel who is the most progressive when it comes to LGBTQ rights.

On that note, I recently came across this hilarious Israeli comedy sketch about that idea of LGBTQ people marching in favor of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It aired on a satiric Israeli TV show called What a Wonderful Country. (The sketch is completely in English.)

Happy Thanksgiving Day for those who celebrate. If you don’t celebrate, then I wish you a happy weekend and I’ll be back next week.

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