Orcs, Crests, Khokhols, Little Russians
The other day I had an interesting conversation, for five seconds, with a Russian. He took exception to me resorting to calling Russian Orcs. My bad. I should never dehumanize an army that has raped both young and old, stolen kitchen appliances, tortured, stolen toilet seats, and committed war crimes. Nope, no, sir, that’s not good.
So I asked, would you prefer I call them peasants because this is how the Russian government has treated its population for at least 1500 years? I got blocked, but this got me thinking. Wars lead to this. Especially for soldiers on the front lines, it’s the only way to do the job. It requires the soldier to kill. To do that, soldiers create ways to dehumanize the enemy. It is easier when the enemy behaves like the Russian army; see Bucha, Kherson, etcetera.
However, I feel sorry for many Russian soldiers who mobilized in their fifties to fight for the motherland with poor training or equipment. Who are thrown toward Ukrainian positions in human waves. The same who are not evacuated when hit or have a right to medical care in Russia. Worse, they are shot dead by barrier troops if they withdraw.
At this point, only officers are reportedly getting medical evacuation to Russia proper.
I feel for the families who will never learn what happened to a husband, a son, or a…