It is difficult to argue with the fact that what has been happening for almost twenty years with the culture of our country cannot be called anything other than destruction. One gets the impression that a monstrous experiment is being carried out on the peoples of Russia. And one of the results he achieved is the creation of conditions for the complete degradation of the bulk of the population, including through the dismantling of the educational system. Naturally, the emphasis is on the younger generation, which has no experience of life in the Soviet Union, and here, as it turns out, truly "outstanding" successes have already been achieved.
Although in the capital and large cities the savagery of young people is less noticeable, in the provinces it has long been widespread. We can talk about the creation of a new type of person, obtained by synthesizing the qualities of a Western man in the street (“One-Dimensional Man” - “one-dimensional man”, according to Herbert Marcuse) and an illiterate peasant of Tsarist Russia. In this article I will write about such people. I understand perfectly well that, not being an expert on this issue, I cannot pretend to be objective. Just try to describe what I see every day.
Naturally, this is not about any deviations from the general norm. The numbing effects of television, early alcohol consumption, and poor education (or no education at all) work wonders: The differences between young people of the same age are no more significant than between parts stamped in the same batch. That is, in general, everyone listens to exactly the same music, wears the same clothes, gathers in the same places and spends the same time (watching television programs, drinking collectively on different occasions).
Little of. Total unification comes to the point that, say, in libraries (by the way, in the provinces it is almost entirely paid!) Men take exclusively books about the "blind" or "mad", women - Dontsova and love stories. Accordingly, the entire library is filled with only these types of books (moreover, by category - "historical" love stories, "modern", "especially piquant", etc.). All other (free) literature is dumped at the far wall, incl. complete collected works of Russian classics or rare books on the history of the international revolutionary movement (for example, "The Making of the Sandinista Fighter" by Omar Cabezas). Such books have not been in demand for a long time.
First, let us briefly list the conditions in which the personality of a young person is formed in modern Russia outside of large cities.
First of all - about the TV. In the Russian province, television is a truly sacred object, a symbol of the hearth - no more and no less. Not having a TV in your home is considered a sign of mental illness. Almost half of the topics for discussion in any company are events that take place in various serials and programs. At the same time, people themselves do not notice that real events (weddings, funerals, elections) for them often recede into the background before the serial (or, in any case, the latter are always of no less importance). It's good if these are TV shows of the first channel! You can at least discuss them, there is at least some, albeit ridiculous and implausible, action.
The horror is that they are gradually being replaced by brain-corrupting "family" series like situation comedy, and people make their choice in their favor completely unconsciously. And this is understandable. In such serials there is no development of the action; you can start watching them from any moment of any episode. Gathering every night in front of the TV is an almost obligatory family tradition, which ultimately creates the feeling of the so-called. "Stability" (after all, nothing ever changes on TV - neither in the news, nor in TV shows). Interestingly, in such TV shows, fathers of families are almost always rare scoundrels, spouses constantly scold and mock each other, and children are cruel, envious and depraved. But the fact of the matter is that today all this is perceived precisely as the norm. So far, the opportunity to watch such series in the provinces is available only to thosewho has a satellite receiver is the envy of many. It is safe to say that the appearance of such products on state TV channels is inevitable, since it is a powerful tool for massive mental and moral degradation and the maintenance of the status quo.
But television isn't the only cult-like entertainment medium. Almost not inferior to him in strength and prevalence
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the cult of the mobile phone. Among other things, the brand of this device is an important indicator of the status of the owner. The passion for "mobile phones" is certainly irrational. I observed completely absurd situations when, with a salary of 4,000 (!) Rubles, a person, already malnourished, took out a loan to buy a phone for 12,000 rubles. By the way, it is considered the norm to buy a new phone at least once every two years.
It is easy to understand that this expense item eats up a large share of the family budget. The money is spent not only to pay for the time spent talking on the phone, but also to a large extent on the purchase of related services ("ringtones", "realtones", games, etc.). And this is typical not only for young people. We often see with what idiotic delight almost elderly people share with each other information about, say, a new ringtone or one of the functions of their phone. Perhaps the "mobile" fever is the clearest proof of the truth that big business must not only satisfy needs, but create them.
Of course, people have other interests, but, again, extremely monotonous. Nobody's need for music goes beyond the narrow confines of the radio format. It is curious that favorite hits always coincide one hundred percent with the repertoire of any popular radio station, which is almost completely updated about once every three months - and no one even notices such rude manipulation. This is somewhat reminiscent of the process of regularly changing software, and it is not surprising that no one shows an ardent interest in such a "state-owned" set of compositions. The interest in reading was mentioned above.
In general, the only really sincere interest that I have found among many, in something that is not played on radio and television, is an interest in pornography, and in this area, I must admit, they have the right to consider themselves experts (it is hardly possible call it quite healthy and natural).
Among other imposed interests and needs, the phenomenon of "consumerism" stands out, which is wholly and entirely the result of the frantic propaganda of bourgeois values both in the aforementioned series and in advertising. It is not surprising that it is not less widespread among modern proletarians than among representatives of the "middle class." Advertising, apparently, is already perceived by people reflexively, without any participation of consciousness. In a small town (less than 40 thousand inhabitants), three supermarket chains have been opened! Accordingly, it is considered the norm to have at least two discount cards for discounts. Shopping is the second most important topic of conversation. The category of “crushed by brands” [1] proposed by A. Tarasov can easily include the bulk of the population, with the exception of the elderly and, of course, alcoholics. It should be noted, however, that advertising itself in the provinces is more aggressive than in the capital. To attract the attention of buyers, profanity is often used, covered by a weak squeak, or motives of fashionable songs with primitively altered lyrics (we are talking about radio advertising).
About alcoholism. In the provinces they drink so much that it can be difficult to distinguish an alcoholic by his appearance. Unhealthy complexion, smell of fumes, etc. symptoms can be found in too many. The thinnest line between drinkers and alcoholics is that the former work and the latter don't. The very idea that a person may not drink alcohol (as well as not watch TV) is considered by everyone to be absurd and harmful. The number of drinking establishments in the town ranges from 20 to 30 (in different seasons).
To complete the picture, let us mention the almost complete absence of sports and cultural organizations that have not been able to really recover after the 90s, the well-known deplorable state of preschool and school education in the province (not to mention higher education).
As already mentioned, the result of all this is the ignorance of young people that is amazing in its depth and prevalence. It is surprising, but true: in terms of their stock of knowledge, many of them have already been thrown back to the level of their illiterate ancestors. The author of these lines had to meet with 20-year-old boys and girls who did not read a single book even in childhood (low-grade American cartoons took the place of children's books long ago), who do not even know the names of the planets of the solar system and the republics of the Soviet Union.
After that, it is no longer so remarkable that some of the persons mentioned believe in demons and brownies (unfortunately, this is not a joke or an exaggeration). It is the rapidity of mental degradation (in one generation) that is striking here. This even applies to colloquial speech, which is increasingly close to vernacular, the bearer of which, as you know, is precisely the uneducated or semi-educated urban population and which was most widespread in the pre-revolutionary era. For example, it is common to ignore the conjugations of some verbs (“you don’t know?” - “I don’t know”, etc.) and misuse of cases (“he is rude to her,” “time is ten to five”). As for written speech … The only criterion for the correct spelling of a word when drawing up documents (memos, production orders, etc.)) for executors in Microsoft Word is the absence of its underline with a red line. That is, at present, many people (including those with higher education) are literate only in the sense that they know the alphabet. In order not to be unfounded, I will give a few examples (this applies to my work): "rolling mill wolves", "shortest terms", "solid-rolled circular blanks".
Alas, the number of such people will constantly increase over time (this is only the first generation that grew up after the start of the "reforms").
But it will not be possible to draw an analogy between the current ignoramuses and their ancestors to the end, and the point is not at all in the absence of consumer reflexes in the latter. The point is in other moral values. I will try to write about this as briefly as possible, so as not to provoke reproaches for moralizing.
The process of growing up for almost everyone here proceeds in the same way:
a teenager from 15-16 years old begins to "walk" drink, smoke, use * t psychotropic substances ("mushrooms", "weed", hashish, glue, pharmaceutical medicines, etc.) and lead a promiscuous sex life.
By the age of 20, there is a certain "calmness" associated, apparently, with a partial loss of health: they begin to drink steadily on weekends, and change "partners" every six months or more often. You should immediately pay attention to an important circumstance: although the fairer sex is traditionally considered a more conservative social category, their moral degradation is now taking place just as rapidly, and this may indicate the beginning of the nation's degeneration.
Social norms in the early 90s. changed so dramatically that many parents simply did not see the need for careful education of their children (rather, they considered it an obstacle in their future life). In turn, their grown children simply do not know why it is needed. It's scary to imagine what will happen to their children. Deviations from the described norms are rare, since those who do not obey the general law are subjected to merciless persecution by their peers.
For example, a guy who is unlike others (for example, a non-drinker) is methodically proved that he is “not a man”, but a “non-walking” girl - that no one needs her because of her “pride”. It would be a waste of time to try to explain to these people the original meaning of the concepts of “love”, “friendship”, “devotion”, etc. - this requires some models and examples outside the one-dimensional space that the TV screen is for them.
It is also necessary to speak briefly about exceptions. Fortunately, they still exist, but this is little consolation. Having the status of outcasts, these people do not try to find reasons for a sharp rejection of the reality around them, do not look for reasons for their “dissimilarity”. The main thing that distinguishes them from the majority is their less susceptibility to false (imposed) needs. That is, they watch less TV, are not preoccupied with the constant renewal of their wardrobe, are indifferent to mobile communications, etc. But that's all. Their own interests, alas, are not very diverse: they are fond of unpopular styles of music (as a rule, it is hard rock, heavy metal, etc.), collecting information about small arms, tanks, airplanes and other similar hobbies. Frightening in them is the complete lack of interest in fiction in general,Russian classical literature in particular (not talking about philosophy and history). In fact, the only art they perceive is cinema, and this makes their spiritual development extremely difficult.
The lack of interest in the printed word among young potential leftists creates enormous difficulties for future propagandists. But that's a topic for another article.
