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Scolding Qin Hui but wanting Ukraine to be Qin Hui: Global public opinion is still burning on the anniversary of the Russo-Ukrainian War

2023-02-18T02:24:13.259Z


After the movie "Man Jianghong" was released, there was a wave of "Qin Hui discussion" in the Chinese public opinion field, ranging from "whether the movie whitewashed Qin Hui" to "why only criticize Qin Hui and not Gaozong". Recently, Russia's


After the movie "Man Jianghong" was released, there was a wave of "Qin Hui discussion" in the Chinese public opinion field, ranging from "whether the movie whitewashed Qin Hui" to "why only criticize Qin Hui and not Gaozong".

Recently, it coincided with the anniversary of Russia's "special military operation" against Ukraine, and Qin Hui also had a rendezvous with the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The incident began with an article on the WeChat public account with more than 100,000 views, "While calling Qin Hui a capitulator, while calling Zelensky for not surrendering", the author pointed out that he could not understand why someone could watch "Man Jianghong" Calling Qin Hui a capitulator, he justly scolded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for not following Qin Hui's kneeling and surrendering, "Some people no longer see fairness, justice and international norms in their eyes, and they shamelessly believe that Lies followed to slander Ukraine as a Nazi country, and Zelensky is the leader of the Nazis. If you want me to say that the most Nazi-like people are those who slander Zelensky as a Nazi. Defending the country is a Nazi? Does that mean Yue Fei is also a Nazi? ? Jin Wushu Qin Hui is an anti-Nazi hero? The more than 140 countries in the world that oppose Russia’s special military operations are all Nazis?”

As soon as this article came out, many platforms discussed the association between Qin Hui and the Russia-Ukraine war, such as "What is the mentality of domestic netizens now, and persuade Ukraine to surrender?"

Scolding Qin Hui while telling people to learn from Qin Hui?

", which attracted many netizens to come to debate.

Judging from the results, there is no surprise that the two factions have no consensus. Those who blame Russia for continuing to condemn the aggression, while those who blame Ukraine call Zelensky an "American Qin Hui".

Similar rifts are not only happening in China, but also in the Western public opinion field.

After the outbreak of the war, voices from the left-wing camp in the West condemned the United States, believing that the United States led NATO’s eastward expansion, launched a color revolution in Ukraine, and connived at the Kiev authorities’ bombardment of Udon. The leftists severely criticized the former, claiming that the former had become obsessed with anti-Americanism, and was willing to be mobilized by Russia's propaganda machine, exaggerating the illusory threat of NATO's eastward expansion, but downplaying or even turning a blind eye to the atrocities of the Russian army's massacre of civilians.

From a historical perspective, even if people are used to judging heroes by success or failure, it is still difficult to judge such costly collective violence as war. The righteous teacher of one group of people is often the enemy of another group of people.

But this does not mean that the game of public opinion is futile. The wrestling of opinions can often provide a perspective of observation, which not only allows the outside world to see the traces of the narratives used by the opposing sides to construct legitimacy, but also reveals the changing trajectory of the atmosphere of the times.

"Man Jianghong" is directed by Zhang Yimou, starring Shen Teng, Yi Yanqianxi, Zhang Yi and Lei Jiayin.

(still photo)

What is the strategy of Russia and Ukraine

The first is Ukraine. Although it is only a small country geographically, it has the advantage of a big country in the field of propaganda, because almost all the mainstream media in the world are speaking for it.

With this advantage, Ukraine has built an "anti-aggression" public opinion front: Based on the post-World War II United Nations and the international legal system, "democratic Ukraine" was invaded by "dictatorship Russia" as a skeleton, and the military and civilians died tragically. Mobilize a large number of supporters.

Ukrainian propaganda is not without weaknesses, however.

First, before the Kharkov counteroffensive in September, the Ukrainian army had been lacking in significant victories. However, in order to show the Ukrainian army's combat power and boost morale, the Ukrainian propaganda department could only carry out some false propaganda, such as sharing "" The exaggerated results of the "Ghost of Kiev" ended up being kicked out.

Similar episodes also occurred in the propaganda that emphasized the determination to resist, such as the "Snake Island 13 Martyrs" on February 24. Only after "Russia Today" (RT) released the interview video on February 26 did the outside world know that they were "82 captives". However, many captives did not know that they were "killed" after reading the report. In the end, Ukraine had to admit on February 27 that the so-called "13 martyrs" did not exist in the Snake Island battle.

Second, the Ukrainian government is irrefutable about the humanitarian crisis that has occurred in the Donbas region since 2014, and can only talk about it.

For example, in the face of the notorious extremist organization "Azov Battalion", the Ukrainian government was completely silent, neither admitting nor denying it. When the outside world suspected that its extreme right color was related to the so-called "Nazi", Zelensky could only keep emphasizing that he was Jews, it is impossible to lead the Nazis; when Russia accused Ukraine of the "Indigenous Rights Law" depriving Russian speakers of basic rights, the Ukrainian side can only fight back, saying that in the past 8 years, Donetsk and Luhansk, the two "People's Republics " also suppressed the Ukrainian language.

On February 9, 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Swedish Prime Minister Klaus Ulf Kristersson attends the EU leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium.

(Reuters)

On the Russian side, although it is the initiator of the war and its country is much larger than Ukraine, it is at an absolute disadvantage in propaganda, because not only the mainstream Western media will not speak for Russia, but its propaganda channels are also severely restricted.

From February 27, 2022, the European Union announced the ban on RT and Sputnik's business in 27 member states; Facebook, Instagram and TikTok also restricted EU users from using RT and Sputnik's social media content from February 28; Starting from March 1, users are prohibited from accessing RT and Sputnik channels in EU countries and the United Kingdom, and officially blocked RT and Sputnik worldwide on March 11; Apple also announced on March 1 that in countries other than Russia, Remove RT and Sputnik from the App Store in all countries and regions.

In addition, Russia's main "anti-Nazi" narrative is also facing real challenges.

As mentioned earlier, Ukraine is indeed responsible for the humanitarian crisis in the Donbass for many years, and Russia also used this to construct the legitimacy of sending troops, including emphasizing topics such as the Azov Battalion, the Odessa tragedy, and the shelling of civilians in the Donbass; The reporter even photographed the camp after the Azov camp was evacuated many times, exposing the cells that were used to imprison and abuse civilians in Donbass.

All of the above will help to consolidate the main tone of the propaganda that Ukraine has been controlled by "neo-Nazis" and the genocide in the Donbas region, and connect it with the narrative that Russia is engaged in the "New Great Patriotic War".

But the problem is that if the war ends in less than a month, Russia’s propaganda may still be convincing, but now that the war is about to end for a year, the number of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians slaughtered by the Russian army has obviously seriously exceeded the "Donbas Genocide" "The scale of building damage caused by Russian missiles and artillery is also not comparable to the Ukrainian government's shelling of Donbass; the flow of Ukrainian refugees caused by the war exceeds the number of refugees from Donbass that flocked to Russia in the past.

Of course, the value of human life should not be counted by the number, but from the perspective of propaganda, the greater the casualties on the Ukrainian side, the weaker the legitimacy of Russia's "anti-Nazi" righteous war. This is an unavoidable reality.

Perhaps because of this, after Russia began to attack residential areas with artillery and missiles in large numbers, the Azov camp and genocide gradually faded out of the Russian propaganda narrative. Stalemate; after the "public investment into Russia" in four parts of Ukraine in late September, Russia focused its propaganda on the joy of the people; after the Russian army withdrew from Kherson in November, the focus of propaganda returned to the daily arms display.

On January 18, in Brovaly, Ukraine, buildings and vehicles were crushed by the wreckage of a helicopter.

(Reuters)

The 'West' is at the heart of what attracts sympathy and loathing

Judging from the results, although Ukraine’s propaganda has problems, it may still have more market compared to Russia’s limited channels and continuous change of tone, because it is the party being attacked after all, and the narrative of “anti-aggression” has a certain realistic basis , more underpinned by international law.

But such a phenomenon will lead to another question: Russia has suffered serious propaganda strangulation, and its narrative has been loosened due to changes in the battlefield, and there is no international legal recognition. Why can it still mobilize a certain proportion of supportive voices in the global public opinion field?

To answer this question, we must move our field of vision to a field other than Russia and Ukraine: the West.

In fact, whether it is the Russo-Ukrainian war starting from 2022, or the change in Afghanistan in 2021, the existence of the "West" has intensified the rebuttal.

In the case of changing the world in Afghanistan, the Western world led by the United States severely criticized the Taliban, saying that it oppresses women, refuses to change, and exports extreme Islam; The discourse of the Taliban was crowned as a symbol of "anti-imperialism" in the new era. At that time, some Chinese ultra-left public opinion circles even called it the "Afghan Liberation Army." To drive away the "American proxy" is to lead Afghanistan on the path of independent development.

In all fairness, judging from the case of changing the sky in Afghanistan, both Western and anti-Western media outlets have a certain truth. The Taliban has indeed made the Afghan women’s rights go backwards, and it is impossible to cut off the inextricable ties with the drug economy and al-Qaeda in the short term. It is difficult to say that he is a qualified ruler; but from a historical perspective, it is indeed a child that was barely conceived from the local soil after Afghanistan experienced centuries of turmoil and blood and tears. Local representatives have a relatively large number of supporters, and unless the US military intervenes, they have no strong opponents in Afghanistan.

Therefore, to a certain extent, the Western public opinion field has always been difficult to get rid of the attitude of being superior and educated, while the anti-Western public opinion field is suspected of opposing for the sake of opposition.

On December 22, 2022, a group of Afghan women chanted slogans in Kabul, the capital of the country, to protest against the government's ban on women going to college.

(Reuters)

The formation of such a confrontational structure is related to the global political changes after the Cold War.

In 2001, the United States launched the war in Afghanistan, marking the beginning of its 20-year march in the Middle East. In 2003, it attacked Iraq, symbolizing the culmination of its "end of history" feat.

However, after many years of militarism, Iraq failed to become the "beacon of democracy in the Middle East" imagined by the American people. Instead, after experiencing chaos such as the rise of the Islamic State (IS), it became the target of Iran's intervention; "Spring", declared that the free and democratic discourse promoted by the United States has once again gone bankrupt. Although Tunisia was once regarded as a successful case of democratization, it has shown signs of turning around in recent years. The Syrian civil war has achieved nothing but ruins, the rise of militias, heavy casualties, and millions of refugees.

Although the West has its advantages in propaganda, after entering the Internet age, it is difficult for the unexplainable "American intervention" to pass through without a trace. Although the indignation of the dissatisfied people is not the mainstream opinion, it has gradually formed a large-scale connection in various ways; at the same time, The rise of non-Western countries such as China and Russia has also given many listeners who reject Western propaganda, the power to project expectations and counter the West.

Under this structure, controversial international events have gradually become a mobilization game between pro-Western and anti-Western public opinion fields.

Just as the mainstream Western public opinion criticizes the Taliban, the anti-Western public opinion field is destined to refute it, and the debate surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war is also the same.

Since the moment the United States supported the Ukrainian color revolution and supported Zelensky, the anti-Western public opinion field is doomed not to follow suit, but will criticize Ukraine instead. Therefore, not only the Chinese public opinion field has "Qin Hui's debate", but India also has "Qin Hui's debate" There is an Internet craze of "worshiping Putin", and there are also many discussions about belittling Ukraine in Latin America and the Arab world. Even the left-wing camp in the West has raised an "anti-American and pro-Russian" dispute.

It can be observed that in the non-English-speaking world and in the field of disharmony with the United States, the narrative of "defaming Uzbekistan and Russia" has a certain public opinion market. Although it is not mainstream and cannot represent the position of the government of the country, it does It reflects the geopolitical camp game of the times.

In the final analysis, most people seem to support Ukraine because of freedom and democracy, but in fact they only follow the mainstream of the United States and the West to support Ukraine. Regarding the past humanitarian crisis in Donbas, their mentality is similar to that of the current Ukrainian regime: keep silent and turn to Emphasize the bloody brutality of the Russian army; some people are not so much opposed to the "Ukrainian Nazis", but actually saw that the United States first supported Ukraine, so they have a sense of solidarity with Russia, and even beautify all actions of the Russian army.

In the end, the Russia-Ukraine war was just a stage, and Qin Hui was a code for netizens to attack each other. Those who supported Ukraine criticized the theory of persuading surrender, and those who supported Russia used this to attack Zelensky as "Qin Hui colluding with the United States." But what both parties really want to show is always their attachment to and rejection of "Western" narratives.

What kind of propaganda narratives are Ukraine and Russia focusing on?

Anti-aggression and anti-Nazi.

Why does Russia attract a certain amount of solidarity when its propaganda is blocked and the war is eroding existing propaganda?

The anti-Western public opinion field is dissatisfied with the mainstream Western narrative.

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Source: hk1

All news articles on 2023-02-18

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