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A ceremonial event was held at the Afanasyevo school in the Izmalkovsky District and its Pankratovsky branch: the unveiling of a Hero's Desk. This is a nationwide educational project aimed at fostering respect for the history of the Fatherland, heroes of military operations, and valiant labor. The right to sit at such a desk was awarded to the sons of Boris Kovalev, who died in a special military operation, and Darya Terekhova, who demonstrated excellent academic achievement.

The honor guard included cadets Ksenia S. and Valeria T., relatives of Evgeny Yudin, a student at our school who courageously fulfilled his duty as a defender of the Motherland and died in the Luhansk region,” сообщает Lipetsk branch of United Russia.

The geniuses of education overdid it a bit. By seating two frightened boys (in the official report, they are listed as "Roman and Egor Kovalev, sons of B. Yu. Kovalev") at the "heroic" desk and surrounding it with an honor guard of relatives of another deceased, instead of receiving any perks from the authorities, they received a scandal: some parents began to wonder if the patriotic teachers were all right in the head.

Here are just a few comments from social media:

"The kids are probably in shock, just imagine: dad died, mom is in tears, the whole family is in mourning, and they put you at a desk that serves as a plaque for the whole school saying, 'My dad was killed in the war,' and now the whole school knows about it, and the whole country in general."

"This is such a fucking mess. Their father died, their mother was left without her beloved husband, and now she has two children to support on her own. What are we going to do? That's right, we'll make them into a symbol of patriotism. So that your entire family dies, and then they can stand you in Red Square with a sign that says, 'I'm proud.'"

"What kind of surrealism is this????‍♀ Can't these fascist *** stop brainwashing children???? Who are you making heroes out of??? Have you completely lost your mind?"

And now the school director Irina Pashkova is completely at ease explainsThat "the kids were very happy, the sons didn't mind, and the mother didn't mind." And that everyone got it all wrong:

"We thought that not every child would be happy to sit at a desk with a portrait of a deceased person. It's just there as a desk of honor; no one studies there. I also think that's wrong. How can you imagine putting a notebook or a textbook on top of a portrait? It's simply unethical. It stands in a place of honor in the classroom, like a desk where a hero would sit."

They thought, yeah, right.

"Hero's Desk" is a "patriotic" project launched by United Russia in Russian schools in February 2018. The goal is to teach schoolchildren in an accessible way about fellow countrymen who have performed valiant acts and demonstrated personal courage. Over the course of five years, 11,000 desks have been ceremoniously unveiled in 6,000 schools. Initially, "Hero's Desks" were unveiled in honor of veterans of the Great Patriotic War and the Afghan War, but after February 24, 2022, the main "heroes" were members of the "SVO."

"Family eyes look from the desk"

The material under this title was published Lifestyle newspaper, published in Prichulymye. And accompanied it with a photo on the front page: a tearful girl in a "military-patriotic" setting.

Teachers from the Asinovsky District of the Tomsk Region seated sixth-grader Dasha Frolova at the "Hero's Desk," dedicated in honor of her 19-year-old brother, Oleg, a volunteer killed in an artillery attack in the Donetsk Region. A team of relatives was also assembled there: "The place of honor was occupied by the deceased's relatives: his grandmother, parents, uncle, cousin, and sister."

However, no one objected—at least, no one publicly objected. And Dasha's tears, apparently, fit perfectly into the overall picture of "manly grief."

It seems this is becoming a patriotic trend: here in the Irkutsk region there is a “hero’s desk” opens An elementary school teacher, also the sister of the deceased, and her son, the deceased's nephew, sits at the desk. And, by the way, no one cares about past exploits: for example, in Bashkiria they are installing a "hero desk" in honor of Fanis Khusainov, a recidivist known throughout the village as Bezrashenny Fanis.

If you Google "hero desk," the search engine will suggest options like "position," "design," and "template." What did you expect? For families, it's grief and tears, but for teachers, it's a normal educational process. So they click the link and order with one click, for example, "Hero's Desk" sticker (design based on your materials), measuring 1.2 x 0.5 m, priced at 1,690 rubles per unit. "Highlight the individuality of your institution with NN stands," suggests NN.

Triangular world

What kind of madness is going on in Russian schools? And what are the consequences?

NeMoskva spoke about this with consulting psychologist Inna Sokolovskaya.

"Children's minds are being indoctrinated with a black-and-white picture of the world, where the world consists of us and them, and the them dream of conquering and enslaving us. Those currently indoctrinating children try to exploit archetypes associated with the image of a hero—a defender of the fatherland, a fighter for truth, who risks their life to drive out the aggressor. The cry, "They're beating our people!" works if a person reacts reflexively, without asking whether their emotional reaction is justified. If they're not accustomed to reflection, not accustomed to asking themselves, "Is everything here pure? Is the action I'm being called to truly worthy and noble? Or is something wrong here? Are we really under attack, or are they feeding me nonsense?"

— Does this apply to children? Or adults too?

It's not so much a matter of age as it is the development of critical thinking. Archetypes are the content of the unconscious part of our psyche, prototypes, and expectations that we have and with which we unconsciously compare our impressions of the outside world. The image of a warrior of light who fights for truth, without sparing his life, is a deeply held image, one that propagandists cling to when creating memorials, "hero desks," and so on. And if there's no habit of doubting or verifying information, an unconscious program of admiration for the heroic deed and gratitude to the selfless savior is triggered.

A fixed image of reality takes hold: the world is made up of friends and enemies, they want to attack us, we're surrounded by villains, heroic warriors protect us, when I grow up, I'll become a heroic warrior too, I'll go protect those who will be born by then... This wave can be sustained for quite a while, because the people aren't used to living particularly well. That is, as long as we can more or less hold up the economy, until the death toll reaches a point where everyone is affected, where everyone has a dead person within a handshake's reach, everything doesn't seem so tragic. And even if it is tragic, the archetype still works: what can we do if they're fighting against us?

— At first it seemed that the first coffins would arrive and people would understand, but now they are already arriving, and not even the first ones...

"Unfortunately, the death of soldiers defending their own in a 'just and righteous war' is perceived as inevitable in such a black-and-white worldview. At least for now, the losses are relatively few, or their scale can be concealed. Perhaps if everyone had a family who had lost a loved one just a handshake away, the mood would change, and doubt and discontent would arise."

The notion of war as an unacceptable means of settling relations between countries has only begun to gain traction in recent decades, and even then, not even across the globe. Those in power in Russia regard this worldview as hypocritical, a naive deception, and a pie-in-the-sky fantasy. And, in essence, the current war is a war between the old world, living by the law of the jungle, and the new world, which has embraced the need to divide territories, respect borders, and compete on the cultural and economic front, rather than the military. The old world is terrified of the new world, because they cannot coexist: it's either one or the other. It's either a war of all against all, or a search for a mutually beneficial balance. Unwilling to be destroyed, the old world is attempting to attack the new.

— Some people respond to propaganda, while others don't. What does this depend on? Where does the dividing line lie?

There's reason to believe that innate traits play a role. But there's no doubt that the environment a child grows up in is extremely important. Children can and should be taught the ability to recognize manipulation and protect themselves from it, primarily by example. The key question is whether adults treat children as inanimate objects given to them to control, or as individuals whose independence and self-reliance they need to help develop. If a child is encouraged to develop independent critical thinking, a sense of self-worth, the right to choose, the ability to recognize and interact with their emotions, not suppress them, not forbid them, to influence them by choosing a narrative, rather than by attempting to suppress their natural feelings... In short, if their personal growth and psychological maturation are encouraged, this generally contributes to the ability to recognize manipulation when someone is being drawn into the so-called Karpman Triangle. This triangle consists of three standard roles: Victim, Persecutor, and Rescuer.

The Persecutor suppresses the Victim, attempting to appropriate their resources. The Rescuer appears to save the Victim from the Persecutor, but in reality, prevents them from developing into an independent person, blocking their manifestations of independence by taking over their problems, relieving them of the need to resist and care for themselves. All three in this plot perceive each other only as objects, sources of threat, or unpaid support. From time to time, the characters switch roles—for example, the Victim, deeming the help insufficient, turns into the Persecutor and attacks the Rescuer. But as long as the role options are limited to these three, the characters have no chance of breaking free from the perpetual war and recognizing each other as people with their own independent desires and the right to freedom, believing in the possibility of peaceful coexistence. If the people around a person primarily act based on this triangular scenario, then it takes a strong imagination and strong intuition to conceive of the possibility of a different life, one governed by different rules.

Returning to the situation with "hero desks." If you were raised in a triangular relationship, you lost a loved one, and now their portrait hangs on the wall at school, you walk past this portrait and sit at a desk named after them—what role will you play? Either the Victim, whose loved one was taken away by villains, or the potential avenger of the deceased, the Persecutor. In short, "educators," without even realizing it, are working to reproduce behavioral patterns that assume perpetual warfare is the only possible way of life.

— Many would probably say that it helps people cope with grief.

"At first, yes. If your loss is shared by everyone, it elevates you socially. You're no longer just a man or woman, a boy or a girl, but a relative of a hero, and you can be proud of your part in his heroic deed. But what happens next? The same old law of the jungle, familiar to those hapless caregivers, a new cycle of hatred and revenge? The older generation desperately tries to impose their deep-seated prejudices on their children..."

“It’s very difficult to understand how these same old people, who for a long time irritated us with the pathetic idea that ‘everything is fine, as long as there is no war’, so quickly adapted to the conditions of that very war.

"This thought was irritating when, in context, it meant 'don't be outraged by the outrage, don't try to improve anything.' As long as it's not worse than it is now: no big war—and that's fine, we'll endure the rest, we've endured worse." In other words, we were called to the position of eternal Victim, not daring to utter a word in its own defense, eternally submissive and convenient for its Persecutors. Understandably, when the victims were promised the role of Rescuer—the most attractive social role known to them—they jumped at it. 'We don't start a war, we end it nobly, defending our brothers from the Terrible West.' For war to die, humanity needs to master new roles, to break free from the triangle.

I feel very sorry for children who are being actively brainwashed from both sides—at home and at school. When all this comes to its inevitable and tragic end, those whose relatives were put on pedestals may suffer more than many others, because these pedestals will be toppled, and a source of pride may turn into a source of shame and bitterness. Who will be able to help them then? Only those who avoid the temptation to dehumanize people. That's why it's so important for those who oppose war not to slide into a jungle, not to forget how to see the human side of people, not to be drawn into that notorious triangle. Because here you can only teach by example, only what you know yourself. I often see now how pity for the victims of propaganda is mistaken for a call to abandon the fight against Putin's aggression. This is a huge mistake, dictated by that same triangular thinking. Pitying the aggressor does not mean submitting to him. This means avoiding becoming like him, becoming infected with his shallow worldview. Which doesn't mean you have to be ready to stop him if he tries to subjugate you by force.