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Comment by pastacacioepepe | Hacker News Reader

> how do you explain the European people supporting their governments assisting Ukrainians

I'm European and I still have to meet someone ready to sacrifice something for Ukraine. People are extremely worried about the state of our economy, much more so than they are about what's happening in Ukraine.

I keep hearing members of the elite like Stoltenberg talking about being ready to make sacrifices for Ukraine, but Stoltenber won't actually have to sacrifice anything. A 50% rise in the cost of living won't affect his lifestyle in the slightest, while it will destroy the livelihood of many families.

In any case, we've all been subjected to unprecedented levels of propaganda. It's not a surprise that many feel more concerned about what's happening in Ukraine than in Yemen.

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Wow, big surprise that someone glommed onto that comment to make a completely besides the point political rant

I'm literally replying to the parent comment. If something is beside the point, that is your comment.

I don’t actually think you responded to anything I said, instead responded to a strawman about elite politicians, generalised your circle of friends to a whole continent (there have been polls on the support you know) and finally made the dubious argument that warm feelings towards Ukrainians don’t count because there are other things happening in the world as well.

Then it must be you didn't read my reply.

You asked

> how do you explain the European people supporting their governments assisting Ukrainians, when continuing the conflict is causing themselves direct discomfort and expense?

I replied

> we've all been subjected to unprecedented levels of propaganda. It's not a surprise that many feel more concerned about what's happening in Ukraine than in Yemen.

Everything else I wrote is what I think about the concept of "sacrifice" that the elites fill their mouths with knowing it won't really affect them.

Whether my argument is dubious or not to you, it is still an argument and a valid answer to your question.

You might want to explain why my answer doesn't convince you, rather than simply dismissing it as "beside the point" when it isn't.

Don't worry I read it. So fair enough, it was an answer. But it is predicated on the belief that the support can't possiby be due to anything but propaganda or deceiving elites or things like that.

I find that wholly unconvincing.

You seem to think that the only reason people care is due to media coverage that you deem as pure propaganda.

Might it be that the media coverage is in fact more than for instance coverage of Yemen, because people care more (however unfair that may be to the Yemeni)?

> Might it be that the media coverage is in fact more than for instance coverage of Yemen, because people care more (however unfair that may be to the Yemeni)?

I can tell you nobody cared at all (most people outright ignored the situation) about Ukraine in the 2014-2022 period, even though Ukrainians were dying for all those years. When Russia took Crimea, that was minor news in my country.

People are used to conflicts happening in the world and we've grown cynical about it, which is why nobody really cares about the Yemenis, for example.

The reason we now care (even though trust me, from a personal point of view nobody really "cares") is that there is a daily stream of Ukraine related news, reporting exclusively the point of view of Ukraine and the statements from their government, often without double checks.

"News just came from Ukrainian officials that the Russians raped 50 children". Even without any evidence, when a statement is repeated ad nauseam by every news source it becomes reality. In the meantime Ukrainians artillery killed several civilians in Russia-occupied Donetsk, but there is no mention of it. This is how propaganda works.

You can find good videos from reputable agencies, such as DW, on YouTube with evidence, but you don't want to watch them.

Artillery killed several Ukrainian civilians in Russia-occupied Donetsk because Russia occupied Donetsk.

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