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Comment by DiggyJohnson | Hacker News Reader

This doesn't seem like a big deal, frankly. Lex has a bias, and it came out in a minor way. That's all. Would you rather the interview never happen?

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How is changing "we punish" into "slap on the wrist" while using AI to make it seem like Zelensky said it himself, and on top of that moving this single reply to the very beginning to set the tone _not_ a big deal? Its the book definition of spreading fake AI content.

There is no "slap on the wrist" expression in russian language, there is however "схватить вора за руку" meaning catch the thief red-handed while word for word it goes "grab thief by the hand". When you say in russian 'beat their hands' it means punishment, when you say in English "slap on the wrist" it means no punishment or light reprimand.

> There is no "slap on the wrist" expression in russian language

> When you say in russian 'beat their hands' it means punishment

Do you speak russian? They have "получишь по рукам" "получить по рукам" which has the same meaning as "slap on the wrist"

GP maybe found one nit to pick too vigorously. However, their first point of asking to conduct the interview in Russian is such a big deal to me that I’ll probably not be listening to Lex anymore. Either it was a completely tone-deaf request from someone excited to practice his rusty Russian, or it was a political play to help frame Zelensky as unreasonable. Neither are good looks.

I’m reminded of an interview William Buckley gave Malcolm X in which the first question was “but what is your real name?” Its a request he knew 100% would be denied, doesn’t pertain to any important issues, and frames his interviewee as uncooperative from the first question.

Now I’m not saying Lex has any responsibility to give Zelensky softball questions. On the other hand he is just some schmuck* in a suit interviewing the commander in chief of a country at war and asking if they could use the language of their aggressors. I don’t like it

* ok maybe I’m biased against lex a little already…

Isn't Russian the native language of Zelensky as well? You may be reading too much into it.

Because of the war, speaking Russian has become political. Many Ukrainians who spoke Russian as their first language now refuse to ever speak it, at least publicly.

It is an odd request though considering Zelenskyy speaks very good English and Lex normally does all his podcasts in English.

he did the interview with Milei in english/spanish mixed too

Because Milei didn't want to use English. Which is fine. He could have done the Zelenskyy interview in English/Ukrainian. That would have been normal. Again, the Russian language is very politically charged in Ukraine right now, for obvious reasons. Which is why Zelenskyy doesn't typically use it in public despite it being his native tongue...

it was just a reply to the "Lex normally does all his podcasts in English." part.

Without diving into the lumpers versus splitters politics too much, how familiar are you with the similarities between Russian and Ukrainian?

>excited to practice his rusty Russian

He's a native Russian speaker who grew up in Moscow. Zelensky is also a native Russian speaker.

Why is it weird that two native Russian speakers would use their native tongue instead of English?

Lex seems to use his interviews as an excuse to listen to his own voice, he just looooves talking over people and is generally insufferable. I wish all those interviews were with someone less in love with themselves.

Are you sure we're talking about the same Lex?

I think pretty much any interviews with Zelensky and or Putin are helpful. I was skeptical that the Tucker Putin interview would be too pro Russian but there was Putin going on about how Hitler was ok and WW2 was the Poles fault for resisting Hitler's desire to take their land and even Tucker looking awkward.

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