The TV Lied to Me

I used to be completely apolitical, just living my life without caring who was up there dividing billions. Politics? I couldn't care less. In the '90s and early 2000s, my family and I spent evenings in front of the TV. There was no YouTube or internet as we know it today, and TV determined how we saw the world. I was born into a Russian family, but we lived in Kazakhstan, which had only recently been part of the Soviet Union, along with Russia and 13 other countries. What channels did we have? Of course, Russian ones. Kazakh channels were still underdeveloped, and almost no one watched them. And the news? Always the same story: Russia is the greatest country, and the rest of the world? They're just jealous and want to tear it apart, destroy it. Enemies everywhere.

These thoughts soaked into my brain like cheap booze we used to drink at parties. And I carried this nonsense with me for years. Then Crimea happened. Well, didn't the people of Crimea want to join Russia? I mean, there was a referendum and everything. The people voted. And Ukraine? A complete mess. Revolution, nationalists taking power, Russians being oppressed. That's what I thought. But honestly, it didn’t affect me, and I didn’t care.

Everything changed in 2022, when Russia launched the so-called "special military operation." That’s what they called it. I was watching YouTube at the time, following two Ukrainian guys who ran a Russian-language channel talking about their lives. When things started going downhill, they began posting videos about the war around them. They hated Russia, and it shocked me. One of the reasons for the war, supposedly, was to free Russian speakers who were being oppressed. But these guys didn’t look like people who needed saving. That’s when I started digging into this mess.

I started researching. Watching investigations, diving into Ukrainian news, finding alternative sources. The deeper I dug, the more I realized: I’d been fed lies. I sided with Ukraine because I finally understood who the real aggressor was. And it wasn’t Ukraine. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t realize this much earlier.

I remember a huge argument with a good friend. We used to train in wrestling together, competing in our childhood, then he moved to Russia. We kept in touch. After the conflict started, we argued about it. He fully supported what Russia was doing. I didn’t. We haven’t spoken since.

I was 35, just two years ago, when I really started getting into politics. Now, I’m constantly seeking different perspectives, questioning everything I hear, doubting every news report. My life split into a “before” and “after.” Sometimes it feels like I was an NPC. Then one day, I woke up.

Image created by the author using the Canva app.