Is Putin Right? Are There Really Nazis In Ukraine?
The answer is more complicated than you think. The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend.
One of the most confusing things for the majority of people watching Ukraine is the insistence of Vladimir Putin he’s trying to stop the spread of Nazis. It doesn’t sit right with a Western population and we are all of the opinion it’s a lie. We know it’s something he’s telling his population to justify his own evil ambitions.
But here’s a controversial thing I think. Whenever we add the label ‘evil’ to someone, we immediately shut down all critical faculties and stop thinking. ‘Evil’ as an expression underlies the human desire not to go digging in the psychological and sociological dirt.
‘Hitler was evil’
These three words mean we don’t have to look too closely at his childhood trauma and resultant grandiose narcissism. We don’t have to look at this, because looking at this is often interpreted as making excuses for his actions. I’d argue it isn’t.
It’s about understanding his actions in a wider psychological context.
Hitler showed very troubling signs from a young age, signs which many of us in social work and teaching would recognise as problematic and in need of direct…
