Text taken from an article which appeared in pnp.ru
By Aleksandr Losev
The achievement of geopolitical and economic advantages by any power gives it the opportunity to build a world order for its interests, to impose its will, and with it the system of distribution of wealth and power, to all other countries and peoples. In the decades after the collapse of the USSR, these processes were supported by the hegemony of the dollar and the dominance of US-based multinational corporations that control a significant part of modern technology and intellectual property, setting global standards and monopoly positions in their sectors. At the same time, the hegemony tried to prevent this or that country from throwing a technological or scientific challenge to it, so the policy of the West also advanced through establishing control over higher and school education, through a cultural “revolution” and the creation of new cults,
It is obvious that now, when changes in the geo-economic space are becoming irreversible, Russia is reviving, Europe is weakening, the Global South is rising, and China's influence is expanding throughout the world, the United States will continue to increase not only economic pressure on opponents, but also go directly to the military to maintain hegemony. conflict, hybrid and mental wars, where the spheres of confrontation include the information environment and cyberspace, the space of perceptions and symbolic areas, the history and morale of nations. Potential rivals of the West should not be able to compete with the hegemon either economically, or politically, or culturally, none at all.
Karl von Clausewitz, in his famous treatise On War, wrote that the goal of any war is peace that is comfortable for the winner. Nuclear weapons and strategic parity make a full-scale conflict between the West and Russia impossible, which means that, in addition to relying on the Kiev regime and the nationalist elites of the former Soviet republics, both economic and mental warfare will intensify. The war to destroy Russia is not only about the dismemberment of the territory and the seizure of control over the economy, it is also a war aimed at changing thinking, at decomposing society, at destroying our multinational community, changing the ethical system, etc., this war began a very, very long time ago.
The mental war against Russia began after our victory in the Napoleonic Wars and did not stop for two centuries, it was fought in the Crimean War, the Great Patriotic War, and during the years of the Cold War. Continued intensively after the collapse of the Soviet Union throughout its territory. We see how, under the leadership of the West, the neighboring country and the former fraternal Ukraine were monstrously reformatted to create anti-Russia out of it, and yet our compatriots lived there - people with a Soviet upbringing and with the same understanding as ours of what good is and what is evil. This is happening in Kazakhstan and the Transcaucasus, and the Russophobia of the Balts has become one of the foundations of their modern national identity.
The information space, culture and system of human norms and social values are the theater of mental warfare. And the main strategy of this war is degradation. Degradation of culture and art, science and education and society as a whole. This is clearly visible to those who witnessed the dismantling of the USSR with the subsequent building of global supercapitalism. The beginning of the NWO threw off the covers, and we saw how the West switched to a total war against Russia, and from our country the anti-Russian "combatants" of the mental war of the West fled from our country to the EU, the USA, Israel, Turkey and the Emirates.
Degradation as a purposeful policy has become a global trend and has affected the elites and the administrative apparatus of all states, including the US and the EU. Sovereign nation-states interfere with the globalist goals of transnational corporations, the preservation of colossal world inequality, total control over resources and the construction of a dystopian society with total control over the population and the distribution of scarce benefits. The regression and total degradation of societies help globalists to solve their tasks, and, on the contrary, educated and cultured people are seen by globalists as a threat, they are trying to marginalize and defame them.
It becomes obvious that supercapitalism is not interested in the development of culture, since a person in this system is only a source of income for corporations, and high culture with its ideals and values only hinders business from earning money, because a cultured person ceases to be an omnivorous, manipulated consumer without intelligence. That is why they are trying to reduce culture to the sphere of services and entertainment and monetize and simplify it to the maximum.
But, unfortunately, mass culture is not only a part of the service economy, but also an instrument of influence and social modeling of society, a tool for controlling the minds of people and a sphere where new cults are created that can weaken the morale of entire nations, destroy the institution of the family and atomize societies.
Globalization is very beneficial to the degradation of education and culture, since it becomes easier to scale up business, program the specialization of the regions of the planet in the interests of corporations, and pursue a neo-colonial policy. That is why one of the sides of the globalization process has become the worldwide "cultural" integration and unification. For decades, high culture was being squeezed out all over the world, there was a total simplification and stupidity, genuine values were lost and replaced by international surrogates. The center of world culture is the world metropolis - the hegemonic state. The rest is the cultural periphery of the "world civilized community". But mass culture was aimed at the total degradation of mankind. The population of the planet was programmed to obey those who own the world's wealth and the means of production.
We also saw how, as Russia was integrating into the global economy, these degradation trends were imposed on us by the West: everything was constantly simplified, budgets were spent on Russophobic films and primitive serials, theater performances and various TV shows became immoral and vulgar, the musical stage degraded to rap with propaganda of drugs and promiscuous sex. And all because the self-styled "masters of the world" do not need books, plays and films that make people think.
Mikhail Nikolaevich Zadornov in his book “PR during the plague, or who should live in Rus'?” wrote: “... after the collapse of Soviet power, what did they do? The army, which was feared all over the world, was declared powerless, the best Soviet education in the world was executed, wonderful Soviet writers were branded commies, thrown out of school programs, replaced by dissident traitors ... All the crossed-out pluses cannot be listed. And what did you get? Instead of love - sex, instead of friendship - expediency. Speculation has become a business, and the word "conscience" in one modern dictionary is labeled "obsolete."
The trend of degradation launched by modern globalists echoes the ideas of Alfred Rosenberg (one of the main ideologists of Nazism, who was executed in 1946 by the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal): “The slaves of the Reich should be deprived of any education and high art. It is enough for them to know the alphabet to read our decrees, a simple melody and satisfy physiological needs. Nazism was defeated by the Red Army in 1945, but the United States and Britain - the true creators of the Nazi Reich - were among the winners in World War II, and immediately after the war they continued the struggle against the USSR, which continues against today's Russia.
Only the tools of the West are now much more powerful and technologically advanced than those of the Nazis. The digital influence of social platforms and online media can polarize public sentiment, undermine the population's faith in the basic foundations of the organization of society, which unite citizens and the state together. Digital propaganda through targeted content and analysis of users' personal data greatly amplifies any impact and allows for the use of controversy, undermining trust in the media and political institutions. A huge number of cases of telephone fraud carried out by Ukrainian call centers, and an increase in the number of arsons of military registration and enlistment offices indicates that many of our citizens have forgotten how to think critically.
Globalists understand that with the degradation of one area, others begin to fall. The decline of culture leads to the decline of education, which, in turn, leads to the decline of production and the entire economy as a whole, and the country loses its sovereignty. The roots of the technological degradation of our economy are in this. On the contrary, if we begin to revive culture, revive education, we will immediately improve everything else - the economy, the military-industrial complex, and our ability to resist the enemy and understand the enemy's plans.
Now Gaidar's formula "we sell oil for dollars, and with these dollars we will buy everything we need, including high-tech goods" no longer works. Degradation is becoming an existential threat to Russia and the main obstacle to gaining comprehensive sovereignty.
Strategy to counter imposed degradation
Degradation is a very powerful tool of mental warfare. If we realize this, then we can oppose anti-intellectualism with enlightenment and the spiritual and moral development of our society. Enlightenment is the dissemination of knowledge and culture. The importance of education in times when states are threatened by external forces cannot be overestimated. Thanks to mass education and the spread of culture, both the industrialization of the USSR and our victory in the Great Patriotic War became possible. There are other historical examples: the law on the revolutionary tribunal of 22 Prairial of the Second Year of the French Republic sent to the guillotine those who interfered with public education.
Education, according to the Federal Law of December 29, 2012 No. 273-FZ “On Education in the Russian Federation”, is “a single purposeful process of education and training, which is a socially significant good and is carried out in the interests of an individual, family, society and the state, as well as a set of acquired knowledge, skills, values, experience of activity and competence of a certain volume and complexity for the purpose of intellectual, spiritual, moral, creative, physical and (or) professional development of a person, satisfaction of his educational needs and interests.
Education in no way should be a service, it is, as stated in the law, a socially significant benefit. Education is closely connected with culture, because in the course of education and upbringing, cultural images and moral principles are transmitted to the younger generations. Culture and art are also a public good.
Real high culture is anti-bourgeois. Culture is a part of education, when the necessary knowledge and value-moral guidelines are passed on to the next generations through cultural images. Culture is responsible for the spiritual development of a person and forms an idea of truth, goodness and beauty.
The meaning of art is to find an eidos - a value idea embodied in artistic images - an eidos that is opposed to something bad that exists in this world and in this dialectical opposition changes the world for the better. Art should show people ideals, great images and examples of the greatness of the spirit, educate and enlighten, encourage a person to become better, serve spiritual and moral ideas and ideas of protecting and serving their homeland. These are the goals that were set for cultural policy in the era of the first five-year plans, and these same goals must be set now. The main task now should be education, physical (health and sports) and spiritual development of a person.
Classical works reflected the humanistic traditions of the era, in the center of these works were people and social relations, understanding of good and evil, problems and experiences of people, their spiritual quest. Classical works reflected the era and crystallized behavioral and ethical patterns for future generations. This ensured the interaction of generations and the connection of times.
Let's think about what is the meaning of such a well-known concept as Holy Rus'? This is a civilizational goal and an ideological concept. Holiness and righteousness as a value orientation. If a society from early childhood brings up and encourages righteous behavior, if a person does not commit acts that he would internally condemn, then society will be healthy and moral, and most importantly, capable of creation and progress. Traditional family values and our ethics with a commitment to sacrificial struggle, to goodness, truth, courage and honor, the presence of meanings are also Holy Rus' of our multinational country.
The ability to sacrifice, indestructible faith in ourselves, in truth and justice, the vast space of Russia, the energy of the country and the power of the state form a single whole. The destruction of this whole and our ethical system was and remains the goal of the enemy. And this cannot be allowed.
Only an immediate return to classical culture and to classical education, that is, education and upbringing, will ensure the protection of our country from the strategies of the mental war of the West, from degradation and loss of sovereignty.
When culture leaves, competencies in industry, high technologies, and science are immediately lost. And Western science is now engaged in projects that are profitable for three years. There is no fundamental new knowledge. We, like barbarians, destroyed our industry, our culture. And now we have an exam for the right to be called a civilization and to preserve our Motherland for future generations. And we can't fail this exam.
It is necessary to form a "Great Triad" - fundamental science, applied science, training. Professional development must be combined with spiritual and moral development and with creativity.
It is necessary to talk about our heroes, about everyone who is now fighting for the Motherland, because the heroes, the people who perform feats and do combat work now at the front, are those who will be an example for future generations. It is necessary to explain to society who our enemies are and what their goals are. In no case should there be a blind faith that the West is the best world, and we are the periphery. We are the ones who preserve human civilization.
Sacredness, that is, the awareness of what is sacred to us, what we will protect at the cost of our lives, what is important for our civilization, our cultural monuments, paintings, icons, temples and monasteries, great works of literature and music, cities, theaters, our nature , truth, goodness and beauty, all that forms the foundations of culture and life, is also our weapon in mental warfare.
And finally, the scientific and technological progress launched by the Great Projects, such as space exploration and the achievement of strategic parity with the United States, the nuclear project, the development of Siberia, etc. in the last century, which makes knowledge, high-quality mass education and the culture of creative thought and the culture of production in demand guarantees us victory not only in the mental war, but also in the geopolitical confrontation with the West.