We aren’t all precious

”We are all precious,” my acquaintance said. A noble sentiment, but life gives us plenty of reasons to shake our heads and retort, ”Not so. We may all be precious in theory but fate writes different scenarios.” I mean, there are wars going on all over the world, in case someone hasn’t noticed. Including hybrid (gray zone) warfare. Societies are militarizing. War, by definition, shows us that not all people are precious. I understand the power of the phrase but we’re given thousands of reasons every day showing us there’s a clear gradation of life.

We dehumanize our enemies, because it’s easier to eliminate them then. We eliminate Russian propagandists and if we followed the, ”We’re all precious” logic, then we wouldn’t have done anything and more Russian soldiers would have had their minds poisoned by the likes of despicable Darya Dugina. I actually had a great exchange of views with an FBI interrogator on LinkedIn. We were discussing flipping Dugina and how the FBI expert would go about it (yes, I love these kinds of enriching conversations). She’s a classic example of a highly intelligent individual who chose opportunism, consequences for Ukraine and beyond be damned. She wasn’t stupid. Oh no. She was smart and maybe, in the next world, she can now see the light, who knows. She knew what she was doing. She spoke several languages. But serving the regime was profitable. Was her life as precious as that of a Ukrainian civilian? You know the answer. Every regime has its Duginas. Propagandists. ”Vigilant” citizens. Functionaries ready to torture and kill  without hesitation. External threats and fellow citizens who voice dissent. Ask them if they think we are all precious. Hear them laugh.

But we mustn’t demonize thousands of people. Let’s picture a hypothetical situation. Tracking someone suicidal, who was for some reason deemed worthy of tracking and saving, to stop them from ending their life is truly impressive and admirable in my book. The act of a potential self-sacrifice for someone, a noble act, for someone who might not even deserve it. Imagine being in a relationship with someone who knows practically everything about you. Then again, when that person knows so much about you and accepts you, that’s true love. The ultimate bond. And you know your kids are safe. In all seriousness, this is merely a hypothetical scenario for the purposes of this blog post to demonstrate that, indeed, there are people willing to potentially risk their lives to save others, and we aren’t only talking about doctors and so on. That a stranger’s life can be so precious, so worth saving.What a noble act.

Now, every social structure has an originator. A founder. Take Russian intelligence services – founded by a well-educated Pole and a polyglot, Feliks Dzierżyński. He set up the paradigm within which Russian intelligence services likely operate to this day. There are changes, there are updates and perfections, of course, but ultimately it all goes back to Dzierżyński. It is ironic that the Pole founded Russian intelligence services, but he was no friend of Poland. At least not openly. As the creator of an entirely new systemic structure, the Iron Felix (Железный Феликс) displayed traits of genius. He created the mental and ideological paradigm within which the Russian intel service functionaries do their jobs. His ideas are the horizons of their thinking. In that context, Dzierżyński’s life is worth much more than some rank and file operative’s life. Iron Felix is much more precious than some low-level spy precisely because Dzierżyński is the originator, the mind behind the Russian intel project, while the death of the low-level operative is irrelevant.

Russians are known for their psychushka mental hospitals where dissidents – well-known as well as those not famous – are taken to be reformed. We all know what reformed means in Russia. We rarely ask the question: was the Russian model of forced psychiatric so-called treatment to silence dissenting voices copied elsewhere? Of course, to some extent. Yes, including in Poland, not sure about Israel. China, well, China is something else entirely. Dissidents vanish there, only to reappear a few months later as fervent supporters of the only righteous cause. Where were they? How does the re-education aka thought-reform process look like? To be fair, there are some stupid posts on conspiracy forums, such as, ”The CIA turned him into a girl for whistleblowing.” Some re-education.

Now, there’s this misconception, in my opinion, that regime hitmen and assassins – let’s say we’re talking Putin’s assassins – would only go after VIP targets. Why? The jihadi tactic of going after the less important targets, but still sending the ‘to whom it may concern’ message,  might be the modus operandi of Putin’s assassins. Anyone who has ever criticized, strategized against or mocked the Kremlin in an article published in a major publication (globally known, not some local newspaper or media outlet) is a potential target. The assertion that only top targets are in  danger, is fallacious. When you want to send a message, you can go after anyone belonging to the ”published anti-Russian article authors” club, so to speak. If you get published (article, front page for all to see) in a globally-known newspaper, then yes, you’re on their radar, in my opinion. That presence on their Lubyanka radar might translate into a hit but likely won’t. Exciting? Ya, until you come across Putin’s pals face-to-face.

We might all be equally precious before God. But that’s another level. Incorporeal. Out of reach. To some people out there, I’m precious. To others, I’m not even a blip on their radar. Expecting everyone we come across to think we’re precious is absurd. People have different backgrounds and values. Context is key. Some people couldn’t care less about us and that’s their right. Most of us barely notice anyone we come across. Can’t change it. Accept it. That’s life.