POLL: Over Half of Russians Reject Cancel Culture
Jose Nino
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According to a poll published by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center, 53% of the Russian populace believes Russian politicians should oppose cancel culture directed against Russia.
The poll’s results were published on December 28, 2022.
“The Russian government should seek to change the policy directed at Russia and resist cancel culture,” the Russia pollster VTsIOM declared in a statement.
Per the poll’s results, an additional 30% of respondents said the Russian government shouldn’t take any measures against cancel culture. Over half of Russian citizens polled had trouble answering what consequences attempts to cancel Russia could bring about.
Per VTsIOM’s findings, 89% of Russians, recognize that Russian cultural icons, musicians, scientists and students have faced constant sanctions threats throughout 2022 especially Russia’s launch of the special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Only 11% of individuals polled were unaware about the sanctions pressure Russians have faced.
When asked what constitutes cancel culture, 24% of respondents said that it’s when an individual is expelled from society or subjected to ostracism. 21% of Russians associated cancel culture with “the cancellation of Russian culture.” An additional 9% indicated that cancel culture refers to “the cancellation of all things Russian.”
One of the pettiest aspects of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict has been the West’s impulsive response to categorically demonize Russian culture and do everything possible to ostracize Russians. While people and governments can criticize the Russian government’s decision to invade Ukraine, it makes no sense to attack Russian history, and more importantly, citizens that have no connections to the Russian government.
Such behavior does nothing to end this conflict and it only empowers radical nationalist elements in Russia who will point to the West’s hostile response to Russia as further justification for dialing up tensions in Ukraine and fully decoupling Russia from the West. For paranoid elements of Russian nationalism, the West is seen as a thoroughly hostile institution and actions by Western governments and other institutions to cancel Russian culture only justify these nationalists’ suspicions. At the end of the day, Westerners must become more level-headed about the Russia question and not let raw emotions dictate their policymaking decisions.
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