[civilized]

The few warmongers often have the support of the majority, e.g. in Russia right now, where polls consistently show 70% support or more for Putin's attack on Ukraine. https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/09/07/my-country-right-or...

The common folk may find war too unpleasant to conduct themselves, but they rally behind someone who will do it for them.

[therusskiy]

It's ridiculously easy to influence people through propaganda.

Like you, for example, or majority of "west" for that matter, has completely believed that "70%" number that was released by Russian government.

[mradek]

Sure but if a propagandized population is hellbent in what they believe, they are a danger. Just because they have been brainwashed doesn’t mean we should let our guard down out of pity. It should make us more alarmed because they would actually go and do something batshit crazy.

It’s honestly very unsettling to think about.

[schwartzworld]

Considering the ridiculous politics here in America, I don't find the 70% statistic hard to believe. News is propaganda here, and people support terrible things all the time, so why should Russia be different?

[godelski]

> It's ridiculously easy to influence people through propaganda.

I think not enough people understand this point. So many believe that they are immune to propaganda because they laugh at some that they see. But they do not laugh at the propaganda that does influence them. There's different propaganda for different people. This is the same underlying arguments for the privacy avocation groups, but I don't want to derail the conversation at hand.

[Kamq]

> It's ridiculously easy to influence people through propaganda.

Sure, but in democracies (or any system where legitimacy depends on the "will of the people"), why the people believe something isn't usually considered relevant.

[civilized]

Except they were not released by the Russian government.

[therusskiy]

They were released by Levada, it's now been some time that they are being influenced by Kremlin.

None of my friends / relatives / acquintances supports this war (only my GF's mother). That is a piss-poor statistic, but the sad truth is that there simply cannot be any reliable sociology in a country where saying "no to war" leads to criminal prosecution.

I think it's also crucial, that from people who "support this war", most support the image they see on TV, not the real-world atrocities. Most of people who support this war think they are fighting "battalions of NATO soldiers from Poland" and a small group of nazis who threaten Ukraininan soldiers with death if they don't go into battle. For majority it's impossible to fathom fighting with brotherly Ukrainians.

[yks]

"70%" number is effectively meaningless, it might be 30 or 90, but it is a fact that the war is supported by Russian society. They may not _like_ it but they _support_ it. If Putin says the war is over now, Russians would support that too.

[CGamesPlay]

It’s literally illegal to not be “in support” of the “special military operation” if you are in Russia. No poll could possibly be accurate.

[andretti1977]

The common folk may be led to think that the only alternative they have to live is war. And they are led to think that by those small overpowered fraction.

It has been the case for a lot of modern wars (even those pushed by us or nato).

It's not a matter of country.

[pain2022]

I'm so tired of seeing this 70% number. There is a lot of available evidence against it. Why is it so widely quoted by western media?

The poll is from Nevada, same poll company that said 1% support Navalny as a politician. Navalny got 27% on Moscow mayor election in 2013. Tens of thousands of people were on demonstrations in his support in 2021, risking getting beaten up by police and jailed.

Out of ~100 people I know, maybe a couple somewhat support war.

In Moscow, none of civilian cars you see on the streets have Z/V/military symbols in support of the war. If war has 70% support, at least 1% would put it on display.

[andrepd]

Since there is no free press in Russia and if you publicly come out against the war you might be jailed and brutalised, I'm surprised the percentage isn't even larger.

[throwaway290]

As practice shows, it's one thing to support the attacks but quite another to be willing to go to the frontline...

[yks]

Current Russian practice shows that there is no difference, thousands of newly mobilized men have already died and their society doesn't care, mothers just blame Ukraine.

[simplotek]

> The few warmongers often have the support of the majority, e.g. in Russia right now, where polls consistently show 70% support or more for Putin's attack on Ukraine.

We should take a step back and think about Russia's problem.

Not only did Russia's dictatorship made it illegal and a punishable offense to express any negative feeling regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine, they manipulate all their media with pro-Putin and pro-war propaganda.

Keep in mind that Russia's regime response to anti-mobilization protesta was to arrest protesters and force them to the war front.

No wonder a big chunk of Russians, when faced with any war-related question, they make it their point to promptly give a canned response on how they are apolitical. Self-preservation in a totalitarian state kicks in almost as a Darwinian response.

If you found yourself living in that sort of castrating society, what would you answer if state posters asked you what you thought of the ongoing war?

[IAmGraydon]

If Maslow’s hierarchy of needs had one more layer at its very base, it would be power. That is, the ability to project their will into the world. People who are made to feel powerless (like the Russian population) will align themselves with a source of power (Putin) to satisfy their need for power, even if by proxy. The need for power is so fundamentally important to humans that any source of this is valued above most moral conflicts that the source may cause. This is how a large population of “good” people can commit atrocities, as in WWII Germany, for example.