"In any case, the already motley
community of commentators and experts trembled when Eduardas Vaitkus began to
express himself in the studies and debates of political issues.
In fact, sooner
or later such a manifestation could be expected. A voice had to break through,
representing those who were ridiculed and associated with the antichrist
through the efforts of full-time propagandists. They are the
"grandchildren of the stragglers," as one particularly zealous
propagandist wrote. It can be assumed that the author, who is close to the
authorities, would like to quarantine the Soviets, of whom there are not so
many left in corpore, and their descendants of two generations. Who knows,
maybe an extension will be needed.
Let's start with
the fact that the absolute majority of those condemned have the same civil
status as full-time propagandists. Most of those marked earn a living by their
work, raise children, decorate and strengthen Lithuania. For this reason alone,
we should expect more respect for our fellow citizens, especially when taking
care of the quality of democratic life, as drawn by the lovers of strong epithets.
It has already been so suffocated under the umbrella of "freedom of
opinion" and "democratic elections" that attempts are being made
to identify not only the social groups that supported E. Vaitkus, but also the
persons who could have marked his name on the ballot.
The voters of E.
Vaitkus are characterized by borderline (perhaps borderline) views, but this
should be considered not only during elections. Borderline views matured not
only and not so much from the relations between Lithuanians and non-nationals,
from natives and newcomers, but first of all from that ideological environment,
which is permeated with the search and crushing of enemies, from areas of
cultural neglect, where not too long ago you could hear "there, in
Lithuania ".
The second, no
less essential circumstance: the professional resume and declaration documents
of Professor E. Vaitkus to participate in the Presidential elections were
undoubtedly carefully examined by the competent authorities. The Central
Electoral Commission granted him the status of a candidate. So what the hell
are the curses being hurled at this high profile professional and active but
rebellious citizen? One expert boldly calls E. Vaitkus a "Kremlin
project". The flow of curses is applied not only to one of the
participants of the election campaign, but also to "Vaitkus' gang".
Not very inventive propagandists used a trick that has already become a classic
in Lithuania: you are different, your views conflict with mine, that is, you
are a "watnykas" or "Putin's builder". I, the author of the
comments, am a true citizen and a principled patriot, so I separate you, a
renegade, from us, from the majority, march to the corner and stay there.
Cockroaches are
known to breed in dark corners.
What is not what,
but the demonstrative separation of personalities in the recent history of the
state has continued since the time of the Independence. In the early period of
purification, they helped to mature general civic self-awareness, although even
then such campaigns tripped up many competent people, not all of them were able
to endure the vendetta in order to adapt, straighten up and create for the
liberating Lithuania. I got to know one or other such person, that time cost them
early death and loneliness until the twilight of their lives. In later times,
the sword of wrath was taken over by not very professional but very zealous
propagandists, it is easy to see this by spreading or listening to today's
media.
It so happened
that the twilight of Walpurgis Night coincided with the night of open museums.
I can't cover all the media, so maybe I'm wrong - in the stream of curses, I
missed the reflections that come from approaching museum treasures. That would
have been a good payback highlight. There are a number of other highlights: we
look forward to the upcoming Song Festival, the upcoming dramatic and, hopefully,
peaceful summer events, discussing the problems of emigration and further state
relations with foreigners, regions, and education.
Let's start with
an equal starting line. Mr. E. Vaitkus - a legitimate candidate for the
Presidential elections - is respectable, just like his seven rivals; it is
necessary to discuss his views and "theories" because they are
obviously out of the knot of political realities and actualities. But let's not
drag him into the arms of others, so that after all the elections we
don't have to lick the wounds that, maybe with good intentions, we earned it
ourselves. We already have a lot of them from the previous internal wars
because of the "wrong statues" on the bridge, demolished or planned
monuments, because of the personalities of partisans, artists and politicians.
Putinist provocateurs
- yes, they work, but mostly through our recklessness and incompetence. So
let's first dispel our own darkness.
As noted by
Professor Ainė Ramonaitė, a participant in one of the discussions, "it is
not possible to draw a portrait of a voter based on a candidate's portrait,
because there is no such direct dependence that people hear everything, accept
the whole of the candidate, that 100% their attitudes coincide."
The principle of
equality and the dialogue developed on the basis of it is not a way of
consolidating society, but rather a way of consolidating society. Let's learn
to talk, debate, look for the roots of political illiteracy and spiritual
stagnation and assert the common denominator.
Since the first
polls in 1990 of the freeing Lithuania, there were over 90% of people who
supported the fateful decisions, and up to 10% of those who thought otherwise.
The share of those who thought differently fluctuated, but remained even later.
A third of a century has passed, generations have changed, society has renewed,
and 7 percent, the supporters of E. Vaitkus, remained. Question: What has civic
education, the entire education system, done? Perhaps the institutions whose
job it is to take care of the naturalization process also tend to divide
citizens into their own and not quite their own? Something is not working in
this segment.
Since 1996,
economists and sociologists have drawn the government's attention to the
phenomenon of two Lithuanias with growing concern. The differences became more
and more obvious, and the opportunities for young people from remote areas,
from poor families, opportunities for the residents of "Khrushchev"
quarters to achieve a higher educational qualification, prosperity without
poverty - those opportunities did not increase.
If there are no
radical innovations in culture and education policy, if the state does not
create a support system (social mobility system) for young people from poorer
families and regions, which would pave the way for every ambitious person to
pursue the highest diplomas and careers, then there will also be a division
according to the maturity of citizenship. Discussions about "self"
and "others" require a much more demanding code of ethics."
This is not
ethics, this is politics. It is an axiom of Lithuanian politics that
conservatives have a small but reliable number of voters who always vote for
them, even during storms, winter and hail. Why are their voters so weird?
Because these are drunken Lithuanian racists (who shout at the border to women
from Africa in English: "Get out of here" and beat them) and
nationalists who hate all their neighbors, especially the Poles, from whom our
villagers (including the Landsbergis family), who flooded Vilnius, took away the now
more expensive lands. There are such people in all nations, but in Lithuania
they have a Conservative Party organizing them. For the Conservative Party,
hate-mongering and war-mongering strengthen ties with their constituents. All
that remains is for the voters who are for peaceful work and peace for
Lithuania to organize themselves too.
