Belarusian Makes West Laugh At Russia

The Times writes about his prank.

A grand prank that mocked the servility of Russians has made it to the international level. The Western media are now ironising about the Russian school system after a comical incident in which Russian teachers believed in a patently absurd hoax. According to an article by British publication The Times, Belarusian blogger Uladzislau Bokhan sent letters to teachers in Voronezh region on behalf of the supposedly ruling party, asking them to create homemade hats out of tinfoil.

These ‘Fatherland Helmet’ caps, according to Bokhan, were supposed to protect teachers and students from ‘harmful NATO radiation.’

The incident was widely covered by Ukrainian and Russian opposition media, but now it has drawn attention even in the West. Russian state employees are totally dependent on the federal centre and are ready to do whatever it asks.

Teachers took this seriously and even sent photos and videos of themselves posing in tinfoil hats next to portraits of Putin. Some of them were explaining that such helmets supposedly prevent mind-reading and exposure by foreign intelligence services. One teacher called it a patriotic act ‘symbolising the readiness to defend the motherland from external threats’.

The satirical nature of the event provoked laughter among Western observers, as the incident clearly showed the influence of state propaganda on Russian budgetary employees, who are sometimes not able to assess critically the information coming from ‘above.’ According to Bokhan and commentators, this is just one example of blind loyalty, servility and trust in the authorities, which leads to a willingness to comply with any, even the most absurd orders.

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