The correct response to those saying “Ukraine will start WWIII” is not “you are dumb, shut up”. It is: “I hear you. Nuclear risk is about life and death. Talking about it openly goes to the heart of democracy. But here is what might be missing from your perspective”. - ThreadSky

vladvexler.bsky.social • 109 days ago

The correct response to those saying “Ukraine will start WWIII” is not “you are dumb, shut up”. It is: “I hear you. Nuclear risk is about life and death. Talking about it openly goes to the heart of democracy. But here is what might be missing from your perspective”.

Comments

turbounicorn.bsky.social•108 days ago

Vlad, something very troubling happened in the Romanian elections this night. A pro-Russian candidate came out of nowhere, and with a campaign ran solely on manipulating the TikTok algorithm managed to gain first place. This came as a surprise not just to MSM and pollsters, but to many of us

turbounicorn.bsky.social•108 days ago

"real" people on the ground. What's even more surprising is that this was more effective than the voting apparatus of the reformed communist party, which has so far dominated our politics. Such a performance is outright unbelievable. The fact that a manipulated algorithm defeated it is just...

h2zwb.bsky.social•109 days ago

The former isn't a polite response, but it could still be correct? However it is possibly not effective in the sense of "Weltverbesserung".

mok000.bsky.social•107 days ago

You are right, of course, but you gotta admit "you are dumb, shut up" is kinda emotionally satisfying.

macpohl.bsky.social•109 days ago

The risk has been there for a long time.

archiethelabrador.bsky.social•109 days ago

uhmm respectfully disagree, this is war. We should tolerate all but intolerance.
Supporting Ukraine, and resisting oligarchs, has not much to do with democracy: we would do it anyways.

We are not defending the west, nor democracy here:
*We are defending humanity*, different rules ;)

utrian.bsky.social•109 days ago

My answer is simpler:
"WW3 is already happening. In Ukraine we can end it."

vuosta.bsky.social•109 days ago

I like to just ask if Poland started WW2.

kitchenerswood.bsky.social•109 days ago

An empty threat is an empty threat until it isn’t. However, it makes little sense for Russia to use a nuk the damage to his own country would be enormous. I would argue that it is now too late, the West is willing to strike in Russia now. That changes the calculus.

aftertheice.bsky.social•109 days ago

The nuke advantage that Putin has is that he is certain that the West would not use nuclear weapons first. The West is almost certain that Russia would not use nukes first. Gives him a geopolitical edge.

kitchenerswood.bsky.social•109 days ago

Hard to argue with that

khaineschosen.bsky.social•109 days ago

No it's "Stop repeating Russian propaganda you moronic fuckstain"

vladvexler.bsky.social•109 days ago

That depoliticised pretence you’ve won an argument you haven’t won. That way, if one is a US citizen, one will will be talking to one’s bubble and keep losing to Trump.

khaineschosen.bsky.social•109 days ago

Trying to use reason and logic to convince the unreasonable and illogical is not going to work.

Trump was found guilty of sexual assault and is a 34x convicted felon.

If that's not enough to stop the dumb fucks voting for him then NOTHING WILL.

sofiaukraini.bsky.social•108 days ago

In my almost 3 years experience with talking to people that fell to russian disinfo, i have lost all hope in changing their minds and have found that laughing at them is the only way😉

bobt333.bsky.social•109 days ago

OR, "What do you mean? Elaborate..." and then ask intelligent, natural follow up questions to their answers. If done well, you might make a little dent.

patboivin.bsky.social•108 days ago

I am not so diplomatic, my answer would be "Were you raised by dogs?"

rliptak.bsky.social•108 days ago

It is too long, audience reflecting on This is elsewhere. These People do not care about democracy. I am doing This for years, it has no effect and situation is worsenning.

microlion.bsky.social•109 days ago

If we abandon Ukraine because of the nuclear threat, Russia will use the same threat tomorrow against the Baltic states, Poland, Germany and ultimately the whole of Europe. And the risk increases with every step. It should be clear to everyone that a nuclear threat is only acceptable in defence.

jonmarke.bsky.social•108 days ago

I think you are extremely, obviously wrong. So much so, in fact, that I'm gonna quadruple check to see whether you're just being sarcastic.

lukeabides.bsky.social•109 days ago

Vlad,
Thank you for your thoughtful and cogent takes on world events. You have given me much to think about.

nottobara.bsky.social•109 days ago

Social networks are overwhelmed with trolls, bots, and people parroting Kremlin narratives, making it feel impossible to hold meaningful debates. In these discussions, facts are either rejected, buried under lies, or outright ignored, leaving me feeling powerless. I don't know how to deal with this.

dolorlux.bsky.social•109 days ago

The best lesson you can learn on how talking to people works is often found from elementary school teachers.

dolorlux.bsky.social•109 days ago

Let's not make a cold war out of productive discussions.

aliceinkeynes.bsky.social•107 days ago

"The correct response to those saying “Ukraine will start WWIII” is not “you are dumb, shut up”."

anthrage.bsky.social•109 days ago

Unfortunately I think there is a substantially large group of people who do not respond to the reasonable approach you reference, and this is intuited, so the exchange becomes more about expressing an emotion than an attempt to convince or exchange views. The point's premise is hugely flawed sadly.

dxtt.bsky.social•109 days ago

nuclear deterrence doesn’t work unless you’re absolutely certain the other guy won’t flinch, you know for all the flaws traditional establishment conservatives and progressives had they did inspire such certainty in the other side it is supremely ironic that the populist macho man can’t even do that

techunitedukraine.bsky.social•109 days ago

Do we at least get to call them "durak" or "durachka" ? Just kidding! 😉 But seriously, my response would be, this nuclear sabre rattling is nothing new. It goes back a long time, chill out....short memories compounded by the ultra-saturated internet & mass-media news cycle.
https://bsky.app/profile/emirkrupic.bsky.social/post/3lbo6hbcb7s2i

mervman56.bsky.social•108 days ago

But Ukraine doesn’t have any nuclear weapons, didn’t start any war, shipped vital food and other supplies around the world, so could you please clarify how you come to that conclusion,should you want to discuss this matter further.

brunovasquezp.bsky.social•109 days ago

At this point I will say: World War III will hapen when the alternative becomes worse.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply