Irina Petrovskaya is outraged by Mikhail Zadornov’s nationalist sketches

In another television review by Irina Petrovskaya, published by Izvestia on May 22, 2004, a significant place was devoted to criticism of "leavened patriotism", which is becoming more and more common on Russian TV channels, and which, according to the critic, is nothing more than a manifestation (or , depending on the context, - a way of forming) nationalist sentiments. In particular, once again she expresses indignation at the sketches of humorist Mikhail Zadornov, which are broadcast almost daily by the Rossiya channel: * "As you know, he almost always writes an essay on one topic:" Foreigners are freaks. he also mocks, but in a completely different way than at foreigners. "We Russians are very unbanal, unexpected, unpredictable" - such is the leitmotif of funny and not at all evil observations of our own. But "Americans are easy to recognize by their figure. Their figure is expanded downwards, as if they have diapers in their pants, "and" the most unpleasant thing about Arab camels is their Arab owners. "Chinese and Japanese on the beach, without clothes, according to Zadornov, they all look the same , and the Finns ("dates") mow with beer.

Well, if you have nothing else to be truly proud of, it remains to be proud of the nation to which you belong. Zadornov, in fact, is precisely such a sense of national pride that inspires the public, which laughs at his jokes with such a special laugh - the laugh of national superiority and complacency. And the channel "Russia" - state-owned and, accordingly, also very patriotic - gladly provides its broadcast to Zadornov: after all, how else to educate national pride in the people?" *

Sources

• Petrovskaya Irina. Something about the national pride of the Great Russians // News. 2004. May 22.