Anti-Gypsy article by Izvestia

On May 3, 2006, "Izvestia" published an article by Alexander Andryukhin "Gypsy hypnotists returned to Moscow." The article tells about a series of frauds committed with the help of hypnosis. The author connects this with the release from prison of two fraudsters convicted in 2003. To confirm this version, the article cites episodes of both 2006 and 2003. At the same time, the article constantly obsessively emphasizes that the crimes were committed by "gypsies" (only in one fragment of the article for 6 sentences the word "gypsy" is repeated 4 times!), Talks about "gypsy hypnosis", etc. ( "As soon as it got a little warmer, gypsy skirts again became full of gypsy skirts in Moscow. Burning brunettes opened the tour season." "Ionova is a purebred gypsy ... She was detained three times, but it was not possible to prove her involvement in fraud") . Upon careful reading of the article, however, it turns out that one of the scammers is Russian ( "The woman with dyed hair and a mole turned out to be a purebred gypsy from Tyumen ... The younger one is Russian, a native of the city of Engels, Saratov Region, Nadezhda Pashkova. Less than in a week, the investigation revealed 16 episodes of their fraud." ), but this does not bother the author.

A. Andryukhin, using a rather simple trick - replacing the concept of "swindler" with the concept of "gypsy" - unfolds before the reader a whole theory of "gypsy hypnosis" ("The gypsy distracts the victim's attention with some actions, and she barely audibly gives the command in her ear:" Sleep !"" ), which ends with the instruction "How to protect yourself from gypsies?". A rather strange text, which, in particular, says "Never enter into a conversation with any of the representatives of this tribe. It should be remembered that your answer to her seemingly innocent question "What time is it?" Means that you have already under her influence" , and even "if she pulls out the hair from your head and threatens that she will damage you, do the same - boldly pull out her hair and threaten her with the same" .

In addition to the fact that A. Andryukhin's article is a vivid example of the anti-Gypsy "hate speech" widespread in the Russian media, I would like to note something else. First, we again observe a simplification of "hate speech" when the author's xenophobic attitudes are not camouflaged behind streamlined constructions, but are imposed on the reader to the detriment of not only the literary style, but also the logic of the event cited in the article. And secondly, it is quite obvious that in this article the author uses what a little earlier, as an unexpected "déjà vu" (albeit for television) on the pages of the same Izvestia, Irina Petrovskaya noted: the stunning success of the appeal to the most obscurantist and the superstitious notions of the "public". In this case - "gypsy hypnosis".

Sources

• Andryukhin Alexander. Gypsy hypnotists returned to Moscow // News. 2006. May 3.