Les Miserables

One of the brightest events of recent times is the “human shield” scandal. (On March 5, on the Moscow Ring Road, traffic police officers, in order to catch a thief, stopped several cars and ordered the drivers to turn them around so as to block the road. The criminal, however, escaped by ramming the barrier.) When the story hit the Internet and a scandal broke out, the head of the Moscow State Traffic Safety Inspectorate Kazantsev made a Solomonic decision: he presented certificates of gratitude to the owners of the cars that were displayed as “human shields.” As stated, drivers are rewarded for their selfless actions when apprehending especially dangerous criminals.

I never tire of being amazed at the wisdom of language, which like this, in one word, is capable of revealing all the simple-minded cynicism of these people. It turns out that it’s not my fault, he came himself. Selflessly. That means he rejected himself, and I thank him for that. Signature stamp.

The word selfless is generally very interesting. I once already had the opportunity to write about him in connection with how poorly suited the standard combination “dedicated work” is to characterize the work of a scientist. Selflessness presupposes sacrifice, but a real scientist is obsessed with a passion for the truth and perceives precisely the renunciation of science, say, for the sake of making money for the family, as a sacrifice. The same can be said about the artist. It is no coincidence that in Pushkin about self-sacrifice it is Salieri, and not Mozart, who speaks : “Oh heaven!” Where is rightness when there is a sacred gift, When immortal genius is not a reward. Burning love, selflessness, labor, zeal, prayers are sent. -Does it illuminate the head of a madman, an idle reveler?

Please don't misunderstand me; I don't mean to say that selflessness is a bad thing. Alas, in life it is impossible to do only what you want, and it is wonderful if a person is able to sacrifice his desires and interests for the sake of something that is dear to him. I'm talking about something else. In Soviet times, the combination selfless labor became a cliche, and in general the adjective selfless became a standard way of expressing the meaning of “good” with nouns denoting human actions and activities - scientifically this is called the lexical function Bon. That is, if a person wanted to do good, he was obviously expected to renounce his own interests. This was something taken for granted, and a person absorbed such an idea along with the language.

I say "was" because now it is changing. The point here is not only that recently the word selflessness has begun to be used more selectively. A whole layer of vocabulary is changing, connected with a person’s attitude towards himself, his interests and his achievements. Over the last decade, the word successful has become actively used in relation to people (previously they did not say a successful person, but only successful work, successful negotiations), the same thing happened with the word effective. The unpleasant aftertaste gradually disappears from the word successful, and on the contrary, the golden mark on the word loser is erased . Surprisingly quickly, a positive assessment in the word ambitious took hold; are moving not so rapidly, but quite confidently in the same direction the words aggressive and careerist . But my career is already in order. Who now remembers that quite recently the clause “career in a good sense” was required? Because actually the career was suspicious. This very “good meaning” also appears in other related words. Recently, my colleague E. Shmeleva studied what is happening on the Internet with words individualist and egoist. And this is what turned out.

In advertising, in business textbooks, and in general in the speech of many, especially young people, the word individualist is used rather with a positive assessment. For example: Only individualists can ensure a successful start-up; A modern Russian entrepreneur must be a pragmatist and an individualist; Now the focus is on ambitious individualists; This car was created, most likely, for bright individualists, for egoists in the good sense of the word, for people who love the thrill and intoxication of speed!!!

The maxim that one should not love oneself (cf. the words selfishness and self-lover) gradually loses its force, and in the word egoist disapproval naturally fades away : Egoist generation is a magazine for those who love themselves; The Egoist restaurant was created by egoists for egoists; "Egoist" store - men's underwear; tariff plan “Egoist”; men's cologne "Egoist". Of course, it cannot be said that the word egoist has completely turned into praise - for many it is still a curse. But, judging by the texts circulating on the Internet, for many others, especially young people, the word egoist has only a “good meaning”: “Positive egoists” are active, purposeful men aged 20 to 35 who strive to live a bright and eventful life . This description applies to almost any man. However, the difference between “positive egoists” and other men is their independence from the assessments of others, thinking free from stereotypes and at the same time a strong need for self-expression, which is manifested not only in the choice of a car, but also in all elements of life style.

We all remember well from school how Chernyshevsky at one time tried to rehabilitate the word egoist with his theory of “reasonable egoism.” And we all remember that his reasoning sounded like a paradox and a provocation. I'm afraid that all this provocation, all, as they say now, challenge is wasted on the modern young lady, who speaks with delight about her friend that he is supposedly a positive egoist, a successful careerist and an effective other-ist. And what a paradox it is, if she only recently, on February 23, gave him “Egoist” cologne. Although perhaps it was unwise.

Irina Levontina