My working hypothesis

The first reaction of many bloggers to the act of the people's representatives, who passed a law prohibiting Russian orphans from being adopted by US citizens, is natural and understandable: “cross out cannibals from the lists of people!” Indeed, at first glance it seems that the “chosen ones” have crossed the line separating the world of people, where good and evil exist, from the world of non-humans, where there is nothing of the kind.

But from the point of view of social anthropology, it seems to me that this is the wrong conclusion. I dare to suggest the following (of course, I could be wrong; after all, I’m not an anthropologist, I’m just sharing an assumption).

Everything is quite human. Parochial altruism is the most human trait. The whole question is who in a given community is considered “friends” and who is considered “outsiders”. By their actions, 400 elected representatives linked themselves with each other and with the authorities into a single, closely knit, closed society. They were tied up using an ancient, powerful ritual act of collective cannibalism (or, to put it mildly, by a joint demonstrative gross violation of moral norms accepted outside the given community). Thus, the moral and emotional connection with the surrounding social environment, with the so-called “society”, “people”, with the so-called “ordinary people” was finally interrupted.

There is no turning back for them now. But they still had morals and ideas about good and evil. Only, as it should be according to theory, this idea applies exclusively to our own people, to the members of this closed sect. For them, now good is good only in relation to power, which they, again, are forced to identify with the country in order to preserve their own mental integrity. Loyalty is the cardinal virtue. Considering the power of the committed act, its moral “load”, its direct connection with the most basic instincts, such as pity for orphans, the surrounding social environment in their minds must now certainly be dehumanized. We are now nonhumans for them. No empathy, no concessions to non-humans! The “moral law” that still remains within them (after all, they are still homo sapiens) simply does not apply to us.

Therefore, it is useless to picket them. Therefore, they are now truly dangerous. But representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, supporting the anti-orphan demarche of the people, are making a very big mistake. Can't they really see beyond their own nose?

Update. Here's an interesting comment from progenes . There, in particular, some bullshit called “freedom” and some other “right of the child” are mentioned. So the trouble is that for many, all these freedoms and human rights are below the plinth in their value system. In any case, much lower than patriotism (one of the simplest and oldest forms of parochial altruism, by the way). Or they are not there at all. Or even cause fierce hatred. And while this is so, there is nothing to count on serious changes for the better. I hope it's our age. Treated with economic prosperity and good education.

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