while reading this text ( a pretty good one I must say) I keep thinking of one thing.. how the tendency to make average people , or “loosers” believe that they are somehow better than the other has been used by various politicians through centuries- especially the way they construct the victim hood narrative.

Out of all ( due to personal reasons and geography) — the most shining example are the Balkan wars of the 90s… and the legacy that continues today. As the general consensus of all of us who survived those years says- it was all due to Serb aggression and the desire to expand their territory… for which, the serb masses had to be convinced that their people are “chosen” ( they used, and keep using the expression “nebeski narod” — Heavenly people) and that everyone else in the balkans is somehow below them, a vermin attacking their sacred ground which has to be exterminated for the good of the nation.

Yet, the average Serb ( in the 90s as well as today) was/is utterly convinced that, despite all the evidence in the contrary, it was his nation taht was the real victim- and that everything else is nothing more but a giant conspiracy. They believe that Srebrenica, Sarajevo, Vukovar, Raçak, Lubeniq… none of the massacres happened- or, that they were committed by someone else in order to frame the Serbs. even the testimonies of those who took parts in the killings don’t change a thing- mos of those who still believe in Serb exclusivity keep refusing to believe that it was their people who committed the worst atrocities in Europe since WWII.

They even, quite often, use the expression “fascist” when talking about some of their neighbors, or western politicians in general- while the fact that their attitudes, beliefs and actions fall under the definition of “fascist” never comes to mind. and even when it does… it is usually along the lines that the Serbs were defending themselves against sub-human or “fascist” neighbors thus, whatever happened was an act of self-defense .. thus never really thinking of one-self as an aggressor ( although none of the wars were waged in Serbia-proper) but instead believing to be a victim of the ones who took the brunt of their campaigns. It also helps while , on a personal level, the supporters of these ideas ( usually the social “loosers” ) make themselves feel as a part of something bigger- as well as believe that they are performing a “historic” duty thus, they can not be looters, rapists and murderers, but heroes of the nation. ( the fact that it is them, and their policies that have caused the most damage to their nation never occurs)

There is a similar situation in Myanmar- where the unarmed- underdeveloped rohingya who are the target of an ethnic cleansing campaign, are believed to be some sort of a danger to the majority population which is only reacting to protect itself from the “terrorists” — as well as a few different places. In fact: the recipe ( convince the majority population that the other one is a danger for it’S existence so, something must be done to “defend” ) has been used and re-used for decades, if not centuries…..

and unfortunately.. it seems that it will be used for a long time in the future