(Prints size 108x80 cm)
Real spring has come to the city, followed by rains & blossoming. Pressed by rumors about the upcoming referendum, Kherson residents continue to leave en masse. Russian flags appear and disappear on administrative buildings. Photographs from the monuments to the heroes of the Maidan also disappear. Chornobayivka once again declares itself with powerful explosions as ammunition depots are detonated. The Russian military bolsters its defenses, roams in search of alcohol and cannabis, and sometimes deserts. But on the food front, Russian products have gone on an active offensive, pushing Ukrainian goods, bled dry by the humanitarian blockade, off the shelves of local stores. Some entrepreneurs are already preparing to surrender. Propaganda leaflets are distributed on the streets, informing us about the good purpose of all the obscurantism that is doing the rounds. Thanks to the Ukrainian Internet, where even elderly pensioners watch and read Ukrainian news, the city keeps holding on. In my traditional block about tales and storytellers, there will be a lot of geometry and psychology. It is dedicated to the great and mighty Stephen Karpman’s drama triangle. I recommend studying its essence to everyone who has not yet done so. Here I will briefly describe its mechanism. Studying behavior through transactional analysis, Karpman found that all psychological games follow a certain pattern. He depicted one in the form of a triangle with 3 vertices - the roles that all the participants alternately play: Rescuer, Persecutor, and Victim. In whatever role any of the participants of the life drama starts, having played it, he/she switches to another, and then to the third, returning again to the first and moving through life like this from day to day, from dawn to dusk. The most striking example of this geometry is the typical family of an alcoholic. Usually, a husband starts out as victim (of his addiction), his wife plays the role of rescuer, forcing him to stop drinking, switching to the role of persecutor when the husband breaks down and goes on a binge, or of victim when she complains to a friend or her mother about her difficult fate. When the husband switches roles, he acts as persecutor when he beats his wife, she, in turn, becomes a victim, and a neighbor, relative, police or their own child comes to her rescue. The tragedy here is that people disappear into this Bermuda Triangle, burning up all their life energy in the emotional see-saw of drama. This extends to all interpersonal relationships and is reflected in the culture of society (soap operas), as well as in its domestic and foreign policies. So, first there is a victim of Western colonialism rising from its knees. When it has the resources, it becomes the rescuer of the oppressed Russian people in “unfriendly” neighboring countries. To rescue them, it switches to the persecutor role and conducts special operations until falling to its knees again to become a victim. Inside the country, the processes are the same. Persecutors’ voices on screens are very loud, tomorrow they will become victims, responsible for losses, and rescuers will come in their place. In this Bermuda triangle, all the resources of the economy disappear, preventing the population and its country from developing. It will be hard to believe, because Stephen Karpman was describing the basis of personal development and this has nothing to do with the greatness of the culture that other people might follow. Alas, the Russian military, having entered the territory of Ukraine, first of all try to find booze or weed, and do not read Pushkin's poems to local children (I am saying this so as not to go on about stolen washing machines, iPhones, rapes, and murders). And no matter how much you would like to believe in a miracle, a palace coup will not change anything. In place of one storyteller, another will come and the triangle will spin with the same force, and maybe even more abruptly. The morning begins with responsibility and action. I turn on the light and wish you good luck!