Hello, Benjamin from Brothers Campfire here!
The first part of this post does not go out to those that disagree with my opinions, but those that rage quit and emailed to tell me about it.
As always, you can post your opinions in the comments even if you disagree with me. I strive to leave you with the last word.
So, I gave an opinion about the Ottawa Trucker situation in Canada. I made them based on the information presented, most of them from live streams of interviews on the ground.
Possessing little academic knowledge in the classical sense, I usually assume those in the room are a bit brighter than me. Considering communication made to recently, I may have been mistaken.
I welcome other points of view. It rounds out my thought processes. Sometimes this is referred to as an arena of ideas. Arenas can be uncomfortable, but strength of thought can be found in the melee.
If a mildly controversial opinion thrown in here and there stops someone from reading a blog they have been following for a long time, it is not my opinion’s fault.
It is a fragile mind’s fault.
(No, not you, friend. 🖤😉)
Some guy named Forest Gump said “life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get.” Source
When I got home from work, I was looking at my lagging stats and saw these beauties at the dinner table.
I assumed they were just for me.
They were not for me. They served another purpose that I wasn’t interested in.
I was hoping for chocolate and someone else wanted “shower bombs” for wet mayhem.
WET MAYHEM…
One person’s wet mayhem is someone else’s chocolate I suppose.
Brothers Campfire is not monetized, and the dopamine rush of stat watching can be unhealthy. So can some of the communication. Perhaps it isn’t the chocolate I desire in my inbox.
If you are looking for something else, I am ok with that. We all have our opinions. Just be cool.
As a side note; I read all kinds of blogs with diverse viewpoints and smash the like button to show the world I read it. For those of you that follow me and write about children in an offensive way, I draw the line, report when I see it, and wish you a long, event filled life.
Writing is therapeutic, and I have elected to write my passion.
…………
This opinion is yet another controversy.
I do not know who the good guys are in the war with Ukraine and Russia.
Having worked in a prison for many years, I have listened to a lot of lies, and few truths.
While classicly illiterate, I feel I can see propaganda a ways off.
Right, Left, or in between somewhere, news companies have an agenda.
Trump, who I will label as on the right, is focused on hammering Trudeau, and distancing himself from Russia, where he may have overstepped at some point.
Who knows? The news will vary.
Biden, who I will label as on the Left, has a son who may have flirted with Russia and the Ukraine in a questionable fashion.
Who knows? The news will vary.
The news paints these pictures in a manner that generates revenue, but they are not engaging in journalism.
I am drawn to the man on the street, asking such things… The Live Stream. I do not believe the mainstream media coverage of this story.
Searching on You Tube for variations of the ongoing conflict resulted in frightful few “Joe Everyman” postings.
A few terms I searched were, #russiaukrainewar, Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine news live, etc.
Then, I filtered for “Live.”
There is nothing live that is not a sizable media channel.
Surely…
With all of the cell phones, computers, and tablets, there is one adventurous sort in the Ukraine, citizen or no, who would risk a bit for live, exclusive footage.
I will step out on a limb and say Ukrainians are not risk adverse.
According to the news,
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President, wishes to lead the charge of war from the front. This inspiring showmanship should inspire the masses into patriotic action, to include filming.
What’s that you say?
No internet?
The Gaudian seems to think the Ukraine is mostly online.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/01/could-russia-shut-down-the-internet-in-ukraine
Andriy Vasylenko has the internet in Lviv, Ukraine. I love his day to day documentation.
I don’t deny that there is a war. I am stating, I have no independent way of verifying who is the “Good Guy” or what is really happening.
Very Likely, neither do you.
Everything in my upbringing has been “Russia bad, America Good” or “Cheer on the little guy.”
Is this the case here?? Who knows. I was going to say that this conflict has been ongoing since 2014, but the Wikipedia I read last week has over 100 whopping revisions.
Well, those are my thoughts on the topic.
What are yours?
Author: Benjamin
Benjamin Thiel is a community leader, urban farmer, and author of The Ongoing Tale at Brothers Campfire. He might know a guy...
I agree with you. I’ve listened to many “experts” waxing eloquent on the Ukraine situation and I’m more confused than ever. There is little agreement in causes etc. There is fault on both sides, I’m sure, and the real truth is deeply hidden behind ulterior motives. My heart hurts for the innocent bystanders caught up in the ugly fallout. I agree with you too that we need to hear each other out and agree to disagree. There is freedom in disagreement and bondage in forced agreement. It’s impossible for us all to think alike. If we could agree easily there wouldn’t be so many feuds over make of car, sports team allegiance, or political affiliation. 🙂
Way Cool! I appreciate your heartfelt response on this!
You can tell I am just a tiny bit passionate about all this. LOL
Uh-oh! You’re questioning the narrative. We aren’t allowed to do that. Just consume and regurgitate what you are told!
oh……oopsies.
Was all ready with a ‘hey, what did I do?’ then! 😉🖤
Ha ha!
😁🖤
I always question the narrative. It is heart-wrenching. You make good points. I was on media overload yesterday. I worked with troubled youth and families for years, I was used to a lot of untruths, so I am a bit skeptical.
Almost everything surrounding me is a lie. I get it.
I can only imagine. I heard many stories from a prison guard we know about Pamela Smart when we lived in New Hampshire.
The world is not a pretty place.
No it is not, I learned that many years ago. The only thing we can do is make our place a little bit of heaven and create goodness.
Well, there is power in prayer.🤠🔥☕
All we can do is create a little piece of heaven where we live for those we live and do what good we can where we can.
I find that during this I have had a strong preference for foreign news sources, as I am sick to death of listening to American news outlets constant analyzing what American leader may or may not be at fault for this, as if that helps anything. I’ve also been trying to listen to the experiences of my neighbors. There’s a fairly large Russian and Ukrainian community in my town, and even in my subdivision, and those I have spoken to are fairly unified in their concern for loved ones, both in Ukraine and Russia. This dangerous game doesn’t seem to have originated with the people of either country, but they are the ones paying a hefty price for it. Putin is clearly a madman, and his claimed justification for this war makes no sense. To attack out of a fear that a neighboring country might align itself with an organization that would defend it if attacked, thus making it more difficult to attack? There’s no justification there. There’s not even an ounce of logic there. My heart breaks watching this unfold, and watching my neighbors grieve for the nations, families, and friends they love and who are in terrible danger. And then there is the fear that this spills over into devastating consequences for the entire world. Stressful stuff.
Thank you for chiming in Sarah Angleton. I agree with everything. 🤠🔥☕
Mine? Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia told soldiers they were only going for training exercises. Russia is bombing people in Ukraine. Ergo, Russia = the bad guys.
Fair enough.
And I worry about Putin, a wild animal, cornered, unable to exit while saving face. A cornered animal with a lot of dangerous weapons at hand.
You would have that distinct understanding in your care of little critters. Thanks for your perspective on this. I believe it has merit.
I enjoyed Andriy’s video. Why would a country which is half ice year round have green tanks?
I generally agree with Sarah’s point that Putin’s justifications don’t make sense, but you’re right to be skeptical. The history is hard to follow, but I know that the son of the current President was involved in some super shady seeming business dealings with Ukraine, and there were some soundbites that kind of made it seem like his Dad was using government influence to help him out. I also know that the previous President was impeached because he asked about those business dealings on a phone called with the Ukrainian President, and subsequently decided not to send the Ukrainians a bunch of weapons. I also know that during that impeachment trial we were suppose to believe that the Ukrainians were somehow responsible for colluding with Trump to steal the 2016 election, even though we’d always been told up until that point that it was the Russians. That one still makes my brain hurt.
Putin bad? Yes, that seems pretty obvious. But has there been something really fishy going on between our government and the Ukrainian government for a while now? Yeah, it seems like it’s kind of been going on since we supported/possibly orchestrated a coupe there back in 2014 to put in a government that was more friendly to us. After that coupe Putin invaded Crimea, and things have been simmering ever since.
So here are my questions; 1) Why doesn’t Putin just orchestrate his own coupe, and avoid the whole war thing. 2) If Putin is incapable of orchestrating a coupe than how did he get his puppy in as President of the United States for 4 years. 3) What exactly has been going on between the U.S. and Ukrainian governments since 2014, and why does it seem so shady, and 5)How do we make it stop?
Wow! That is a lot of fishy for a generally landlocked area.
The Black Sea is very abundant.
Oh, well, I done learned me something. Have you ever thought that you may be a Smarter Blogger?
Nope.
Whatever may be the reality at ground, this war or I should say invasion, is going to trigger a frenzy of arms race among the other countries to defend themselves from this outcome. The money for the welfare of the citizen would be poured to secure as much of weapons of mass destruction.
God forbid, if any of the threatening and posturing bombing, fall on any of the nuclear reactors even by mistake can be of catastrophic consequences.
Humans are themselves calling the doom to their backyard. Nobody is sure where all this mayhem is gonna end!!
War is a terrible occurrence for sure.
Absolutely terrible 😞
I feel for the people being senslesly murdered in the Ukraine. I feel for the Russian citizen who will suffer more than Vladimir Putin with all the sanctions being levied by so many countries. It’s a lose lose situation. And yeah mainstream media is ridiculous, like one day someone read the Weekly World News and decided that rag was the epitome of Journalism.
It is all bad right now.
I agree 💯
Imho, after pres Breznjev’s death, pres Michail Gorbatsjov tried to involve Russia more with the world’s people. Even his successor Boris Jeltsin did so. The west should have accepted Russia more, those days. It would have prevented Russia’s sense of humiliation. Sense of humiliation is what made Russians vote Vladimir Putin. I hope it’s possible to get the Russian troops out of Ukraine. Then, after that, our dury will be a more positive, inclusive attitude to Russia.
This is an nteresting perspective that may have lot of merit. It i good to build people up if they have been put down. I do not know enough of the particulars to make a statement on this one.
Thanks, my friend 💛
The people made decision to go to war, they themselves are not at the fontline for sure.
I think you reon to soething there.
We can’t get unbiased news anymore (sometimes, I wonder if we ever did), so it’s hard to know what to believe. Almost all media outlets lean far Left, and have their masters to please. All I know is I feel for the Ukrainian AND Russian people who didn’t want this senseless war, and wish there was someway to stop Putin without possibly triggering a world war. All will lose if that happens.
Thanks for chiming in on Ukraine. I agree with you.
Well I believe in being an adult and discussing – why gotta be violence and unprovoked??
These are human beings how is that ok? Human lives.
Was crimes absolutely with killing civilians – man is evil – look what his actions bring
Complete disregard for humanity and human life
I do believe the man is insane!! No one else wants this
He is a horrible human being to inflict such suffering on people – sorry but yes
Just my opinion – find him very evil … also crazy and insane
Sorry I am very harsh on that with the loss of life and trauma for everyone
Uncalled for, unprovoked, unprofessional for world leader, inhumane – and from a bygone era – questionable mental health
This is not play – these are human beings
And then to try to control information to its people ?? Wow – guy has balls
Did you really want to know my thoughts ? Lol – I am appalled
I asked for folk’s opinion and I think your points are valid! 🤠🔥☕
I agree with Omatra7 on her points. It’s easy to see who the good guys are and the bad guys. Ukraine did not invade Russia, it was the other way around. Russia invaded Ukraine, unprovoked. Why? Because Putin wants to restore the Soviet Union again and he is not going to stop with Ukraine. You don’t have to believe mainstream media if you don’t want to, but it’s not all wrong. Just look at the pictures. Look at the children being murdered by a madman (Putin). And the world looks on. If Putin is not stopped now, he never will be stopped. He is building his military faster than the USA, that’s not good news. NATO has the ability to stop Putin now, but they are scared of Putin. The whole world is scared of him. They are afraid of a nuclear war. But although I believe Putin is a madman, I don’t believe he is suicidal. My point, bad guy=Russia, good guy=Ukraine. Simple.
I think you made a lot of good points here!
Thank you for letting me speak.🙂
Absolutely!