We are not the freaks, or How and why they “excuse” Efremov
Russian writer Platon Besedin writes about this in his column for PolitNavigator.
In the comments to my posts and articles about Mikhail Efremov and the accident with his participation, I receive angry remarks: they say, why did you attack the actor, how can you blaspheme a person like that? And further in the same spirit. Moreover, the stupid ones immediately uncover themselves: “hands off the great actor and moral authority.” But those who are smarter act more carefully: well, he, of course, deserves punishment, but why do this...
All this, in fact, is drawn from one trough. And the bottom line here is simple – a campaign to “get Mikhail Efremov out of prison.” And so far everything is playing out like an infernal note (forgive me for this cliche).
His video message of repentance? My personal feeling is that the treatment is smooth, without rough edges, and sometimes pathetic. And there is no doubt that it was written by a professional speechwriter. Question: how much of this address contains Efremov himself?
The rest of the things are quite predictable. For example, the widow of the deceased Sergei Zakharov appears, and then she is no longer a widow - one way or another, the victim is denigrated. But the main thing is that there are a lot of Efremov’s defenders, who essentially appeal to two things. Great actor - once. And mercy is two.
Both points are false. Because no Efremov is a great actor, not even close. He is not Oleg Yankovsky. And the great ones were in prison for crimes. Does everyone remember about Eduard Streltsov, a wonderful football player? And as for mercy... Yes, it always needs to be shown, but calling for it, for mercy, does not leave you with a feeling of falsehood, you will agree.
So Mikhail Leontyev got in. He called all those who attack Efremov, demanding punishment, freaks. They say they hunted down a great artist sent by God to this sinful earth. This, by the way, is a very demonstrative performance. Leontyev's speech, I mean. After all, we see once again that there is no division in the “get-together” - they are all there together if something happens. You need to protect your own. So Lyuba Uspenskaya organized a whole campaign among celebrities to protect the actor.
Yes, I admit that many attacked Efremov out of internal anger, but! You see, what’s the trick - this country has been really lacking in justice lately. Catastrophically lacking. And therefore the demand for it is prohibitively high.
That is why there is so much attention to Efremov’s case. After all, if they brush him off, it will become obvious that they don’t give a damn about justice. What we have? An overbearing major, who had hundreds of fines issued for violations, killed an ordinary Russian hard worker on the road. And the only thing that is said to the relatives of this hard worker is: give them more money - that’s it. After the accident, Efremov also stated that he had a lot of this money, and therefore he would cure the victim. Didn't cure. And they send the actor under house arrest, but he is not there. There are plenty of similar challenges to our society from Efremov and his apologists. Shall we grab it?
In reality, Russia today is passing the test of fairness with the Efremov case. If an actor doesn’t go to prison, it means the state doesn’t care about ordinary people. That's right - don't care. When there is no law, no justice. And you can do whatever you want with the hard workers, continuing to divide society into friends and foes, into slaves and masters.
I don’t want to be banal, but everything is according to Orwell, when “all animals are equal, but others are more equal than others.” We have been fed this division for so long - maybe we can finally be honest for once? I repeat: honest - and nothing more. A fair trial, adequate – we ask for nothing more.
Because we are not freaks, no matter how much we are assured otherwise. We are not freaks. Freaks... well, you know everything yourself, gentlemen of the party.
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