The case of Kim F. (also known as La Russophobe) is an interesting and edifying example of neurotic escapism when a person develops a special mechanism of escaping freedom by negating the personal independence and merging her Ego with something or someone superior, thus gaining powers that the individual personally lacks.
The source of Kim F’s psychological problems certainly lies in her childhood. She was bred up by a very authoritarian, rigorous and stern Parent. In her childhood there was no place for love, for self-reliance or for feeling of confidence. Kim’s attitude towards power, as symbolized by her Parent’s figure, is ambivalent. On one hand there is always one power she hates and another power she worships. She is filled with severe loneliness, feebleness, spite but at the same her craving to rule over minds of other people is limitless. This irrational thirst for power and desire to be loved is what makes an authoritarian personality. It is not yet clear what exact roles Kim’s parents played in forming her personality but the fact that the object of her irrational hate is hard power autocratic Mother Russia and the object of her love is soft power theocratic Father America gives us some better understanding on the subject of role structure of Kim’s family.
Distinct forms of this mechanism could be found in the striving for domination and for submission. In everyday life this mechanism manifests itself in masochism and sadism. Let us start with the analysis of Kim F’s masochistic tendencies. At the core of masochism lies the feeling of inferiority, feebleness and insignificance. Kim F. always provokes other people to insult her and then finds immense pleasure in desperately fighting back provoking yet more abuse and humiliations. It comes as no surprise that Kim’s favorite poet is Mikhail Lermontov – a romantic Russian poet whose masochistic behavior was the major cause of his tragic death at the age of 27. Kim F. is fascinated with Lermontov’s poem “Mtsyri” that tells the story of a youth who run away from monastery, spent several days fighting for his life in the wilderness, started a hopeless fight with a mountain ounce and was mortally wounded by it. Kim F. associates herself with Mtsyri when she goes on with her personal crusade against Mother Russia.
It is evident that Kim F. is neurotic. In her fight with the Evil Empire her rhetorical instrument of choice is reductionism. She singles out some fact about life in contemporary Russia and makes broad generalizations on the “evilness” of Russia in general. This is not surprising as she approaches her own health in exactly the same way. Kim F. believes that she is a very sick person. She views one cough as a sign of TB, stomach pains as a sign of ulcer and headache as a sign of meningitis. Such neurotic phobias also manifest themselves in Kim’s hate of her body or of any human body in general. She is horrified at Myskina photographs in GQ that she calls soft porn and the idea of Russian banya disgusts her immensely. Most probably Kim F. is obese or unhealthy anorexic. It is also possible that the fear of human body is a result of strict religious education in the childhood.
Masochism in Kim’s personality comes together with sadism that is not at all surprising. Sadism is just another side of inferiority complex and utter loneliness. Kim F. enjoys abusing and humiliating people as it makes her feels stronger, smarter and more significant as she actually is. The rationalization of her sadistic behavior is simple, “Every means is right when you fight people who support the Evil Empire”.
At the same time Kim F. is incredibly sensitive towards flattery. She meets every commendation with almost childish joy and happiness. In case nobody cares Kim F. can indulge in self-flattery.
We could not help but notice that Kim’s severe depressions became less frequent and less severe as she started blogging. Blogging is definitely a perfect means of sublimating the patient’s irrational fears and phobias. Blogging makes Kim F. famous - Fame and Glory is what she values above all as they are evident proves of the person's Power.
We wish Kim F. well and ask all bloggers she comes into contact with to support the treatment of the patient by satisfying her sadomasochistic needs in the virtual reality.
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8 comments:
Butter. Thanks, Konstantin, I tried to do a little head-shrinking for her in the comments section of her blog and she didn't appreciate it. I think you're on point, though - almost makes me believe that you know this person.
At first I feel bad for such blindly angry people, then I grow irritated when mud gets slung in my direction. But the final stage of my reaction to this new "gem" of the Russia-related blogosphere is apathy. As russofobka herself states, 90% of the content on her blog is from the mainstream media. Her paranoid analysis adds nothing, so why should anyone who gets Johnson's List or has access to Google News visit such an uninsightful blog? Anyway, the best cure for this disease, in my opinion, is for all Russia bloggers to ignore it - and it will go away.
It's not about censoring or ignoring a different point of view - there are plenty of people blogging who are critical of Russia and have original, intelligent points of view. Those people actually do more for Russia with their constructive criticism than the self-proclaimed "Russian patriot" Kim X. There is too much thoughtful writing about Russia out there to waste time on a crank.
Finally!
cruel but true
I feel I have to dissent from the emerging consensus about the need to disregard the Russophobe's outpourings. In truth, she merely reflects the worst aspect of the negative thoughts all Westerners have had about their host country while living in Russia. She is a challenge to people whose lives are in some way invested in Russia to confront their inner prejudices and test their meditated justifications for its many shortcomings.
I have been jousting with her for some days now, the opportunity offering me welcome respite from my academic obligations (Completing a Ph.D at the University of Walmart, as she put it so cuttingly). It would be dishonest of me not to admit that the exercise has proved constructive in the ways I have described above. If only for that reason, I would not accept Konstantin's acerbic diagnosis. If you will forgive me the extreme pretentiousness of the following remark, Kim F. is not a diseased person, she is the disease in all of us. We are all guilty of the same sloppy and deterministic logic, Russians and Westerners alike.
Reith, that is very thoughtful and probably true. I just can't stand the incessant negativity and hostility of Kim's blog, plus I think it's clear she loves the attention and the opportunity for a fight, therefore I've decided it's not worth my time.
Perhaps you are a braver man than I. Think about this, though: you are always going to win your debates with the R-phobe but will never convince her of anything; meanwhile, she'll call you every name in the book and continue to avoid a thoughtful discussion of most of the issues she raises. What is the point?
The point is that it's jolly good fun.
It is fun! It's also a distraction from more serious phd work.
I think "she" might be a man, btw. And my guess is she is a Ukrainian nationalist emigrant to the US, with 20 years in the excited states under her belt.
I'm almost at boredom threshold, though. Eventually, I'll leave. Reith will have work to do. And she'll return to obscurity. That will drive her nuts.
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