Is it in Ukrainians’ blood to kowtow to bureaucrats?

Iryna HOLOVNEVA, candidate of sciences in psychology, Kharkiv:

“From the psychological point of view, flattery can be interpreted as suggestion: it is often not assessed critically, on the common sense level. When we are being flattered, we fail to become clearly conscious of where the truth ends and lies begin. Speaking of the latest election campaign, we can assert that flattery was present in almost all the election programs.

“But, with due account of all critical attitudes inherent in our people, the Ukrainians, in my opinion, especially clearly present their emotional preferences. Another important element: flattery especially affects people unconfident in themselves. And the extent of our people’s self-confidence is just very low.”

Hennady ZILBERBLAT, chief medical officer, Kyiv Drug Abuse Hospital:

“The main levers of influence in our society, as well as in other societies, are decency, conscientiousness, and humanity. As to the impact of flattery on our people, I think this people is not a blind animal, and flattery played no significant role in the election campaign.”

Olena DONCHENKO, Ph.D. in sociology:

“In my opinion, the problem of flattery in Ukrainian society should be considered from two angles. First, why do ordinary citizens have to flatter and curry favor with any kind of bureaucrat? The point here is, on the one hand, in the mentality of Ukrainians, and, on the other hand, in that the sense of dignity has in fact withered in the people. The sensation of one’s helplessness and being downtrodden makes people kowtow even to the lowest bureaucrats. This is so much in our blood that can be considered as one of the stable characteristics of our mentality. As to the way the regime uses flattery, the latter is in this case only one of the instruments to manipulate public opinion. I think flattery is being used in this quality in all countries, but in Ukraine this is being done without any respect for the people and for their feeling of human dignity. This was fully revealed during the election campaign: the people were treated like a herd. This was especially true of the public relations campaign waged by the authorities.”