A few weeks ago, the New Yorker Magazine published sort of a comic strip written by a Russian artist, Victoria Lomasko, who left Moscow in a rush, so then it was illustrated by Joe Sacco. It is titled “Collective Shame.”
The cartoon reflects the bewilderment of having to make choices when one is “caught between Putin, shame at the war and what feels like Western rejection of all Russians.”
You can find the cartoon here.
Putin’s war on Ukraine has created hard choices for many: how is one to respond – compromise to forestall greater harms? Escalate to risk a wider war? Punish all Russians for the sins of a leader? Reach out to Russians today that better relations might more easily happen in the more distant future?
When ethics break down and community dissolves into Hobbesian conditions of each against each and all against all, what should we do?