Comments by "1midnightfish" (@1midnightfish) on "Что украинцы думают о ЛГБТ? Уличные интервью" video.

Thank you for this video, it's important to have public conversations about difficult topics. I think a similar video shot in the UK some time before the legalisation of same-sex civil partnerships would have yielded a similar sample: younger people overall more positive than the middle-aged and older - with the odd surprise with an older person who gets it - women much less likely to feel threatened by it than men. There's someone who worries the children will suffer while completely oblivious to the fact that many children of LGBT parents are othered by society, and that's what hurts them, and there are a few people who are grudgingly "OK" with it as long as "it's not in their faces" - I would have liked those people to be asked follow-up questions (I always wonder what people mean by that, and to have any open manifestation of a sexual orientation or gender identity differing from the norm labelled as "propaganda" makes me nervous) but overall I think the neutral interviewing style really worked. As usual in these interviews, no one seemed afraid to express their opinion. It does upset me a bit that social acceptance has to be tied to the EU and "moving West" rather than simply progress, the recognition and acceptance of human rights for all. Italy, for example, is still a deeply homophobic country (as well as corrupt, but that's another story), as is Poland, where, incidentally, women of any sexual orientation still have fewer rights than other European women. But I've been watching relevant content dating back to several years before the Revolution of Dignity, and Ukraine is definitely moving on. Права людина понад усе! 💙💛
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It would be nice if Polish society was also ready 4 EU
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@jjmcgee5902 I personally believe that creationism is utter, utter rubbish. I also believe that I don't have the right to use my personal beliefs to oppress others in any way, and always argue for religious freedom even though I see religion as the bane of humanity and the source, as much as the manifestation, of most evils. I dearly wish that more people who identify as religious similarly refrained from using their beliefs to make pronouncements and/or commit acts that endanger others or make their whole lives a misery - and whether you like it or not, what you're doing with these comments falls under that category. But honestly, I have no problem with people being religious bigots, as long as they keep it to themselves.
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@gertjanses1472 Oooops, yeah thanks, I'd forgotten about Hungary... Truly, what I tend to forget is that Hungary is in the same century as the rest of us 😕
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@jjmcgee5902 In fact my biggest problem with creationism is that it sucks the wonder out of the universe. There's nothing beautiful about it if we choose to see it as somebody's master plan, rather than the series of accidents it so clearly is. And frankly, I don't have a problem with any god: all gods are stories, and telling stories to ourselves and one another is what makes us human. My problem is exactly with people like you, and what you choose to do with those stories - see my previous comment. But like I've already said, I believe in your right to believe those stories are real - just as long as it's not in my face all the time, because I find it distasteful to see people choosing to use only a tiny part of their frontal cortex.
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Thank you! And not only for the thoughtful comment... I'm learning Ukrainian on YouTube and I'm literally turning your comment into a study sheet... I learn much faster if I'm interested in the material. Apologies for the English-language reply, I still understand better than I can express myself, and I don't have a Ukrainian keyboard on my laptop. My best wishes to you and your loved ones. Слава Україні 💙💛
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Maybe have another listen to what the woman in the pink hat has to say...? The last one in the video.
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@joeyyemelyanov1019 Thank you 😊 It's been a while, I'd forgotten I'd written this.... I reread it and I'm still glad I posted it. Which is no small thing
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@iamoo Aww that's so sweet, thanks for the encouragement🤗 I was in fact just listening to an Operator Starsky livestream - where I learned the meaning of the word Совок - and he was also talking about a type of person, who always sees nothing but the negative in everything, which he said Ukrainians call "sradophile"...? Does that mean someone who loves betrayal...?? (he said it can also be "sradoyob" or something that sounded like that). What's the spelling in Ukrainian? It's one of those things that are probably not that important to learning the basics of a language, but socially meaningful pieces of language always get stuck in my head and I know I won't stop thinking about it until I've worked it out!💙💛
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@iamoo You staaaaar thank you SO much... this is exactly the sort of explanation I was hoping for: meaning, usage, register, you got them all! I really appreciate you taking the time. I am generally very interested in colloquial language, I translate literature and theatre from Italian (my baby language) into English and I hope that one day I'll be able to translate Ukrainian into English, too. But also, considering what Ukrainians are going through, and my total inability to send anybody any money, the least I can do is try to understand what life is like for you now, and language is one of the best ways to do that. Do you also work with languages? By the way you explained those terms I get the impression that you might. ☺💙💛
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@iamoo I learned English as a child and it's been my main language since the end of my teens (over 30 years ago). My Italian is not fantastic tbh, I know a number of "heritage language" translators and I have a lot more in common with them than with exophonic translators (people who translate into their second language). Am I right in thinking you have at least three fluent languages? Or do you know any more? I have a Ukrainian cousin who grew up speaking mostly russian but is fully bilingual, except he is now trilingual because he moved to Italy permanently a few years ago and his Italian is better than mine! And he also has a bit of English. Brainy lad. I'm a proud big cousin ☺
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@iamoo Having experienced two languages switching place in my brain, I'm very interested in that process (I wonder if anyone has written anything about it but not having a name for it, it's hard to do a proper search). Ukrainian bilingualism seems to me even more interesting, because there are so many elements to it. I understand your wish that russian were simply not a part of your heritage, but I think growing up with more than one language is always a potential advantage, because it creates space and specific tools in the brain that can then be devoted to other languages. Being fluent in both a syllable-timed and a stress-timed language, as you and I both are, is a particular advantage in further language learning. I'm not interested in learning to speak russian but I've realised that if I want to one day be able to translate expressive text from Ukrainian, I'll need to have some understanding of it, and also of surzhyk. For now I just want to concentrate on Ukrainian, then once I've reached a decent intermediate stage I'll see how much russian I have. I must admit I also quite like the idea of picking up a colonial language through the prism of the colonised language it's been attempting to wipe out for centuries... when I thought about it I realised how rare a situation this is, since most empires (British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, even Italian and German to a lesser extent) have been maritime empires, meaning that the colonised languages were very far from the European language that was imposed on them. So sorry, I'm going on and on... I keep getting interrupted by other things and when I come back to this comment I write some more!! It's just really nice to correspond with you. About switching to Ukrainian, I recently came across this YT video: ЯК ЛЕГКО ПЕРЕЙТИ НА УКРАЇНСЬКУ? Історії і поради тих, хто зміг which I haven't been able to watch yet because... it's not subtitled, and my Ukrainian just isn't there yet. Have you watched it? Or taken part in it? And have you read anything by Володимир Рафєєнко? I haven't yet but really want to - I heard Timothy Snyder talk about this author's decision to completely switch to Ukrainian (which had never been his writing language) during one of his Yale lectures last year: apparently when the author spoke at Yale he said "Не володієш мовою, мова володіє тобою" and those words took my breath away. That's exactly what English did to me when I was a child, and what Ukrainian is doing to me now. YT comments section conversations can end at any moment, so if this is our last exchange I want to thank you again for taking the time to communicate with me. I'll always think of you when I come across those words you taught me 😊 I wish you and your country the very best. I can just begin to imagine how hard it must be right now but never forget that countless millions all over the world are with you - we won't forget, we won't get bored, we are with you all the way. 💙💛
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