I wrote all this and thought: after all, our television, which has already shown “Survior”, is probably licking its lips waiting for the licenses for “Fear Factor”, “Armchair”, “Torture Chambers”, and others dehumanizing and brainwashing tv stuff “. Melor Sturua, «Raising Games».
Dehumanization. “Depersonalization”. Gulag.
Three words, three phenomena, which seemed to be from the distant past, resounded like a revealing thunderstorm in the sky and in the heart, in the land of the mother of Direct Democracy, in Greece.
Starting with the ideological (gossip) harassment and deliberate slander, aimed at the complete discrediting of Charalambos Anagnostopoulos by the British and Greek media, and ending, almost, in essence, with a proposal of “returning of the death penalty”, using Babis as an “example” and comparing him to mad murderers from the past; someone deliberately tries to stimulate in the society a passionate turn to the cult of “collective Stalin”.
We have stopped seeing the pain and the essence of the problems of other people, whom we don’t know, but who live next to us, we have built an authoritarian attitude towards our neighbor, we have become the face and personification of the “collective Stalin” of the 21st century.
Any of us could be in the place of Charalambos Anagnostopoulos. But instead of seeing him as a HUMAN, the systemic media and the “collective Stalin” decided to show once again to the whole world their ignorance and a lack of logic.
Incidentally, it is reminiscent of the harassment of Megan Markle and Prince Harry, which led the newlyweds to even leave the country. It is also reminiscent of the rage with the one media has harassed Princess Diana, until it all led to the tragic end…
Instead of trying to understand the magnitude of this young man’s tragedy, the “collective Stalin” and his ideological spokespeople – the propagandists of “saintliness and chastity” preferred live ostentatious repressions and intimidation, propaganda and fake news, incompatible generalizations that have nothing in common with each other, and appealings to incredible scenarios. How well these methods of psychological attacks on the victim, aimed at dehumanizing and morally destroying a victim, reminding the regimes like Russia, North Korea, China, etc., only there, a person who has done one or the other action is deprived of the right of Personality and human relationship, only there, such Christian principles as: “judge not, that ye be not judged.”, “love your neighbor as yourself”, “whoever hits you on the right cheek, turn him and the other “, such Christian values as: “humility” and “forgiveness” have lost their meaning and existence. Maybe then our next step is forcing down the planes to land with “a politician / journalist / activist we do not like…” (as the dictator of Belarus does)? But what about liberal values, human rights, the right to speech, the presumption of innocence, the right to be wrong / to mistake…, freedom and legal justice?
For months after the arrest of Babis Anagnostopoulos, the television and the media have turned into the Grand Court, where they have chosen the Saint Peter and his Apostles (we will not say the names, but those who follow the case will understand), “great minds and executioners” sought the cause of all their problems “in the face of a young man, who is already living HIS ANCIENT TRAGEDY. He was accused of unthinkable crimes, they hung on him all kinds of labels, dirt, and enjoyed a slander upon slander for 24/7. You know, Stalin is not dead, he is alive, listen to yourselves…
The whole fate of one Man depends on our words and behavior (whether we are journalists, experts or even social media activists). The Court, like any other power, based on the image of a man in a robe, hears and sees, what you write and say on a daily basis. A human, in the essence, is a rational being, but the phenomenon of “collective stupidity” and the “herd syndrome” have not yet been fully studied, as to why it affects our minds and the purity of our thoughts so much, and then echoes in both our decisions and our actions. Same here, the decision and fate of the Other Man depends on “your words” (the power of these words). When someone abuses, violates, the law of the Word, which God has given us, as one of the first weapons in the hands of a Reasonable Man, you are directly involved in the deliberate murder of a person… When, finally, humanity will understand the power of the Word, and that everything in this world is built on and around words, and their consequences, then, perhaps, a lot will change, both in society and in the judiciary. But as long as we are blind and deaf towards our neighbor, we will have the same attitude towards ourselves. These are simple truths given to us by the Bible many centuries ago, but people are so prone to superficial and narrow thinking, as the simplest and easiest way of being, that it is already difficult and boring for them to THINK and FEEL deeper than till the level of the dimension of their two hundred and six bones.
The distorted psychology of “collective Stalin” is a mixture of slave and Mongol conqueror. At the same time, the dehumanization of a person who has made a fatal mistake goes hand in hand with the emerging idea of a “right” (“pure”) person, as a terrible consequence of the use of dehumanization technology and the creation of a target person due to the phenomenon is unprecedented in terms of its mass character, the embodied epicenter of irrationality and chaos of our time. It is worth noting what this aggressive, impoverishing innovation leads to the destruction (gradual, both systemic and technologically, premeditated) of a fruitful Christian tradition – (in devaluation) of – a man’s repentance…, and the sincerity of his words. Such brain drain and aggression in society is in fact analogous to the ideology of the “black widows” (shahidka) that hid the bomb where common women usually raise the embryo.
But, of course, for the guardians of the modern world order of questionable woke values, the phenomenon of the resurrection of “wild leftism”, in fact of “neo-Bolshevism”, is not a problem…, they are more likely to care the most about German female gymnasts at the Olympic Games and how fully closed are the women’s uniforms, so that !God forbid! the men behind the TV screens would not even indicate that these athletes are… of gender female. The “problem” in our society today is also the children’s fairytale with the kiss of the handsome prince in Sleeping Beauty, “without her approval”, and why the little mermaid Ariel is white (these are the same people who later tell us about racism…) . But the occupation of Ukraine’s European strategic territories, the eight-year war in central Europe, the occupied territories of Georgia, Moldova, hacker attacks on US government agencies and institutions, the undermining of the foundations of EU democracy, interventions in EU and US elections, Russian oligarchic corruption worldwide, and dangerous (artificially created with Kremlin money and appetites) separatist marginalizations on some occasionally but still dominant western borders, including threats to Western security and defense, yes, I’m talking about Russia’s threatening the West…, let’s go further: famine and epidemics in Africa, climate change, environment pollution, mass extinction of animals, etc etc – the list is endless, so why are these issues are not being repeated on TV for 24/7?
PROPAGANDA, a brazen propaganda, aimed at falsifying the facts, the so-called fake news, which during a day can turn a good person into a monster (and write about it openly.). And from the evil – a highly respected “gentleman” with whom they can make “profitable deals” on gas and oil – yes, yes, I’m talking about “Mr. Putin”…
Dear “spokespeople of social justice”, I have a question for you: why do you not condemn with the same passion and foam in the mouth the “real killer” who killed almost tens or maybe even hundreds thousands of Ukrainians (women, children, the elderly) in the very heart of Europe? And on the contrary, some of you admire him…, you shake his hand, you take his interview, you call him a “strong leader”… So why do I not see any handcuffs on his hands and shoes without laces on this man? Putin is a real killer, a cold, malicious mass murderer… Where is your solidarity with feminists, “pacifists”, mediators for the children’s rights, and activists? Or you do not have clear values that you are fighting for, but only the “value” and a text that you stupidly read, sending innocent people to Golgotha.
You crucify a man who is already living his own personal tragedy…
Babis Anagnostopoulos has handed over his official statements in his regretful acknowledgment of his actions. And his lawyer Alexandros Papaioannidis (a really great man, PROFESSIONAL, and HONEST) will defend him as a lawyer of high moral values and believes in the field.
The most humane thing that one could imagine in the 21st century regarding this case, when and if a human life would have the same value as the barrels of oil or African diamonds, and given the fact that Babis is a young father, a brilliant civil aviation pilot (we’ll get back to that…), and that he repents, is, if we can not let him go free, because we have not yet reached the level of quality of life, of vision of the “Venus Project”, dreamed by Jacques Fresco; I believe Babis should be given a chance to the biggest cutting (reduction) of his sentence and later the opportunity to get forgiveness from the church as well, because we are a country of the high Orthodox traditions and principles, and we should help him so he could help himself…, whoever doesn’t want, at least don’t stand on the way, don’t throw stones at him and don’t hate him ilimitado endlessly, but let him, who has nothing to do with the criminal world in general, be the man, an opportunity to become one, the man who he wanted to be, until that unfortunate night…
I will give you a small example / explanation of how Babis Anagnostopoulos is feeling himself at the moment and especially when that unfortunate night had happened that completely changed his life…
You woke up in the morning, you take a bath, you eat your breakfast, you get dressed for work, you get into your car, with your favorite coffee in a hand, you worked 8 hours, you came home, perhaps you went to the supermarket a while ago, you talked on the phone with your friend or relative, at night you had a little fight with your loved one (unfortunately it happens in the most houses…), and you did not expect anything bad to happen that night because your day was like most of your every day life, but during some of 3 to 4 hours at night, the next morning – your life has changed RADICALLY… You no longer have anything you had even 5 minutes ago… Your fate hangs on the thin and blurred balance, but somehow you have to survive and explain everything…
That is, you found yourself in a situation you would NEVER be (because you are not a murderer, you are not crazy and you have never thought of such a thing).
So, did you feel it? It is that one and only case in the billion… It is exactly what we call the EXCEPTION, when it is IMPOSSIBLE to apply general measures and sentences, since it is an individual who is not part of this systemic “web” of crime…
These are the cases when an INCREDIBLY CAREFUL research must be done so that a person can be released under certain conditions, under home arrest, anything but not what bloodthirsty propagandists and half-mad cynics dream of.
From my childhood, I have a very high sense of justice and protection of the weak. Besides philanthropy, my family has a history of some high-profile massacres of my relatives who were unjustly executed / convicted by the Tsarist dictatorship first and then by the Communists – the Bolsheviks. Because of that, I always tend to find exclusively humanistic ways of solving many problems, especially when the problem concerns decent people, incapable, by nature, of committing a crime, but who got caught in the hands of their own misfortune. I am against punishment in a conventional way. I am against the sentence of Babis Agnostopoulos with life imprisonment. I think he should be given help and sympathy, mercy and compassion, these qualities are naturally Christian values, and not these “bloodthirsty appeals” of a medieval nature with executions and prisons…
My ancestors have always been not indifferent to suffering of people in trouble. One of my great-grandfathers, Alexander Tereshchenko, a lawyer by education, was involved in charitable and social activities in addition to the family business.
Thus, in 1905, at his own expense, a colony-cottage was organized in the village of Pluty in Ukraine, on the banks of the Dnieper, for the summer vacation of the most vulnerable high school students in Kyiv. The colony was maintained and supervised by the authorities of the educational district of Kyiv.
On May 11, 1887, Alexander was appointed honorary judge of the Kyiv Judicial District.
And on July 28, 1899, he was approved by the director of the provincial committee as the guardian of Kyiv for prisons…
Apart from all that, I grew up in an American family. In Northern America, there is a different attitude towards “prison” and “prisoners”. We do not consider them “monsters”, as in Europe do… We believe that every person who has committed this or that act has the right to a second chance. In America, people who have been released from prison are being helped in every possible way to be assimilated into society again, if they so wish. I repeat, we see “prison and prisoners” differently, we do NOT consider people in prison “monsters”, of course, it all depends on the individual’s act, but you have to admit that not everyone goes to prison because they are “monsters” or because they dreamed of it all their lives, sometimes very decent people who have done a terrible stupid mistake or a bad action in anger or by fatal mistake, sometimes they too go to jail…
Let me remind you of a story (as I remember it, if I made a mistake somewhere, send me a message on Facebook or email), which has nothing to do with Mr. Anagnostopoulos, but has to do with the American conception of the “Christian approach” of the forgiveness, help and acceptance of human error, it’s a story about young American Jeremy Meeks (born February 7, 1984) – is a convicted criminal from the United States. A former member of the Crips street gang, Meeks first emerged after his arrest in 2014 during Operation Ceasefire gang arrest in Stockton, California, after which police posted a photo of him on Facebook. He was convicted of possession of a firearm and major theft. Following his release from the Mendota Penitentiary in March 2016, Meeks began his modeling and acting career.
Well, how it all started, on June 18, 2014, the Stockton Police Department arrested Meeks and three other men. He denied the allegations. The same day, photos of Meeks and the other men were posted on the Stockton Police Department Facebook page. Within 24 hours of posting the photos on the department page, Meeks’ photo gathered over 15,000 likes and 3,700 comments. The next day, June 19, the news and entertainment site Buzzfeed recognized Meeks’ photo as a meme. On Friday, June 20, Twitter fans created the hashtag #feloncrushfriday in honor of Meeks’ photo (imagine something like this happening in our country lol). Stockton Police Department spokesman Joe Silva acknowledged that the photo has attracted more attention than any other photo since the launch of their Facebook page in 2012. As of April 2021, the post had received 95,000 likes, 24,000 comments and 11,000 shares…
The hearing was scheduled for July 2014, while Meeks was awaiting trial in San Joaquin County Jail and his bail was set at $1,050,000. Meeks’ mother, Katherine Angier, created a GoFundMe page in an effort to raise money for his guarantee. His sister, Leanna Rominger, then used the campaign proceeds to hire a lawyer for him.
On July 3, 2014, Meeks was charged by a large Northern California court with possession of a semi-automatic pistol and of major theft. The state withdrew the charges against Meeks and his case was handed over to federal prosecutors.
On February 5, 2015, Meeks was convicted by a federal judge of a felony criminal charge and sentenced to 27 months in federal prison. The judge also ordered Meeks to attend the prison office’s 500-hour drug treatment program. He was therefore imprisoned at the Mendota Federal Penitentiary. Meeks served 13 months of his sentence and was released on March 8, 2016, after which he was ordered to live in a temporary facility for several weeks. On March 4 2015, photographer and agent Jim Jordan’s White Cross Management confirmed that they had signed a contract with Meeks… Jordan began working with Meeks shortly after his release.
Meeks’ first photo was published in June 2016. White Cross Management continues to work with Meeks and he appears on the cover of James Magazine USA Vol. VII and White Cross Vol. 01.
In 2017, Meeks debuted at Philipp Plein fashion show during New York Fashion Week. He also made his Philipp Plein debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017. And then at the Plein Spring / Summer 2018 sports collection during Milan Fashion Week.
In August 2017, Meeks starred in a campaign for Israeli sunglasses fashion house Carolina Lemke, which is partly owned by Israeli model Bar Refaeli. The campaign labeled Meeks biography “different” from Refaeli’s history. In December, Meeks appeared on the cover of the men’s fashion magazine MMScene.
Meeks later appeared at the Tommy Hilfiger Spring 2018 in Milan on February 25th. The show was organized in collaboration with model Gigi Hadid and took place during Milan Fashion Week. He has also appeared on the cover of the summer 2018 editions of the fashion magazines FV and L’Officiel Hommes.
In September 2019, the Frankfurt-based fashion company Fashion Concept GmbH announced a $15 million partnership with Meeks to create a fashion line under his name. The fashion series was released in July 2020.
In November 2019, Meeks became brand ambassador for the Gisada perfume line. Meeks also made his feature film debut in 2020 (I do not remember the name of the movie…). It’s probably ‘2021’ when Meeks appeared in The Secret Society, an independent feature movie directed by Jamal Hill and based on Miashi Coleman’s book of the same name.
Meeks has a child with Melissa Meeks, with whom he was married from 2008 to 2018.
In June 2017, it was also reported that Meeks had an affair with Chloe Green, the daughter of British businessman Philip Green. Meeks traveled to Turkey, where the first pictures of him and Green appeared on a yacht. On May 29, 2018, Green gave birth to their first child.
CONCLUSION.
Bottom line: every problem has a solution – whether you solve the problem, or let it destroy you, each person has a choice – either forgive another person and move on, or cripple his life and live with hatred within him, forever.
In the case of Babis Anagnostopoulos, who is not even a motivated criminal / not even a criminal in the common sense of the definition, not even “experienced” in crimes individual or in the crime matters, or someone who “frequently visit” such places of detention as jail… So who is Babis Anagnostopoulos? He’s a man who needs… our help…, try to listen to him…, I know not everyone can do it…, but I’m sure I’m not the only one…, he’s a man who, if it will finally be decided by the court to be prosecuted, needs our support more than ever, because he is a man psychologically balanced (both because of his profession and by nature), he is one of the few and unique in Europe and in the field of Greek civil aviation a pilot with such education and experience, dealing with the profession from the age of 19, was selected by the Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Department and Service as the best pilot and civil aviation examiner, has an open and clear mind, a kind man with incredible education, from a good family, a friend of traditional values (in his 30s he was already married, he is a young father, and I will say it, because it is true, and let it be late, but the truth must always be said – he has always been taking care of his wife, Caroline, in the most beautiful and rare way, with respect: flowers, traveling, home, financial support, support in everything…, and even though his actions have been dangerously distorted by the ruthless media, saying that is just “his manipulations”, “his rage with control”…, comparing his character with” toxic masculinity “…, – it is a shame for the media to make such distortions, Babis Anagnostopoulos also enormously loves his little daughter, and is indescribably worried for her future. Through all these being said, there can be only one conclusion:
Your Excellency,
Do not judge from above. Do show Humanity more than ever… We are all just the mortals, both you and us, and sometimes we commit terrible mistakes and, believe me, we repent. Pardon is better than vengeance… All of us one day, whether we like it or not, will appear in front of the One and only Court, before the main Court – the Court of God.
Luke 6:37-38 The Message (MSG)
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”
Forgiveness means unlocking the door to free someone and realizing that you were the prisoner. Max Lucado, 1955-, American author of Christian books.
When you forgive, of course, you can not change the past, but you can certainly change the future. Bernard Meltzer, 1916-1998, American radio commentator.
Sofia Tereshchenko