Cossacks vs. Putin, to the rhythm of Rock'n Roll

Thoughts from Ukraine: the hidden voices of the war

Ukraine is facing a terrible war, and the voices of the most important people on Earth fill the news every day. But how much do we know about the discussions that animate the Ukrainian people? What thoughts, discussions, impulses animate ordinary people, those who live each of these days under the threat of invasion? A new study on online information flows, through an artificial intelligence that has analyzed the discussions in the Ukrainian language, reveals what are the thoughts of these people: the hidden voices of the war.

The data analysis reveals which is the first thought that dominates the discussions in Ukraine: Putin. However, this is not a thought of the Ukrainians only due to the war: Putin has always been a real obsession for the Ukrainian people, being the most talked about person in Ukraine counting the last seventeen years (!). And always in the last seventeen years, also including all the discussions on every possible topic, Putin is second, beaten only by another persistent thought: the Ukrainian motherland.

In second place in the thoughts of Ukrainians is the concept of a linguistic population, the Slavic one, showing how there are many questions that link the war to the more or less common ethnic group of Eastern European people. Is a common linguistic root enough to make a united population, even if via cannon shots?

In third place among the most debated topics is Batkivshchyna, the political party of Julija Tymošenko, former prime minister of Ukraine with a tormented history always closely intertwined with Russia: she ended up on trial and condemned for inflated government contracts in favor of the Russian Gazprom. The current gas crisis always remains alive in the thoughts of Ukrainians, stories of yesterday that are tied to the stories of today. Tymošenko is also the second most talked about person of all time in Ukraine, after Putin.

Next we find the argument that apparently should instead be in first place: the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This confirms, together with the other data analyses, the interesting fact that persons typically outweigh facts: even in the case of a war, what counts after all are the people who symbolize it.

By analyzing social flows at an even finer level, we can focus on the other primary drives that accompany the Ukrainian people.

In the first place of all time in the discussions concerning society are the Cossacks, the fearsome and powerful Ukrainian army of the 15th-18th centuries: echoes of past military glories that Ukrainians always keep alive in their discussions, also and above all in this period of invaders.

Looking at the issues that have to do with philosophy, data analysis reveals that post-truth (that is, how to influence public opinion by exploiting emotionality and unverified facts) is at the forefront of discussions in this war period, a hot topic that reveals how war and media are intimately interrelated, and that warfare doesn't just take place physically on battlefields. Among other philosophical arguments in this period of war we find skepticism: nothing like war leads to the fading of hope, and to a gray view of the world. In summary of these themes, here is another widely debated topic: evil. Concepts that, in the end, summarize the variegated faces that make up this war.

It is precisely in times of invasion that even more comfort is sought in religion, so it is interesting to analyze what thoughts have to do with faith and beliefs. In the absolute first place is God, a constant presence in these times of war in the thoughts of Ukrainians. A real surprise appears instead in second place, where we find alcoholism, a concept identified by the artificial intelligence that analyzes data as a controversial faith, an alternative refuge to seek comfort. The Great Dissonance of War: God as an Unearthly Faith, and Alcoholism as an Earthly Faith.

As for culture, the second most discussed topic is the Day of Unity of Ukraine, the national holiday that celebrates the unification of Ukrainian peoples under a single flag. In the first place, however, in these times of conflict we find Rock and Roll, the soundtrack of the war evoked in the thoughts of the Ukrainians. Loud music to give courage, and not to hear the sound of gunfire.