Do Bully Girls Show the Americanization of Russian Culture?

Dear Readers:

A couple of days ago I posted this piece about a horrific bullying incident in a Russian technical school.  Today I have some further updates, a couple of factual corrections, and some concerns that I would like to share, about the “Americanization” of Russian culture.

The bully girls are media celebrities.

 

Factual Corrections

In my previous piece, I made an assumption that all the girls (both perps and vic) are orphans, and that this technicum/boarding school is some kind of orphan-dumping or hooligan-dumping institution.  That is not exactly the case.  According to this later piece from VZGLIAD, one of the bully girls, Svetlana, has a mother.  The other two (Irina and Olga) are indeed orphans, as is the victim herself.  The technical school does indeed seem to be a boarding school, and it does seem to populated by some undesirable children with dubious family backgrounds.  More than that, I cannot say.

Bullies Go on the Talk Show Circuit

One of the bully girls, Svetlana — she is the larger one in the pink sweatshirt and also appears to be the ringleader of the gang — was invited, along with her mother, to appear on the Boris Korchevnikov  talk show on “Rossiya – Channel 1”.

Svetlana broke curfew to travel to Moscow.

In order to perform her gig on the talk show, Svetlana had to travel all the way from Ulyanovsk to Moscow – thus breaking her curfew.  See, she was supposed to be on curfew/house arrest while Ulyanovsk police investigate the crime which Svetlana herself instigated.  But god forbid a police investigation should stand in the way of Svetlana’s new-found celebrity.  During her interview on the talk show, Svetlana wept real tears of remorse self-pity  while uttering the following pearls of wisdom: [delete all – I don’t care what she said, and neither should the viewers.]

It’s not that I believe Svetlana should not be allowed to tell her side of the story.  How she recruited two other girls to lure a fourth child into the bathroom and then viciouisly attack her while also trying to force her head down the toilet.  Or how she also recruited a boy to videotape the entire incident and then upload to youtube.   I am sure there are solid reasons for all of that.  [sarcasm]  It’s just that Svetlana should be telling her sad life story to the judge, as part of her “mitigating circumstances” package.  Not to a talk show host or his viewers – that’s my major beef.

Yes, but what did Irina have to say?

The second bully girl, Irina, also appeared on the talk show.  If I am not mistaken, she is the cute-faced but cold-eyed one in pigtails.  According to VZGLIAD, she told a quite different story than did Svetlana.  So, what was Irina’s side of the story?  Again, I don’t care.  Like Snowboy says, in West Side Story, “Tell it to the judge.”  Oh wait, I have to give you one little hint:  Irina used her media platform to make a series of baseless allegations against the victim, accusing the 16-year-old orphan of theft, sleeping around, and lots of other completely unfounded accusations.  All matters which belong in a courtroom, in front of a judge, and not in a talk-show studio.  Irina admitted to forcibly cutting off the victim’s hair, and did not express any remorse whatsoever.  This little punk is a one-girl Punishment Brigade – Judge, Jury and Executioner.

What Do the Adults Have to Say About This?

The piece then goes on to quote a man named Aleksey Ryzhkov, who is the Media Spokesperson for the Ulyanovsk regional police.  According to Ryzhkov, two of the suspects in this crime, Svetlana and Irina, were supposed to be under house arrest and curfew.  They broke their curfew and were in the wind.  Until, presumably, Ryzhkov turned on his TV set and saw the little darlings on the Korchevnikov show.  “Now,” he says, “I know where those brats are.”

Bully girls break house arrest to do a “Full Ginsburg” of the Russian talk-show circuit.

In an update, TASS reports that all three perps (because their pal Olga was with them too) have been detained by the Moscow police, on the request of the Ulyanovsk police.  Moscow cops arrested the trio right on the set of the TV studio.  But not before the girls had performed  on three different talk-shows.  Americans would say that they did a “Full Ginsburg“.  I am not even sure what the Russian equivalent would be – after this, maybe a “Full Bully” ?

Meanwhile, the intrepid Ulyanovsk police are on their way to Moscow to pick up the delinquents.  The two older girls, who are technically adults, can be arrested and transported back in a police van directly.  The third perp, who is technically still a minor, must be picked up by her grandmother first, before being handed over to the police.

Pending charges include “Battery” (for the girls), and Халатность (“khalatnost” — i.e., “criminal negligence”) for the adults.  Sergei Khurtin, Chief Prosecutor for Ulyanovsk Oblast, has taken this highly resonating case under his personal supervision.

The Americanization Of Russian Culture

I wanted to end this piece with a Philipic (or maybe I should say, a “Jeremiad“) against the corruption of Russian culture.  And again, I don’t approach this at all from a religious angle or even culturally conservative point of view.  It’s just that….

On second thought, I guess I’ll just end it here, because the problem is so obvious it shouldn’t need additional commentary.

It’s not that Russia never had criminals, or criminal gangs, or teenaged bullies – they were always there, and they were always vicious and violent sociopaths.  It’s just that in the past they didn’t have the opportunity to perform on talk shows or Reality Shows.   All of this is part of the “creeping Americanization” of world culture.  So, what’s next?  A new Reality Show called “Our Dorm”, in which juvenile girls tear each others hair out and struggle for supremacy in the lavatory?  And then speak one-on-one to a hidden camera, explaining why so-and-so is a little bitch, or how much I hate what’s-her-name?