Patterns of distortion in American statements about Ukrainian crisis

There are several trends in modern psychology which study the so-called psychologic or cognitive distortions; the founders of the most famous such trends were Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck.

One essential part of the above-mentioned studies is detection of patterns of distortion which create an incorrect picture of the world.

And I am going to show in this article that American politicians and media use patterns of distortion in their statements about Ukrainian crisis. 

Pattern “Labelling”

When somebody uses this pattern, he does not inform his audience about facts but labels certain persons or events.

Example

Barak Obama named Viktor Yanukovych – who had been unconstitutionally removed from power in 2014 - a corrupt ruler; please see The New York Post.

After Yanukovych’s removal from power, new Ukrainian authorities really declared that he had stolen more than 100 billion USD; please see here.

But these authorities have been failing for almost ten years to prove that Yanukovych had stolen one single cent.

Therefore, Mr. Obama’s words about a “corrupt ruler” still remain only a label.

Pattern “Mind Reading”

When somebody uses this pattern, he alleges that he knows other persons’ thoughts, wishes and other phenomena which are inside their minds.

Example

After the beginning of the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine in 2022, Joe Biden declared that the Russian President Vladimir Putin “wanted to, in fact, reestablish the former Soviet Union”; please see the official website of the White House.

But since nobody is able to know phenomena which are inside other people’s minds, this statement of Mr. Biden is only an allegation.

The Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine can also be explained by other reasons – not only by somebody's alleged desire to reestablish something.

For example, it can be explained by Ukrainian threats in 2021 with military measures for “re-integration of the Crimea” into Ukraine; please see the official website of Ukrainian President. Since - as you know all – the Russian government considers the Crimea as an integral part of Russian sovereign territory.

 

Pattern “Filtering”

When somebody uses this pattern, he omits a part of information in his statements on a subject although this information is essential for understanding this subject.

Example

I am sure that before and after the beginning of the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine you never saw in Western media information about Ukrainian threats with military measures for “re-integration of the Crimea” into Ukraine; please see the preceding item about pattern “Mind Reading”.

Or, during the first phase of the Ukrainian crisis – during the so-called Euromaidan- you never saw in Western media information that at some point the pro-Western protesters began to burn and kill; please see my article Was there a threat for ethnic Russians in February 2014 in Ukraine (Crimean question)?

 

Pattern “Shoulds”

When somebody uses this pattern, he operates from a list of inflexible rules about how other people should act and views these rules as right and indisputable. Albert Ellis dubbed this pattern “musterbation” and Karen Horney called it the “tyranny of should.”

Example

The then Vice-President Joe Biden declared in 2015 that “the collective objective of the U.S. and its European allies must be to preserve the territorial integrity of Ukraine; to reassert the principle that borders are inviolate”; please see the Voice of America.

But seven years earlier, when the Kosovo Parliament had declared independence of this Serbian province from Serbia in February 2008, the U.S. recognized Kosovo as independent on the very next day.

And earlier, at the end of the 1990s, the U.S. had conducted a military operation in Serbia to force the Serbian army and police to leave Kosovo; please see my article The U.S. attitude to Yugoslavia and to Ukraine.

It means that preserving of territorial integrity of a country in some cases is a must in American politicians’ opinion; but in other cases, it is not a must at all.