That video suddenly appeared in front of me on Facebook. You know, there is a short videos section on FB called “reels,” it was there. I saw in its presentation that it said “video with 2 million views,” I thought, of course, it must be something unique.
Our people made it, it’s not the work of foreigners. The video is like this: it is a “Lada” brand car, parked somewhere forest-like, a scruffy driver gets out, loudly says: “I am one of the rascals!” Then a scruffy guy gets out from the left door, and he also says: “I’m one too.” Following him, a thin, scrawny guy gets out, and he also says: “I’m one too.” Another guy sitting upfront, looking similar, comes to the front of the screen, also declares himself “one of the rascals.” A scoundrel who opens the right door and comes out also declares he is among the “rascals.”
While wondering how five men aged 30+, weighing 90+ kg, fit into a Russian car called a “tin can,” from the car’s trunk comes a voice addressing someone as “puppy,” and the trunk door opens. A man of the same age and constitution comes out and says: “Don’t forget me, I’m one of the rascals too.”
Moreover, if we add the one who shot this video, seven men gathered, agreed, created such a video and shared it, and our people watch it in large numbers, share it, send it to each other, laugh heartily, and it becomes viral.
Probably that “two million discussion” is a bit of a trick, showing not the number of viewers but the number of views. One person watches repeatedly. For example, I personally watched that video at least seven times, trying to understand what it means, what is its meaning, maybe there is a subliminal message in the video, but I couldn’t catch it. Maybe I thought, there are deep meanings many people can’t understand at first glance, as learned people say, it’s sarcasm, grotesque, what is this?
I saw that no. Simply, scruffy guys get out of the car and announce they are “one of the rascals” and laugh sincerely.
See, how far have we come from the “seven sons” who established the Soviet government in Peykanlı. When we were 8-10 years old, there were uncles aged 30+; they would be taken to delegations as elders, when mentioning them they would say “Mr. So-and-so.” They would sit heavily and come to batman [weight], they never got up to dance at weddings, as dancing was the business of young, unmarried men who just came back from the army. That is, 40 years ago there was dignity and etiquette for those aged 30+.
No doubt, when they were 50-60 years old, some elders played gambling with 20-year-olds, sometimes acted ruffianly and cursed the “liars,” but they were controlled in the community, not considered serious men.
Suddenly, six men of that age and height calling themselves “rascals” is, in any way you look at it, a sign of moral degradation, lack of seriousness. This lack of seriousness has become a trend and is spreading day by day.
Those who know say that you don’t know, viral videos like these on Tik-Tok, YouTube bring a lot of money to their authors. They say “there are those who build houses, buy cars with silly videos,” naming people. It turns out that such people exist in every village, town, neighborhood, street; they open live broadcasts, sit in front of the camera and do all kinds of silly, ridiculous things, viewers send them “hearts,” “lions.” And this somehow turns into money.
The spread of talk about easy money is enough that the number of those engaging in this work grows exponentially. We have seen many such campaigns over the past 30 years: there were mass street traders, then mass currency exchangers, mass “bird” smugglers abroad, etc. Now there are mass bloggers, but it is felt that many have come smelling the smoke of a collapsing donkey. Recently, bloggers are being taken inside and invited to respect etiquette and legal requirements.
Honestly, I don’t know on what grounds those who get out of the car and present themselves as “one of the rascals” can be held administratively liable. Perhaps there is disrespect to the public in this act, but people don’t say a word against others, they just present themselves.
Currently, such “reels” are shot all over the world. Some show themselves cooking, some building shelters in the mountains; in many countries, young and beautiful women sit in light clothing in front of the camera, wriggle, undress, say something. There are all kinds of monkeying around. (The photo shows fragments of other “reels.”) Thousands of repetitive, crazy “reels” are spreading, appearing in front of people every minute; if you don’t watch five, you watch one, and then suddenly you see six scruffy men get out of a small car...
What can one say? May God protect us from the worst.
**
The world is an old world; “rascals” are new.
P.S. Previously, old-shabby clothes were called “rascal” - “tryapka” (rag).
Samir SARI