The well-known “internet figure” Mikhail Verbitsky has just unleashed an abusive post about me. He’s calling me all sorts of names. And this is not the first time. My first impulse was to write an abusive post in return. To comment on Mikhail’s appearance, his professional activities, and so on and so forth. The mildest epithet I came up with was “an unwashed autistic.” Fortunately, that urge lived in me for no more than two seconds. Then I realized that would be completely wrong: - his appearance has nothing to do with it. And judging by the latest photos, Verbitsky’s beard looks quite well-groomed and respectable; - it would be disingenuous. Mezghan writes fairly well. I sometimes check his blog myself — “let’s see who this little devil is going after this time”; - it’s silly to take offense at a man who describes his occupation as “internet figure.” He’s obliged to pick fights with everyone and call everyone names — that’s how he earns his bread; - after typing his surname into Google, I was convinced within a second that all his activity is either some grandiose prank, or the film A Beautiful Mind. And if the walrus-mother living in Mikhail’s head tells him to write this and that, I’m not going to argue with the walrus-mother. You can’t out-argue her. And most importantly, a few months ago I promised myself (and wrote about it) that I would explain my position to anyone interested on Tesak_282_reports_to_the_police_and_so_on. I’m thoroughly sick of it. But I will keep explaining. Right now my explanations are addressed to those petty demons who live in Verbitsky’s comments section and warm themselves in the spray of the slop he splashes around in the rays of his glory. And to all the other petty demons, who are not bad people, but for some reason think they are obliged once a week to write some nonsense about “thoughtcrimes.” Even though the very word “thoughtcrimes” makes them drool onto their trousers and keyboards. Which, in turn, threatens a short circuit. So. The Chechen mathematician. For those who are out of the loop, let me remind you: 1. A certain “Chechen mathematician,” Khodzhaev, who teaches at the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), published a post on his blog: “A Brief History of the Russian People.” He bravely deleted his blog. But the nature of the post is clear from the first line: “To put it very briefly, the history of the Russians is a disgrace. Russian historians write disgracefully about their own disgrace.” And it goes on in the same vein. 2. The “Anti-Russophobic League” declared that the Chechen mathematician should be held accountable. 3. I supported that initiative. 4. M. Verbitsky started hurling insults. What I want to say is this: 1. If the Chechen mathematician had said all this in the media or in a public place, he ought to have been put on trial and sentenced to three months of corrective labor. Sweeping the streets of Moscow, the mathematician might have reflected on the power of words. 2. He wrote it on a blog. So there seems to be no basis for putting him on trial. He has that right. 3. But we have rights too. An outraged public has the right to demand an assessment of Khodzhaev’s text. And to apply measures of public condemnation to him. That is what civil society is, isn’t it? 4. The public has the right to demand that Khodzhaev, who receives a state-funded salary, be fired. And that he no longer be allowed to teach. A person who writes and publishes texts like that cannot teach at a state university. 5. I personally graduated from the law faculty of the Peoples’ Friendship University, so I also have a personal stake in this matter. And I have the right to demand an official response to this text from the RUDN administration. Let them at least force Khodzhaev to apologize (if that blog really was his). 6. Everything said above also applies to some Lena Heydis or Lyova Gailis or Delya Beylis, whom people mentioned to me in the comments. I don’t know the details of that case, but I assume it’s the same thing. That’s how it is, Misha.
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