The Russian Orthodox Church has put forward an initiative to ban occult and magical services

does this mean no more sexy witch costumes for the ladies at halloween time in Russia then?

a reply to: GogolJoker
By the way. In protest against the blocking of Shaman's YouTube profile, he held a grand concert yesterday at the American embassy in Moscow. The embassy was painted in the colors of the Russian flag.

"Hello, Moscow! Hello, Russia! This is Shaman! Do they want to cancel us? They won't be able to cancel us! They won't be able to ban us, delete us! They won't succeed! We'll show them. They'll hear us! There are millions of us, we're happy to live in Russia!" — the singer said from the stage, greeting everyone present.

The artist began the concert with a performance of his new song "Dusha Naraspashku" and showed a video for it.

Shaman's concert at the US embassy

originally posted by: SprocketUK
does this mean no more sexy witch costumes for the ladies at halloween time in Russia then?

In Russia, Halloween is celebrated only by Satanists, urban madmen and outright freaks.

a reply to: twistedpuppy

Freedom means the opportunity to make decisions and take all the consequences.

"Opportunity" is a strange choice of word. Voltaire defined freedom as the "ability" to decide for oneself. Here in the US, we're given an opportunity to choose between two candidates, but it's not actually the American people who have the power* to decide.

The phrasing "take all the consequences" feels like it carries moralistic/vindictive taint.

Stalin was prudent when he told Czech statesmen Masaryk, "Ja, was meine Soldaten jetzt in Wien und Berlin tun, dafür kann ich natürlich keine Verantwortung übernehmen. Die Soldaten sind samt und sonders Schweinehunde, wenn man sie ausläßt." (Basically Stalin said, I cannot take responsibility for my soldiers when they're not being supervised.)

If you can't make decisions for yourself and take the responsibility for them, you're a slave. Even if you believe all the prohibitions are for your own good.

Now this is worded more reasonably. A slave of what exactly?

The ban on the occult is a further step to tighten censorship in Russia so that the citizens have an access only to the information approved by their oppressive government.

But no rational Russian really falls for their state propaganda, those who were around for the Soviet collapse came to completely distrust it, although elderly people might still buy into it, but that's also the case in the US, because they don't have the time/energy to make the effort to find out whether something is true.

From my time spent interviewing Russian users online and analyzing their responses, I have the impression that they've begun to question everything they read and hear about. old.reddit.com...

Also, the ban is really nothing compared to Soviet times, when Russians were not even allowed to emigrate abroad, Soviet system thrived on Russian ignorance of other systems and made sure they were never exposed to differing viewpoints. But nowadays, the West has completely discredited itself in the eyes of the Russian people, Russian state media doesn't even have to try to control their access. Last I checked, the Russians were saying that it was western propaganda which convinced them that Putin was right.

A Russian user told me, "All the motivational success in 2022 was effectively achieved by the other side, they did Kremlin's work for them: they have shown the world that Putin was right (even if for wrong reasons)."

a reply to: RussianTroll

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Now that's a way to conduct a protest, it must've struck a cord in some observers from the embassy. Even foreign politicians run the risk of being swayed by the masses. Looks like he enjoys overwhelming enthusiasm from his fans. Russian-oppressing governments must eventually give way to such popular support.

originally posted by: RussianTroll

originally posted by: SprocketUK
does this mean no more sexy witch costumes for the ladies at halloween time in Russia then?

In Russia, Halloween is celebrated only by Satanists, urban madmen and outright freaks.

Well, as a brit, I always preferred fireworks night anyhow. It would be a pity not to be able to go to parties with chicks in those sexy little witch outfits though

a reply to: RussianTroll

So you wish to see them ban the magicians.

Is that because you think they have something to hide?

a reply to: andy06shake

They always have something up their sleeves....

a reply to: SprocketUK

Halloween isn't really "celebrated" here. More like an excuse to have parties.

Same with Bonfire Night.

a reply to: Oldcarpy2

Plus a good magician's assistant is hard to find.

And highly "sawed" after.

originally posted by: RussianTroll
In Russia, Halloween is celebrated only by Satanists, urban madmen and outright freaks.

In America, Halloween is celebrated by kids dressing up and getting candy. Grown ups too. Lighten up and have some fun. Nothing 'freaky' about it. It's just dressing up and getting candy. 99% of people having fun on Halloween don't do so because of anything pagan, to them it's just a day to have fun and eat candy.

a reply to: FlyersFan

All those stories about Wiltshire folk dancing naked and sacrificing babies aren't true.

It's too cold to be naked.

a reply to: FlyersFan

Yeah, kids come to the door dressed up and get sweets, sometimes money.

Some people go the whole hog and kit out their full garden/house with all sorts of moving monster/murder statues and the like.

Nothing pagan about it in this day of age.

In ancient times it was the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter.

a reply to: andy06shake

You'd be welcome down here for our Wicker Man celebration.

In fact, you could be our special guest of honour.... 🔥

a reply to: Oldcarpy2



After handing out a couple of packets of mini Mars Bars/Milky Way, i shut the door, turn the lights off, and pretend we are not in. LoL

Anyhoo suppose we better stay on topic...........they are my favorite i dont give them out at all.

a reply to: andy06shake

We are on topic.

We are discussing things that the Russian Orthodox Church would ban, as per the OP.

a reply to: GogolJoker

But nowadays, the West has completely discredited itself in the eyes of the Russian people, Russian state media doesn't even have to try to control their access. 

But it DOES control their access. Putin destroyed all the independent media and the internet is heavily censored. This is a fact. And that fact makes Russia an authoritarian country. Now propaganda is a different thing, it's not always bad and it doesn't even have to be based on lies though more often than not it is. But I'm not talking about it. But that the choice of the Russian citizens and their access to various sources of information is extremely limited. And it's getting gradually worse. Russia is becoming more and more totalitarian.

originally posted by: andy06shake
After handing out a couple of packets of mini Mars Bars/Milky Way, i shut the door, turn the lights off, and pretend we are not in. LoL:

We go to Mass because it's the vigil of All Saints Day - a feast day in our church. We leave a bowl of candy on our front steps and a note saying 'take one'. When we get home half the candy is gone, so everyone seems to play nice and 'only take one'.

originally posted by: twistedpuppy
a reply to: GogolJoker

But nowadays, the West has completely discredited itself in the eyes of the Russian people, Russian state media doesn't even have to try to control their access. 

But it DOES control their access. Putin destroyed all the independent media and the internet is heavily censored. This is a fact. And that fact makes Russia an authoritarian country. Now propaganda is a different thing, it's not always bad and it doesn't even have to be based on lies though more often than not it is. But I'm not talking about it. But that the choice of the Russian citizens and their access to various sources of information is extremely limited. And it's getting gradually worse. Russia is becoming more and more totalitarian.

This is coming from Poland?

lol Poland doesn’t really have a say in anything considering it is owned by the U.S. who runs NATO. Without U.S. Poland wouldn’t be barking like a chihuahua at Russia right now. so nice try.

a reply to: Imhere

Russia is barking like a chihuahua at the West right now.

Poland has a formidable military and a much more capable air force than Russia has.

Russia has been mired in a war against Ukraine for quite a while now. Much less capable than Poland.

And Poland is in NATO.

So stop yapping yourself.