Reddit Volunteers get Ukraine Army Killed
On more than one occasion
The invasion of Ukraine has horrified the world. It is not enough for Russia to take out military installations; they also have to target civilians. This has caused massive support for Ukraine and much Russian disdain. But some people have made caring about the Ukraine conflict their entire identity leading them to go too far, almost as if they want us to go to war with Russia. Some people out there think that simply assassinating Putin would somehow solve all these problems without any consequences. The truth is, this conflict is old, going back to the Obama Admin in 2014. Not only do people not know why this conflict is happening, but most also cannot spot Ukraine on a map. That did not stop people on places like Reddit from trying to help. However, though this support is in good faith, has it backfired? Maybe it has because people are dead now.
Several countries and Ukraine have volunteer militias to have a fighting chance against Russia. On the subreddit VolunteersForUkriane, there was a video of someone playing violin in a Ukraine barrack. At the time, it was stunning, brave, and heartwarming. Now, 100 troops are confirmed dead. Similar things have happened on two separate occasions. It seems Reddit gold upvotes was worth the risk of them dying as well as the rest of the soldiers.
A Reddit post on VolunteerForUkriane warns users who venture in and talks about posting pictures.
I work in the cybersecurity field, and I can’t tell you how trivial it is to get your geolocation from a picture or video you’ve taken… Even if you remove the metadata, where your actual GPS location is saved at the time of recording, there are still so many context clues that’ll be in your photo, like street signs, skylines, topology, landmarks, that can easily be used to zero in on your position…At least two barracks now full of people have been obliterated because people just can’t help but take selfies.
War is not a video game, a movie, or a place to get social media clout. War is hell. This is the cost of foolish people influenced by social media to go into a war zone without training. Not only that, but they obviously don’t care enough about the conflict enough not to post selfies. So have the kindhearted on the forums of Reddit backfired? Yes, it has because our generation can’t keep their phones in their pants.
sources cited:
https://www.reddit.com/r/volunteersForUkraine/comments/tjpo1o/watch_your_opsec/
