Your own is someone else's. Or why Vitaly Portnikov will never understand the IT guy from DOU, will never become his authority on a par with Fedorov

In reality, it took place much earlier (back in mid-May, during DOU Day), and reached the masses only now, causing a flurry of emotions in the IT community.

I remember why I didn’t go to listen to Portnikov then, but went to look at the stands of miltech companies, so as not to waste time: I simply wasn’t interested.

Yes, Vitaliy Portnikov is erudite, yes, he has many years of experience in the media, knows people from different times and events well, and is excellent at building logical connections based on this knowledge, this encyclopedia within himself, and drawing interesting conclusions that turn into resonant statements.

But — I find it much less interesting than what Oleksiy Babenko from Yyriy, for example, was talking about from the stage. Why? It’s simple: because it’s about specifics, it’s about actions: where did it come from (there are still many questions left), where did it get the money, how did it build the team, what was the result.

This is what, in my opinion, is important now — the actions and events of today.

Now about Vitaly Portnikov’s speech at DOU Day. I couldn’t help but watch it now — some people started writing and commenting on how wise Portnikov made IT professionals look like children. «Portnikov smeared the green journalist,» «Portnikov is trying his best to bring back critical thinking to us.» Such posts can now be found on social networks.

Phew!

I have an absolutely neutral attitude towards Portnikov’s activities. But my verdict regarding this performance is as follows: Vitaly behaved, to put it mildly, not very politely, as in relation to the interviewer and active military serviceman Yuriy Fedorenko. And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

I am equidistant from both of these personalities. So I don’t want to defend either of them. But, in my humble opinion, this is complete trash, performed by a guest.

And he started by deciding not to answer Yuri’s questions at all («I don’t comment on nonsense, to be honest» — Portnikov’s first answer), and instead began to tell a long and boring story (doesn’t that remind you of someone’s long interview, by the way? :)).

«During … the last massive attack on Kyiv, I was listening to the memoirs of the famous Russian writer Roman Gul about 1917…» At this point, I would have turned off the video. But due to the large number of comments already written, I forced myself to listen further.

It was a bit disgusting to hear about «people lacking critical thinking,» with a clear allusion to the audience. But I listened. Then came a series of templates (powerful blanks): that the war would not end in Donbas, that the authorities tried to make independent anti-corruption bodies dependent on the corrupt vertical, etc.

Did I learn anything new for myself? No.

But I clearly heard appreciative skepticism about what the community that gathered near the main stage to listen, as they say, to the wise man, did and continues to do.

And the sage annealed.

Here’s my favorite: «You won’t have Diia — you can safely use some other applications. And if you don’t have drones to shoot down Russian drones, then your houses will soon be destroyed and you won’t have a place to use Diia. Are you like some kind of child? Do you seriously think that the survival of this country depends on virtual applications?»

And after this frank release, there is still a faint, but still audible applause in the hall. Like this:)

I wonder if Vitaliy knows that a significant portion of the people who created the applications (including Diya) are now also creating Ukrainian drones (which shoot down the same Russian missiles)? That in general, the IT crowd and the crowd that deals with military technologies overlap a lot. That without the presence of determined IT engineers in the country, there would have been neither the same interceptors, nor FPV (which now destroys 80% of targets), nor much else.

Delta is also an application! It was created by Ukrainian IT people. And without Delta, we would probably have been in much worse conditions long ago, if we hadn’t lost.

And just such people (developers), in great concentration, sat in a large hall on the main stage and tried to find rational grain in this colorful speech.

This is Portnikov, he’s smart, outrageous. So you have to listen. Suddenly I’ll miss the same… message:)

«He (Fedorov — Ed.) will work at the Ministry of Defense for a few more months and will go where all the previous ministers went. It’s easy to work as a minister in a ministry that creates some kind of smartphone application that may or may not exist. And, excuse me, create an opportunity in a situation that… (here the hall begins to hum with dissatisfaction, and Vitaly stutters) which… well… which is connected with drones.»

Why is this? What is the purpose of confidently throwing out a strange message that the current defense minister of a country at war is about to resign? Especially since there are no prerequisites for this. What is the evidence for such a serious prediction (I swear)?

The host immediately tries to appeal to the fact that Fedorov is the record holder for the length of time he has held a government position. And he gets the answer: «Are you a lobbyist for Fedorov’s political interests or something?»

Even for me, for a person who, to put it mildly, is not delighted with some of the actions of the Ministry of Digital Affairs team, including in relation to dev.ua, these leaps by Portnikov look like outright populism, a spit in the face of those for whom Mikhail is an authority (and this is almost the entire audience).

Vitaly Portnikov: «Your problem is that you are not interested in anything and do not even know what was happening in the country ten years ago. And you think that I should look at you with loving eyes and agree with all your theses?»

What came to my mind at that moment: «Your problem, Vitaliy, is that you are not interested in anything, you are stuck in the past and you don’t even know (or don’t want to know) what is happening here and now. Although you are constantly trying to judge.»

And any community, any society, any state begins with respect for the other, for any other, an IT worker, a soldier, less intelligent, more intelligent, etc.

Without mutual respect, there will be no equal dialogue. There will be no nation. This is exactly what you promote so well from the stage, but in practice you cannot/do not want/are unable to translate into reality.

«We don’t have a problem of national identity, but a problem that a large number of people felt inferior and inferior in relation to the 'older brother',» says Vitaly Portnikov and continues to sow the ideology of the local (not Russian) older brother, that is, himself, who probably wants a dialogue with the new generation, but does not know (cannot) how to approach it.

Maybe it’s for the better :)

There are enough theorists and populists. There are very few practitioners.

And Portnikov really managed to get people in the IT community talking about him. But only once. Then everyone went their separate ways.