Tin foil hats: Russian schools' new symbol of patriotism

The war in Ukraine has been ongoing for over two and a half years. During this time, Russian society is being bombarded almost daily by propaganda messages about the threat the country is facing. As it turns out, with each day of the conflict, Russia's boundaries of rationality and common sense are being pushed further away.

As a result, the media is encouraging those who remained in the country after the outbreak of the war to engage in increasingly extreme behaviours. A perfect example is the recently documented activities in Russian schools, where under the guise of patriotism, children were dressed up as tanks and soldiers or asked to write poems in honour of the army fighting in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, Russian society is pushing the boundaries of absurdity even further, resulting in a video shared online involving what appears to be a few teachers from a rural school. According to the Russians, they were the victims of a joke that involved sending a letter to schools with an unusual task.

This turned out to be creating tin foil hats, which are characteristic of conspiracy theory believers. As we learn from a video online with a group of teachers, these hats are intended to be patriotic, symbolizing readiness to defend the homeland against external enemies.

Making tin foil hats is not only an interesting and creative activity but also an important patriotic act, symbolizing readiness to defend the homeland against external threats. Let our hats become a symbol of unity and resilience in the face of external challenges — say the women fooled by the prank in the video.

The emergence of such recordings online shows how susceptible Russian society is to propaganda. If the information that the women recorded are teachers is also true, it is evidence of the tremendous pressure and fear of dismissal prevailing in Russian education.