OOH …Here’s One Thing
by Jim Johnsen,
Managing Director, Johnsen, Fretty & Company
Roger Waters – UKRAINE
Reality sometimes aligns with fiction in some mysterious ways. I just finished “The Squid Game” on Netflix. So much for escaping this upside down world. What has happened to humanity?
Anyone else read Florence Nightingale in 3rd or 4th grade? If you realized that this took place during the Crimean War of 1854 +/-, which is now part of modern Ukraine…you were way ahead of me.
Beside being largely responsible for bringing the death rate from 42 to 2% at the medical hospitals serving the military during this war, she deserves credit for starting the first nursing school, bringing modern sanitation to hospitals and bringing healthcare to the underserved in Great Britain. Florence is also the inventor of the modern pie chart as she was a highly accomplished mathematician and statistician. Feel free to read her wiki here: Florence Nightingale – Wikipedia But that is not why I brought her up. I bring her up because she played a part in the Crimean War.
Are we watching history repeat itself? New war technology playing out for the first time alongside new war tactics? More importantly, a war out of desperation? (Old Russia was failing at the time and the established powers were not ready to embrace a “New Russia”). Superpowers aligning with other superpowers? (England and France supporting the Ottoman Empire which was also starting to fail). Conspicuously absent was the U.S. which was nascent, anything but a superpower at the time, and fighting its own civil war. Make sense why we don’t learn about the Crimean War in grammar school? Last but not least, there are strong parallels between then and now in Russia’s justification for the war. Here is a great example of their reason for waging war then:
“France takes Algeria from Turkey, and almost every year England annexes another Indian principality: none of this disturbs the balance of power; but when Russia occupies Moldavia and Wallachia, albeit only temporarily, that disturbs the balance of power. France occupies Rome and stays there several years during peacetime: that is nothing; but Russia only thinks of occupying Constantinople, and the peace of Europe is threatened. The English declare war on the Chinese, who have, it seems, offended them: no one has the right to intervene; but Russia is obliged to ask Europe for permission if it quarrels with its neighbor. England threatens Greece to support the false claims of a miserable Jew and burns its fleet: that is a lawful action; but Russia demands a treaty to protect millions of Christians, and that is deemed to strengthen its position in the East at the expense of the balance of power. We can expect nothing from the West but blind hatred and malice….”
— Mikhail Pogodin’s memorandum to Nicholas I, 1853 Crimean War – Wikipedia
Long short, the Russian justification for the Crimean War was that they wanted to protect their Eastern Orthodox brothers in Palestine and the Balkans from being mistreated at the hands of the Roman Catholics and the Muslims.
What is Putin’s current justification for waging war?
“Moscow is seeking to protect Ukrainian citizens with “blood ties” to Russia from the policies of the Ukrainian government, which Kremlin propaganda labels a “neo-Nazi regime.” Putin also claims he is trying to defend Russia from the threat of Ukraine itself, which he terms an “artificial” state supported by NATO and the West.” (El Pais 2/26).
Sound familiar?
Thanks for the quick history lesson Johnsen. But so what? The chance that we don’t get entangled in this thing or somehow feel it’s fallout after it dies down is (IMHO) very small. Anyone else feel like we are adrift without a paddle? Are we confident that our fearless leadership is staying up late to play out Monte Carlo analysis and war game scenarios? Again Johnsen, so what? Wake up man (and woman)! Let’s make sure we have a say in this thing. As an industry we have developed tremendous relationships within Congress, as well as within each state legislature. OAAA and state associations…keep us informed! We have one of the most powerful pulpits. It’s our own signage. Let’s take it beyond “we feel sorry for you Ukraine”. Let’s help get the message out!
Okay with that said, here is one man’s opinion. Not sure I agree with all of it but I give him credit for taking a strong stand. https://youtu.be/S0aLALNmX_Q
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Excellent Post Enjoyed Reading it.
Jim, thank you for your post!
We need this global industrial push. As we see it from the ground zero, the war won’t resolve on its own. More decisive action is needed from our closest allies (EU, USA). And we need it fast.
Dear colleagues, pls, push the message to your governments. OOH has all the power to influence. We all know this.
Glory to Ukraine!
Enjoyed the article and thanks for the OAAA mention. Ukraine is very much on the minds of Members of Congress right now. OAAA’s current industry campaign has been well received on Capitol Hill, and we invite all OOH media owners to show continued support and generate needed resources for Ukraine: https://bit.ly/34EXVF2 – Mike Hershey / OAAA Gov. Affairs
Thank you for sharing Mike Hershey. We would love to hear more about the comments on Capitol Hill about the OOH. And thank you for sharing the link to the OOH / Ukraine resources.
Thank you Andriy Dyakonov for sharing your comments and insights. We at OOH Today hope the OOH Industry might take a more aggressive approach in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.