In Russia this week it has been hard to miss the two scandals that, at first, appear to have only one thing in common: both are centered around amateur videos published online. What they also share is, perhaps, the feeling of incredulity and disgust that the viewers are left with upon watching the videos, and, in many cases, the outrage. One scandal involves opposition activist Ilya Yashin (LJ user yashin), political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin, and the Russian Newsweek‘s editor-in-chief Mikhail Fishman (LJ user mfishman): footage made with a hidden camera shows them allegedly attempting to bribe Moscow traffic police officers, and there is also a video of naked Fishman sitting next to a woman and sniffing white powder off a table. (For a succinct yet comprehensive English-language account of this video scandal, please see the March 23 text by author Michael Idov, published at The Daily Beast: Russia's Amazing Drugs and Hookers Scandal.) The other scandal takes place in Irkutsk region, where high school students in the town of Shelekhov repeatedly beat up their 73-year-old female PE teacher and then posted the videos of these sparring matches on the web; the teacher reportedly had no memory of the beatings. (A short English-language Sky News item on this, with a video sampling, is here.) Heated discussions that these two scandals have generated in the blogosphere and in other online venues are taking place on quite different orbits – which nevertheless do have one or two overlap points. Below are some of the reactions (RUS) to a news item about the PE teacher incident, posted by users of Zavuch.info, a Russian teachers’ portal and social network: Persikotik: […] I think the school's administration had to take some urgent steps to avoid a situation like this at the school – instead of being embarrassed to “wash dirty laundry in public.” And it is scary that such a video spent a few months on the web, as a tutorial for morons. *** ann_dro_id: If we don't stand up for one another, if we don't hold protest rallies, if we don't stand up for our right to defend our honor and dignity, they'll keep on pushing us around! Even drivers don't let themselves be mistreated [e.g., Vladivostok drivers’ protest in Dec. 2008]. These are the times when a being a teacher is turning into one of the most dangerous professions. […] *** Gritsun Dmitry: […] where is it all going if a school employs a teacher who keeps being beaten but doesn't remember anything about it. I'm not saying that the age of 73 is a diagnosis, but memory loss does seem like a pathology. I'm not going to justify the students. Horrible!!!! Nemiro Lyudmila: […] and what if there is no other PE teacher at the school? What then? Who is going to work on this job for such [a miserly pay]? Your suggestions???? Our school hasn't had new teachers right out of college in a million years. Not a single one. They work for a year and [then leave]. And we are SOCHI, no less!!! [Sochi is a Russian city on the Black Sea coast, which, among other things, is preparing to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.] *** Viking […] We should keep up with the progress! Nothing scary is taking place. The young followers of the [Nashi and Walking Together pro-regime youth movements] are practicing techniques of fighting against pensioners’ rallies in the future, following instructions from the [ruling United Russia party]. [In Oct. 2009, Russian riot police used – during a drill – “water cannons, shock grenades, and tear gas” to disperse “a group of senior citizens that protested social injustice and blocked a federal highway.”] *** Biokhimik: […] We should keep this situation under CONTROL. Where are the trade unions, where are the human rights activists? (I haven't just cursed, have I?) […] And here is a selection of posts on the Yashin/Oreshkin/Fishman affair. Opposition activist Marina Litvinovich – LJ user abstract2001: The day before yesterday, a user with an eloquent nickname kanal911 registered an account on YouTube – in order to post this video: In this video, Oreshkin, Yashin and Fishman are trying to bribe [traffic police officers]. In my opinion, the footage is real, was done by [traffic police officers] themselves. The only question is – are they videotaping everyone like this or just some, those who have been “pointed out” to them? […] It is clear that due to the public movement against the police and [traffic police] these service have now gone on the offensive. And it's clear that the easiest way to fight the “oppositionists” is to catch them giving bribes themselves. This, my friends, is exactly why whenever I write about the lawlessness of the cops and [traffic cops], I do this with clear conscience.