COLUMN: Ukraine

It's hard to be the light-hearted guy when the news is filled with pain and sadness from the Ukraine.

There's no such thing as a "good" invasion, unless we're talking about four mop-topped dudes from England. But why does Russia's invasion of Ukraine seem especially horrific?

I know diddly about Eastern European politics. It's not something that tends to come up too often in my day-to-day concerns. If you want in-depth political analysis, don't turn to the dude who usually writes about cats and Facebook. The only thing I know about Ukraine is that it's a really hard territory to control when you're playing Risk.

My knowledge of Ukranian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is next to nothing. But the bravery he's shown over the past couple weeks has been legendary. If Russia ever tried to come after ME, I'd shamelessly be on the first bus to Anywhere Else. When the US offered Zelenskyy refuge, he instead asked for ammunition. When Russia claimed he was in hiding, he took to the streets on Instagram. I have no clue if he's been a good leader, but you can't knock his courage and devotion to his people. His recent speeches will be read in history classes for the rest of time.

I may be a buffoon when it comes to world politics, but not when it comes to bad TV -- and before Zelenskyy entered politics, he was an actor. Most famously, he was the star of a Ukranian TV show called "Servant of the People," in which he played -- you guessed it -- the president of Ukraine. And a few years ago, Servant of the People was available in the US on Netflix.

Out of curiosity at the time, I watched a few episodes, and it's easy to see why he became so popular in the Ukraine. In the show, Zelenskyy plays a high school history teacher who shockingly wins the Presidency when a video of him complaining about corruption goes viral. Zelenskyy's character crusades for good in a government dominated by shallow bureaucrats. If you can cope with subtitles, it's a funny and optimistic watch. Zelenskyy plays such a charming guy on the show, it's hard to conceive that anyone would want him dead, let alone his nearest neighbor. It'd be like if suddenly Canada were to put a bounty on the head of Steve Carell or Kelsey Grammer.

But perhaps Russia's biggest misstep was their failure to realize this is the first major wartime incursion to occur in the age of social media. Even during fairly recent conflicts like the Gulf War, the only color commentary we experienced was from embedded reporters in the warzones. But if you want to see what it's like in Ukraine right now, all you need is a smartphone. Some of the most moving scenes I've witnessed over the past week have been filmed by Ukrainian teenagers on TikTok. The world is bearing witness to families cowering in basements, old ladies confronting soldiers, and passionate townsfolk stockpiling Molotov cocktails. We're seeing first-hand the sadness, the bravery, and the absolute pointlessness of it all.

The downside, though, is that you can't always TRUST what you see on social media. Already some videos purporting to show atrocities have been debunked as fake. Russia circulated a video online they claimed was an unprovoked Ukranian attack, and it turned out to be a video of a Finnish military training exercise from years ago. If you're watching the war unfold on social media, make sure you're actually witnessing the real thing.

It's also made for some seriously uncomfortable web surfing. Just today, my video feed on TikTok went from Russian soldiers (who look like confused high schoolers) immediately to a video of someone's pet duck... to a clip of Ukranian kids having dance-offs in a bomb shelter... to perhaps the cringe-iest video I've ever seen of some young American social media influencer doing a sexy dance in a blue and yellow bikini as a "tribute to those suffering in Ukraine." Maybe there's just no hope for humanity.

War is horrible, as is the helpless feeling of watching it play out from afar. I'd ask for a rousing chorus of "Give Peace A Chance," but in today's age, it would probably be delivered in a 30-second Instagram clip featuring any number of Kardashians and a rap from Macklemore. Here's hoping the sanctions and the world's reaction will show Putin that actions like this will no longer be tolerated on the global stage. Of all the armies in the world, the most powerful might end up being the kids of TikTok.