Combating Russophobia

Originally published by Scott Ritter Extra Substack on March 18, 2025

Classical conditioning posits that a neutral stimulus, when associated with a specific response, will eventually become a conditioned stimulus that triggers a conditioned response. It is a basic analysis of cause and effect. Ivan Pavlov popularized the concept by studying the relationship between a dog's salivation and the presence of food. A "Pavlovian response" is one thing when generated under controlled laboratory conditions. It is something entirely different when it occurs "in nature," where the impact of conditioned stimuli and their related conditioned responses often goes unnoticed in a world that ignores these relationships until it is too late.

In the North End neighborhood of Albany, a more run-down area of ​​New York State's capital where old brick buildings dating from the late 19th century are in various states of decay, stands a 28-foot-tall, four-ton steel and fiberglass statue of a fox terrier named Nipper—the canine mascot of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).

Nipper was one of four identical statues of monumental terriers that stood atop the regional distribution centers of RTA Corporation, an appliance distributor specializing in RCA products; others adorned the skylines of Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Over time, the other Nipper statues succumbed to the ravages of time and economic misfortune, their buildings were abandoned and eventually demolished, along with the statues. Only in Albany did the Nipper statue survive and, in the process, become an iconic landmark of the city itself, which adopted Nipper as its unofficial de facto mascot.

Nipper was named after a fox terrier belonging to Francis Barraud, an artist from Liverpool, England, who, in 1898, upon seeing Nipper listening to a cylinder phonograph playing a recording of his owner's voice (Barraud's brother), captured the moment in a painting entitled "The Owner's Voice". The painting was later used as the basis for the trademarks of several companies, perhaps none more famous than RCA.

The cause-and-effect relationship between an owner's voice and a pet dog is well known to anyone who has ever owned a dog — the owner calls the dog's name, and the dog responds by running towards the sound of its owner's voice.

Dogs are conditioned to understand changes in their owner's tone of voice, knowing when the owner is pleased or angry and responding accordingly.

This is a byproduct of what is known as "classical conditioning." At the time Nipper was depicted tilting his head toward the sound of his owner's voice, a Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, was conducting research on canine salivation. After inserting a small test tube into the mouths of his test dogs, the animals were fed a special mixture of powder made from meat. The experiment was based on the assumption that the dogs would salivate when presented with food. But Pavlov soon discovered that the dogs began to salivate upon hearing the footsteps of his assistant in the hallway, who was bringing the food. Pavlov realized that stimuli that the dogs associated with food would trigger the same physiological reaction as the food itself—the classic "Pavlovian response."

There are many scientific terms that arose because of Pavlov's work and the psychologists who followed his discoveries. These are:

• Neutral Stimulus (NS): A stimulus that initially does not elicit a specific response or reflex. For example, in Pavlov's experiment, the sound of his assistant's footsteps was initially a neutral stimulus, as it did not cause the dogs to salivate.  
• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without the need for learning. In Pavlov's experiment, food was the unconditioned stimulus, as it automatically induced salivation in the dogs.  
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A previously neutral stimulus that, after being repeatedly associated with an unconditioned stimulus, triggers a conditioned response. For example, in Pavlov's experiment, the assistant's footsteps became a conditioned stimulus when the dogs learned to associate them with food.  
• Conditioned Response (CR): A response learned from the conditioned stimulus. In Pavlov's experiment, salivating in response to the assistant's footsteps was the conditioned response.  
• Unconditioned Response (UR): An automatic and innate reaction to an unconditioned stimulus. In Pavlov's experiment, the automatic salivation of dogs in response to food is an example of an unconditioned response.
  
  

According to Pavlovian theory, conditioned stimulus and conditioned response can occur in a vacuum; that is, instead of being a byproduct of the intention of a laboratory experiment, the unpredictable reality of life can produce the same result, often without the subject realizing it.

Misophonia is a disorder characterized by a decreased tolerance to specific sounds and sensations associated with them. Misophonia is often triggered by post-traumatic stress. Many military veterans suffer from some form of misophonia; I, for example, am affected by the sound of helicopters.

We Americans like to see ourselves as carefree people. A characteristic often associated with Americans is their constant smile and their willingness to engage in conversations with complete strangers, as if they were long-time friends. Although the United States is a diverse nation without a single accent, the overall American way of speaking is easily discernible as uniquely American, distinct from other forms of Anglo-Saxon linguistic expression.

Our speech has become a unique identifier and is frequently used to portray Americans by describing the "happy American" or the "ugly American," and all variations of Americans in between. In movies, tourists from the US are often identified by their unique way of speaking.

Using Pavlovian cues, the American voice, by itself, is a neutral stimulus.

Hunger, fear, anger, frustration, sadness.

These are emotions that can be triggered automatically by unconditioned stimuli that are naturally seen as eliciting these emotions — lack of food, war, conflict, loss.

Over time, if the unconditioned responses that trigger the range of emotions mentioned above become linked to the sound of an American voice, then, according to Pavlov, we achieve what is known as a conditioned response (the emotions) triggered by a conditioned stimulus (the sound of an American voice).

So, here's a Pavlovian experiment for my American colleagues to consider:

We give voice to positions, ideas, and concepts using our unique way of speaking.

These positions, ideas, and concepts are heavily influenced by Russophobia, resulting in actions that produce events and events within Russia capable of triggering emotions that are the logical byproduct of unconditioned responses.

Over time, the Russian people come to associate the sound of an American voice articulating these positions, ideas, and concepts with the events and actions that generate these negative emotions.

In short, the Russian people developed a misophonic reaction to the sound of our voice.

Think about it.

We are working to repair relations between Russia and the United States.

We are trying to reach the Russian people to convince them that we are capable and willing to live together in peace and harmony.

But the very sound of our voice triggers a response that is repulsive to Russians.

We are our own worst enemies.

There are differing opinions as to whether a conditioned response can be dissociated from a conditioned stimulus.

In short, this means that the sound of an American voice can always be considered repulsive by Russians of the current generation.

We Americans need to do better than that.

We need to think about Nipper the dog and his adorable head tilt, and understand that the representation we find so endearing stems from a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus based on love.

If we can't get the current generation of Russians to stop recoiling at the sound of our voices, then let's try to ensure that future generations of Russians don't have the same conditioned response.

The problem is not the Russian people.

The problem is us.

We need to do better than that.

We need to start seeing the Russian people as people deserving of respect, admiration, friendship, and love.

If we can do this, then we will be creating a conditioned stimulus capable of producing a conditioned response, that is, a situation in which the Russian people yearn to hear, see, and meet their American counterparts.

Because, in the end, it's not the sound of their voices that matters as much as the intention behind the sound.

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The Russia House There was a special guest, Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. What began as a classic interview turned into a remarkable conversation that addressed the essence of the problems that exist today between Russia and the West, emphasizing the West's responsibility for these problems and highlighting the importance of overcoming Russophobia if we want to find solutions to them.