Go Fuck Yourself a/k/a Go F**k Yourself
by Joel Sucher
Pardon my French…
Either way these three words will stand the test of time, famously and heroically said by a Ukrainian soldier defending a small spit of land — Snake Island — in the Baltic. When confronted by the big guns of a Russian warship with a warning to surrender, this soldier entered the annals of military history by simply uttering this simple but determined phrase.
It’s contempt on steroids; like when you don’t care anymore it translates into a surrender to the universe (and whatever might come).
How many times have I uttered the phrase — internally — when I felt there was nothing left to discuss? On a daily basis: many times, for instance, when kept waiting on the phone by oblivious customer service reps or their automated doppelgangers.
It’s heartening to see the Ukrainians offer up this no-more-dialogue rejoinder on street signs where, presumably, the Russian military might catch a glimpse. More heartening still to see it adorn the steps of a sidewalk in Helsinki or plastered on a banner hung from an Oligarch’s luxurious London mansion.
