Zelensky goes Vogue in the midst of war

The need for meaning and transcendence that informs the human condition in the midst of the chaos that is late stage capitalism is such that oftentimes the grotesquerie of the spectacle is embraced as an antidote to grim reality; vanity is prized over humility; and celebrity is valued more than community.

In the midst of the five months long (and counting) conflict raging in Ukraine, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been elevated to the status of secular deity in Western political and media circles, endowed with the properties of a latter day Charles Martel (688–741 CE), holding the line against a barbarian horde in the name of Western civilisation.

President Zelensky has wholeheartedly embraced this role anointed him, appearing by video link all over the world to receive the plaudits of prime ministers, presidents, politicians, celebrities — dignitaries of every stripe. Leaders and high officials have also flocked to Kiev for the privilege of shaking his hand and being videoed and photographed in his company, resplendent in his by now customary khaki T-shirt and fatigues; the very epitome of a warrior-leader, remaining at his post to direct his army’s desperate defence against a pitiless enemy that must be defeated by any means necessary if that sacred entity, Western liberal democracy, is to survive and prosper.