Skirmantas Malinauskas – on unemployment, time for him and his family: “I am 39 years old. Perhaps it is time to change priorities? ”| Lifetime

15min LIFE conversation with S.Malinauskas: about his activities on the YouTube platform, a new stage of life, lessons learned while working in the government, parenting and time for himself.

– Skirmantas, how has your life changed since you left the main team? And how does it feel to not work anywhere?

– I don’t have much free time because I came up with activities that I like. Also, I am considering various job offers. If someone seems to spend a lot of time relaxing, it isn’t.

I have no future with politics and civil service. I received many invitations, but apparently that would have sparked resonance and speculation. There are large private companies offering to fill certain positions.

Until I accept any job offer, I have the opportunity to spend more time with my family, my hobbies, even on the same social networks or YouTube. I like. I have the opportunity to relax calmly and look from one side at the processes in which I myself had to participate. Interesting.

I have no future with politics and civil service.

Now I can speak in moderation and on my own behalf, make mistakes and take responsibility for themselves, without fear of saying too much somewhere on behalf of another. All of those things are advantages.

– For example, maybe one morning we will read that you started working for Orlean?

– No, this will not be the case (laughs) Although I have offers from companies of similar size. I have not yet made a decision, but I think I will make one of those proposals.

Although I sometimes think, how much is human freedom worth? We are always ready to choose companies, employers. It started to seem to me that sometimes working for myself, creating a job for myself is much more enjoyable. After all, the work you earn over the years stays with you.

I have suggestions that involve a fairly high salary, but I always have to appreciate that this is an exchange. You will lose something – you -. An interesting stage in my life.

By the way, I myself value some state companies very well. He had suggestions from people he knew would come to work for those companies. But I did not agree. Just because I knew it well: in that case, I would be demonstrating that I am behaving exactly as most ministers, advisers to the Prime Minister, behave. You became an advisor and then settle in any public body. Then what?

Yes, perhaps my qualifications are beyond question. But like you journalists, you could say: he is exactly the same, through known acquaintances. Or, if a competition were announced, everyone who participated in the competition with me would say: of course, that competition was organized for him. For the sake of such doubts, I have rejected such proposals.

By the way, I noticed that there is no shortage of employers in Lithuania, only I see another problem: there is a shortage of people. There are many who are looking for strong and hard to find people.

– When you left work, you got into another reality: distance learning started and you have two daughters.

– One second, the other fifth. I think distance learning has taught us a lot. I am happy that our good school made sure the teachers were ready, there were no problems, the children were satisfied. My wife and I help prepare the lessons.

I am surprised that distance learning is emerging with us. So far, I have purchased more than one distance learning course for my own money. Nowadays, to study, for example, with an American professional, it is not necessary to travel to it if you have online course.

As for the children, it is a bit unfortunate because they have not seen their grandparents in a long time, they have limited access to see friends due to the quarantine. Now the measures are weakening, softening.

We try to go for a walk with the children, stay together. Of course, there are also psychological strains when four people are constantly in one space: an apartment.

But you learn those lessons, you learn how not to get mad, how come out of the conflict instead of provoking it further.

– Father’s day is coming. What is parenting for you?

– First of all, I have to say that no matter how my daughters and my wife want me to spend more time with my family, it has always been the case in my life that I work very hard. Now, of course, there is more varnish for the family.

But, for example, and when I worked on the portal 15 minutesThere was a time when I worked full time on Knowledge Radio from 6 to 9 p.m. I wired live wires. They also needed to prepare. After them I drove to 15 minutes editorial office, and I worked there until 7 p.m.

When I was on the Prime Minister’s team, I had three areas to oversee, and there was a lot of work to do. My children and my wife rarely saw me. And I like that rhythm of life.

Now that I am considering job offers, I realize that the job will take a long time again. I am such a person, I have to give everything to the maximum. And now it scares me a little. I’m 39 years old Maybe it’s time to change priorities?

Now that I am considering job offers, I realize that the job will take a long time again.

Perhaps increased professional experience or salary should no longer be a priority? Perhaps the priority is to earn enough to live and spend more time with you and your family? Such things become important.

– You mentioned hobbies. One of them is the YouTube platform. Why did it arise and why in this way when you analyze the information disseminated by people known and controversial in society, their speeches?

– A general principle on which I have lived for quite some time: the information society. We live in a society where there is an opportunity to be heard and to be interesting to someone.

It is important for absolutely any profession, for anyone, if you want to contribute to the formation of an opinion, be visible, show your achievements, be heard.

Such a person needs to think about how to do it, and social media is one of the easiest ways. Until now, I was lacking time for social media.

When I finished my government job, I created a channel, I started posting my daily videos. Then I saw the appearance of people interested in it. In about two months I have about 15.5 thousand. subscribers, there are a total of approximately half a million visits. This channel of mine is completely non-commercial, I put the content I want there. What I wonder about myself, what seems to me to improve the impression, everything I use.

When I finished my government job, I created a channel, I started posting my daily videos.

And the topics were very diverse. I started with an overview of everyday political issues, but I admit that it seems to me that the further such political issues advance, the more and less interesting they become for the public.

I have seen that, in addition to the main subject field, there are many subjects that are untouchable. For example, there are people who have a large following and have a dubious reputation, or their activities are highly questionable.

It happens that you watch his video and don’t realize that there are so many factual errors and contradictions. And you can answer that. The YouTube platform is excellent and democratic. I see it as a hobby. But YouTube can become a professional if you take it seriously.

I understand that interest in me is still low enough for it to grow, but you will probably have to give up those videos because there will be other activities that will take a long time and limit my ability to comment on political issues or people of dubious reputation.

– One of your most popular and most viewed posts is about Vadim Ziz and his conversation with Fire Kiguolis. Why do you think that?

– If someone outside the YouTube system thinks who Vadim Ziz is, I want to say that I myself worked as a journalist for 15 years, then as an adviser to the Prime Minister and did not know who Vadim Ziz was. But when I became interested in a completely different person, I found interesting conspiracy theories, it became interesting for people to get together, many of them believed in strange things.

They believe in people who are stumbling, they believe that there are some kind of undercover whistleblowers in power who report future events through codes. And so. This is how I saw Ugnius Kiguolis and Vadim Ziz discussing how a storm is coming kidnapping bullied, raped children, drinking their blood, etc.

It immediately seemed like complete schizophrenia to me, and then I realized that a lot of people are watching it, Ziz has a lot of followers who can accept it as the truth. Therefore, I have named all logical errors there. I shot that video without waiting too long and then I saw that it really caught my attention.

There are many and varied actors of this type. We are talking about conspiracy theories now, but there is a wide spectrum of people who make a lot of money with various life teachings that, to put it mildly, are of dubious value. It seems to me all the time that if a person sells such life teachings and wants to be an authority, then at least he has to speak.

YouTube is a great opportunity to say: and now listen to the other side. This is how the format came about.

– How does the family, wife and children, react to their public activities?

– The family is isolated from my public activities. When I worked as a journalist, when I worked as an adviser to the Prime Minister, I did not include my family, my children, in any public place. Or it was very episodic. My wife is an official who has worked for 20 years and does not belong to any political party, she is a very high-level professional.

In fact, sometimes she is very skeptical about all my activities, but that does not stop me from doing it because she knows very well that she will not be successful. Children look more with a smile, sometimes I ask someone to help me, such as supporting the camera.

The family is isolated from my public activities.

I had to create several videos where, for example, people who have served their sentences in jails talk. They spread lies. It was interesting to deconstruct the lies of those people and demonstrate that there is no heroism here, that they are very stupid people or that they deliberately lie. They said to me: Are you not afraid that someone will attack you or your family? It really wasn’t. I am completely used to advertising, I think there are ways to defend myself, there are security forces that I trust.

– Autumn elections. Will you attend? One of those questions probably won’t come up.

– I get those questions now and when I was working as an advisor to S.Svvernel. In fact, the Prime Minister asked me if I would not consider it. So I honestly answered no.

And now, once I left, I have been inspired freely as never before and would not want to go back to the positions I was in or run for the Seimas. It seems to me that there is a lot to change in Lithuanian politics. I’m not saying “never”, because someday there may be some kind of dream team where many people would come to make a difference. But now there is more frustration than joy.

Also, politics is becoming less and less interesting to me. For example, when it comes to commenting on political issues, I understand that we are talking about the same and the same. You comment and understand that this is a type of game, where one part of the audience agrees, another does not and a part of the audience is caught up in it. You know who will say what: the peasants and the conservatives. Swamp.

I don’t miss it at all, I’m glad I was on the Saulius Skvernelis team, it was a good experience for me, I had confidence, freedom to say and more difficult things. And get into politics and be one of the 141? This prospect does not seem very rewarding.

– You worked as a journalist, then in the government, now you dedicate yourself to creative activities. What do you like the most?

– I’m joking: now my state is unemployed and I’m very happy about it. I, unlike other people, do not need to be distracted. All my life and all my work has always been about communication and has always been creative.

There have been episodes where I also had to deal with technical issues, participate in certain media planning processes. But I always did the same thing: I wrote, I generated ideas, I looked for ways to reach people’s ears, hearts and brains. And I wonder, that’s what I would do.

Politics in itself is interesting to me, but to me it is interesting in terms of political communication. Only when you get involved in it will you realize that it is a swamp. Suddenly, you discover that people are no longer valuing you as a personality like Skirmantas Malinauskas. People begin to appreciate how “You peasant”, “You are a conservative” “you are prime minister. You are someone’s man. Those things always seemed strange to me, I never felt good about it.

– While working in the government, you yourself have received much criticism in your direction.

– There were many, incredibly many. I remember the day Aurelijus Veryga removed me from the position of head of the Public Information Group, then I resigned from the position of advisor to S. Skvernelis. The first text I read then was a great interview with Ramūnas Karbauskis. In it, he explained that conservatives didn’t do as much damage to his relationship with Skvernel as I did. That I tried to oppose them. R.Karbauskis spilled immediately, and I find it strange that he was afraid to say it earlier while working on the Prime Minister’s team. On the contrary: he pressed his hand and smiled.

Sometimes the situations involved criticism of the Prime Minister and I had to leave repel Some things were criticized and specific to me.

For example, one of those phrases was about the teachers’ strike. When there was a discussion on Facebook, I compared the situations. I said that state buildings cannot be occupied. No matter what your goals are, whoever you are: male, female, teacher or baker. You cannot come to the ministry and occupy it.

Then I wrote a comparison that this also happened in Crimea, when the green people came and stayed. Clearly, this was a comparison to Vladimir Putin’s strikes. I had to explain how I didn’t like the teachers. But almost all the teachers in my family. Grandparents, father-in-law. Then I realized that it was not worth it, and my position remains the same.

Now I realize that this was not true, and the Minister probably clearly knew that we were fundamentally misleading the public.

You may not need to convince anyone if someone’s brain is acting differently if you cannot understand that my parallelism is not about teachers but about state security, the fact that neither teachers, nor doctors, nor firefighters can come and occupy ministries because this leads to paralysis of the state. And if you don’t understand it, you can think how you want.

When I worked in the government, there was no way I would deliberately come and lie, cheating, with any scandal that tarnishes my reputation.

When telling the story of the Prime Minister’s path, I was constantly reminded that it was a bearish service to the Prime Minister. That is what I can say now.

Another example of what I call my professional failure, and people still send me a video in which I say that people don’t have to wear masks. But I am not a doctor. I trusted the information I received from the ministry at the time. Now I realize that this was not true, and the Minister probably clearly knew that we were fundamentally misleading the public. But it’s been done, and in my head, it’s a big mistake that undermines confidence.

While working for the Government and when I left, I had the unfortunate feeling that public relations had defeated public disclosure. But I’ve already talked a lot about this.

Now I feel better, I no longer have to worry, I no longer have to be in deep processes and take responsibility for someone else’s decisions, comment, explain.

That freedom is a very big thing. And the lesson is very big. In the future, if I have to work in companies and speak on behalf of companies, those lessons will be very valuable.

– But the experience is strange. After all, his last name was in the ranking, he took quite a high position. And behold, there is nothing left. In an instant.

– I also told the Prime Minister. you you are in classifications then you go out, you go and you need to go to the workplace. However, I did not go. I registered by phone. I needed to call, it was interesting to know what my unemployment benefit would be.

Yes, it all ends in a second, suddenly you are not interesting to anyone and you become an ordinary person who solves common problems, faces the imperfect functioning of state institutions.

And for others, that time will end. You will have to get out of the courtship car, say goodbye to security, walk the same streets, maybe travel by public transport. You will have to meet people who will smile at you or not. Never forget this.

My own acclimatization was calmer, but some people, especially when in high positions, forget those things. After all, some of the current ministers will not even be re-elected to the Seimas and will have to return to normal life, they will have to work.

And then there will be the question: what is your reputation? How did you show yourself in one crisis or another? Do you have the trust of the public and your colleagues? Are you a person that people will believe in?

These questions are important and should be asked not when you are in such a situation, but always ask yourself.