Russophobia still rampant. There exists a dangerous tendecy to attribute to russians, such allegedely hereditary characteristics as cruelty, laziness, anti-democratism, irresponsibility etc. Pronounced negative stereotypes such as official corruption, mafia, poverty and alcoholism - continue to prevail in mahy Western mass media. Unfortunayely, the West's image of the ne Russia is far-removed from reality.
I think you're conflating two quite seperate issues here. On the one hand, you rightly point out the tendency to stereotype Russians culturally as lazy, irresponsible etc. However you throw in political factors such as official corruption and anti-democratic tendencies. Your first criticism of Russophobia is justified, as it would be unfair to characterise Russians by such negative cultural stereotypes. However it is entirely fair to criticse the Russian political system as corrupt and authoritarian. To say these things is not to reflect negatively on the Russian people, it is to criticise the negative aspects of the Russian government, and there are many....
ppl.... you can judge russians (and any other nation) only if ya know many russians that's all national prejudices...
And even then you can't generalise. You can't say, for example, that all Russians are lazy, or all British people have bad teeth unless you know every single Russian or every single British person. That is indeed prejudice. However you don't have to know a person from a particular country to criticise the government of said country. I don't know a single person from Zimbabwe. But I do know that Mugabe, the president of Zimbabe, is a tyrant....
ha....right, man! and i can admit with no objections that our government and political system in general is just shit has been shit for the whole history and has been improving for the last decade... as for lazyness, you would be surprised to find out how many workaholics there are in russia however i'm terribly lazy!
Hmm . I think there is some Russophobia , but much of that is the Western press plugging Western Centric views.America wouldve liked Russia to be one vast oil field owned by Exxon.And the EU would want Russia to be speaking French , with the same Eu member power as say Latvia : ) ( OK maybe I exaggerate , but the West is afraid of what is the "competing ideology " of Russia.) Anyone who cant see through the rubbish thats spouted about Russia isnt going to see/ consider the facts anyway. People are only afraid of those with power. For a short time , the West would ridicule Russia,Fortunately that isnt the case today. I definitely think Ive got inherited some Russian charecteristics.And my parents and me were born in Britain.( Grandparents, Russian and Slavic). i can drink vodka like water , I can sit at a chess board 14 hours at a time ( altho everyone in Britain thinks its a geeks game! : ) I dont have time for English style etiquette. When I write something it can make Tolstoy look brief and simple. A fascination with things technically illegal; ) Altho ofcourse Im whiter than the driven snow : ) Definitely prone to bouts of laziness , and also manic marathon bursts of work. Dour /coldfaced at times ,slow to become friendly with people. Usually very laid back and easy going but will go to the ends of the earth for revenge.I always have an agenda/ long term plan ____________ Ultimately I think Russia is best pursuing her own version of democracy. American and much European "democracy" is a tasteless joke. I mean Bush?- because his rich daddy was president and all the greedy multinational owning families told him what to do. Russia shouldnt listen to Western criticisms - all they want is to take over her media and assets , so Russia becomes the gimp of the West. If the media was taken over by the West , it would eventually have the same sham democracy as Britain- with its upper class twits like Blair and Cameron pretending be the advocate of the "working man". _________ Personally for every Russiaphobe that writes in the Western media , there is a Russophile who admires Russia's history , culture and efforts to develop a new way of living. PS some of the Russian Ive met , sensible people would be scared of; )LOL
I felt angry when the gay march participants were savagely attacked by local moscow residents. The police just stood there laughing. No wonder we were prompted to Go West, by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe. Russia has had a lot of troubled times but they have pulled through. These people need guidance and hope for the future. They have been through a lot and am glad to say that Moscow is one place I would like to see. Unfortunately it is a 24 hour flight from the UK and once in Russia, getting to grips with the language will be tricky. It looks like Greek but it aint greek.
Well, I wouldnt like to go to Russia. Especially nowadays when its not good to be a stranger there...with all them neonazis,ultranacionalists and Hitler supporters ( which is a paradox because Hitler always considered Russians inferior...). Like, a few days ago an 18 year old russian skinhead confessed to killing over 30 people - all immigrants. So I dont think I d like to be in Russia now.
I'll bet you a 1000000$ that the percenate of the population that are skinheads is at least twice as big in America than in Russia.
I dont see how anyone can say Russia's got a bigger problem in that than anywhere else. France has got le Pen 's lot and lots of African- Arab- white French riots etc. Britain has the BNP and areas becoming "segregated". Australia had high profile race riots recently.America's run by extreme right maniacs and prob has more racism than any so called democracy in the world. If u go to a website like iraq-war.ru and you'll see that Western countries arent as perfect as t Rupert Murdoch and Fox News etc would try and have people believe Russia's got as many ethnic groups as pretty much anywhere- and they all traditionally got on ok . But the problem comes when Russians wages shrink because its an unfair competition againt incoming Uzbeks etc who can take their wages home where everything is cheap. And thats a problem invented by the West. PS true Hitler fans in Russia are pretty few and far between , as I see it. Hitler killed 10 million plus Russian civillians.
I know. And my point wasnt that there are skinheads only in Russia. But lately the movement of neonazis , nacionalists and skinheads in Russia is getting stronger and stronger. So you can save yourself those 1000000$...
Why wouldnt it be a problem invented by the West? Or to give it the full name , Western "free market" capitalism with its " free movement of labour". This is how it works.In England or Russia someone earns 30 000 US a year. Except when thats spent , 70/ 80 percent or so goes on taxes.( petrol , food , alcohol , wages tax etc) That tax money goes to the central bank , which then goes to the private banks at 3 percent .Then their old school friends at the banks lend it back to you at 15 / 20 percent.How generous... NOT OR they play monopoly and buy up large chunks of the emerging world , close your factory , put you unemployed , while they carry on profiting. This trick works even better when they pretend your taxes give you healthcare .. or unemployment insurance...! Meanwhile if you still have a job , theyll bring in a migrant to do your job for one third of the cost.Because the migrant can take that money home again because everything he buys is 1/5th of what you have to pay - because he isnt killed by those taxes I just mentioned. So there we are , isnt the "free world" free eh?Except if you want a job , a decent wage , your taxes spent fairly ,or your income protected As for ethnic groups , well the Soviet Union had , I think 150 different ethnic groups. So many most people havent heard of them.Its leaders were ethnics- Stalin was Georgian.And the vast majority of Tartars , CHuvash , Kygiris etc either saw themselves as Russian or Soviet- not ethnic. My grandfather was from whats now the Ukraine's capital - and he called himself Russian.But read the Western press and theyll tell you rubbish how Russia "invades " the Ukraine. The only Soviet problems were terrorists in the far south ... backed courtesy of the CIA.No race riots of the style of Britain , France , US , Australia.
:lol: I'd love to visit Russia one day, not to live though. I've heard that there's something like 10 women to every 1 man in Russia...that's got to suck! No wonder we have so many mail-order Russian brides shacking up with 60 year old men in the UK.
