All Purpose Coronavirus Discussion Part XI: Will We Go Through A Thread This Weekend?

[kudymen]

I personally really struggle to understand a lot of the Russian way of thinking. Like risk/reward, benefit, loyalty etc..

Being born in 1990, early post-Velvet, I can only rely on my parents and the high school history teachers who had to live through those 1948-1989 years (not even going to mention WWII itself).
But as you said - with many stories I have heard or read about, there is a struggle in understanding "why". I mentioned it before, the "nas mnógo" approach.. Like there will always be another head to replace you, comrade. But it sometimes feels like a denial of a once great (I guess) country and it is annoying how they still try to sneak back here after 30 years of freedom

(and I fear they will get here again one day, I really do)

 

[Asnito]

Being born in 1990, early post-Velvet, I can only rely on my parents and the high school history teachers who had to live through those 1948-1989 years (not even going to mention WWII itself).
But as you said - with many stories I have heard or read about, there is a struggle in understanding "why". I mentioned it before, the "nas mnógo" approach.. Like there will always be another head to replace you, comrade. But it sometimes feels like a denial of a once great (I guess) country and it is annoying how they still try to crawl back here after 30 years of freedom

The disregard for life is one of those things I can't understand either, it just doesn't make sense.

 

[Asnito]

@Jack Straw just an FYI but you can get pictures of your buddy put on shirts, mugs etc... something like this

and @Captain Dave Poulin I found the perfect shirt for you

 

[deadhead]

Gotcha. Yeah Stalin was a peach. Having the Poles in Warsaw rise up to fight the Germans and then stop advancing so the Poles got slaughtered.

I personally really struggle to understand a lot of the Russian way of thinking. Like risk/reward, benefit, loyalty etc..

The Russians have had their empire for hundreds of years, like the Chinese in Asia, they think the proper order of things is for them to dominate the Slav peoples and their sphere of influence, and simply can't comprehend that other people might see it a bit differently. Of course, being invaded twice in two centuries with massive loss of life probably influenced those attitudes, but it goes back centuries before Napoleon.

The Turks, as heirs to the Ottoman Empire, have a similar attitude but not the muscle to do more than vain gestures.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Gotcha. Yeah Stalin was a peach. Having the Poles in Warsaw rise up to fight the Germans and then stop advancing so the Poles got slaughtered.

I personally really struggle to understand a lot of the Russian way of thinking. Like risk/reward, benefit, loyalty etc..

Their culture is very different from ours. Serfdom was only eliminated in 1861 which is downright recent on a societal scale; and it was mostly just eliminated in name. Their industrialization process and experiences were also completely different from pretty much anyone else in the West. There are concepts of national solidarity and authority that are unique to Russia and their experience, with a lot of it dating back to the power structure put in place by the Mongolians in the 14th century. The whole thing is designed to centralize power to few people in a way that was highly authoritarian even by the standards of a monarchy, and it has been that way for centuries. That's a hard culture to break, and a hard culture to establish am effective democracy in.

I also don't understand it very well. It's very different. I briefly took a Russian lit and culture class with a Russian professor, who set up a system in class that was meant to emulate Russian values and power structures and the futility inherent to it and I thought that was super clever, but I bailed quickly.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

@Jack Straw just an FYI but you can get pictures of your buddy put on shirts, mugs etc... something like this

and @Captain Dave Poulin I found the perfect shirt for you

Those are perfect.

 

[Jack Straw]

@Jack Straw just an FYI but you can get pictures of your buddy put on shirts, mugs etc... something like this

and @Captain Dave Poulin I found the perfect shirt for you

Thanks. Yeah, I already have some coffee mugs and a refrigerator magnet with his picture on them.

 

[kudymen]

but I bailed quickly.

If that professor was any more serious about it, you would probably end with a bullet in your head.

 

[Flyerfan4life]

@Jack Straw just an FYI but you can get pictures of your buddy put on shirts, mugs etc... something like this

and @Captain Dave Poulin I found the perfect shirt for you

ive seen the kitten kraken before, but the gandolf cat is new... WANTTTTT

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

Blue Angels just flew over the office and @Starat327 's favorite place.

 

[Asnito]

Those are perfect.

I'm thinking Gandolf Kitty is totally you

 

[Asnito]

If that professor was any more serious about it, you would probably end with a bullet in your head.

Nah more like a Siberian work camp

 

[JojoTheWhale]

I'm thinking of the time Cap told me he should be my style consultant.

My brain has to dress nicely to go to the grocery store and he wants to wear kitty Gandalf.

 

[Embiid]

Blue Angels just flew over the office and @Starat327 's favorite place.

I haven't heard or seen them...

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

I haven't heard or seen them...

I’m in Pennsauken. They were heading west.

 

[Beef Invictus]

If that professor was any more serious about it, you would probably end with a bullet in your head.

I still regret not taking it because it would have been very interesting, but it was my first semester in college and that was a headache above and beyond what I wanted for a class that was purely elective and unnecessary.

 

[deadhead]

Blue Angels just flew over the office and @Starat327 's favorite place.

Yep, was bringing in some delivered groceries and one went right over my house.

 

[deadhead]

Nah more like a Siberian work camp

What's the American equivalent of Siberia?

Canada. Now we know where to ship our political prisoners.

 

[Embiid]

I’m in Pennsauken. They were heading west.

I am Northwest of CC....about 4 miles from the Art Museum...up the hill from the Surekill River...

No dice...yet...

 

[Beef Invictus]

Some early Russian revolutionaries were also aware that their culture was too different to neatly apply Western philosophies and theories, and they believed all that stuff needed to be Russified or developed independently at home to suit their needs. I think it was Narodism that pushed that? They ended up being rolled over early on by other groups, but in the end they were actually right about not being able to plug-and-play stuff like Marx, because all those European concepts ended up being heavily modified to suit Russian culture.

 

[pit]

We are not only talking about soldiers, but also members of Polish "intelligence" (correct expression? educated people whose reasoning may have been influential on Polish society).

I think it would be intelligentsia. Intelligence would be more along the lines of the CIA/KGB.

 

[Striiker]

Some people want to boycott any business that opens, some want to boycott any business that doesn’t.

Both extremes are being dumb.

 

[pit]

What's the American equivalent of Siberia?

Canada. Now we know where to ship our political prisoners.

Yes, if your version of Siberia has medical care for all, better hockey coverage and actual beer, I guess?

 

[Appleyard]

Their culture is very different from ours. Serfdom was only eliminated in 1861 which is downright recent on a societal scale; and it was mostly just eliminated in name. Their industrialization process and experiences were also completely different from pretty much anyone else in the West. There are concepts of national solidarity and authority that are unique to Russia and their experience, with a lot of it dating back to the power structure put in place by the Mongolians in the 14th century. The whole thing is designed to centralize power to few people in a way that was highly authoritarian even by the standards of a monarchy, and it has been that way for centuries. That's a hard culture to break, and a hard culture to establish am effective democracy in.

I also don't understand it very well. It's very different. I briefly took a Russian lit and culture class with a Russian professor, who set up a system in class that was meant to emulate Russian values and power structures and the futility inherent to it and I thought that was super clever, but I bailed quickly.

I did a sociology module that looked at national cultures. (as well as my own in depth personal work in this area haha, having lived with two Russians and a Moldovan, and seen two Ukrainians and a Russian!)

"Russia" is quite unique in that regard.

Going off such indices really no other country on earth really has the same extreme combination of:

Being quite reserved... but also very emotionally expressive and direct
Being a very "high context" culture
Being very collective
Being very accepting of societal inequalities

I mean, places like Romania and Serbia are closest to ex-soviet nations... but a lot more individualism and less acceptance of societal inequalities.

I don't think it is "bad" in any way shape or form... just different.

And I like how generally direct people are.
As well as really appreciate the general sense of humour.
And the general appreciation of learning and especially art that really have not encountered in many other cultures.

 

[Starat327]

Blue Angels just flew over the office and @Starat327 's favorite place.

Yeah, they were fairly loud, too.

DN isnt my favorite place. Its just convenient. Im going to stop by your office soon just because. If i ask for HC, will they know who i mean?