Ideology in Russia

 It's finally happened.
After 1990s, the decade when Russia was trying to embrace democratic values - without any clear idea of what it actually means - we have given up those hopeless efforts and turned back to what we are familiar with all too well.
Good old Soviet Cold War ideology techniques.

Nothing unites the Russian nation more than a real or imaginary threat from the unknown West.  
Nothing is more pleasing to a Russian ear than talking about Russia as a mighty powerful dominant country where we don't tolerate 'weak and perverted' Western values but have ones of our own.

In this thriving imaginary Russia men are tall, strong, masculine and brave, women are submissive, fertile and quiet. 
No other nation would dare challenge us because our tanks are massive and our weapons are countless. 
Strong is our faith with our 'King President' praying passionately next to our obese with sanctity priests.

Going back to what once proved to be dangerous, ineffective, devastating for the nation and simply idiotic - doesn't it prove to the nation how desperate its government is to do ANYTHING that would secure its powers? For just a bit longer. 

Being British VS Being Russian

Sometimes I wish British people were more like Russians - straightforward and direct.
Sometimes I wish Russian people were more like British - polite and reserved.

Sometimes I wish British people would speak up.
Sometimes I wish Russians would shut up and listen.

Sometimes I wish.... :)

"Blame the Russians!"

Inspired by "Blame Canada":

If your kids are very naughty
Or your boyfriend kinda snotty,
Blame the Russians!
Blame the Russians!

If your boss's a giant prick,
And your girlfriend's very thick
Blame the Russians!
Blame the Russians!

If your school mates give you wedgies,
If your garden's full of badgers,
Blame the Russians!
Blame the Russians!

If you stepped into dog's pooh,
Or got nothing else to do,
Blame the Russians!
Blame the Russians!

Sing this song along with me,
Louder than "Let It Be!"
"Blame the Russians!
Blame the Russians!"

Are all Russians miserable gits? or Why do Russians never smile?

 One of the things British people complain about after visiting Russia and one of the things that might annoy you in your Russian colleagues or friends here in the UK is the fact Russians don't normally do social smiling.
  Russians struggle with it.
  They try really hard to get integrated into British society but this is something that just doesn't work with us, people born on the sixth of the world's surface.
  We don't smile without a reason.
   No wonder most Russians look like him to British public:
 

  Personally I think he is cute and adorable but an average Russian isn't that fluffy so our cuteness is something that reveals itself slowly.

  Those nice and kind British people who after visiting Moscow with horrible grumpy-looking Russians try to find an explanation for this usually come up with this one, "Russians were through a lot of misery during Soviet times and Stalin era so we can excuse their inability to smile".

  However the reasons might be much more complicated and go much deeper into history.

  In traditional Russian culture smiling or laughing without a reason was always seen as a sign of stupidity. Russia was a huge mostly agricultural country until the 20th century and smiling was out of the question for most of Russian farmers. Only a fool smiles without a reason. An intelligent person keeps a serious face.

  What about politeness one might ask?

  And here we come to a very interesting point: keeping a serious face while talking to somebody and avoiding smiling was actually seen as the only appropriate and polite behaviour!

  Why? How is that possible???

  In Russian culture if you don't smile and keep a strict face so to say it means you respect the person you are talking to because you are taking him or her seriously, listen to them attentively. 

A serious straight face also means that you are somebody who can be trusted. That you are an honest, reliable, serious person and you are not making fun out of your listener or laughing at them. A serious face means that you are giving them your undivided attention and take the conversation close to heart.

  It might sound absurd to British people but keeping a serious face when talking to someone actually did mean you were being polite and respectful towards them! 

  So next time you are in Moscow and those nasty Russian bastards don't smile to you - take it easy and think of this in the perspective I've suggested :) 

  

Russian stereotypes about Britain and British

  Well, when I read this article in DM last night and looked through all those nasty comments I got really sad about the following: looks like DM is deliberately forming a very "specific" image of Russia in minds of Brits and encourages British people to get more "anti-Russian" myths.

 What does an average British person know about Russia?

  It's cold, there is Putin, everybody drinks vodka, there are bears with balalaikas everywhere, all Russians are drunkards and mafia people.
  That's basically it.
  Does an average British person know that Russia is a country of more than 200 different languages? That it has unbelievable variety of landscapes, cultures, time zones?

  Were the people who commented about "Russia being a primitive country" and "every Russian having a mental illness" keeping in mind great Russian literature, classical ballet, unique architecture? 

  British people have ENOUGH unfortunate  myths and stereotypes about Russia and Russians.

  Every newspaper - especially a big one such as Daily Mail - MUST have some social responsibility.
  Every author in a newspaper has to understand that he or she is responsible for what they write. For what they encourage.

  At the moment I can say that Daily Mail is responsible for this xenophobic wave of hatred towards Russians in comments.

  And the saddest thing is that it only adds to all those nasty "anti-Russian" myths.

  So - what about Russians then? What do average Russians think of Britain and British people?

  It might surprise somebody but Russians actually have quite positive stereotypes of the UK and people living in the country.
 1. Britain is the country of great English classical literature and specifically of Sherlock Holmes.
  There was a very successful and very popular TV-series in Soviet times about Sherlock Holmes.

To the left - Livanov (Sherlock Holmes), to the right - Solomin (Doctor Watson).
  Filmed in the times of Iron Curtain and total deficit this TV series became extremely popular. The whole film crew worked hard to make the film and everything in it look as English as possible - not an easy task in those days.
  It's an adorable movie classics now.
 2. Britain is the country of people with perfect manners.
  Russians may joke about it (here is one old Russian joke: a woman with lots of heavy bags gets on a bus. All seats are taken, mostly by men. She sighs and says to a big bloke sitting on a seat next to her, "Are there any gentlemen on this bus?", looking at him expectantly and hoping he will give her his seat. "There are plenty of gentlemen here!", responds the bloke, "There are no spare seats though!").
 

 So Russians may joke about that but "ladylike" and "gentleman" behaviour is something Russians strongly associate with Britain and British.
  All British people are polite and well-mannered - that's what most Russians think.
3. All British people are into sports, they are athletic sport-loving fit people.
  
This might have come from the general perception that Britain is the "cradle" of sport - especially football.
4. British people are well-educated.
   

  This is of course strongly associated with boarding schools - though most Russians are aware that not every Brit goes to a public school there is still this idea that British people get educated in a very classical way, studying Latin, Ancient Greek and spending most of their youths with heavy books in their hands.

  I could go on with positive stereotypes Russians have about Britain and British: about five o'clock teas, cute old ladies in funny hats, about British people loving their pets dearly, about British people having healthy porridge for breakfast, etc. - but all in all those stereotypes are not bad, they are positive and quite friendly.

  And about this publication and comments in DM: you can have hostile perception of any and every nation. Is it really that good to be alienated? 

"Russians are far from the norm!" and "British people have more class!" Daily Mail

  Daily Mail posted a short article about what somebody named Hayley O'Keeffe called "Russian online dating".
  Here's the link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2492393/Hilarious-images-singles-looking-love-Russian-dating-site.html.
  The person named H.O'Keeffe doesn't specify which dating website it is, instead uses lots of generalizing phrases like "desperate poses of Russians looking for love", "welcome to the world of Russian online dating".
  The person named H. O'Keeffe didn't bother herself looking up the words in the newspaper on one of the photos - otherwise she would know it's not Russian, it's Ukrainian actually.

  It doesn't matter however. What matters is that this publication "triggered" lots of very xenophobic and bullying comments.

Here are some of them,
"Russians are far from norm"
"Primitive country!"
"I want the Iron Curtain back!"
"Russia has never been the brightest nation!"

"To think we fought along side with this Filth in WW2 makes me vomit!"

"Russians are 30 years behind!"

"Exactly WHICH planet are Russians from?"

and the "best" - in my opinion "I have heard that every Russian has a mental condition due to genetics!"

  Apart from the fact that it is very xenophobic and it is cyber-bullying of an entire nation there are other aspects to that that bother me.

  The main one is the following: why would media want to form an unfortunate image like that of an entire nation? Of a big country with several time zones and nearly 300 different languages?

  Why would DM approve of and encourage xenophobic comments?

  How is it possible that in the country which is proud of fighting against racism one of the biggest and most popular newspapers allows articles like that and comments like that?

  Is being xenophobic any better than being a racist?

  Or, and that's an interesting bit - Are some animals still more equal that others? 

  Does DM really stand for the opinion that some countries (like Russia) are "primitive, 30 years behind, mentally ill" and that is why cyber-bullying of these countries is justified? 

  Because - Britain is much better than Russia so you can bully Russia and Russians as much as you like - they are a nation of a "third rate"?

Being critical

  All those pointless megabytes of "Me and some stuff" photos in social networks!
  All those "who the f**k cares" details of one's own life!
  What a perfect way to create a virtual temple for worshiping yourself.

  For lots of people it IS already a Matrix - you can't encounter as many lies elsewhere but networks.