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Comment by throwaway99990 | Hacker News Reader

I emigrated 15 years ago from there to the US. It's been fine, but I just visited Russia recently for a month and very much prefer Russian culture to that of the West. I'm thinking of going back permanently but probably won't.

I think blocking various internet sites/services is the only way to preserve the cultural differences and stop the brain drain.

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We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17886695.

Whole "West" is full of cultural differences, despite the internet is not broken. Actually, there are more well-preserved cultural differences between TN, and NY in States than between most places in Russia (except maybe Tuva, and other poorly connected regions in Siberia, and Arctic) due to centralist, paternalist, and chauvinistic policies of Moscow internet haters.

To expand on your point, anyone talking about "Western" culture (e.g. America, Europe, and typically former crown territories. That selection in its own right is suspect as hell) is painting with a brush so wide to be either meaningless or straight up deceptive. There are large cultural, political, legal, and economic differences between countries in that grouping and even inside said countries. California is not like Texas is not like Ohio is really not like Spain or Germany.

As a corollary, the only cultural differences that have actively disappeared have usually been due to decidedly non-Internet causes (e.g., students being hit with a ruler if they spoke Cajun French in Louisiana after World War II, non-Amish Germans deliberately shedding their language and speaking English to avoid anti-German sentiment after the outbreak of World War I, etc).

This is not related to cultural differences. The government just wants to read what people write about and block information they don't like. And I assume they have difficulties spying on opposition activists which happen to use Telegram too.

In Russia you can get prosecuted for reposting a meme on social network. Imagine how many "criminals" can be found if the police will be able to read private messages too.

Oh my god.. So you really think that a totalitarian control over what the country's population is allowed to view on the Internet is somehow a good thing and a way to stop brain drain? How come other countries manage to have their cultures flourish on the age of the Internet? I just can't see this kind of blocking bringing anything good for Russia..

There is a reasonable chance that the throwaway poster intended to be divisive, whether as a troll or something more intentional.

The scary thing is that while living in Russia, I've encountered many people with similar views (face to face).

I know it's hard to believe for western people but there are lots of people in Russia who completely obsessed with ideas of "unique Russian identity", "God chosen nation", "Russian world", "saint Russia vs. soulless American imperialism" etc.

Putin understands feelings of this part of society and successfully exploits this in order to push his own agenda. For example:

http://time.com/75484/putin-the-internet-is-a-cia-project/

The solution, it would seem, is to help those who want to emigrate emigrate and let those who want to stay stay, and let the country slowly die on the vine.

Have you seen the population graphs for Russia[0] vs the USA[1]? It seems like one of the only developed countries (besides Japan) with a decreasing population. Seems like that is happening already.

[0] https://www.google.com/search?q=population+of+russia

[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=population+of+usa

Doesn't Trump say the same things about USA? Also, I never heard about a "god chosen nation".

I encounter plenty such people among Russian migrants too. Really dig Putin and want Russia to be a GULag zoo for their former compatriots.

I'm surprised more countries don't block Google and Facebook. These two sites are extremely powerful in their ability to shape public opinion, hard to imagine why so many governments are letting American corporations shape citizens' minds.

I just visited Russia recently for a month and very much prefer Russian culture to that of the West. I'm thinking of going back permanently but probably won't.

Oh, no you should go back and let us know a year later how life is under Pooty Poot.

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