Hacker News Reader

Comment by riehwvfbk | Hacker News Reader

Moving somewhere would be an experience in itself and would teach you to see the world a bit differently. The main thing is people around the world are not that different. You know how the majority around you seems to think Russia is fighting for a just cause because television said so? That same majority is just as unthinking the world over. Television gets them to do what they are told by telling them they are on the right side of history, the most moral people in the world, most cultured and advanced, and they lap it up.

View on HN

> The main thing is people around the world are not that different.

Well yes and no. There are aspects which are the same everywhere, you pointed to one, that most people think what TV tells them to think. At the same time, some aspects are different. For example, as someone who's travelled in Russia I can assure that never anywhere else have I seen such deep indifference to politics. The attitude is "why are you asking questions, do you think you know better than them? (The people in power)" this is the complete opposite of how it is in the western world, and it allows these criminals to keep power with little effort.

So if someone is looking for something different elsewhere you shouldn't immediately try and convince them that everything is the same everywhere. Some aspects of people are the same, some are different.

I think your Russian travels were a long time ago. The vibe is very different now.

What’s different now?

I'm dying to hear as well.

My travels were first in 2016 then 2019. I'm skeptical that anything has changed since.

However terrible this may sound, and however misplaced, there is a newfound sense of national pride.

In the 90s and 00s Russians felt like they were behind the West and wanted to emulate western culture. A common sentiment was "sadly it'll take ages for this country to become civilized like Europe". Another symptomatic figure of speech: "evroremont" - "Euro remodeling". The implication was there's backwards Soviet style and modern amazing European style.

Now the most popular fancy restaurants offer "ethnic Russian" cuisine. Product packaging uses fonts that ape old Church Slavonic. Everything good is described as "traditionally Russian". Some of these trends were already underway in the late 2010s, but have now kicked into overdrive.

The masses feel like the West has lied to Russia and would like to destroy Russia rather than accept it as a partner. This sense of impending doom has motivated everyone to work harder. I can't offer proof of this other than: you feel this vibe when you are there.

I’m sure you’re right about this, but this does not really contradict what bdjsiqoocwk wrote, does it? Are people in Russia today more politically active than they were 10 or 20 years ago? Do they think they can influence things more?

I think everyone is a lot more political, but of course not everyone is on the same side.

There are people who are fully bought in to what the Russian media is telling them. They sing Putin's praises and think he will lead them to greatness ("we'll show them!"). There are people who don't like Putin but think that a US-installed government would be worse ("he's a bastard, but he's our bastard"). And then there are those who think Russia should be "free". This last group does not seem to be sure about what it is they want; they just point out all the atrocities committed by the current government and fight amongst themselves about who will be the leader of the opposition.

But people have opinions now. A few years ago everyone was largely OK to be a beneficiary of high oil prices, and OK with not paying attention to politics.

As for being able to influence something: I think this depends one which group we are talking about. Group 1 is very active. Group 2 is waiting for the whole thing to blow over. Group 3 is waiting for Putin to die and has vague plans of how they are going to be the ones in charge afterwards.

What you mean by "politically" though? Politics as it is understood on the West - like people arguing in public about the best ways for society to solve their problems and to figure out the how the society should be managed - does not exist in Russia. It used to, but not anymore. This is something you can get in jail for. There's only one "correct" opinion about things - the one that the TV tells you - and if you deviate from it in any way, you are a traitor (and if you get popular, you go to jail). So you can't be "politically active" in Russia in Western sense, at least not for long.

With that, Russia has different kind of "politics", commonly known in those who witnesses the USSR or any other totalitarian dictatorship - in the form of constantly inundating the subject's mind in state propaganda and things the state propaganda feels important, and constantly requiring the subjects to participate in rituals and declarations that emphasize agreement and alignment with this propaganda. If you do not participate, you are suspect - nothing serious would likely happen to you, unless you start doing Western-style politics, but you're not one of the good people anymore. And your co-worker may write a donos on you to get a promotion ahead of you, or something like that. But most people would participate in it, many - gladly, because that's what all good people do and who doesn't want to be among good people doing good things together? That's the kind of "politics" that you'd find everywhere.

Oh and about influencing - I don't think anybody seriously thinks they can influence Putin's circle in any way, at least not among common people. It's just a lot of people there like it this way - the Tsar knows what to do and he does it, and our part is to support him whatever happens.

You hit the nail on the head.

I think you should move to California :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com