The reason Russia has elevated tyrants to power for centuries is deep-rooted in Russian soul to the point where it's not even a problem. It's something that is inexplicably difficult to understand unless you actually experience the culture for a good portion of your life. There is a lot of literature out there about the "Russian Soul" and I really recommend reading it to understand how this happens. In my opinion it's almost like a mass psychosis that everyone is aware of but have been "deprogrammed" to deal with and blaming people in Russia for atrocities of their regimes is like blaming a sick person for being sick. Most of the time they themselves were the victims while being told "it's just life, deal with it." With that said, people are slowly waking up and it's mostly young people who have the luxury of traveling the world and experiencing real democracies. Unfortunately, I think Russia will continue on its tyrannical path until the old generations die off and these younger folks take over.
(disclaimer, I'm russian but not Russia citizen, but I 'experienced the culture' for 30 years)
This is wrong. There is not so much special russian 'mentality' left in Russia, not in the big cities. People there have more-or-less the same 'european values'. The problem now is that we used to think of ourselves as 'good guys'. We destroyed nazis and even though we did a lot of not so good stuff, in minds of russians it always viewed as 'missteps' or 'lesser evil'. Thats why propaganda now is so efficient. General population of Russia can't even imagine the possibility that we invade other country. Because it is impossible, we remember way too well how we were invaded by Germany. And it is easy to use. Basically government tells people that we actually prevent Ukraine to invade DNR/LNR. Yes, it sounds stupid, but it works. Personally I can't even convince my parents that right now we are the bad guys. It is beyond their world view.
My point here is that russians are not some special people or special culture that allow us to invade other countries. We just struggle to move to more 'people-based' governments.
> There is not so much special russian 'mentality' left in Russia, not in the big cities. People there have more-or-less the same 'european values'.
that is just external shell that came with oil money. Try to fit the "Great Russia chauvinism" into what you said. You wouldn't be able to. That chauvinism is the basis of Russian mentality and has been well alive and kicking, and the last few days it has been taking a trip to Ukraine.
>General population of Russia can't even imagine the possibility that we invade other country.
convenient self-delusion. Afghanistan is a glaring example. Of course it was sold as "brotherly help" by propaganda just like the Ukraine war right now. Well, easy falling for the same propaganda again and again - that is the convenient self-delusion. That delusion naturally feeds into and is reinforced by the "Big Brother" self-perception which is one of the facets of the "Great Russia chauvinism".
The constant rhetoric reducing Russia to just Putin (mad-man), or Communists (not-democratic), or worse, a generic Russian soul (not-european) is Western political bias at play. It is trivial to dehumanize, devalue, derogate an entire nation once you have made these labels stick. After that, garnering consensus for inflicting sanctions, suffering, segregation becomes a walk in the park.
Both sides of the table are guilty of doing this, but the West is way more influential and hence much effective at propaganda.
I don't know. The propaganda has been working extremely well, and (IMHO) any dissent was possible mostly due to the internet being widely available, which is closing down pretty fast.
Some of my Russian friends (most of whom work in IT) are leaving the country already, others are looking for the best way to go about it.
Children in kindergartens have been building toy tanks and missiles for the past few years, the remains of the free press have written about this extensively. "Patriotic education" in schools is growing and is pushing the worldview of the madman on top into the growing kids' conscience.
I think the country is fucked, honestly. There's no decent way to say it.
Essentialist arguments about the 'soul' of a people are generally tissue thin and fall apart on examination.
That said, history is real. It has real effects on people, both through what stories they tell about themselves as a people and through the social superstructure that builds up over time.
And boy does Russia have a bleak history. What you call a 'Russian soul' is more like the internalized cultural wear-and-tear of a rough few hundred years. The good news is that it can be changed with long term concerted effort.
It is true that the idea of suffering have been engraved into the Russian culture, for centuries. It is the ever-present fear of what could happen next, based on what has happened in the past. The fear of things getting even worse, despite everything being bad already. The longing for a chance to have even a short period of normal life, before everything inevitably falls apart (because it always does, roughly twice per century). The idea of accepting the current reality as something immutable and just trying to live with it. The idea of personal (rather than collective) survival. Of course in these circumstances you rarely have the luxury to think about what is right.
Now, that is exactly what state media has learned to exploit. They were selling the idea that nothing _too_ bad will happen if everyone just stays away from politics. Well, now the worst happened. It has been only a few days, and not many people have realized what is coming next. A collapse of economy at this scale will inevitably lead to a massive increase of hunger, crime and death. And — I am not even sure it can change those people's collective behavior.
Personally, I am trying to do my part, but I do not believe my work is going to be of any significance. Maybe it's the "soul".
There is no such thing like Russian soul. But Bolshevist legacy and Checkist persons in control. See how Korea was split and become completely different countries from the same people.
As I understand it (I'm from Poland, not exactly Russia, but we share enough culture and history) it's a way of describing something between culture and attitude to life. It's not limited to a phenomenon of extreme political apathy combined with distrust of anyone unknown (this is called homo sovieticus), but also a way of coping with learned helplessness, mostly by expression in family and close relatives.
BTW I'm Russian, 39 years old. I was grown in typical Russian family with engineer and financial specialist parents. I was taught in usual school and university. But I hate all past 20 Putin years and all Putin's supporters. And I know I'm not alone. There is no mythic soul or mentality.
They are different countries but still they are very strict, hierarchical, conformist societies, and so is Japan. I think maybe it's just the same mindset put into different economic systems.
South Korea and Japan has a history of changing a ruling person by non-election means. It's the only thing that matters for stable democracy. Ukrainian and Russian situation is very similar. Propaganda poisoned people and there are no enough free minds to stand against Putin.
If there is something left to take over. I'm affraid the young will leave russia and start a new life somewhere safe and sane. Russia is more similar to China, North Korea and some middle east areas than the west.
except China is not subject to the "brain drain" you are describing and is actually economically successful. When it comes to which regime is more repressive, I agree the difference is only in effectivity - the scale of China's oppression/brainwashing/ethnic cleansing operation in Xinjiang is really scary, I don't think Russia would be capable of organising (or financing) something like this...
Yes, sorry. I meant similarities in the regimes, not braindrain. And if there is something left to take over depends on the choices of weapons russia makes in the next few days.
I'm not convinced, this sounds like mystical bullshit to me. There is no such thing as a "Russian soul", just like Frenchmen do not always walk around with a baguette under their arm. Russia (i) hasn't really been democratic yet for historical reasons, and the current regime does everything to make it stay that way, so many people have given up on change in that respect, and (ii) alleged support for someone like Putin is hard to gauge and the data is faulty. Russia is de facto a dictatorship and the suppression of political dissent is pretty drastic. People are not going to be honest about what they really think about Putin and hide their criticism in formulations and poetic use of language like in Soviet times. Most people will remain silent or lie when asked about the government, they certainly won't trust surveys. I wouldn't trust an allegedly anonymous phone survey, for example. They want to get on with their life and arrange as best as they can. It's not different from how people act in other countries under authoritarian regimes.
In history, regime changes have illustrated over and over that the actual support for such a government is way, way lower than as it may seem when you ask around on the streets or in staged elections. Once there is a change and a chance for freedom, support drops from 99% in the fake election to 5% or so. Also, this is not a hundred years ago, people know very well what's going on via the net. Given all that, I doubt that Putin's government has any support at all, maybe from 10% of the elite in Moscow and in the security apparatus and that's it. But what are the rest gonna do? It's a classical collective action problem.
> just like Frenchmen do not always walk around with a baguette under their arm.
Oh yes they do! With a bottle of wine in their hand, and wearing a striped long-sleeved t-shirt[1], pencil moustache, and a beret. Everyone knows that! Sheesh...
___
[1]: Come to think of it, rather like a telnyashka.
> Russia has elevated tyrants to power for centuries is deep-rooted in Russian soul to the point where it's not even a problem
That's racist thinking, as bad as Putin's assertion that russia deserves some kind of tribute by the international community by force. The world advances as a Markov process, the past is not an indicator for the future.
It doesn't _determine_ the future, but it sure sets the direction. Probabilities of all future possible states are not equal. The chances of the next president of the US being a Republican or Democrat are much higher than them being a card-carrying Communist.
> btw, russians are officially considered colored in US as I understand.
“Colored” is not something one is “officially considered” in the US on the basis of national origin, so you are wrong not only in detail but even on broad outline.
I'm not versed on the vocabulary. In this context, the meaning is close to "protected class" (what is the opposite of being asian while you are applying for college)
> btw, russians are officially considered colored in US as I understand.
As far as I'm aware, Russians were never subject to Jim Crowe laws.
There was, however, a significant surge in discrimination against Slavic (mainly Polish) immigrants in the early 20th century. See "The Polish Peasant in Europe & America" by Thomas & Znaniecki, which is considered to be one of the foundational texts in modern sociology.
That, however, more or less went away in the mid-late 20th century.
