> The West doesn't understand (and never has understood) the East.
I'm glad you brought that up. (Western) Russians look to be 'everything European' yet don't act like it.
It wasn't until I watched this extended interview with Julia Ioffe on Frontline [0] did I go... this is brilliant! This finally made me understand that, no, they're not like us nor will they be.
Her retelling was apt. Start watching at 32:37 [1] for the context of the quote.
"[...] would be easier to understand Russians if they were just purple, because it was in fact confusing to Westerners, to Europeans and to Americans to deal with Russians who look European, who look white, and you expect them to act like Westerners like white Western Europeans, when in fact they are quite different and wired quite differently and have quite different cultural expectations and wiring [...]"
I strongly suggest watching the entire interview (along with the rest of the Frontline interviews that don't make it into the show).
I'm glad you brought that up. (Western) Russians look to be 'everything European' yet don't act like it.
It wasn't until I watched this extended interview with Julia Ioffe on Frontline [0] did I go... this is brilliant! This finally made me understand that, no, they're not like us nor will they be.
Her retelling was apt. Start watching at 32:37 [1] for the context of the quote.
"[...] would be easier to understand Russians if they were just purple, because it was in fact confusing to Westerners, to Europeans and to Americans to deal with Russians who look European, who look white, and you expect them to act like Westerners like white Western Europeans, when in fact they are quite different and wired quite differently and have quite different cultural expectations and wiring [...]"
I strongly suggest watching the entire interview (along with the rest of the Frontline interviews that don't make it into the show).
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEu0oRajJxE
[1] https://youtu.be/qEu0oRajJxE?t=1957