4 ms·

I live in ex-USSR, in Central Asia precisely. The life before the fall of USSR was in many ways much, much better than it is now, and before the Soviet rule it

I live in ex-USSR, in Central Asia precisely. The life before the fall of USSR was in many ways much, much better than it is now, and before the Soviet rule it was a medieval swamp. There is still respect towards Russians here, a plenty of Russian schools, despite the fact that the Russians are a small minority here.

Feniks 9y ago
Well what keeps your country from uplifting itself? My own country is one of the safest, wealthiest and politically stable on the planet but just a hundred years ago there were slums with child prostitution and cholera. As recent as the 1950s there were people LITERALLY living in holes under the ground.
- dang 9y ago
  This comment crosses into a nationalistic swipe, which is not allowed here, so please don't do it again.
  - dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
    Why on Earth are you saying this? What the OP says is that their country was very poor and now it's now thriving. I was just about to ask what advice he could give to the grandparent when I read your comment and it made me speechless. What do you mean by "nationalistic"? I really, completely have no clue whatsoever what you mean. Maybe you wanted to use a different word?
    - dang 9y ago
      What keeps your country from doing admirable X so that it can be more like mine is a loaded, patronizing question. It's also ahistorical and therefore unsubstantive, as if one simply chooses to make things better and then they are. That argument is disrespectful to make about another person, let alone a whole country. Also, to my ear, prefixing the whole comment with "well" is a trivializing gesture, as if to say: "well, what's the matter with you? Pull yourself together and you could be more like me." I realize the comment didn't land with you that way, but I can guarantee you that it would with others, and that is how we get nationalistic flamewars. Moreover, the account has a pattern of making ideological comments. Such accounts are by far the most prone to flamewarring, so when we see signs of that we err on the side of replying.
      - dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
        Oh I see. I just saw it as a honest question, encouraging discussion. If someone asks me "what keeps you from doing X?", when X is something I want to do, sometimes it's an a-ha moment for me, something actually very useful.
        dang 9y ago
        Thanks for this! It's always something of a miracle to me when one of these loops gets closed with mutual understanding.
  - golergka 9y ago
    > This comment crosses into a nationalistic swipe Can you back this statement up, please?
eveningcoffee 9y ago
It might be true for this part of the world. I certainly believe you. But the picture was different for the western part, that was taken back by 50 years under the occupation. Modern societies were destroyed by murder and deportations. There certainly exists some level of nostalgia but the life for an average person is much better if you honestly think about it. You can actually buy yourself a living place, you can actually buy a car. You actually have an access to proper food and convenience goods (like something elementary like dish washing clots for example). Pair of jeans is not a luxury. I think that there were certain aspects that provided more securities for the future (if you managed to align yourself with the system) but we know now that it was in fact not sustainable and the security only was an illusion. The only problem is that the life in the west is still in many aspects so much better.
kjs3 9y ago
Central Asia? Oh my, yes...I'm sure that they people who replaced the ones collectivize, deported or simply exterminated by the Soviets think things were just swell. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.
Grue3 9y ago
This is an argument on the level of "Mussolini made the trains run on time". Why not blame your local corrupt dictator for making life even worse than it was under Soviet rule instead?

Feniks 9y ago

Well what keeps your country from uplifting itself? My own country is one of the safest, wealthiest and politically stable on the planet but just a hundred years ago there were slums with child prostitution and cholera. As recent as the 1950s there were people LITERALLY living in holes under the ground.

dang 9y ago
This comment crosses into a nationalistic swipe, which is not allowed here, so please don't do it again.
- dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
  Why on Earth are you saying this? What the OP says is that their country was very poor and now it's now thriving. I was just about to ask what advice he could give to the grandparent when I read your comment and it made me speechless. What do you mean by "nationalistic"? I really, completely have no clue whatsoever what you mean. Maybe you wanted to use a different word?
  - dang 9y ago
    What keeps your country from doing admirable X so that it can be more like mine is a loaded, patronizing question. It's also ahistorical and therefore unsubstantive, as if one simply chooses to make things better and then they are. That argument is disrespectful to make about another person, let alone a whole country. Also, to my ear, prefixing the whole comment with "well" is a trivializing gesture, as if to say: "well, what's the matter with you? Pull yourself together and you could be more like me." I realize the comment didn't land with you that way, but I can guarantee you that it would with others, and that is how we get nationalistic flamewars. Moreover, the account has a pattern of making ideological comments. Such accounts are by far the most prone to flamewarring, so when we see signs of that we err on the side of replying.
    - dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
      Oh I see. I just saw it as a honest question, encouraging discussion. If someone asks me "what keeps you from doing X?", when X is something I want to do, sometimes it's an a-ha moment for me, something actually very useful.
      - dang 9y ago
        Thanks for this! It's always something of a miracle to me when one of these loops gets closed with mutual understanding.
- golergka 9y ago
  > This comment crosses into a nationalistic swipe Can you back this statement up, please?

eveningcoffee 9y ago

It might be true for this part of the world. I certainly believe you. But the picture was different for the western part, that was taken back by 50 years under the occupation. Modern societies were destroyed by murder and deportations. There certainly exists some level of nostalgia but the life for an average person is much better if you honestly think about it. You can actually buy yourself a living place, you can actually buy a car. You actually have an access to proper food and convenience goods (like something elementary like dish washing clots for example). Pair of jeans is not a luxury. I think that there were certain aspects that provided more securities for the future (if you managed to align yourself with the system) but we know now that it was in fact not sustainable and the security only was an illusion. The only problem is that the life in the west is still in many aspects so much better.

kjs3 9y ago

Central Asia? Oh my, yes...I'm sure that they people who replaced the ones collectivize, deported or simply exterminated by the Soviets think things were just swell. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.

Grue3 9y ago

This is an argument on the level of "Mussolini made the trains run on time". Why not blame your local corrupt dictator for making life even worse than it was under Soviet rule instead?