21 ms·

This is a well-known post ussr feature "do not give a #it about anyone but yourself".

by a-b 7y ago

Mirioron 7y ago
I wonder why you're downvoted. I live in a former Soviet state and my impression is that the Soviet era taught people to always prioritize your own stuff, because nobody else will care about it.
- freedomben 7y ago
  I spent some time in Azerbaijan and I was amazed at how much the locals helped us out. We had a mechanical break down and random strangers stopped to help us out. They actually fixed our car and got us back on the road! It was mind-blowing, genuine love for fellow humans and it deeply affected me. That said, of course that's a microscopic sample size in a vast empire. No doubt it's not representative.
  - sakopov 7y ago
    That is very typical in the Caucasus. I have countless of stories of people going completely out of their way to help out and requesting nothing back in return, but instead maybe even invite you for a dinner with their family. Incredibly hospitable region.
  - Mirioron 7y ago
    It could be that my experience isn't representative though. But I've found that many people that are helpful and kind eventually get taken advantage of. Even those kind people probably wouldn't bat an eye when it came to stealing from the state though (at least strong the Soviet era). Pretty much everyone knew someone who skimmed things from the state here and there. Many people felt like they had to, because there wasn't always enough stuff to go around. In the case of this story, people might be willing to help you find a place to sleep and even help you get home, but the stuff you lost is your business.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Then again, Soviet era was all about community and sharing and working for the good of your fellow man. And then there's capitalism, which teaches you "to always prioritize your own stuff", because not only "nobody else will care about it", some of them actually have a financial interest in making you lose your stuff. My point is: each era and each system has plenty of selfish assholes for its own reasons, boiling down to humans being humans. There's nothing here that's specific to Soviet culture, or American culture.
  - geoka9 7y ago
    > Then again, Soviet era was all about community and sharing and working for the good of your fellow man. Having lived there, I can say this is a myth.
    - TeMPOraL 7y ago
      Of course; this existed mostly in propaganda, but so does the grand-n-parent's claim that not caring about other people is related to USSR. Having being born and lived in a post-Soviet state, and having still living family remembering these times, after many conversations with them I conclude that humans are humans, and there's no specific extra level to selfishness (or selflessness) that's specific to the Soviets.
      - Mirioron 7y ago
        Ask them what they thought about stealing from the state. Was it okay to do? How many people did they know back then that did it?
        TeMPOraL 7y ago
        What kind of "stealing from the state" you mean? The common practice of appropriating materials from construction zones and using them to build/repair one's own house? If so, it's still present today in the west in the form of stealing office supplies from employers (and gas, through running private errands with company car). Bricks or pens, socialism or capitalism, it turns out if you provide people free goods that can be useful outside of their intended purpose, and there's no enforcement to prevent theft, a large enough fraction of people will start stealing, making it a recognizable phenomenon in social consciousness.
- xtracto 7y ago
  So kind of like the ruthless capitalism in the USA? I have had the chance to live in a post-Sovietic place and travel constantly to the USA. I felt the Ex-soviet place has more a culture of helping others than the USA. (East Germany vs California).
  - orwin 7y ago
    It really depends where in the US. I've recently been the wild state of West Virginia, and while you can meet stereotypical "rednecks", every person i met in a position to help me helped me, and everyone was very welcoming. I did not experience the same in California except maybe around Bishop. /off-topic
- petra 7y ago
  Sure, communism did taught people to act that way. But doesn't Russia, historically, as a tough place to make a living, had that behaviour before communism ?
sakopov 7y ago
As someone who was born and raised in Soviet Union/Russia and spent half of my life there I read this article with a bit of amusement seeing Westerners trying to make sense of this typical Soviet behavior. You're absolutely right. If anyone has any interest in seeing how this kind of stuff plays out in Russia, try to find and watch movie The Fool [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fool_(2014_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fool_(2014_film)

This is a well-known post ussr feature "do not give a #it about anyone but yourself".

by a-b 7y ago

This is a well-known post ussr feature "do not give a #it about anyone but yourself".

I wonder why you're downvoted. I live in a former Soviet state and my impression is that the Soviet era taught people to always prioritize your own stuff, because nobody else will care about it.

freedomben 7y ago
I spent some time in Azerbaijan and I was amazed at how much the locals helped us out. We had a mechanical break down and random strangers stopped to help us out. They actually fixed our car and got us back on the road! It was mind-blowing, genuine love for fellow humans and it deeply affected me. That said, of course that's a microscopic sample size in a vast empire. No doubt it's not representative.
- sakopov 7y ago
  That is very typical in the Caucasus. I have countless of stories of people going completely out of their way to help out and requesting nothing back in return, but instead maybe even invite you for a dinner with their family. Incredibly hospitable region.
- Mirioron 7y ago
  It could be that my experience isn't representative though. But I've found that many people that are helpful and kind eventually get taken advantage of. Even those kind people probably wouldn't bat an eye when it came to stealing from the state though (at least strong the Soviet era). Pretty much everyone knew someone who skimmed things from the state here and there. Many people felt like they had to, because there wasn't always enough stuff to go around. In the case of this story, people might be willing to help you find a place to sleep and even help you get home, but the stuff you lost is your business.
TeMPOraL 7y ago
Then again, Soviet era was all about community and sharing and working for the good of your fellow man. And then there's capitalism, which teaches you "to always prioritize your own stuff", because not only "nobody else will care about it", some of them actually have a financial interest in making you lose your stuff. My point is: each era and each system has plenty of selfish assholes for its own reasons, boiling down to humans being humans. There's nothing here that's specific to Soviet culture, or American culture.
- geoka9 7y ago
  > Then again, Soviet era was all about community and sharing and working for the good of your fellow man. Having lived there, I can say this is a myth.
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    Of course; this existed mostly in propaganda, but so does the grand-n-parent's claim that not caring about other people is related to USSR. Having being born and lived in a post-Soviet state, and having still living family remembering these times, after many conversations with them I conclude that humans are humans, and there's no specific extra level to selfishness (or selflessness) that's specific to the Soviets.
    - Mirioron 7y ago
      Ask them what they thought about stealing from the state. Was it okay to do? How many people did they know back then that did it?
      - TeMPOraL 7y ago
        What kind of "stealing from the state" you mean? The common practice of appropriating materials from construction zones and using them to build/repair one's own house? If so, it's still present today in the west in the form of stealing office supplies from employers (and gas, through running private errands with company car). Bricks or pens, socialism or capitalism, it turns out if you provide people free goods that can be useful outside of their intended purpose, and there's no enforcement to prevent theft, a large enough fraction of people will start stealing, making it a recognizable phenomenon in social consciousness.
xtracto 7y ago
So kind of like the ruthless capitalism in the USA? I have had the chance to live in a post-Sovietic place and travel constantly to the USA. I felt the Ex-soviet place has more a culture of helping others than the USA. (East Germany vs California).
- orwin 7y ago
  It really depends where in the US. I've recently been the wild state of West Virginia, and while you can meet stereotypical "rednecks", every person i met in a position to help me helped me, and everyone was very welcoming. I did not experience the same in California except maybe around Bishop. /off-topic
petra 7y ago
Sure, communism did taught people to act that way. But doesn't Russia, historically, as a tough place to make a living, had that behaviour before communism ?

sakopov 7y ago

As someone who was born and raised in Soviet Union/Russia and spent half of my life there I read this article with a bit of amusement seeing Westerners trying to make sense of this typical Soviet behavior. You're absolutely right. If anyone has any interest in seeing how this kind of stuff plays out in Russia, try to find and watch movie The Fool [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fool_(2014_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fool_(2014_film)