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@odshoifsdhfs: Well, I hate to quibble, but it's actually 'Belarusian' (just one 's', you see). I've lived in Western Europe (UK) nearly all my life and I'm afr

@odshoifsdhfs: Well, I hate to quibble, but it's actually 'Belarusian' (just one 's', you see). I've lived in Western Europe (UK) nearly all my life and I'm afraid I disagree with you fundamentally: '95%' of the people in 'the West' are quite indifferent to the broader region of Eastern Europe, but never in my life have I encountered the kinds of chauvinistic attitudes even approaching those I encountered from Russians. To give you an example: 'govori po-chelovecheski' (in Russian - literally 'speak like a human being') -- can you believe this s**t? Also 'US/Western Europeans' aren't living in tinpot dictatorships with aspirations to annex territories from their neighbours -- a slight, but important difference, which to my mind excuses any ignorance of the region and its politics.

odshoifsdhfs 5y ago
Sorry about the typo, mainly because in my language we do use the two 's' (Bielorussia) so sometimes my brain and typing have a mismatch. As for 'chauvinistic' things, I can agree with you there, as well as having very anti LGBT and racist tones in their speeches (I had to 'teach' a Russian friend that calling people niggers out loud in a cafe isn't acceptable here). But I can also say, a lot of Italians or Portuguese (and others as well) have similar thoughts, but they just know how to hide it enough (you have no idea how much faggot or nigger or the likes is used in normal conversation within family/friends conversations here, but just not spoken to third parties because they are afraid of judgement/consequences) while Russians tend to be more outspoken (mainly because it isn't seen such as taboo there to be anti-lbgt/black people) But two things that are my personal opinion. A lot of this is mainly due to their internal culture, and when they are exposed to others (black people or gay people) they understand very well that what was ingrained there isn't the reality. And second, they have (at least the ones I know), changed 180 degrees in a very short time about those ideas and behaviours when their 'eyes get opened' compared to local western europeans that still blame the black from Africa for everything that is wrong in their country (or nowadays, gypsies)) I am not trying to defend russians or ukrainian people (which in the context of these posts they are probably on different sides of the debate), but that the ideas we (or most) have from that part of the world is quite wrong. Yes, you had russians that talked to you like that, and I know good friends that left Russia because they couldn't stand LBGT persecution and Putin's 'strong man' politics. There are always various faces to the same coin (I know!). quick edit: Have you tried having those conversations with Polish or Latvian or Lithuanian folks? Those chauvinistic ideas are also present there in a large (might have changed now, but used to be) part of the population. You think in this scenario Russians are much worse or just you had more contact with Russians vs these and others Eastern European countries? edit number two (sorry just remembering things ;): 10 or so years ago, a 55 year old man beat the living crap of his wife. When the judge presiding over the case gave his sentence, it was given 2 years suspended sentence, citing that as attenuating cirscunstances, the wife did in fact burned his dinner so it was understandable he was mad. You think this was in Russia or Portugal? Because it was Portugal. We also have a judge in the spotlight for saying that cheating invalidates any women's testimony as she can't be trusted and that the bible allows for some punishments for 'stray' wives. (yes, from a working judge presiding over these cases)

odshoifsdhfs 5y ago

Sorry about the typo, mainly because in my language we do use the two 's' (Bielorussia) so sometimes my brain and typing have a mismatch. As for 'chauvinistic' things, I can agree with you there, as well as having very anti LGBT and racist tones in their speeches (I had to 'teach' a Russian friend that calling people niggers out loud in a cafe isn't acceptable here). But I can also say, a lot of Italians or Portuguese (and others as well) have similar thoughts, but they just know how to hide it enough (you have no idea how much faggot or nigger or the likes is used in normal conversation within family/friends conversations here, but just not spoken to third parties because they are afraid of judgement/consequences) while Russians tend to be more outspoken (mainly because it isn't seen such as taboo there to be anti-lbgt/black people) But two things that are my personal opinion. A lot of this is mainly due to their internal culture, and when they are exposed to others (black people or gay people) they understand very well that what was ingrained there isn't the reality. And second, they have (at least the ones I know), changed 180 degrees in a very short time about those ideas and behaviours when their 'eyes get opened' compared to local western europeans that still blame the black from Africa for everything that is wrong in their country (or nowadays, gypsies)) I am not trying to defend russians or ukrainian people (which in the context of these posts they are probably on different sides of the debate), but that the ideas we (or most) have from that part of the world is quite wrong. Yes, you had russians that talked to you like that, and I know good friends that left Russia because they couldn't stand LBGT persecution and Putin's 'strong man' politics. There are always various faces to the same coin (I know!). quick edit: Have you tried having those conversations with Polish or Latvian or Lithuanian folks? Those chauvinistic ideas are also present there in a large (might have changed now, but used to be) part of the population. You think in this scenario Russians are much worse or just you had more contact with Russians vs these and others Eastern European countries? edit number two (sorry just remembering things ;): 10 or so years ago, a 55 year old man beat the living crap of his wife. When the judge presiding over the case gave his sentence, it was given 2 years suspended sentence, citing that as attenuating cirscunstances, the wife did in fact burned his dinner so it was understandable he was mad. You think this was in Russia or Portugal? Because it was Portugal. We also have a judge in the spotlight for saying that cheating invalidates any women's testimony as she can't be trusted and that the bible allows for some punishments for 'stray' wives. (yes, from a working judge presiding over these cases)