5 ms·

Another Russian here. 99% of usage of Tor and Bitcoin is Russia is to purchase drugs — darknet has almost completely replaced street dealers in the whole countr

Another Russian here. 99% of usage of Tor and Bitcoin is Russia is to purchase drugs — darknet has almost completely replaced street dealers in the whole country, and there's an addiction epidemic going on. At the same time, most of drug trade in Russia has been managed by various branches of police and secret police (actual police, rosgvardia, fsb, fskn in the past), and large marketplaces are likely directly owned by them. So there's a huge monetary incentive to keep Tor network available, which I think is much more important to people in power than a dozen or so journalists and activists who might publish some anti-government banalities on some darknet forum that nobody (unfortunately, in my personal view) reads or gives a shit about anyway. Russians at large know perfectly well that their media is censored and the government is corrupt. They just don't care.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
tomcam 4y ago
> who might publish some anti-government banalities on some darknet forum that nobody (unfortunately, in my personal view) reads or gives a shit about anyway. So true, so Slavic. I love the dark Russian humor and bracing cynicism. We're getting there ever so slowly in the USA...
- int_19h 4y ago
  A Russian and an American sinner die and end up in Hell. As they stand before Satan, he says: "I give you the choice of your punishment: you can spend eternity either in the American Hell, or in the Russian Hell." "What's the difference?", they ask. "In the American one you're force-fed a bucket full of shit every day. In the Russian one, you're force-fed two buckets. Other than that, you're free to do as you please." "Well, that's a no-brainer; I pick the American Hell", says the American. The Russian ponders for a while longer and says, "I'd rather stay in a familiar place; I'll go to the Russian Hell". A month has passed, and the sinners meet to compare notes. The Russian asks: "So, what's it like in your place?" "It's exactly as advertised; I have to eat a bucket of shit every day, regular as clockwork, but other than that I'm enjoying life. What about yours? I can barely get through one bucket, two must be horrible!" "Pah, it's not so bad. Most days, there's a shortage of shit, and they don't have enough to feed even one bucket to most of us. And sometimes the buckets get stolen altogether. Just like home; I love it!"
  - tomcam 4y ago
    Beautiful. Never heard that one. Thank you. Update: have not been able to get through it when I tell someone else so far. I collapse in laughter at the punchlines.
    - selimthegrim 4y ago
      Usually the other version involves the American having to do headstands in shit.
  - golergka 4y ago
    You may think it's merely a joke, but it's actually a premise of one of the main novels of an author who is considered to be one of the most (if not THE most) influential in modern Russian literature: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/vladimir-sorokins-absurdist-excess/ https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/vladimir-sorokins-...
- wruza 4y ago
  As an observer of many political discussions on various russian forums (pre-conflict and troll factories era), I can tell that these are nowhere near a level which you even remotely could call reasonable. Our political mentality and education is traditionally a non-funny joke. That’s what gp meant by “banalities nobody gives a shit about”, I believe. It’s always some populistic and accusing bullshit and nothing a reasonable adult could get interested in.
morog 4y ago
>Russians at large know perfectly well that their media is censored and the government is corrupt. They just don't care. How does it get to this point? I live in a country with a fairly corrupt government with a free media(South Africa) and most people rank corruption as the biggest problem facing SA after crime. ..the big government projects to create jobs have failed due to above corruption & a low skill workforce. Plenty natural resources being dug out but instead of oligarchs we have Anglo American &other multinational mining companies taking most the profit&on ward processing. But for the general population to really not care about censorship,war&corrupt government, surely these are basic values we take for granted as humans? &So long as we have encryption, tor & VPNs at our disposal, citizens of all nations can transcend the self serving narrative pushed by governments. 'All we need to do is keep on talking' (encrypted) great Pink Floyd track btw .
- bilegeek 4y ago
  >How does it get to this point? I would imagine because, going back to even before Soviet times, all the people who do care are either disappeared or flee, leaving behind only the people who are too jaded to effectively resist. Russian absolutism is generally more, well, absolute than other places. Though it's imperfect, a video[1] by Kraut gets the gist across. [1]https://youtu.be/f8ZqBLcIvw0 https://youtu.be/f8ZqBLcIvw0
- wrp 4y ago
  > How does it get to this point? Russian society has always been at this point, at least, according to the trend of 19th century literature and foreign accounts I've read going back to the (I think) 17th century. If you are willing to spend a little time to better understand Russian society, search out the online videos with Mark Galeotti. He is a political scientist specializing in the politics, military, and organized crime of Russia and Ukraine. His discussion of the history of the parallel criminal social structure of Russia/Ukraine is quite interesting.
- jacooper 4y ago
  > How does it get to this point? I live in a country with a fairly corrupt government with a free media(South Africa) and most people rank corruption as the biggest problem facing SA after crime. (I'm speaking from an Arabic background) The cost of speaking up is too High, you know what happens when someone speaks up, and its not worth it. Nothing will change, and your life will be ruined, and your family will be affected too. In my experience(not Russian), people talk about the goverments action privately and with trusted relatives, just don't expect any action because no body is going to risk it. > But for the general population to really not care about censorship,war&corrupt government, surely these are basic values we take for granted as humans? &So long as we have encryption, tor & VPNs at our disposal, citizens of all nations can transcend the self serving narrative pushed by governments. A lot of people can see what happens when you speak against the government, and what happened in other nations when the people rose up, it ends up in a civil war or a never ending cycle of corruption. They see they have food, they have a good or acceptable life, they have electricity. That's enough, and its not worth it to risk dying in prison for speaking against the government. Its mostly happens when people have nothing to lose. And dont dismiss that a lot of people support the government, they see the positives, see change, and just simply ignore the bad things, for them rising against the government is how you end up in a destroyed country.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

tomcam 4y ago

> who might publish some anti-government banalities on some darknet forum that nobody (unfortunately, in my personal view) reads or gives a shit about anyway. So true, so Slavic. I love the dark Russian humor and bracing cynicism. We're getting there ever so slowly in the USA...

int_19h 4y ago
A Russian and an American sinner die and end up in Hell. As they stand before Satan, he says: "I give you the choice of your punishment: you can spend eternity either in the American Hell, or in the Russian Hell." "What's the difference?", they ask. "In the American one you're force-fed a bucket full of shit every day. In the Russian one, you're force-fed two buckets. Other than that, you're free to do as you please." "Well, that's a no-brainer; I pick the American Hell", says the American. The Russian ponders for a while longer and says, "I'd rather stay in a familiar place; I'll go to the Russian Hell". A month has passed, and the sinners meet to compare notes. The Russian asks: "So, what's it like in your place?" "It's exactly as advertised; I have to eat a bucket of shit every day, regular as clockwork, but other than that I'm enjoying life. What about yours? I can barely get through one bucket, two must be horrible!" "Pah, it's not so bad. Most days, there's a shortage of shit, and they don't have enough to feed even one bucket to most of us. And sometimes the buckets get stolen altogether. Just like home; I love it!"
- tomcam 4y ago
  Beautiful. Never heard that one. Thank you. Update: have not been able to get through it when I tell someone else so far. I collapse in laughter at the punchlines.
  - selimthegrim 4y ago
    Usually the other version involves the American having to do headstands in shit.
- golergka 4y ago
  You may think it's merely a joke, but it's actually a premise of one of the main novels of an author who is considered to be one of the most (if not THE most) influential in modern Russian literature: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/vladimir-sorokins-absurdist-excess/ https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/vladimir-sorokins-...
wruza 4y ago
As an observer of many political discussions on various russian forums (pre-conflict and troll factories era), I can tell that these are nowhere near a level which you even remotely could call reasonable. Our political mentality and education is traditionally a non-funny joke. That’s what gp meant by “banalities nobody gives a shit about”, I believe. It’s always some populistic and accusing bullshit and nothing a reasonable adult could get interested in.

morog 4y ago

>Russians at large know perfectly well that their media is censored and the government is corrupt. They just don't care. How does it get to this point? I live in a country with a fairly corrupt government with a free media(South Africa) and most people rank corruption as the biggest problem facing SA after crime. ..the big government projects to create jobs have failed due to above corruption & a low skill workforce. Plenty natural resources being dug out but instead of oligarchs we have Anglo American &other multinational mining companies taking most the profit&on ward processing. But for the general population to really not care about censorship,war&corrupt government, surely these are basic values we take for granted as humans? &So long as we have encryption, tor & VPNs at our disposal, citizens of all nations can transcend the self serving narrative pushed by governments. 'All we need to do is keep on talking' (encrypted) great Pink Floyd track btw .

bilegeek 4y ago
>How does it get to this point? I would imagine because, going back to even before Soviet times, all the people who do care are either disappeared or flee, leaving behind only the people who are too jaded to effectively resist. Russian absolutism is generally more, well, absolute than other places. Though it's imperfect, a video[1] by Kraut gets the gist across. [1]https://youtu.be/f8ZqBLcIvw0 https://youtu.be/f8ZqBLcIvw0
wrp 4y ago
> How does it get to this point? Russian society has always been at this point, at least, according to the trend of 19th century literature and foreign accounts I've read going back to the (I think) 17th century. If you are willing to spend a little time to better understand Russian society, search out the online videos with Mark Galeotti. He is a political scientist specializing in the politics, military, and organized crime of Russia and Ukraine. His discussion of the history of the parallel criminal social structure of Russia/Ukraine is quite interesting.
jacooper 4y ago
> How does it get to this point? I live in a country with a fairly corrupt government with a free media(South Africa) and most people rank corruption as the biggest problem facing SA after crime. (I'm speaking from an Arabic background) The cost of speaking up is too High, you know what happens when someone speaks up, and its not worth it. Nothing will change, and your life will be ruined, and your family will be affected too. In my experience(not Russian), people talk about the goverments action privately and with trusted relatives, just don't expect any action because no body is going to risk it. > But for the general population to really not care about censorship,war&corrupt government, surely these are basic values we take for granted as humans? &So long as we have encryption, tor & VPNs at our disposal, citizens of all nations can transcend the self serving narrative pushed by governments. A lot of people can see what happens when you speak against the government, and what happened in other nations when the people rose up, it ends up in a civil war or a never ending cycle of corruption. They see they have food, they have a good or acceptable life, they have electricity. That's enough, and its not worth it to risk dying in prison for speaking against the government. Its mostly happens when people have nothing to lose. And dont dismiss that a lot of people support the government, they see the positives, see change, and just simply ignore the bad things, for them rising against the government is how you end up in a destroyed country.