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There's a genre of explaining Russia that is popular this year. Lets call it Kotkinism. We want to understand it, but we don't. We either admit we don't underst

by Gunax 4y ago

There's a genre of explaining Russia that is popular this year. Lets call it Kotkinism. We want to understand it, but we don't. We either admit we don't understand their motivations, or we conjure justifications that make sense to us because they fit our framework of the world, even if they are not true. Would I actually understand it after this 7 hour documentary? I think I might understand something of the Russian bitterness. The betrayal, the distrust, and the pride of endurance. But I don't think 7 hours of cold hands rummaging through bare store shelves, shuffling babushkas, and men making ad-hoc repairs to cars will help me understand Russian aggressiveness. Maybe Russian suffering.

stjohnswarts 4y ago
It seems to me like they as a people have just been used to authoritarian rulers of one flavor or another for a thousand years. That's a lot of momentum to overcome, they seem to just go along with whatever their leaders want, until the next revolution that installs yet another type of authoritarian.
irsagent 4y ago
> There's a genre of explaining Russia that is popular this year. Lets call it Kotkinism. Just out of curiosity, how are you deriving Kotkinism? What is it etymology? > We want to understand it, but we don't. We either admit we don't understand their motivations, or we conjure justifications that make sense to us because they fit our framework of the world, even if they are not true. How is it that we don't understand it? I would think there are studied perspectives that can give understanding to the patterns in Russian society. As a followup what would it look like to understand it? > But I don't think 7 hours of cold hands rummaging through bare store shelves, shuffling babushkas, and men making ad-hoc repairs to cars will help me understand Russian aggressiveness. Maybe Russian suffering. What would it look like if they did understand, and if so what would need to be known to understand Russian aggressiveness?

by Gunax 4y ago

stjohnswarts 4y ago

It seems to me like they as a people have just been used to authoritarian rulers of one flavor or another for a thousand years. That's a lot of momentum to overcome, they seem to just go along with whatever their leaders want, until the next revolution that installs yet another type of authoritarian.

irsagent 4y ago

> There's a genre of explaining Russia that is popular this year. Lets call it Kotkinism. Just out of curiosity, how are you deriving Kotkinism? What is it etymology? > We want to understand it, but we don't. We either admit we don't understand their motivations, or we conjure justifications that make sense to us because they fit our framework of the world, even if they are not true. How is it that we don't understand it? I would think there are studied perspectives that can give understanding to the patterns in Russian society. As a followup what would it look like to understand it? > But I don't think 7 hours of cold hands rummaging through bare store shelves, shuffling babushkas, and men making ad-hoc repairs to cars will help me understand Russian aggressiveness. Maybe Russian suffering. What would it look like if they did understand, and if so what would need to be known to understand Russian aggressiveness?