No, it's different. My college++ GF's father worked at as a CxO of an international company, spoke Russian, traveled there multiple times, and had a lot of fri

No, it's different. My college++ GF's father worked at as a CxO of an international company, spoke Russian, traveled there multiple times, and had a lot of friends & acquaintances in the diplomatic services. In the early 1980s, he told us about one of his diplomatic friends hosting some Russian dignitaries for a few weeks. Their consistent attitude about everything was "of course, we have this also in Russia", along with the general assumption that everything was either staged or in a 'walled garden' for the rich and/or powerful. Then, late in the trip, she accompanied them on a shopping trip to one of the new-ish (at the time) large-format supermarkets. The visitor was literally in tears, surrounded by the acres of plenty. It didn't matter whether it was just for the rich or not — it was so far beyond her experience that she couldn't hold it together. Similarly, another incident pointed out by a Russian expert [0]: when communist authorities in (IIRC) Bulgaria tried to show "Car Wash" redubbed as a racial morality play about capitalism and all anyone noticed that even the poorest people in LA had so many cars that we had machines to wash them. They may have a lot of good information, but it is not exhaustive. And remember, everyone examines the information they receive through the lens of their own experience and their own ego. Those growing up behind the Iron Curtain both had never experienced any kind of luxury that was not walled off only for the ruling class, and also had a desire to defend their own pride in their homeland. So, they wouldn't necessarily understand the importance or utter ubiquity of something like large supermarkets before seeing it in person and in live context. [0] https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1611418480183492613 https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1611418480183492613