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> Also, as a Russian who left Russia I've noticed there's two distinct 20th century Russian diaspora groups in the US. Those who came here prior to the fall of

> Also, as a Russian who left Russia I've noticed there's two distinct 20th century Russian diaspora groups in the US. Those who came here prior to the fall of the USSR, and those who came after. In talking with the ones who came after the fall, life wasn't glamorous but got truly unlivable in the wake of the collapse. In talking with the ones who came before the fall, they wanted to make money.

deleted 8mo ago
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busterarm 8mo ago
There's a group here, largely those expats kids in my experience, that swears they had things better back in Russia and ravenously consume Russian media. I used to encounter them a lot in Sheepshead Bay.
- MisterTea 8mo ago
  > I used to encounter them a lot in Sheepshead Bay. My friend is one but wasn't always like that. He was never critical of Russia or the USA and was pretty quiet until befriending some Russian dude in his apt building during the blackout of hurricane Sandy. Now he frequently criticizes and rants about capitalist USA then sings praise of Russia. We keep telling him to go back but he doesn't. He's unfortunately "that guy" in our group of friends now -_-
- int_19h 8mo ago
  Most immigration in 00-10s was economical, and yes, for that group of people it's often the case that they are very much still enmeshed in Russian imperial agitprop. It's common enough that there are memes about this: https://lurkmore.media/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%91%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BA_%D0%9F%D1%91%D1%82%D1%80#/media/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:Petr_nostalgie.jpg https://lurkmore.media/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%91%... However there was a smallish wave of political immigration after the 2011 protests and 2014 conflict with Ukraine, and a much larger one since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. And those people tend to be very anti-Russian-government for obvious reasons.
  - rayiner 8mo ago
    I really do not understand immigrants who still love their home country. I’m going to die 12 thousand miles away from where my ancestors are buried going back tens of thousands of years. After spending most of my life with ashy dry skin because I’m somewhere I’m not designed to be. All because my ancestors fucked everything up! Fuck those people.
    - kelipso 8mo ago
      [flagged]
      - deleted 8mo ago
        [deleted]
      - rayiner 8mo ago
        I’m sure it’s Twitter, and not the fact I had to go to the airport with an armed escort the last time I visited, or that I had to cancel my most recent trip because they overthrew the government, again.
      - busterarm 8mo ago
        https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11340543 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11340543 I haven't met him personally, but years of trading ideas with him in threads and I can tell you this is true. rayiner is among the best of us.
        kelipso 8mo ago
        Poor guy seems to be going through some self hating racism crisis after reading too many twitter posts. He’s probably a nice guy and all but this online thing can get way too much.
        rayiner 8mo ago
        I know you're just saying that because you've never met my parents. But consider that my dad packed us all up, left a country where we were rich, and moved us to the most stereotypical 1950s-style red-state suburb he could find.[1] But no, I'm sure it was Twitter... Joking aside, we are on opposite sides of a sociological debate. Is Bangladesh a crappy country because of external factors, or because of the culture and choices of the people who live there? It's not crazy to ask that question, and stop pretending that it is. What's ironic is that most Bangladeshis (not the ones raised in the west) fall in the "culture" camp. My family is particularly negative on Bangladeshi culture--especially my mom (growing up as a woman in a Muslim country will do that)--but none of my views are remarkable in my extended family. Or even in Asia more generally. One of the greatest success stories in third world development is Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew adamantly believed that "culture is destiny" and that principle guided the incredible results he achieved in Singapore: https://paulbacon.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/zakaria_lee.pdf https://paulbacon.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/z.... [1] I was at a cousin's wedding a few years ago, and I complained that I couldn't find anyone on Facebook because in our culture we don't have family names. Everyone has two given names, but goes by a nickname which is completely unrelated to either given name. My dad responded, "Bangladeshis don't know how to name their children." I reflexively tried to say, "no, they just do it differently." Then I stopped myself, because why the fuck should I whitesplain the merits of naming conventions to my father.

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

busterarm 8mo ago

There's a group here, largely those expats kids in my experience, that swears they had things better back in Russia and ravenously consume Russian media. I used to encounter them a lot in Sheepshead Bay.

MisterTea 8mo ago
> I used to encounter them a lot in Sheepshead Bay. My friend is one but wasn't always like that. He was never critical of Russia or the USA and was pretty quiet until befriending some Russian dude in his apt building during the blackout of hurricane Sandy. Now he frequently criticizes and rants about capitalist USA then sings praise of Russia. We keep telling him to go back but he doesn't. He's unfortunately "that guy" in our group of friends now -_-
int_19h 8mo ago
Most immigration in 00-10s was economical, and yes, for that group of people it's often the case that they are very much still enmeshed in Russian imperial agitprop. It's common enough that there are memes about this: https://lurkmore.media/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%91%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BA_%D0%9F%D1%91%D1%82%D1%80#/media/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:Petr_nostalgie.jpg https://lurkmore.media/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%91%... However there was a smallish wave of political immigration after the 2011 protests and 2014 conflict with Ukraine, and a much larger one since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. And those people tend to be very anti-Russian-government for obvious reasons.
- rayiner 8mo ago
  I really do not understand immigrants who still love their home country. I’m going to die 12 thousand miles away from where my ancestors are buried going back tens of thousands of years. After spending most of my life with ashy dry skin because I’m somewhere I’m not designed to be. All because my ancestors fucked everything up! Fuck those people.
  - kelipso 8mo ago
    [flagged]
    - deleted 8mo ago
      [deleted]
    - rayiner 8mo ago
      I’m sure it’s Twitter, and not the fact I had to go to the airport with an armed escort the last time I visited, or that I had to cancel my most recent trip because they overthrew the government, again.
    - busterarm 8mo ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11340543 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11340543 I haven't met him personally, but years of trading ideas with him in threads and I can tell you this is true. rayiner is among the best of us.
      - kelipso 8mo ago
        Poor guy seems to be going through some self hating racism crisis after reading too many twitter posts. He’s probably a nice guy and all but this online thing can get way too much.
        rayiner 8mo ago
        I know you're just saying that because you've never met my parents. But consider that my dad packed us all up, left a country where we were rich, and moved us to the most stereotypical 1950s-style red-state suburb he could find.[1] But no, I'm sure it was Twitter... Joking aside, we are on opposite sides of a sociological debate. Is Bangladesh a crappy country because of external factors, or because of the culture and choices of the people who live there? It's not crazy to ask that question, and stop pretending that it is. What's ironic is that most Bangladeshis (not the ones raised in the west) fall in the "culture" camp. My family is particularly negative on Bangladeshi culture--especially my mom (growing up as a woman in a Muslim country will do that)--but none of my views are remarkable in my extended family. Or even in Asia more generally. One of the greatest success stories in third world development is Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew adamantly believed that "culture is destiny" and that principle guided the incredible results he achieved in Singapore: https://paulbacon.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/zakaria_lee.pdf https://paulbacon.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/z.... [1] I was at a cousin's wedding a few years ago, and I complained that I couldn't find anyone on Facebook because in our culture we don't have family names. Everyone has two given names, but goes by a nickname which is completely unrelated to either given name. My dad responded, "Bangladeshis don't know how to name their children." I reflexively tried to say, "no, they just do it differently." Then I stopped myself, because why the fuck should I whitesplain the merits of naming conventions to my father.