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People, on average, were much less unhappy than others believe.
by f6v 2mo ago
People, on average, were much less unhappy than others believe.
- ekianjo 2mo agosurvivorship bias
- Eriks 2mo agoUnder occupation people hide their real emotions
- lnsru 2mo agoThis topic is very interesting. People from former Soviet states learned what and when to say. Sometimes in brutal inhumane way. Saying that dad brought some sausage or construction material from work was a thing kids learned not to say in public very early. There were many things no to say. Like Xmas or Easter celebrations were topic for family members only. Burial with a priest was tabu. Grandfather fighting Soviet occupation was a big secret kids never knew about. Knowing that having and reading some books were a way to have big troubles. You needed to get mature quickly to live normal life under Soviet occupation. It was really shocking when I arrived in West Germany that guys in their 30s were behaving like Soviet teens.
- mnky9800n 2mo agoIt’s not so bad to keep your mouth shut. Americans blab about everything constantly.
- Sabinus 2mo agoIt actually is a bad experience to live under a totalitarian regime in fear of disappearing forever if you said the wrong thing to the wrong person. And it's kinda weird you're minimising that.
- f6v 2mo agoI mean, opinions are split. I met some older Estonians who couldn't stop blabbering in broken Russian how they liked it in the USSR (was a freaking awkward bus ride listening about NATO provoking Putin). I'm sure there were political prisoners whose life was absolutely miserable. But life isn't a Hollywood movie where everyone was in Gulag. I can only speak for Estonia. And people built their lives and careers, went to sport competitions, completed their PhDs, etc.
- IAmBroom 2mo agoMy Ukrainian (US-raised) coworker was shocked to discover his mother spoke Ukrainian. He was too young when they were in Soviet-controlled Ukraine to trust with the mother tongue of his people. The State might discover they were secretly preserving the language. Fun times.
- readthenotes1 2mo agoI like the picture showing off the full shelf of bread. Which Russian leader came over here and thought he was seeing a potemken village of grocery stores
- dugmartin 2mo agoI think you are thinking g of Boris Yeltsin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_visit_by_Boris_Yeltsin_to_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_visit_by_Boris_Yeltsin_to...
- hagbard_c 2mo agoThat picture is the USSR equivalent of the pictures of clean streets without homeless encampments made in San Francisco when Gavin Newsom cleaned up the place before the leader of the Chinese Communist Party visited the city [1]. Come to think of it that's quite the telling statement. [1] https://www.scnr.com/article/thats-true-because-its-true-newsom-confirms-san-francisco-was-cleaned-in-preparation-for-xi-jinping_7a2daf28824e11ee92b58693ecc696b7 https://www.scnr.com/article/thats-true-because-its-true-new...
- TiredOfLife 2mo agoWell yes. Those that were unhappy were killed or sent to siberia like some of my relatives