Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Just as everything in the US, you find people that can't place their country and National Geographic. People that barely know history to the best historians. The best..and less biased books about WWII are English and American. You find very bad public HS and very good public HS that had a computer per student when there were countries that did not know what a computer was. Not to talk about private schools.
But there's one thing that the US always had..with no censorship...Libraries...No forbidden books.
I took WWII as an extracurricular class in an American University, the teacher was Russian, Russian Jew, the best teacher I ever had in my life.
Just as everything in the US, you find people that can't place their country and National Geographic. People that barely know history to the best historians. The best..and less biased books about WWII are English and American.
Oh, I know it. Not only books on WWII, but even one of the best books on Russian history I've ever read was written by an American professor. Not only that book helped me better understand Russian past, but I am endlessly grateful to this person now, when I have to straighten ( from time to time ) the current craziness of Ukrainians, who are trying to re-write history. ( Needless to say, this book was written long time ago, when saying that Russia has little\ to no connection to Ukraine was still not in fashion. This book was all about historic facts - a great deal of knowledge about them.)
Heck, even English Wikipedia is such a source of unbiased facts, that when I quote them ( say on Stalin's era) on Russian sites, Russians sometimes scream that it's all "Soviet propaganda."
Russian sources are always more about emotions, ( who perceives and how event in question,) so I am usually quite skeptical about them. And the way Russian Wikipedia outlays things ( or purely manipulates by them sometimes) I find it to be totally worthless.
Overall I received a great deal of knowledge from the damn Anglos ( they were willing to share it) - both Americans and Brits. But they were undeniably the "lefties."
Quote:
You find very bad public HS and very good public HS that had a computer per student when there were countries that did not know what a computer was. Not to talk about private schools.
In fact I don't find "computer" to be even particularly beneficial for school education. Well-written textbooks have far more value in my opinion; computers ( and research that you can do on them) can be left for after-hours. But that's about American education in public schools - the whole separate issue. I have something to compare it with - namely with Soviet education in schools that came to S.U. originally from older times, from Germany. It was "dry," it was "boring," it was "academic," but it was quality stuff. Unlike American education.
Quote:
But there's one thing that the US always had..with no censorship...Libraries...No forbidden books.
Yes, but one has to have an interest to read them.
Quote:
I took WWII as an extracurricular class in an American University, the teacher was Russian, Russian Jew, the best teacher I ever had in my life.
While I am pointing my finger at Russian Jews in current situation as a very misguided people for the most part, Russian Jews ( a lot of them) were always very capable and talented people. They were vital part of Soviet ( and Russian) history, ( no matter what bad things have been said about them, no matter what they've been accused of.) Doctors, scientists, engineers - you name it, and teachers? They were one of the best; I know, I had one at school as well; the teacher of history to be precise.
1984. I remember USSR times a little, but i don't remember cold war (i had known about it after the Union had already collapsed), and i can't remember any tough prounion propaganda in my childhood (except of 7th november in kindergarden + 2 minutes ceremony of october star delivery in 2nd class of elementary school, but it was more for a tick, because nobody had cared already ). May be it cause of i was born in a small provincial town, more principal things for me in these times were Don, apricots, sledge, books (i learned to read at 4) - tv shows in ussr were too gloomy except of cartoons
I can't still judge, but may be preparation to right political views was concluded in periodic visits to cinema: absolutely nobody told us bad about Europe and USA, but we watched Barefoot Gen and Grave of the Fireflies. In my opinion it is too brutally for 5-7 year old kids.
1984. I remember USSR times a little, but i don't remember cold war (i had known about it after the Union had already collapsed), and i can't remember any tough prounion propaganda in my childhood (except of 7th november in kindergarden + 2 minutes ceremony of october star delivery in 2nd class of elementary school, but it was more for a tick, because nobody had cared already ). May be it cause of i was born in a small provincial town, more principal things for me in these times were Don, apricots, sledge, books (i learned to read at 4) - tv shows in ussr were too gloomy except of cartoons
I can't still judge, but may be preparation to right political views was concluded in periodic visits to cinema: absolutely nobody told us bad about Europe and USA, but we watched Barefoot Gen and Grave of the Fireflies. In my opinion it is too brutally for 5-7 year old kids.
I was not familiar with these cartoons, so I looked them up.
Of course these cartoons were not meant for 5-7 year old kids!
Overall when I've heard the complaints of Russian parents about the "horrible influence on their children by Western culture" some 10-15 years ago, - by cartoons in particular, I started asking what cartoons they were talking about and they turned out to be mostly from "Adult swim" here in the US.
I was going like in the same manner, because someone apparently failed to explain to American exporters and Russian parents alike that traditionally Russians didn't correspond cartoons with anything "adult," while in Anglo-cultures it was a definitely a case.
In my entire life I remember only one "adult cartoon" in Russia - the kind the adults would watch along with their children, but that's about it. This one.
Grave of Fireflies is a masterpiece of Ghibli Studio production. Ghibli movies cater people of all ages most of the time...except for Princess Mononoke(cause it's violent...lots of broken limbs and heads were involved).
I think I watched Grave of Fireflies when I was really little as well...then I've never seen it again. It's ridiculously heartbreaking.
Friday night after a tough week and some beers is not always the best time to post.
No problem. The Cold War could've been essentially over in the US by the late 80's due to perestroika and glasnost, but here it wasn't over until 26 December 1991. And our country are among the last who want to restart the Cold War.
No i guess not, but no harm done
So for Finnland it really took to the end of the Soviet Union. And afterwards got in a big crisis. For us was the break down of the Berlin Wall the end of the cold war. I remember that well, i was 20 at the time. We had big crisis during the cold war.
I worked there for building of the party tents for the festivities when they removed the wall. For us that was the end of all the BS going on in the 80's. The years after i worked a lot in Eastern Germany. We could finally see the "life on the other side of the Wall". Made a big impression on me.
Last edited by cattledog69; 08-09-2015 at 10:52 PM..
In the same manner, Russians have been told (back in Soviet times) that America ( American capitalism) is evil. (Not that many Russians cared to hate Americans, since they never saw Americans in their lives, so it was not "personal." ( Except for some "die-hards," who totally bought the ideology.) Soviet Union ( in later times, starting from Khrushev) was nothing like "Nazi Germany." Now Stalin's times - it's a different story. But in Stalin's times the anti-American sentiment was not particularly there. If anything, there were contracts made and Americans were coming to work in the Soviet Union. Not a case, say, in Brezhnev's times, when anti-American rhetoric was high.
SOME were as bad as the government, and some were simply deceived.
PART of Russians are wonderful people - probably more so than the "Westerners," because there is a very wholesome part of Russian culture, that these people carry it in them. The problem (I personally see) with Russia is that the rotten part of Russians claim to carry that wholesome part as well. People like Putin for example. But Ukraine is the whole different story.
Well what can I say - you were lucky))) You, apparently dealt only with the good ones)))
There might be a number of reasons ( with younger generation,) but most likely they are trying to "fit in."
Trust me the older generation doesn't disguise Russian accents, not a bit)))
The truth about this "Finnish guy" is that he has a good heart and he can easily live side by side with Russians ( the good ones that is,) but fearing and hating "collective Russia" is a totally different thing.
The ultimate "good and evil" are so intertwined there, that it's not an easy country to deal with, and even less - to understand.
Thank you for pointing all this out! It was extremely helpful!
Quote:
Originally Posted by erasure
It's not exactly "pre-1985 sentiment."
This *new* anti-American sentiment ( which is currently higher that it was ever being in Soviet times from what I remember) is rooted in the nineties, the result of "economic reforms" where American economists were directly involved and later - the expansion of NATO, American involvement in all kind of anti-Russian "color revolutions" in post-Soviet space and so on.
So now quite a few Russians from the "old guard" are saying "see? We told you so. Americans are every bit as bad as we've been told back in Soviet days. They do indeed target us, they want us to be destroyed and gone."
So pretty much it's the older generations that are having this sentiment right? I assume that the :"old guard" are part of the older generations that were born in the 70s and prior.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Signor Asparagus
1984. I remember USSR times a little, but i don't remember cold war (i had known about it after the Union had already collapsed), and i can't remember any tough prounion propaganda in my childhood (except of 7th november in kindergarden + 2 minutes ceremony of october star delivery in 2nd class of elementary school, but it was more for a tick, because nobody had cared already ). May be it cause of i was born in a small provincial town, more principal things for me in these times were Don, apricots, sledge, books (i learned to read at 4) - tv shows in ussr were too gloomy except of cartoons
I can't still judge, but may be preparation to right political views was concluded in periodic visits to cinema: absolutely nobody told us bad about Europe and USA, but we watched Barefoot Gen and Grave of the Fireflies. In my opinion it is too brutally for 5-7 year old kids.
Your answer was extremely helpful! Thank you so much for pointing this out! You and many others on this thread have truly enlightened me.
Thank you for pointing all this out! It was extremely helpful!
You are welcome.
Quote:
So pretty much it's the older generations that are having this sentiment right? I assume that the :"old guard" are part of the older generations that were born in the 70s and prior.
No, pretty much everyone who lived through the nineties (those who were children back then, often have very painful memories too.)
It's just the "old guard" has an old(er) ax to grind on top of that.
So what I am trying to say is that with younger generation the anti-American sentiment has got nothing to do with Soviet times, it has everything to do with post-Soviet times, with the nineties to be more precise.
And Putin is shrewdly using it to his own advantage.
So for Finnland it really took to the end of the Soviet Union. And afterwards got in a big crisis. For us was the break down of the Berlin Wall the end of the cold war. I remember that well, i was 20 at the time. We had big crisis during the cold war.
I worked there for building of the party tents for the festivities when they removed the wall. For us that was the end of all the BS going on in the 80's. The years after i worked a lot in Eastern Germany. We could finally see the "life on the other side of the Wall". Made a big impression on me.
Yes it did. Even after the fall of the Wall, we were still uncertain if we dare to support the Baltic States' independency movements or are the Soviet tanks on our borders if we did.
The early 90's economic crisis in Finland was due to many factors, not only the fall of the Soviet Union. Rapid and failed economic liberalisation in the 80's, constantly strengthening Finnish Mark, debt crisis and tremendous overheating of the economy. And also of course a rapid fall in exports to the USSR. We call the era 'Casino Economy', which pretty much explains the whole thing.
We visited Berlin in the summer of 1991 and also Tallinn, so made an impression of me too as a young boy.
No, pretty much everyone who lived through the nineties (those who were children back then, often have very painful memories too.)
It's just the "old guard" has an old(er) ax to grind on top of that.
So what I am trying to say is that with younger generation the anti-American sentiment has got nothing to do with Soviet times, it has everything to do with post-Soviet times, with the nineties to be more precise.
And Putin is shrewdly using it to his own advantage.
So let me get this straight? The not only hate the United States, but do they also hate the American people? Cause that is just wrong to hate the citizens!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
But they were undeniably the "lefties." 
Cause that is just wrong to hate the citizens!
