Why has Russia historically been so evil/violent? (England, economic, empire)
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Where was the American version of Siberia where dissenters got sent?
Which countries did the United States take over thru military means and build a wall to prevent people from leaving ?
I'll be waiting!
We dont have a Stalin, but does not mean we did not do bad things.
We used our military to take land from Natives. We killed many civilians Central America during banana wars, in Vietnam during Vietnamese war, in Afghanistan by supporting Mujahadeen. We had slaves once.
Just wondering if the Eastern Orthodox church was in some way corrupt or lacking in ability compared to the Catholic & Protestant churches of the west? What was different about the way the EO church evolved from the Byzantine Empire, vs what happened in the west? I know very little about the Eastern Orthodox religion and was hoping someone with greater understanding could explain the differences in how it interacted with the peoples of Russia & Eastern Europe. Gradually the elites in the west softened up their stand on serf labor & slavery, democratic thinking began to evolve even back in the middle ages with the magna carta document and influence on Viking/pagan cultures. The west underwent changes that the east did not, was Eastern Orthodoxy to blame in any way?
My own opinion ( based on observations) is that indeed there is a big difference when it comes to the role the church played in the West comparably to Russia.
While Russian Orthodox church reminds in many ways the Catholic Church ( which I consider to be regressive,) it's the whole different story when it comes to Protestant Church vs Orthodox Church.
The Protestant Church played a constructive and organizational role in the society ( and particularly so in the New World,) where Russian Orthodox church is very dogmatic, ritualistic and basically served the role of promoting the acceptance of the inequality and the "order of things" in tzarist Russia. Not to mention that it was extremely corrupt, receiving the riches from the upper class/tzars in exchange of assuring their "divine rights." So it didn't come as a big surprise that after the October Socialist Revolution a lot of churches have been burned/destroyed by the lower class, ( even though the belief in God was never really eradicated in Soviet times.) Yet on another hand it needs to be mentioned on a positive note, that Orthodoxy served as a cultural self-identification mark for Russians from the early times on, and played a big role in unification of the country, not to mention a few beautiful traditions/ religious celebrations that enriched Russian culture.
However going back to the Western elites "softening their stand on serf labor and slavery" ( which happened during the "Age of Enlightenment" in Europe,) Russia having a conservative monarchy (that was supported by the Orthodox church, assuring the "divine rights of kings,") refused to follow the lead, and THAT'S when the real differences between Russia and Western Europe settled in.)
That's if we look at things from historic perspective.
But from theological point of view I'd say that God was the most benevolent to the nations/countries that were allowed to have the reformed church, while Russia with its Orthodoxy remained under yoke.
So Russians were spared from Islam and were big part of Christendom on one hand, yet on another hand they didn't receive the benefits of Christianity in the same way as some other nations did.
( I think we are being trolled as evidenced by the original post.... )
Now that the OP is no longer a member here, other conversations linger.
I would like to state the most obvious of the youth of the US. The US, at best, is 400 to 500 years old- less than that if we take the date of the Declaration of Independence. ( 241 years on July 2017 ).
One could factor the number of engagements, both on foreign soil and own soil, that has taken place in those 241 years...
Other countries have a history of say 1000 years... And to really take this thread off topic- factor in the Mongolian empire..
I hate wasting my time on discussion when the original intent or agenda was clouded the entire time.
Yeah, those types are frustrating, but, at least in this case, I don't think it was a waste of time, because lots more people read than post - I personally found the subject interesting (only because I've been reading about Russian history lately) and especially some of the responses. Thanks to all!
I'd argue with this one.
Had Hitler accomplished his initial goal and conquered Russia, the history of the world would have never been the same; yes, Europe would have been conquered. It took Americans long time to land in Europe, it was costly in terms of loss of human lives for them, therefore IF involved in European theater ( provided Hitler already took over Russia) Germany would have been simply nuked most likely.
He couldn't conquer the UK though could he, you do realise that it wasn't just 'the Americans' that liberated Europe don't you? It took the might of Russia, the UK, The US, Canada, Australia (to name but a few) to pull off the Normandy landings and even then it was a close run thing! Do you know how difficult it was to invade from the sea? Hitler would never have been able to conquer the UK, he couldn't even manage to get air superiority despite the 'head start' the Luftwafte had, the longer the Battle of Britain raged the less chance he had of getting air superiority.
Russia had serfdom until 1861, an absolute monarchy until 1905, and in 1917 one brutal dictatorship was replaced by another one. In 1991 it was replaced by chaos, and then by kleptocracy. Where would Russia had gotten these grassroot movements to build a humanist democracy, especially when all dissidents have "had to go", "sleep with the fishes", "evacuated" and "disappeared under mysterious circumstances"?
Life has always been cheap in Russia, and Russia doesn't understand anything but brutal force. In Russia when two men argue, the one who wins the fistfight wins the argument. Everything else is "weak and gay".
Russia isn't Europe, it isn't Western, it doesn't even want to be. It's a hybrid of Europeanism, Mongol brutalism, Asian total submission to the state, Orthodog mysticism and corruption - ie a thing of its own.
I'm not anti-american and do not pretend that we are evil.. I do not wish to get into a political discourse.
So why did you?
And let's not pretend that these "acts" were solely occurring in the US.
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