Russian Men and Racism

[GoodOlBoy]

Hello Ladies.

GOB is curious.

We have had several discussions on RWD about RW and racism.

I would like to solicit your opinion's about racism and your Russian Men.

Do you believe that racism runs rampant in the Russian Male society today?

Sorry, BUT....I already know for a sad fact that sexism exists in too many of your Russian Male counterparts.

I have an opinion of my own about RM and racism after being in and out of Russia (and living there for 3 month's), BUT....I think I will hold my tongue until I read your posts.

Your opinions, to me, would probably be more "accurate" (after all you are Russian ) than the rank speculation offered here by others.

GOB

PS....Please be honest.

[Blues Fairy]

Racism is not such a big issue in Russia as it is here, therefore its existence is sort of taken for granted and not much discussed.  Nationalism, on the other hand, does run rampant, especially as it is indirectly endorsed by the ruling establishment. 

I think racism is a natural thing for humans unconstrained by political correctness and even more so when excessively constrained by it.  In any society, including Russia, you will find, on the extremes, some dorks who haven't been exposed to the concept of PC and thus prone to clumsy statements; and those who, being overexposed to it, will think all white people racist by definition (which is also a form of racism).  In Russia, perhaps, the former are more numerous than the latter.  Here in the US, the latter are more numerous; but I seriously can't say if their form of racism is any better than the original form. 

[Shadow]

It all depends on your definition of racism.

Not being PC does not mean that you are a racist. It just means that you say what you think. Stange enough in Russia this works, and the amount of truly racist people is not different from what I have seen in Holland or Belgium.

The Russian concept of 'answering for your words' is more clear and straight as the PC behaviour. If a word is deemed to be insulting, it will be an insult no matter who speak it. Unlike the Western policy where the same words are the mark of a racist if spoken by one, but as friendly if spoken by another.

[RussianWind]

Not being PC does not mean that you are a racist.

And shouting openly so much about PC (like my good friends from the UK ) doesn't mean they are not

I believe that racism in its academic meaning doesn't exist in Russia. If you are intelligent and smart, the last question you are asked is your nationality.

If someone doesn't like his Tadzhik neighbours on the left, he may also not like his Russian neighbours on the right.

The big problem in Russia is skinheads. They are brainless youths who need to release their adrenalin, covered with the "idea". They think they are cool. It is a shame for our government that they do nothing with it, it looks like the government is comfortable to have a certain dose of nationalism in the country.

[I/O]

If you are intelligent and smart, the last question you are asked is your nationality.

Now I understand why nobody ever asked George W. Bush where he was from.

[Aloe]

nationalism is huge in Russia, according to some research when they asked a couple thousand random people on the streets of russian cities, 57 percent of people in Russia are passive nationalists: they support the motto "Russia for russians", but they dont do anything about it, the motto means that they want only ethnically russian people in Russia, and get rid of everybody else (i wonder where they wanna stick the other 100 nationalities whose ancestors have been living on russian territory for hundreds of years, not to mention all the republics that are a part of Russia). Word "черножопые" is a very popular word in Russia, or at least in Moscow, that is a deragotory term for people coming from Caucasus, Tajikistan, etc. Maybe it was just my circle that i heard that word quite often, i dunno, but from my experience many people are very nationalistic, but they dont do anything about it. On a defensive note, last year when i came back to a city i havent been to for many years, i was shocked at the amount of non slavic faces on the street, i dont mind it, its just that it was a dramatic change compared to what i remembered. That is probably why russian people often say nationalistic things, because they havent adjusted to having so many people of a different ethnicity around them. I read Moscow was like 95 percent white people only 20 years ago, now its 50 percent. I must say i read it on a nationalistic poster, so they could be grossly overestimating, but i think it sounds true, because during soviet times people were very immobile, and mostly stayed where they were born, now things changed and its such a dramatic and fast change that people are still adjusting

[GoodOlBoy]

I have an opinion of my own about RM and racism after being in and out of Russia (and living there for 3 month's), BUT....I think I will hold my tongue until I read your posts.

Thank you so much for your personal opinion's ladies!

Yes Mars, I am brown nosing the ladies again.

During my travels inside the FSU, I confused/misunderstood the content of conversations with your Russian men as "racist", rather than "nationalism".

I am glad that you ladies clarified this for me. 

Of course I already knew about your "skinheads", BUT...We have those same kind of village idiots running around here in the GoodOl' USA. :evil:


GOB

[RussianWind]

nationalism is huge in Russia, according to some research when they asked a couple thousand random people on the streets of russian cities, 57 percent of people in Russia are passive nationalists: they support the motto "Russia for russians",

Those latent nationalists are just a crowd

I don't trust such street questionaries much. First of all they can't cover all levels of the population. Second - much depends on the question form. An experienced sociologist will easily make people vote for "Russia is not for Russians" 

Intolerance to some other nations in Russia in recent years has connection with:
- terrorism

- high level of criminal records among them
- we don't get smart immigrants, they are workers and drivers with low level of education.

A correspondent in St. Petersburg asks an Uzbek salesman on a market in the centre of the city: "Have you been to the Hermitage?"
He expected to get the answer: "No"
but he got the answer: "What is it?"