How Do You Feel about Russians?

Jesus4Madrid said:

I think they will renew global Christianity, or at least the European version.

Click to expand...

It will be truly amazing to witness what will happen when that goes down. Looking forward to it

rusmeister said:

Things they like that Americans find abhorrent:

Herring "in a fur coat" ("Seld' pod shuboi" - A dish with a herring base, covered with a kind of beet salad)

Pork fat (salo) - by its lonesome (it's technically Ukranian, but popular in Russia, too)

Vobla - a kind of dried fish - a carp variant called "Caspian roach", which does nothing positive to appetize us, whose meat is ripped right off the skeleton to munch with beer.

Jellied meat - basically a meat-based jello (studen', holodyets)

and rassol' (pickle juice), which they use as an Alka-Seltzer-like hangover cure

Other things in their menu are great, although their salads are typically much heavier than ours, but 99% of our people find the items listed above intolerable.

Click to expand...

Mariya116 said:

I apologize to anyone who found the original post offensive. Being Russian myself, I wanted honest opinions about us. Perhaps I worded my question wrong. Anyway, I see that we are much more liked than I thought.

Click to expand...

Yeah we love you guys~just don't think I'd visit for the food :o

Amen to that...yeesh

MrJim said:

~just don't think I'd visit for the food :o

Click to expand...

kurlykova said:

It's funny how rude the comments get in a Christian forum! I'm honestly a little shocked! Well, we all fall short, I guess. Glad God isn't as mean and judgmental as some of the people here!

Click to expand...

Yes, it is sad. It is sad some people think all Russians are this or that. It is stereotyping. Every culture has some people that are not so nice, but that does not mean everyone is bad. Anyways, we need to love everyone no matter because God made everyone, and loves everyone.

God bless.

katherine2001 said:

It was my interest in Russian culture and history that brought me to Orthodoxy. I still love studying Russian history and culture. There is much I admire about them.

Click to expand...

Same here. With me it was the lack of Russian history in school that started my interest.

Jesus4Madrid said:

I think they will renew global Christianity, or at least the European version.

Click to expand...

I think that the potential is there along with the possibility. Whether it will happen or not is a different story.

As a Greek Orthodox I see all other Orthodox as my brethren. I do have a particular love for Russians and Russia. My impression of the Russian people is in fact exactly the opposite of what buzuxi02 has described. I believe Russians tend to be simpler, more selfless and have more naive hearts compared with the Greeks today. As to the Russians not being Orthodox, these people who think so (forgive my language) are complete idiots and ignorant of anything Russian.

Я женился на русской, обрусел, и уехал навсегда жить в России.

I married a Russian, Russified, and moved to Russia to live for good.

What else do I need to do to show how I feel about Russians?

Nevertheless, I remain an American. I love my country, my people, my language and I do what I can to pass that on to my children.

But if my people are foolish enough to believe in their own superiority, in culture, language, religion, or yes, even politics, then watch out!

I believe there ARE ways that a people can be superior. But I also know that the picture is much more complex than most people imagine, and that the media give impressions that do not reveal that complexity. The media are privately owned, a hobby and mouthpiece of the rich, and we are foolish to place trust in them or think that we know things merely by reading/listening to the news services.

I do not have time to read the whole thread & may be out of step. What i will say is that I have a generally positive opinion of Russia & Russians. I do think in America, there is a cultural conflict between the multitude of ethnicities meshed with their way of being Orthodox in contrast as to how Americans with little desire of old world ways want to be Orthodox. Of course I am sure there are many Americans who may want to adopt much of the old world ways but others (myself included) want to discard much of it.

I think that one of the things that I admire most about the Russians is their endurance and strength. They have had to endure so much suffering in their history (a 900 day siege for Leningrad/St. Petersburg during WWII is just one example), and they manage to come through it. I think they come through these types of things much better than we in the US do and probably better than many other countries have come through events like that.

When I think of Russians, I automatically think of:
Communism
Revolution
Skin head neo nazis

But as a result of that I also think of:

Brave
Courageous
Hard working
Tough people

I have yet to meet a Russian person sadly

@Deanpaul
Skin head neo nazis - i have been meeting no one of them for last 4-5years. IMHO Skin heads in Russia are small group of freaks which live under great press of goverment.

It just shows the tremendous abyss between media reports and real life on the ground.

So uh, probably a dumb question, but since this is the third thread I saw it brought up in, are there really that many white supremacists in Russia for them to have a reputation for it?

Mariya116 said:

In marginal social circles - yes, a lot. I believe it is unsafe for non-whites to move around in Russia, even the big city centers, but especially on the outskirts. They have their mind set on "clearing" the invaders out of our land, and there is no reasoning with them. Most Jews moved out of Russia and Ukraine - and were absolutely right.

Click to expand...

One of the things about Russia is that there experience of non-whites is limited to the Mongols. That and until the fall of Communism there have been very few non-whites in Russia for Russians to be around and most of the non-whites that went to Russia after Communism were people who were calling Orthodoxy a "Communist entity".

It would be as if one lived in an all-white small town in the Midwest that experienced two centuries of Indian raids, seven decades of being ruled by the Ku Klux Klan and then suddenly the first non-white person to make a visit is not only a militant member of the Black Panthers, but also of the Nation of Islam.

Trying_to_be_Orthodox said:

@Deanpaul
Skin head neo nazis - i have been meeting no one of them for last 4-5years. IMHO Skin heads in Russia are small group of freaks which live under great press of goverment.

Click to expand...

Yeah, it could just be the media coverage i've seen. I see something bad and it just sticks in my head.

I move around Moscow and the region and have a fairly good base of comparison and I can tell you that racist acts do happen, but are greatly exaggerated by our media. Of greater concern for dark-skinned people is police checks, which I do actually see happening.

You cannot think you have an accurate picture by merely listening to the news!

rusmeister said:

You cannot think you have an accurate picture by merely listening to the news!

Click to expand...

If that's directed at me, I never said that it was accurate.

DeanPaul545 said:

If that's directed at me, I never said that it was accurate.

Click to expand...

Hi DP,
Not directed at anyone in particular. Just a general warning for all concerned.

I don't think I know everything, and I generally keep my mouth shut on most topics; the few that I DO know - schools and teaching, Russia and foreign languages (and language issues) is where I dare open my mouth.

When people talk about something I DO know a good deal about, then I think it worth speaking and being listened to. And I know that news reports abnormal life - and tends to exaggerate it, giving us an abnormal picture of anywhere where we are not.

rusmeister said:

Hi DP,
Not directed at anyone in particular. Just a general warning for all concerned.

I don't think I know everything, and I generally keep my mouth shut on most topics; the few that I DO know - schools and teaching, Russia and foreign languages (and language issues) is where I dare open my mouth.

When people talk about something I DO know a good deal about, then I think it worth speaking and being listened to. And I know that news reports abnormal life - and tends to exaggerate it, giving us an abnormal picture of anywhere where we are not.

Click to expand...

Oh that's okay then, pardon my presumptions.

I get what you mean, it is annoying when people try and tell you otherwise about a topic that you know a lot about.

Agreed, the media do tend to over exaggerate things a lot.