Yeah, I’d pin the problem on the Soviet system. It was a society built on open dishonesty and maintained by oppression, where corruption was often a necessity, and things like reporting the right numbers on production was vastly more important than actually producing things. Several generations of that had a warping effect on Russian culture, and sadly, the faux-democratic Putin regime hasn’t made things any better since the fall of Soviet Union either.
“Society built on open dishonesty”: Like the 3/5ths Compromise?
“Maintained by oppression”: Like the institution of slavery, Jim Crow, etc?
“Where corruption was often a necessity”: John Brown’s rebellion? The (illegal) Underground Railroad? Or what became of unions in the 20th century, forced to align with mobsters to stave off the powers of corporations?
“Things like reporting the right numbers on production…”: See above for example after example of companies faking numbers to stay one step ahead of the market
“Several generations…”: Why do you think people think single-payer healthcare is impossible? Why do they hate immigrants?
Again, I concede that there are differences in the type and scale of corruption, but you can’t honestly say it’s any more characteristic of Russians than it is of Americans.
I honestly don’t get what you’re trying to do here. I never once said that there’s no corruption in the US. I said that the corruption over there is different, that it works in entirely different ways and results in different things, and you can’t paint them with the same brush. You seem to refuse to accept that. Do you have any experience living in Eastern Europe/the Soviet Union? Because, with all respect, I think you simply can’t even begin to imagine the sort of all-encompassing, systematic culture of lies and corruption that was normal there, and which infected these societies to their absolute core. If you don’t want to take my word for it then don’t, but if I may recommend something, if you ever come across this movie in a language you understand, do watch it. Yes, it’s satire, but it’s a very dark one, because as absurd as it is, it’s a 100% true reflection of what we had over here… and Russia was even worse off.
And again, for the n’th time, no, I’m not saying that there’s no tradition of lying, cheating and corruption in the US. But lying and cheating is fundamentally different when it happens in a democracy (and yes, you did have a democracy all this time, regardless of how well it worked), with a politically active society, with freedom of press and freedom of speech, a counter-culture that was more or less free to do its thing (yes, I know it wasn’t entirely free, no need to start explaining how it wasn’t), and under capitalism. I honestly can’t explain it any better. I’m not trying to paint the US as being perfect and flawless, god knows it’s never been that. And yes, I know that a lot of shitty things were, and are, going on there that were really hard on people then as well as they are still hard on people now. But still, that is way different from the overwhelming, mind-poisoning shit that we had over here. They’re both bad, but bad in different ways, that manifest in different ways in politics, society, business, academia, etc.
I agree with you, for the most part. I don’t understand why you wrote, and again, I quote:
Really not.
Pointing out differences and nuance? By all means. But a complete negative? Nuh-uh.
I have lived in Central Europe and worked with former East Germans. I understand very much what you’re talking about. But I think most Americans and even westerners in general are somewhat blind to the kind of everyday corruption that takes place in the US on so many levels.
