The problem with Russia is a culture of gloom - a culture that sees all
things in terms that are tragic and fatalistic. This culture attacks
all signs of happinesss - one saying I often heard was, "Laughter
without reason is sign of idiocy" - and leads through self-fulfilling
dynamics to destructive and oppressive social orders.

The problem with America - especially South and Midwest - is quite the
opposite. Everyone is expected - indeed demanded - to appear happy, and
anything that violates the false pretense of happiness comes under
vicious attack. People are made to hide their pain, their misery, the
nastiness they endure, and those who experience horrible treatment or
are for other legitimate reasons unhappy are made to believe that it is
their fault. The injustices - and in many cases horrors - proceed
hidden and, therefore, unchecked and unresolved. The smilie face draped
over an abyss of misery becomes the outcome of this culture of
entrenched hypocrisy and oppression, and the smarmy illusion of happy
American existence proceeds by hiding, silencing and destroying the
lives of its victims.

The problems with both of these cultures are resolved through
introjection of the best of both. Russia needs some good genuine
American enthusiasm and entrepreneurship, while America needs Russian
starkness, honesty and willingness to confront injustice and horror
wherever it may hide. Russia needs American can-do spirit, while
America needs Russian ability to see things in their essence - the
Russian honesty, Russian candor, Russian understanding of life's
injustices and tragedies as parts of the world rather than anomalies
and ones that must be recognized and addressed without for them blaming
the victims.

The first will help Russians rise out of the mire they've lived in for
centuries and create a livable, sustainable, benign society. The second
will confront America's pervasive hypocrisy, viciousness, and immoral
blame-the-victim culture - made immoral by the blame-the-victim
attitude, in whatever ideology or spiritual system it is framed - and
help those who are mistreated to confront their aggressors, expose the
malignant social dynamics and behavior, and help people lead lives that
are actually happy all the way to the core rather than ones that paint
a smilie face over an abyss of evil and blame the innocent for the
actions of bullies and aggressors.

It is correctly said that, when two cultures meet, they both have
something to teach each other. And it is my firm belief that the true
way to understand an aspect of human existence - a culture, a religion,
a mindset - is to both observe it from without and experience it from
within, thus figuring it out in both the way it is experienced and the
external effects that it has on the world. Having done the same with
both societies, I am in the position to recommend how they can defeat
the worst in each other and put together the best in each other to make
the best possible Russia, the best possible America, and indeed the
best possible world.

Ilya Shambat.



--- UseNet To RIME Gateway {at} 1/29/05 5:41:27 PM ---