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Re: I've lived in the South and in Russia TyrReborn Send a noteboard - 27/10/2015 05:15:54 AM

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The attitudes are similar. People in Russia aren't going to jail for being gay. Every now and then they've jailed people for staging gay pride parades without a permit, but those sentences are just like here - they're not long-term.

Also, although the majority are generally tolerant in both places, hate crimes happen in both places from time to time.

I lived for 11 years in the South and visit regularly. I also visit Russia regularly and most of my friends are from the former Soviet Union somewhere. I know what I'm talking about.


Fair enough, I will never claim to know Russian opinions. All I know, all I've known, is Bible Belt Christians who, while not supporting LGBT rights, have never outright hated/acted on hatred towards LGBT people.


You also are misstating the situation in Russia. There is not a return to communism in general. Most enterprise is in private hands. The problem is that the state has too much ability to interfere in that private business. In this respect Russia has never changed. The tsars maintained government monopolies in certain areas and tried to direct everything top down. The communists took it to an extreme that no one wanted to see, but Putin is still following in Russian traditions regarding the power of government. I don't know, it could have something to do with the geography of Russia - a very cold climate, a lot of land, poorly defined natural borders - that creates this centralization of power. It could also have something to do with the way Russians erode any power they see as weak at the first opportunity they get. Either way, my issues with Putin are that he just uses these convenient precedents rather than trying to move away from them.

As I said, I've never lived in or really known Russians. My entire view is skewed by US media, so my exposure has been corrupted at best. It is nice to learn that Russia is not as communistic as I was lead to believe, however, it is still disturbing that the state has as much power as it does.

My brother is a US Army Captain stationed in Germany, and his opinion is that President Obama has made a wise choice by not contesting the annexation of Crimea and the subterfuge in Eastern Ukraine. As a person who obviously knows more of the situation than myself, what is your opinion of the current discontent in the area? I am legitimately curious, and very interested in seeing more accurate depictions than the US media provides.

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I've lived in the South and in Russia - 27/10/2015 02:39:09 AM 310 Views
Re: I've lived in the South and in Russia - 27/10/2015 05:15:54 AM 462 Views
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