The Russians Are Coming

[poliphilo]

I grew up during the Cold War. I remember playing a game called "Russian spies" which involved talking in a silly voice and brandishing crayoned drawings of space rockets. My friend and I never could figure out what Russian spies actually did. It was fun drawing the space rockets but the rest of it palled very quickly.

So I've got this conditioning. Russia is the "Evil Empire"- all that Reaganite crap. 

But

When I was a little older I discovered the Russians had written the best books in the world. Later I found out they'd also made some of the best films.

AND they defeated Hitler.  Yes they did. We helped out at bit, but they were the ones who fought the biggest battles and took the biggest losses. 

So LJ is now owned by the Russians. 

Yes I know the President of Russia is a scary bloke. (So is  the President of the USA if you hadn't noticed.)

But he's less likely to want to kill us- right- now we're his customers.  

We live in a global economy. And in a global economy this is what happens. Russians also own Chelsea football club and much of London.
 
The shop's new owner has a funny accent. Get over it. 

A capitalist is a capitalist is a capitalist. Are you trying to tell me  Russian capitalists are intrinsically more evil than American capitalists? (Or British capitalists, or Australian capitalists). That's silly. Go read some history. 

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

No problem with Russians per se except for some aspects of their government (right, Mrs Litvinenko?) but what has spooked the LJers is the post in the new lj_2008 community:

The LiveJournal Advisory Board will publish and update on a regular basis a clear a set of aims and values. This will address such vital community issues as privacy, security, taste and decency. It will also provide a forum to consider any relevant legal, political or religious concerns.

932 replies so far mostly concerned about being vetted for taste, decency, politics and religion.

[dadi.livejournal.com]

I just hope this wave of bigotry (which I really don't think has anything to do with the Russians) doesn't get worse. Over the last days I have seen a few of my LJ friends' journals disappear, others flagged and cut.. and NONE of them had anything scandalous or even more adult than writing about a lesbian crush (without any whatsoever erotic detail) in it. This stinks more of Bible Bashers to me than of Red Menace.

As of the conditioning.. my father has been arrested a few times by the German Home Security Police, our house has been searched more often than I can say.. only because my parents were Eastern European immigrants and my father kept in continuous contact with his family "beyond the curtain". So I certainly got my part of horror stories growing up, but still, to keep me busy and learn some survival skills, my parents put me for a few years in the youth organization of the German Socialist Party, which was "the communist answer to the Scouts" so to say. And I sure got my part of left wing indoctrination there, and later on I even learned how to make Molotov Cocktails, LOL. So, roll the Red Menace on, I am really good at singing the Internationale (and can give an encore with Bandiera Rossa and some Italian partisan songs.. ;)

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Didn't it used to be said that the optimists were learning Russian, and the pessimists Mandarin?

[momof2girls.livejournal.com]

So what's the big deal with the Russians, anyway? As long as the format's the same and they keep Frank the Goat, it doesn't make any difference to me.

My kids' piano teacher is Russian. She's taught them a few Russian words, and it's a hoot to hear them trying to say the words!

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite sure what the kerfuffle is about. As you say, capitalism is global these days. What does it matter who owns LJ? To be honest, I think any censoring due to sexual content is far more likely to be American than Russian. My corner of LJ has been entirely unaltered so far, apart from the little flag button that now allows one to notify The Powers That Be about unsuitable content.

To be honest, I've always had a sneaking liking for the Russians, even when they were supposed to be our arch-enemies. My Dad always stressed their part in WWII and Manchester was twinned with St Petersburg back in the days when it was still called Leningrad and there were organised school exchange visits. It is one of my regrets that I never got to go to Russia in the 60s because I was doing my A-levels the year our school got to send pupils. :(

memory of the russian dead

[seraphimsigrist.livejournal.com]

I am not worried about having Russain ownership
of livejournal in the least. Bur really Tony do
you seriously believe that political life is as
free and open in Russia as it is in the United
States? I wonder if you are aware of the millions
dead during the Communist regieme and of the
camps...I mean I suppose you are aware but you
allow yourself to summarize that whole period as
'they defeated Hitler'... and that this horror
was 'Reaganite crap' if I follow what you are
saying.
I wonder if that is all the memory that will remain
of what the Russian people have endured is some
comparison to political leaders whom one didnt
vote for?
they deserve better than that possibly.

this is irate in tone and risks to be an expression
of it being early in the morning but I imagine that
yours is the sort of exercise in hyperbole which
come to think of it is parallel, mutatis mutandis,
to the tabloid papers I buy for their outrageous
headlines and sports sections (yes we have them too
as I know you do) in preference to the boring
papers. In this case mine is an over reaction indeed
but... but here it is with respect yours
+Seraphim Sigrist

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Well, LJ is still actually owned by an American although his company is based in moscow and is run under Russian law.. The owner of SUP is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Paulson

Them Russians...

[msjann65.livejournal.com]

Over time we Americans became more like the Russians while they became more like us!
Back in the fifties we thought it deplorable that little Russian children as young as three years were farmed out to day nurseries so that their mothers could work. Today in my country they are popped into child care around six weeks of age. They are in "school" almost from birth until age 21 when they graduate from college. Since the philosophy of public education is aimed at building "citizens", then the kids today are being indoctrinated, not educated.
We thought it deplorable back then that Russian people were not free to speak as they felt. Meanwhile, here today we have PC, which dictates the words I may use or not use (Swear words are OK, but "mankind" is not).
Back in the sixties and seventies we became more socialistic in our US economy, and beginning in the eighties the Russians became more capitalistic. Interesting!
All I can do is hope that we do not switch roles completely because I really dont want to see us become they way they used to be. I also dont want them to become completely like us.
There were, by the way, some good things going on in Russia in those days, for example, any student with the ability to do the work could go to college at the expense of the State, and the gifted and talented could study ballet or music gratis. The poor of America could use some of that free higher education!
I'm with you. I love Russian novels. And the music of Russian composers. And the Russian ballet companies on tour in the US make our local ones pale by comparison.
I remember in the fifties when refugees came to the US - some of them attended school with me. They knew so much more about science and math and foreign language than I did, and their grades put us all to shame. It made me think that not everything was evil in the "evil empire".

[happydog.livejournal.com]

The problem is not Russophobia. The problem is that in Russia, LJ is one of the few media outlets that is not controlled or influenced by Putin's people. Since Putin has a rep for taking over that which he disapproves of, how long is it before Putin or a front company controlled by Putin buys out SUP, thus putting LJ under the same restrictions that Russian media have?

Secondly: does SUP allow data mining, and if so, do I want information about me going to a company that could possibly end up getting owned by a guy who used to be top dog in the KGB and still has a great deal of influence over the KGB's successor organization, the FSP? Bad enough that the US government has access to my private info.

[elegysostenuto.livejournal.com]

I thought the post here, and the comments following were incredibly interesting, with the multitude of viewpoints and such...and I felt slightly ashamed that my only response upon reading the announcement was, "Oh, a Russian company. Interesting." And promptly forgot about it.