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poemless
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11 months ago
in Trying to Understand Russophobia on Timothy Post.com
I really wish it were limited to the Christian Right, but, I'm pretty active in American politics on the left end of the spectrum, and I have to report, the situation is not much different over here among "godless" American liberals. Which is kind of interesting, since these used to be the people associated with Communism in America. But a significant percent of today's Democrats are "Russophobic." Here is how I understand it. They are deeply upset with Bush, and focused on issues which they feel have infringed upon their civil liberties and democratic values, such as the Patriot Act, election fraud, corruption, media doing the bidding of those in power and not serving the people, imperialist wars waged in the name of fighting terrorism, etc. They see obvious parallels in Russia, and pictures of Bush and Putin gallivanting about solidify the sentiment. They may intellectually differentiate between "Putin" and "all the rest of Russia," but like Bush's policies and anti-Americanism elsewhere, there is a strong tendency to substitute/conflate the leadership and the country.
There also persists personal grievances among Americans whose families came to the country fleeing very real persecution by Russians/Soviets in the 20th century. I think that factors in. Especially as a lot of them have become career advisers and experts on Russia.
You're right about the semantics, though. I mean, Hillary Clinton did not pause before proclaiming that Putin had no soul. There is a stunning lack of differentiation between the academic and the theocratic in US politics. We don't condemn the Russian gov't on the validity of its policies, but on its evilness. The metaphysical route is taken even by the secular, because it just requires less thinking. You don't actually have to do any work before passing judgement. And it's a great way side step the problem of implicating ourselves. How else could Bush have the gall to condemn Russia's use of violence? Because when we do it, we're acting with good intentions, regardless the outcome. When we do bad things, it's a mistake, it's not "really" who we are, an exception to the rule. Russia, on the other hand, is acting with nefarious intentions. If they do something good, it's in spite of their evil intentions, an exception to the rule.
There are infinite "justifications" for our negative attitudes toward Russia. But I think - just speaking from my own experience - the overwhelming reason that it persists with such power, is ignorance. Lack of information. Absence of exposure. America's a relatively isolated country to begin with. Factor in the greater part of a whole century in a Cold war, in which what very little we could learn of Russia was filtered through propaganda on both sides. And the fact that - I assume this is a fact, actually I don't know, an educated guess - few Americans know Russian. Fewer than the Russians who know English, probably.
It's a shame. I think Russia and America have far more in common than they ever admit. Actually, I think also explains some of the Russophobia...
There also persists personal grievances among Americans whose families came to the country fleeing very real persecution by Russians/Soviets in the 20th century. I think that factors in. Especially as a lot of them have become career advisers and experts on Russia.
You're right about the semantics, though. I mean, Hillary Clinton did not pause before proclaiming that Putin had no soul. There is a stunning lack of differentiation between the academic and the theocratic in US politics. We don't condemn the Russian gov't on the validity of its policies, but on its evilness. The metaphysical route is taken even by the secular, because it just requires less thinking. You don't actually have to do any work before passing judgement. And it's a great way side step the problem of implicating ourselves. How else could Bush have the gall to condemn Russia's use of violence? Because when we do it, we're acting with good intentions, regardless the outcome. When we do bad things, it's a mistake, it's not "really" who we are, an exception to the rule. Russia, on the other hand, is acting with nefarious intentions. If they do something good, it's in spite of their evil intentions, an exception to the rule.
There are infinite "justifications" for our negative attitudes toward Russia. But I think - just speaking from my own experience - the overwhelming reason that it persists with such power, is ignorance. Lack of information. Absence of exposure. America's a relatively isolated country to begin with. Factor in the greater part of a whole century in a Cold war, in which what very little we could learn of Russia was filtered through propaganda on both sides. And the fact that - I assume this is a fact, actually I don't know, an educated guess - few Americans know Russian. Fewer than the Russians who know English, probably.
It's a shame. I think Russia and America have far more in common than they ever admit. Actually, I think also explains some of the Russophobia...
