A different version of "busy" excuse

Post Reply New Topic

This is interesting because my parents act as if Russia is more dangerous: they prefer I stay in USA and not go to Russia since they think something bad would happen to me in Russia, and they never really get too specific of what it is (and I assume Finland is similar to Russia). I guess different people have different biases in this regard.

My parents are Jewish and I noticed that Jews don't like Russia that much. The logical reason for Jews not to like Russia is that Russia is more antisemitic. But thats not the only thing they dislike it for. They also talk about corruption in general, or crime. So if Russia was "really" more corrupt or more criminal, why wouldn't ethnic Russians be bothered by that too? Why is it that only Jews seem to talk about it?

So it feels like there is something about the Jews that make them prone to certain ideologies even if its not logically related to their Jewishness. The American version of this phenomenon is that American Jews vote democrat despite the fact that republicans are the ones that tend to be pro-Israel. Again, the reasons that they cite for voting democrat has nothing to do with their Jewishness. Just like the reasons that they cite for disliking Russia has nothing to do with their Jewishness either. Yet they are Jewish in both cases.

In any case, the reason I brought up all that is that you mentioned that USA is more criminal than Finland, which also seem to suggest USA is more criminal than Russia, too. And I was like "wait a second, didn't my parents tell me my whole life Russia is more criminal than the USA". And then I was like "oh yeah, they are Jewish, so that is one more bias that they have due to being Jewish".

P.S. My father is not alive any more he died in 2012. But I say "my parents" because back when he was alive he didn't like Russia either. In fact he was against my living in Russia even more than my mom was. Even though he seemed to care about Jewishness less than my mom does. But biologically he was just as Jewish as she was he just didn't care that much about it; yet he somehow inheritted the Jewish dislike of Russia.

Read up on the “Pale of Settlement.”

This is one reason why Jews dislike Russia.

Read up on “Pogroms,” too.

I know all that, but that was a long time ago -- BEFORE the Russian revolution.

I know more recent antisemitism under communists too, but that is over as well.

In any case, if you re-read what I wrote in the previous response I specifically stated that what puzzles me is that Jews cite reasons that have nothing to do with antisemitism when they dislike Russia. So that is a bit puzzling.

If they dislike Russia because of antisemitism, then why don't they just say its antisemitism? But they don't say this: they cite other things. And if they cite other things, then why is it only the Jews that tend to talk about those other things? Makes no sense.

Here is an interesting parallel

--- Russia used to do pogroms against Jews. Not any more.
--- Jews dislike Russia and cite reasons other than pogroms
---Christians used to massacre Jews. Not any more.
---Jews refuse to believe in Jesus but cite reasons other than past massacres

So maybe the way Jews operate is that instead of remembering the actual reasons they dislike something (which would imply their dislike is reversed once those reasons are taken out of the way) they just develop internalized dislike of those things without remembering the reasons any more (which is why they end up citing lots of unrelated reasons for their dislike).

You don't believe there remains the existence of anti-Semitism in Russia today?

Well, if you go by the ADL survey (https://global100.adl.org/map) then all countries have antisemitism, the issue which countries have more. Well, Russia has more antisemitism than US, but as far as how it compares to Europe its not cut and dry. It has more antiseminism than some European countries and less than other ones. If you compare Russia to France, for example, then during some of the survey years Russia was more antisemitic, other years France was more antisemitic. Yet Jews seem to hate Russia more than France, even during the time when France is more antiseitic.

In any case, what I was trying to say is that, if the issue is antisemitism, why don't Jews say so? Why are they acting as if they are concerned about other things such as crime or corruption?

Here is the thing. Is there antisemitism? Yes. Is there corruption? Yes. Is there connection between the two? No. So why is it that Jews happen to be the ones more concerned about corruption? Makes no sense. It would have made a lot more sense if Jews hated Russia for antisemitism and ethnic Russians hated Russia for corruption. But if Jews hate Russia for corruption, it is less logical.

I would bet that most Jews in Russia ARE ethnic Russians (for the most part). Or at least within the dominant ethnic group of the region of Russia where they reside.

One could hate anti-Semitism and hate corruption at the same time----even though they might not be connected to each other.

Okay, let me remind you of what originally got me to bring it up on this thread in order to help you see my point.

Fireblossom mentioned that in America there is more crime than in Finland. This suggests that in America there is more crime than in Russia too, since Finland is close to Russia. Now, Jews will disagree with this statement. Jews think in Russia there is more crime than in America. But the question "where is more crime" is not related to the question "where is more antisemitism". So how come the question "where is more crime" is typically answered differently by Jews and non-Jews?

It really depends on the part of Russia, and the part of America. I don't feel one gets at the truth of the matter if one alleges that one nation has more crime than another nation.

What matters is your own personal experience. I've been a victim of crime. I've gotten mugged a few times, and stabbed once. It doesn't mean that I believe crime in prevalent in the places I live and hang out in. I tend to avoid getting involved in the "criminal element," the "seedy side of things."

But originally we weren't talking about crime. We were talking about people acting cautious for the sake of self preservation. And that would depend on the *statistics* of a crime.

So are you saying that the issue of people being cautious is not the function of a country but instead a function of the *part of* the country: namely, is it a part of a country with more crime or less crime?

But then remember how Fireblossom said that what you are saying is more relevant to me than what she is saying since you are in the same country as me? If so, then it means that it *is* a function of a country as a whole, since the parts of the country you and me live in are very different (you are in New York and I am in New Mexico).

And, since she specifically mentioned crime, this means that one *can* make a general statement about crime rate across the whole country.

In fact she did: she said that in America as a whole there is more crime then in Finland as a whole. She wasn't specifying parts of either of these two countries, was she?

And thats where I brought up Jews since Jews seem to disagree with that statement.

And speaking of Jews, they too would make a statement about the country as a whole (except that their statement is diametrically opposite). For example my Jewish parents wouldn't want me to live in Russia as a whole, no matter what part of Russia.

Russia has fewer economic opportunities than the US.

I've heard that academics make almost starvation wages in Russia.

Yes, thats the other thing that my parents told me. Although I am not sure because different people seem to tell me different things. Some say that academics get even lesser pay than the janitors but others are saying academics get an okay pay. So I am not sure what to think. I will definitely consider Russia though, regardless what my parents think, since I can't seem to find a job in America and I am sure Russia is less competitive.

Here is the point though. To me it sounds like economic is not the only reason my parents have. They are only using it as an additional reason for me not to go to Russia. Because you see in India the economic situation is bad too. Yet my father wasn't opposed to India when I went there (my mom was opposed to India too, though). Also it seems like my mom has some sense of paranoia around my even visitting Russia. When I visit Russia she wants to go with me. Somehow she is worried they won't let me leave the country. But when I ask her why not she can't cite any reasons other than "they aren't following the laws so they can do whatever they feel like it". I guess back when I was in my 20-s the issue was them pulling me into the army (although again I am exempt from army because I am a student but my parents said they aren't following the laws). But now that I am not in my 20-s any more I am too old for army yet my mom still has some kind of paranoia around Russia (and my father is not alive any more but if he was alive he would have hated Russia even more than my mom).

They are simply next to each other on the map; Russia and Finland are very different as far as I know. Laws, crime rates etc. And while USA is considered a dangerous place here, for most, Russia is considered to be even more so. But of course, where one is in any of these countries plays a factor too. In Finland, one is likelier to be mugged or otherwise become a victim of a crime done by a stranger in big cities than in the countryside, and I'd guess that's the case in USA and Russia, too.



Nope, it doesn't work that way. If we were talking about natural catastrophes, then this logic based on close locations would somewhat work, but it doesn't work in this case.

The reason I was thinking the crime rates in Russia and Finland should be similar is because Finnish people used to be part of Russia so, due to this common history, they should have common mentality. At least that is what I observed on most other forer satellite countries. Ukrainians, Estonians and Poles can insist that they have nothing in common with Russians, and even hate Russians, all day long. But their mentality as they do so is very Russian. They use Russian mentality to hate Russia because they assume that the whole world is one big Russia since they were never exposed to anything else. And so they don't even realize that all their ways are not really their ways but Russian ways, but its true.

I don't know about Finns, because Finland broke off much earlier. I was only talking about the countries that stayed there as a part of Soviet Union. But still, the fact that Finland used to be there back in the czarist times still suggests a mentality could be somewhat similar, just less so. And since crime rates are based on people's mentality thats why I was thinkiing crime rates are similar too.

Speaking of the subject of details, here is an interesting thing I read https://outsons.com/5-things-women-tell ... about-you/ where it says that women share all the details about men they met with their friends:

So the question is: if the girls have so much patience to talk about details with her friends, why don't they have patience to talk about those same details with me?

As a matter of fact, one of the reasons why I dwell on details so much is that I feel like those are the reasons why things went wrong, hence I want to discuss said details in order to "fix it". Well, the above link shows that I am right: if I go by the thing I just quoted, the details CAN be the reason things go wrong, just like I suspected. So then why don't girls have time to talk about said details, particularly since they have time to talk about them with their friends?

If they are going to talk about details anyway, who is better person than me? If anything, I am the one who can actually *explain* what went in my mind when I did certain things. Her friends can only guess.

Argh. I've been writing up a lot here and deleting it 'cause I can't find a way to put this in to words in a way that it would be understandable... definitely coming back to this if I do come up with a way.