[quote]vitaly wrote:
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i grew up in Soviet Union in the 80’s. most of the info provided is pretty inaccurate or written by someone who had very poor memory.
salaries were actually $100-250/month, but that was actually a lot of money because the government subsidised everything. childcare, healthcare, college, housing was 100%free. utilities and food cost pennies. people were NOT poor.
KGB was simply soviet version of FBI. Normal people had nothing to fear from it.
Most people who had a chance to live as adults in Soviet Union want the old system back.
p.s. only western people refer to Soviet Union as “Russia” or “Soviet Russia”. it is actually very offensive for people like me (i am from ukraine)[/quote]
This is just pure bullshit. You are a very bad troll. And I always refer to the Soviet Union as the Soviet Union, and Russia as Russia. The thread title is in reference to a popular comedian.
Oh, and nice try using an internet translator to try and copy and paste a phrase you translated. That doesn’t work on this site. You need an actual Cyrillic keyboard. Dumbass.[/quote]
[quote]pushharder wrote:
Matt, I too have found this thread very interesting. However, believe it not, much of what you’ve disclosed is no news to me. I’ve read these type stories before but it is more fascinating reading them from a “local” guy.
Your supermarket experiences remind me of similar events when Khrushchev and later Yeltsin visited the US. Both men (and Khrushchev’s wife) were astonished at the sights that practically every single American takes for granted when it comes to food quality, quantity, availability and pricing.
Keep going, man, and good luck with the nuptial business! Congrats![/quote]
I read an anecdote once that Khrushchev confided with his colleagues that he knew the USSR would never win the cold war when he was in a plane over America and he saw all their swimming pools
Also he believed that the government must have put all the cars on the road wherever he visited, because he could not believe that there were so many privately owned vehicles.
I honestly think we take it all for granted. Just assuming that i can go to any supermarket within a 2miles radius, which there are roughly 4-7 and just buy whatever is something we as American severely take for granted and i think there would be massive problem for society if god forbid i wasnt able to buy cantaloupe in the middle of December [/quote]
I would this is pretty true for middle class US but not for many poor. Check out “food deserts”.
I honestly think we take it all for granted. Just assuming that i can go to any supermarket within a 2miles radius, which there are roughly 4-7 and just buy whatever is something we as American severely take for granted and i think there would be massive problem for society if god forbid i wasnt able to buy cantaloupe in the middle of December [/quote]
I would this is pretty true for middle class US but not for many poor. Check out “food deserts”.
[/quote]
I was just discussing this with a friend in the context of our hometown’s best known ghetto. No supermarkets within an accessible distance…[/quote]
Not to mention the arrangement and allocation of space for fresh and nutritionally valuable foods. Aisles and fridge cases full of boxed, fatty, salty crud. One display hat could fit in your average living room for fruits and vegetables.
She said yes! I can’t believe I am going to get married. You were right Tex, it only took her a few seconds to say yes but those were the longest three seconds ever.
I honestly think we take it all for granted. Just assuming that i can go to any supermarket within a 2miles radius, which there are roughly 4-7 and just buy whatever is something we as American severely take for granted and i think there would be massive problem for society if god forbid i wasnt able to buy cantaloupe in the middle of December [/quote]
I would this is pretty true for middle class US but not for many poor. Check out “food deserts”.
[/quote]
I was just discussing this with a friend in the context of our hometown’s best known ghetto. No supermarkets within an accessible distance…[/quote]
Shoulda stayed in school. In the US we have the power of choice to pursue a better life or not and that is all anyone should be entitled to. Nevermind grants, scholarships, hardship entitlements et cetera that are readily accessible.
[quote]Dr.Matt581 wrote:
She said yes! I can’t believe I am going to get married. You were right Tex, it only took her a few seconds to say yes but those were the longest three seconds ever.[/quote]
Woot! Congrats!
[quote]Christine wrote:
I can’t imagine the difficulties of changing an entire economic system for such a large group of people. It must be difficult to rid the system of corruption. It obviously wont happen overnight. [/quote]
Definitely not. After the Fall until recently Russia went into a depression worse then the one here in the 30’s and we still have only begun to recover. It has been over 20 years now and we are still not there. During Putin’s first two terms, our economy was growing and he did help increase wages quite a bit. The Russian Mob also became even more powerful and I think he had something to do with it, but if he does as much for the economy as he did in his first two terms I will be happy. Things are much better now than during the Soviet Union, but there is still a long way to go.[/quote]
What are your views on a corrupt system being seen as backward by the outside world (not just the S.U)? [/quote]
It depends on the system, really. During Stalin’s reign the Soviet economy boomed, but the majority of his programs concentrated on heavy industry and military projects and neglected agriculture. Collectivization of our agriculture was a huge disaster and led not only to millions of deaths in the late 30’s/early 40’s, but by my time we were dependent on America for most of our food. Much like Cuba is today. Our government became so powerful and corrupt and, for lack of a better word, evil, that I would call it backward. Any government that comes into power on a mandate from the people to make life better and instead ignores the most important thing people need, food, in order to build a military that could rival the best in the world can only be called backward.
On the other hand, the current Russian government is most certainly corrupt as well, but that has more to do with the legacy of the Soviet Union than anything and many in the government are actually trying to do something about it so I would not call it backward, just a new government that is trying to find it’s place and way in this world.
[quote]TigerTime wrote:
You’ve described yourself as being non-religious. Does this have anything to do with your upbringing in the Soviet Union? Did you “experiment” with various religions (especially post-soviet union) or have you always been non-religious?[/quote]
Probably, at least to the same extent that growing up in a heavily Christian nation/area will influence children to grow up Christian and the same for Muslim, Buddhist, and Taoist and other religions. I haven’t really experimented with religion too much. It is just not a big part of my life. My fiancee (first time calling her that) is Christian and will take me to church with her occasionally, but understands that I am not religious in any way.
[quote]heavythrower wrote:
awesome thread! i doubt many here know that I minored in eastern European history (Slavic) history, as an undergrad, and am somewhat of a russianophile.
ignore the trolls and keep posting dr.!
a good book for the novice to Slavic history to read is the Bridge on the River Drina. check it out. [/quote]
Thanks, man. One little troll, and not a very good one at that, is not going to stop me from posting. Too many of you guys seem interested in hearing about life in the Soviet Union.
I think she knows something big is going to happen, but I don’t think she quite knows that I am going to propose. I am taking her to this really nice restaurant called Isabela on Grandview that has a wonderful view of the city. I am pretty sure she will say yes (her parents are 100% sure), but I am still pretty nervous.
[/quote]
Great restaurant choice, Matt! :-)[/quote]
For special occasions, there is none better in the area. For just regular eating, though, I prefer Sauce in Bridgeville. Huge ass burgers covered in cheese, bacon, and all kinds of other tasty things. Nothing like it, especially after a hard workout.
[quote]pushharder wrote:
Matt, I too have found this thread very interesting. However, believe it not, much of what you’ve disclosed is no news to me. I’ve read these type stories before but it is more fascinating reading them from a “local” guy.
Your supermarket experiences remind me of similar events when Khrushchev and later Yeltsin visited the US. Both men (and Khrushchev’s wife) were astonished at the sights that practically every single American takes for granted when it comes to food quality, quantity, availability and pricing.
Keep going, man, and good luck with the nuptial business! Congrats![/quote]
I read an anecdote once that Khrushchev confided with his colleagues that he knew the USSR would never win the cold war when he was in a plane over America and he saw all their swimming pools
Also he believed that the government must have put all the cars on the road wherever he visited, because he could not believe that there were so many privately owned vehicles.[/quote]
Khrushchev was a bit before my time, but I can believe that. Less than one in ten people in the Soviet Union owned a car or lived in a house. You either had to be a well connected party member or a farmer. The funny thing is that anytime someone from the party went to America or anywhere in the West, they would come back and go on the radio and tell us all how destitute the West was and how much better life was in the Soviet Union. And we of course believed it, which helps foster the warped view of the Soviet Union that Edevus and I have talked about, and you guys saw here from that troll.
Not to mention the arrangement and allocation of space for fresh and nutritionally valuable foods. Aisles and fridge cases full of boxed, fatty, salty crud. One display hat could fit in your average living room for fruits and vegetables.