• suction@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    At some point we’ll probably have to admit that they’re culturally not inclined to do good. That and the rampant alcohol abuse is holding them back.

    • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      How quickly we forget the first satellite, first man in space, first nuclear power plant, first fusion reactor, and the MIR space station.

      Something has indeed been holding them back since those things were created, and their culture hasn’t significantly changed since then.

      • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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        3 months ago

        Racism is when you think certain groups of people are biologically inferior. Thinking a culture can be dysfunctional is something else entirely. Nobody questions the propriety of saying the culture of a company or other organization is dysfunctional, so why would a country (or its dominant culture) be different?

        Nobody bats an eye when people say Japanese and Korean work cultures are insane, for example, and nobody thinks it’s racist when left-leaning Americans comment on the culture of their conservative countrymen. Nobody even seems to think “meanwhile in Russia” memes are inappropriate, even though they’re an implicit commentary on Russian culture.

        Now, I do think “culturally not inclined to do good” is unfair and painting with an overly broad brush, but I also think the persistent suffering of people in and around Russia can only be explained by something about Russian culture.