My grandpa, regrettably, has access to the internet. What he primarily uses that access for is forwarding emails apparently, to the rest of his family. Presumably emails he gets from other old people. He forwarded me one titled ‘Putin’s Speech’ today, and I thought it was interesting for a few reasons, and I’d like your comments.
I suppose I’m interested in the following facets of this email:
What does it say about my Grandpa?
Was it an actual speech by Putin and, if so, what does it say about Putin and Russians in general?
What merits, if any, does this speech have (whether it’s by Putin or not), and what’s wrong with it, if anything?
It could very well have come from Putin, this is the general attitude right now and it’s why Russia is no longer the toilet of the world but perhaps the most stable and future-viable power in the world.
What can be said against the speech is that everyone should respect every belief, especially the belief that ones native culture is evil and that people who want to destroy it are morally superior.
Why is it scary to have t pay attention to Putin? That is obvious - he’s Russian. We all know what Russians are. They’re even more eviler than minorities, they are - dare I say it - even eviler than us.
Believing that your own culture is evil, creates cultural weakness. This is exactly why America, England, and western european countries have become so weak and nihilistic. Nobody is allowed to take pride in their ethnicity, race, nation, culture, heritage, history, except non-whites. Russians are winning, because Russians are proud to be Russian, minorities don’t have the power of globalist pc-ism, and Russian minorities are second class citizens, as they should be. Russia doesn’t need minorities, minorities need Russia.
That makes a strong culture. Western civilization seems to be headed much further down the gutter.
Rununder: the outcome of both: the cold and culture wars are still in suspense. The cold war needed no declaration of surrender, and the word is still out whether ideology or democratic process is more sustainable long term. The cold war’s end was a computerized virtual probability function with limited variables. Mind you, this is based on opinions rather.
Then true predictive analysis.
The same goes for culture wars: the fact that a vast majority of Muslims are Chechna type varieties, do ascribe a difference in type, of integration of minority populations, because the West’s assimilation policies of Muslims are external varieties, other than a recently excluded population, as in the case of Russia.
As a consequence, the effects are not deterministic, except as in the process of observing which way integration of minorities are effected.
Putin speech (if accurate) speaks to the current attitude around the world including
the US, Europe and Asia and flies in the face of the last 500 years of western civilization.
500 years ago or 1513 or so was the beginning of the modern age. Whereas we began to
slowly, very slowly, began to accept the idea of diversity in the world. The middle ages was
an all or nothing time period, but beginning with the Renaissance diversity in art, speech,
politics, culture was on its way. This acceptance of diversity took a long and hard road
often with setbacks on its journey to today. Diversity is the cornerstone of the American
experience yet Americans (GOP, right wingers) have abandoned diversity as unneeded
and unwanted. Putin stands right in line with this new rise in the rejection of diversity,
differences in people. Liberals stand with the last 500 years of history and promote
diversity, promote the idea that we stand stronger with our individual differences then
we stand with a uniformity of beliefs. I agree with liberals. Society is made stronger
by diversity instead of uniformity Putin, GOP, the Taliban, conservatives are trying
to overturn the last 500 years of history and recreate the mindset of the Medieval times
which had one orthodox set belief system. They want to move backwards instead
of forward and that is why we must reject their beliefs. The great secret of the founding fathers
of America was not in its protection of the majority, but in the protection of the minorities, of
the diversity we have from minorities. We are strong with diversities, not from uniformity.
i don’t know if it’s an actual speech by Putin, but Putin has always been an asshole, so i wouldn’t be surprised. i’m going to reserve judgment concerning what it says about Russians in general, since i really don’t think i have enough context.
Insularity is a weakness for any culture, that doesn’t mean Russia should permit Sharia law, but it does mean that Russia, like any great nation, and especially one so large, needs diversity quite a bit more than the speech suggests. A place as vast as Russia simply has to accomodate for the fact that there will be a lot of cultural variation within its borders - if it can’t do that, then it’s a failure as a state.
Yeah, I always wondered what it would be like when white people realized that there was a good chance of everyone eventually being brown.
Most of em hate it deep down in their hearts like where they store jesus and love and all those things. Some don’t even realize it. They reason from conclusions that are linked to the thinking that it’s bad.
Like when an atheist looks at a theist and he sees fear and ignorance and poor reasoning, I see the racist. I think the biggest tragedies are the ones that don’t even realize it, and who don’t understand that there’s nothing to be done about the inevitable other than to embrace it. They stay in a box and miss out on half the world or more.
Things aren’t what they used to be though. Your grandpa grew up in a different time. America wasn’t as strong then as it is now. It didn’t have the responsibilities that it does now.
I think because there’s been a sort of awakening of humanity such that people are starting to realize the need for cooperation over competition. When it comes down to it, people have killed more people than any other thing in nature…probably. And for what? Shiny things? To serve their egos? To eliminate that which due to paranoia they perceive as a threat to their well being…however they define that?
When I was a kid, I remember noticing how people just disregarded people in the rest of the world. Like “screw them they can take that shit to the chinese”, or “if Africa wants what we have then they need to get off their asses and earn it”. Like adults telling you that poor people are poor because they’re lazy. And that the starving people of the world are starving because they wont get jobs. It’s nonsense. Things have come a long way.
It’s very funny to read how Americans talk about this. Being from the Netherlands, where we do not have any flag waving, “support our troops”, national anthems in schools and basically no real national pride at all, I look at America as a country with extreme emphasis on being-American, all the rest being secondary.
Putin is stating such things rather bluntly, but the message is the same as what has been very common expression in America. Many people here think of America as fascist because of this, I don’t. I think Americanism is something to hold on to in a sea of nihilism, as is being-Russian. Culture and value isn’t a given, it needs to be taken, built, enforced.
I came to the conclusion some time back that Russia is potentially one of the next world leaders. It has a confidence about itself that is not present in any Western country, with the exception of maybe the USA. The West is full of self-loathing, self-castigation, nothingness, nihilism … and here we see a country standing up for itself. In fact, being proud of one’s country and people is very common outside the West. It’s uniquely a Western phenomenon to hate one’s culture, country and people. And we have to thank the Left-wing nihilists for that; creeping into the public service, universities, politics, everywhere. The only way forward for the west to get itself out of this self-hating nihilism is to deal with the Left; that is, the traitors and treasonites in their own countries. Deal with the Left and silence them, and self-confidence and self-assurance once again grows; just like all peoples and cultures have done since time immemorial.
I agree with the first part, disagree with the second. I think the right (at least here in the Netherlands) is equally as loathsome as the left. The right is in general corrupt, thieving, shortsighted and vain, the left is in general what you say it is. Both these vices play to each other. Right wing corruption enforces left wing self-loathing. Left wing self-trashing is evoking right wing shortsightedness.
The only thing that will help is a wave of new value-creating, a re inventing of cultural strength. Russia is still in the early stages of that process, but indeed, it is looking good for them. As SIATD said (this may be the only thing you agree with him on) in a few decades, Russia may be the only remaning superpower.
Putin did not address the Duma on 4 February. According to his official calendar, on that day he chaired a meeting to improve the quality of housing and utility services, and had a meeting with Bernie Ecclestone.
No good. Seeing you forgot that we had a conversation about me living in Amsterdam where you made the exact same request only a few months ago, I don’t know what could possibly be in it for me.
To the strong, as referencing the quote, what they have to do is enact their will, instead of serve the will of others. But it’s not the random impulsiveness that goes for free will, it’s the will to create/destroy, to make a mark on the world. At least I take this to be what Thucydides meant.
I have read that he didn’t say it. I think snopes debunked it?
But it doesn’t alter what I’ve seen from Russia as of late.
They even recently passed an anti-gay marriage bill by a 438-0 vote. The postmodern Left uses gays to support their anti-everything Western crusade, but Russia is aware of this and knows that the Western countries are utterly weak when it comes to dealing with minority groups.