> It seems strange, 20 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, that ordinary Russians would still be hungry for details about how ordinary Americans eat and pay mortgages.
What a lovely innuendo.
They might be "hungry" for these details, but not because they envy the lifestyle or are looking up to it. A lot of Russians still view Americans as self-indulgent, somewhat retarded know-it-alls, bathing in life's luxuries that make no sense. There are stand-up comedy acts that center on how you can't get a whole pickled cucumber in McDonalds (even though there's a sliced version in every hamburger), how there exist separate trimmers for a nose and for an ear hair, how Americans drink vodka "on the rocks", etc. Ordinary Russians are no more hungry for the lifestyle details than for UFO encounter stories and Thai transvestite pictures, with "hungry" being way too strong of the word in either case.
As a Russian American, Ive noticed a definite curiosity remnant from the cold war regarding how the two countries live. The difference is that Western culture is all over russia (from copying tv shows like American Idol to Fabrika Zvezd), movies in theatres, etc whereas in the US, it's the older generation that harbors a curiosity about Russian people.
My father, a doctor who emigrated at 35, started practicing in a small town in the midwest about 20 years ago. He had patients who wouldnt see him as soon as they learned he was Russian...and he had patients that displayed a real curiosity over our food, language etc. I'd say that Russians possess a certain disdain for Americans...they would love to enjoy a similar quality of life, but they find the culture too simple/vapid/devoid of meaning. Russians will say they would NEVER move to america, but many of them would in a heartbeat
You are reading way too much into a single word and it's a shame that another nit-picking contrarian viewpoint like this gets voted to the top on HN.
I've heard Brits claim that they keep the royal family around for the amusement of Americans. No one attacks that claim because it's obviously just a joke. In this case, it's just a word that you've certainly read way too much in to (why you've done that I won't speculate).
I guess you are right, the comment did come out a bit trollish, didn't it? FWIW, it only got 8 upvotes. The reason is at the top of the comments is because of my karma level.
What a lovely innuendo.
They might be "hungry" for these details, but not because they envy the lifestyle or are looking up to it. A lot of Russians still view Americans as self-indulgent, somewhat retarded know-it-alls, bathing in life's luxuries that make no sense. There are stand-up comedy acts that center on how you can't get a whole pickled cucumber in McDonalds (even though there's a sliced version in every hamburger), how there exist separate trimmers for a nose and for an ear hair, how Americans drink vodka "on the rocks", etc. Ordinary Russians are no more hungry for the lifestyle details than for UFO encounter stories and Thai transvestite pictures, with "hungry" being way too strong of the word in either case.