this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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Look I know that's a hyperbolic statement because you're dissatisfied with the USA's political landscape, I am and I'm not American because their politics bleeds heavily internationally through culture.
But the US is FAR FAR away from being like Russia. It's so different in many ways that to compare the two is like saying Chalk is almost like Cheese because their chemical formulas both have Carbon in them. It's completely nonsensical. Anything organic has carbon in it.
Just like how all countries have common problems: corruption, malfunctioning subsystems within the government machine, wealth inequality, etc, the list is endless.
The difference is the whole the parts make up.
Let's take a left-field example: smiling and saying hello to strangers.
Americans (with some exceptions like NYC residents) are stereotyped as being friendly and willing to smile and make small talk with strangers as a form of public politeness. Almost to the point of being over familiar and can come across as superficial.
Russians (again this is stereotyped) would think any stranger smiling at them is someone not to be trusted because they want something from you. But if you spend a lot of time around one, get to know them, I've been told they are very welcoming.
The reasons why? Vastly different cultural values and societies that reflect those values.
I could go on with more examples but this comment is long enough.
I'm not american either. Sorry I forgot to imply that this was just the way it seemed to me. I didn't really have the social aspect in mind and I know very well that they are culturally nothing alike. The similarities I was refering to were the imperialistic tendencies, that in the US seem to be out of control of the elected government (this is an interesting example), and the exploitative, oligarchic mode of capitalism that has grown into the state that seems to be growing under both (although it is not called oligarchy in the US). But it is true that the US still has the rule of law and functioning separation of powers.
No, we actually kind of don't anymore. Have you been paying attention to the SCOTUS or places like Florida and Texas?
Your examples are extremely weird, friend. When comparing and contrasting countries, how about focusing on politics? The USA is an imperialist oligarchy with a giant, globe-spanning military presence, dominating and exploiting economies under threat of violence and sanctions, while Russia is an irridentist oligarchy that can apply pressure on other countries through little more than it's fairly large military force. If Russia had the same resources and trade-presence as the USA they would be almost identical. If you really want to talk about cultural values, they are generally the same. The average human being cares about peace, justice, love, joy, truth, freedom, beauty. The differences are political.