US does feel like the flip side of the coin of the USSR (was born there, albeit I was too young to remember any substantive details).
I’ve lived in both US and Russia for many years, albeit I first experienced US as a young adult.
I will agree that Soviet-style hypernormalization is near universal in the US. I felt this as a young adult, perhaps ~10 years before I actually watched HyperNormalisation. It was clear most of the polemics about “freedom of this or that” was just local bullshit, not to be taken seriously.
I would disagree about russia feeling more oppressive (although I haven’t been there since 2009), but in some ways it was more free than the US, I will agree on that one.
I also only went to Saint Petersburg in Russia and New York, Philadelphia and DC in the US, of which I guess Philadelphia felt somewhat alright and New York was a bit of a strange mix. DC was weird, but I’m sure Moscow would have been back in the day as well. Maybe not a fair comparison.
I would say Saint Petersburg isn’t too different from Moscow (albeit I’ve never lived there, only visited).
But I agree in the overall discussion point. US is surprisingly like russia, locals in both countries are into their provincial polemics and axiomatic beliefs.
US does feel like the flip side of the coin of the USSR (was born there, albeit I was too young to remember any substantive details).
I’ve lived in both US and Russia for many years, albeit I first experienced US as a young adult.
I will agree that Soviet-style hypernormalization is near universal in the US. I felt this as a young adult, perhaps ~10 years before I actually watched HyperNormalisation. It was clear most of the polemics about “freedom of this or that” was just local bullshit, not to be taken seriously.
I would disagree about russia feeling more oppressive (although I haven’t been there since 2009), but in some ways it was more free than the US, I will agree on that one.
I also only went to Saint Petersburg in Russia and New York, Philadelphia and DC in the US, of which I guess Philadelphia felt somewhat alright and New York was a bit of a strange mix. DC was weird, but I’m sure Moscow would have been back in the day as well. Maybe not a fair comparison.
Why was DC weird for you?
I would say Saint Petersburg isn’t too different from Moscow (albeit I’ve never lived there, only visited).
But I agree in the overall discussion point. US is surprisingly like russia, locals in both countries are into their provincial polemics and axiomatic beliefs.