This weekend my wife had two cultural shocks. Both horrified her. Both were absolutely strange to her. One, she said, explained more about some of the people we know that are Baby Boomers (and this was not a good bit of praise either). The other generated as unflattering comments from her, but in the end depressed her and even almost brought her to tears. The reason for these reactions was that we watched two different documentaries. The first was the PBS show "The American Experience" about the Summer of Love. The second was the CNN 'report' entitled "Czar Putin."
The first show "The American Experience" talked about the rise and fall of the Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury of San Francisco, California. My wife's reaction to the Boomers and their experiment with the counterculture was negative to the extreme, truthfully. I am not a huge fan of the actions of the previous generation, truth be told, but I also grew up with it at least in the background. My wife did not. In fact, my wife grew up in the Soviet Union, and then after its collapse, the independent country of Ukraine. What she grew up with, what her family went through, and what her culture was were simply fundamentally different. She came away with the thought that the Baby Boomers were just, plain bat-shibbit nuts. She also said that it explained a lot of the actions and politics of those who are my parents' generation from her point of view. Her views are a little harsh, but interesting. She does ahve some good points: how in the world people could believe their "utopia" could even work whatsoever is even beyond me. I guess I am just too much of Gen X to see otherwise.
The second shock for my wife was the CNN report of 'Czar Putin.' It was about Russia under Putin and the then upcoming election (the one this past Sunday). It almost brought my wife to tears. She couldn't understand why Russians were letting Putin do what he's doing to Russia. At the same time, she also questioned whether she would be thinking along those lines if she'd stayed in Ukraine. She was depressed big time by the end and made the comment that she thought Putin had a lot in common with Hitler. The parallels are not that far apart. However, to be fair, the documentary didn't spend enough time talking to Putin's people to try to explain why they thought what they thought. To explain what they thought, CNN's crew turned to the opposition which will, of course, paint it as nasty as can be. Those of you that read this blog KNOW I am not a fan of Putin, but I can also see certain things are being manipulated a bit in the presentation even if the thrust of things happen to be true. The comment from a Putin supporter that was interviewed was something along the lines of "So long as Russia strong and there is money to be made, why should we care about what they do at the top?" Lyuda said, "Every Russian thinks they are a Czar and that's why they want to be led by a Czar, not a President. Americans love stories about people coming from the masses and outdoing those at the top [underdog stories]. That's very not Russian." It's pretty sad. It left my wife pretty depressed for a while. I was able to cheer her up though. No worries.
Right now, Lyuda's feeling a little betwixt and between. She no longer fits in with her Ukrainian friends from back home: she's been Americanized to that much of a degree. Frex, we thought about sending a copy of 'Czar Putin' to our friend in Ukraine that's a party member of the Party of Regions, but decided that he probably wouldn't see it in even close to the same light as Lyuda. However, at the same time Lyuda doesn't feel that she fits in here with Americans as yet and often gets annoyed with us. Her student cohorts are especially nuts as far as she is concerned and what we allow and tolerate amongst us for dissenting points of view baffles her, but she'd rather live amongst those that annoy and be free-er than what she had in Ukraine. Her Americanization is fascinating to watch, but the frustrations it brings are something I wish she could be spared.
The first show "The American Experience" talked about the rise and fall of the Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury of San Francisco, California. My wife's reaction to the Boomers and their experiment with the counterculture was negative to the extreme, truthfully. I am not a huge fan of the actions of the previous generation, truth be told, but I also grew up with it at least in the background. My wife did not. In fact, my wife grew up in the Soviet Union, and then after its collapse, the independent country of Ukraine. What she grew up with, what her family went through, and what her culture was were simply fundamentally different. She came away with the thought that the Baby Boomers were just, plain bat-shibbit nuts. She also said that it explained a lot of the actions and politics of those who are my parents' generation from her point of view. Her views are a little harsh, but interesting. She does ahve some good points: how in the world people could believe their "utopia" could even work whatsoever is even beyond me. I guess I am just too much of Gen X to see otherwise.
The second shock for my wife was the CNN report of 'Czar Putin.' It was about Russia under Putin and the then upcoming election (the one this past Sunday). It almost brought my wife to tears. She couldn't understand why Russians were letting Putin do what he's doing to Russia. At the same time, she also questioned whether she would be thinking along those lines if she'd stayed in Ukraine. She was depressed big time by the end and made the comment that she thought Putin had a lot in common with Hitler. The parallels are not that far apart. However, to be fair, the documentary didn't spend enough time talking to Putin's people to try to explain why they thought what they thought. To explain what they thought, CNN's crew turned to the opposition which will, of course, paint it as nasty as can be. Those of you that read this blog KNOW I am not a fan of Putin, but I can also see certain things are being manipulated a bit in the presentation even if the thrust of things happen to be true. The comment from a Putin supporter that was interviewed was something along the lines of "So long as Russia strong and there is money to be made, why should we care about what they do at the top?" Lyuda said, "Every Russian thinks they are a Czar and that's why they want to be led by a Czar, not a President. Americans love stories about people coming from the masses and outdoing those at the top [underdog stories]. That's very not Russian." It's pretty sad. It left my wife pretty depressed for a while. I was able to cheer her up though. No worries.
Right now, Lyuda's feeling a little betwixt and between. She no longer fits in with her Ukrainian friends from back home: she's been Americanized to that much of a degree. Frex, we thought about sending a copy of 'Czar Putin' to our friend in Ukraine that's a party member of the Party of Regions, but decided that he probably wouldn't see it in even close to the same light as Lyuda. However, at the same time Lyuda doesn't feel that she fits in here with Americans as yet and often gets annoyed with us. Her student cohorts are especially nuts as far as she is concerned and what we allow and tolerate amongst us for dissenting points of view baffles her, but she'd rather live amongst those that annoy and be free-er than what she had in Ukraine. Her Americanization is fascinating to watch, but the frustrations it brings are something I wish she could be spared.
That is funny. I'm sure the Russians are wondering why the American people are letting Bush do what he does.
ReplyDeleteThe Russian view of Bush is more in line with the American view of Putin: he's a corrupt politico that's out to get Russia and they think WE (the US, the West, with a fscking blink tag) are the ones reinstigating the Cold War.
ReplyDeleteThey interpret almost all actions as being about them in my experience. Reading their responses in general is that we're out to get them. I saw this during the 1990s, especially online. I see this all the time even now. Official statements AND personal comments. Lyuda's grandmother reacts that way a lot too and she's a born Russian. lol.
*shrugs*
It's too bad.
Lyuda's comments are interesting though. Very interesting.
Intruiging. How long has your wife lived in the States?
ReplyDelete