Go to ground.news/nfkrz to try Ground News for free or subscribe to get unlimited access to avoid propaganda, spot bias, and know where your news is coming from!
Hey Roman! As a Ukrainian, I want to say huge thanks to you for educating the Westerners. I think that is really valuable that there's a person from Russia actually sharing what the experience in the country is like.
he does not know what the "country is like". He has only his opinion, and also says what he is paid to say. Or do you think that a large youtube channel is created without "support" from above? You are very naive.
@@grundgesetzart.1463 I see you have a soviet sailor as a pfp, if you have any respect for the USSR you should understand that Lenin, the one so many Russian's revere, would never have stood for this war. Ukraine has the right to self determination. The Russian Federation is rebuilding everything which Lenin and the Soviets sought to destroy. 80 years of Russian history are being wasted by the day.
What I respect about you is that you are not afraid to admit your shortcomings or mistakes. We are all only human. And I think you're a pretty cool dude.
I see Roman as a freelance Journalist with a focus on Russian History & Culture, which is extremely in-demand & important right now. 2023 on-track for the most important year in human history. I always saw Russia & Ukraine as Cousins, like many Slavic countries. It's likely not that close. I wouldn't call Irish, Scottish, Welsh & the British Cousins but I could see the comparison.
I met a women who was russian but now lived in a western country as an adult. I asked her how life in russia was and sha answered that she didn't think much about it. It was only when she moved from russia that she understood how bad the political climate and corruption was, same with history. She learned more about russian history outside russia than inside
@@СаниМихайловscandinavians have many sources, and each one tells different story, slavic history has lesser sources but they all tell +- the same, except western source, that appeared much later than events, and russian "scientist" lomonosov, who thought he could be megamind in history too
My in laws are from Russia and also told me it’s hard to realize how bad it is until people leave which is why Putin has blocked a lot of Russians from leaving the country.
It´s a sign of a great ability of self reflection that you noticed and admitted that even you as an opposer of the regime sometimes pick up talking points/arguments of the Russian propaganda. Respect!
It's true with many things, the mark of an anti racist is not someone who has never had a prejudiced thought, we are all products of our societal conditioning, but those who actively fight against and challenge that conditioning.
@@annai6393 The difference between my country (Austria) and Russia is that we don't have state propaganda here but free media - which covers all kinds of positions across the political spectrum. This doesn't mean that they are completely unbiased whatsoever but a very broad range of angles is available. So my country is "telling" or "feeding" me nothing. I consume various types of news outlets and make the conclusions in my own - as every mature citizen.
I am from Lithuania, and I grew up with a lot of Russian people around me saying the same propaganda you mentioned in this video: Baltics betrayed Russia, Soviet Union gave us factories and we betrayed its trust, war was won by USSR etc. I had the advantage of having a lot of conflicting information around me, which made me question a lot of things.
turbut rusu seimoje augai, nes ne vienas is mano giminaiciu ar draugu niekad nesake kad lietuva isdave sovietu sajunga, ar kokia sovietu sajunga buvo gera lietuvai
@@АлександрБолбат-ы1у Yeah, I remember my grandmother was always saying "Baltics was the most prosperous region of the USSR and now they are the poorest in the EU ha-ha, not so good without Russia, huh, why you keep shitting on Russia?" And when I was 12 it suddenly hit me - wait a minute, that doesn't actually mean they've become poorer than they were.
2 mins in Roman, I heard a quote from the Beastie Boys recently: "I'd rather be considered a hypocrite, than someone who never changed their mind." As long as you do it with truth and honesty, there are enough humans in this world that will recognize that and understand. I regret what I've thought and said in the past, but am grateful to be able to think differently. You have a kind soul, brother, cheers!
Side note - whenever I first heard crazy Marjorie Taylor Green say “Jewish Space Lasers,” my first thought was Intergalactic by the Beastie Boys… idk, my brain works in a weird way. This is why I laugh at the wrong moment - I’m wildly offended by the batshit idea of “Jewish Space Lasers” causing wildfires in California, I’m dying bc I’m thinking of an old Beastie Boys song from the late 90s.. The Beastie Boys did have a full turn around in their ideas and I don’t know why anyone would call that hypocrisy. You can’t stay in the “License to Ill” phase of your life as a grown ass human. LOL
A sign of an educated and emotionally intelligent person is to admit when they were wrong. You not only did that, you showed us and talked about it. Good video.
Still it is hard not to admit that technically we are one nation, the main word here is technically. It is a long story. We had the same ancestors (русичи) and we origin from the same country (Русь also known as Киевская Русь). Kiev was the capital of Русь. Also we had another language slavic language, also known as ancient russian. And up until year 1147 Kiev was an capital of Русь, because in this gear Kiev's князь (technically prince) Юрий Долгорукий (Juri Longarms) decided to build Moscow. Juri Dolgorukij also wanted to move capital from Kiev to Moscow. But it didn't happend. Juri actually wanted to unite Русь, because there were no borders, there were not "kings", there were only князья, and Knjaz of Kiev was the main Князь, and that is why Jury build Moscow as a new beginning, but in reality his action lead to complete collapse of Русь. All knjazs thought, that if kiev's knjaz can make a new capital, then why we can't do the same? The end of Русь was in 1242, whe Tatars invades into Русь. As a result of this Русь was separated to three regions (Ukraine, Belaruss and Moсковия (Moscow Region)), which developed completely differently. So yes, technically we are the same, but we still have a lot of differences, and that is why we are different nations. And that is why people, who against war, speak that this war is the fratricidal war, because tecgnically we are the same.
@@ВладимирГалицкий-х8ц Ukrainians are the true ancestors of Kieven Rus and Ukrainian culture has existed for far longer than Russian culture. Ukrainian culture didn't deviate from Russian culture, Russian culture deviated from Ukrainian culture, just like any other slavic cultures. Cope.
@@dork7546 both nations are true ancestors, cope with that. We just choose different passes and so became different, and now both nations who have the same ancestors and a lot in common are fighting with each other, which is sad, especially to me, whose grandfather was ukrainian. And we became different nations during tatar mongol igo, because it was usefull for them to keep us separately . Up until this event, there weren't russians, ukrainians nor belorussians, there was only one nation rusichi. Just before and during igo there was complete chaos and Kiev Russia couldn't decide where the capital should be. Up until this event all regions had the same traditions, culture and language. In fact, it was Petr I, who in 1721 completely changed russian culture and traditions to be more like European culture, and Rus was renamed to Russia. And i still can't decide was it a good decision or not. ...
@@ВладимирГалицкий-х8ц Russians literally still lived the same way they did during medieval times before Peter the Great came along because Russia skipped the renaissance. I think Peter the Great did his people a huge ass favor by trying to modernize Russia so it could be more like the more developed, neighbouring European countries and less like a medieval time capsule. Also, it's the 21st century now. It's not the Mongols or Tartars that want Russia and Ukraine to be different nations now, it's the Ukrainian people, themselves. They DON'T want to merge with Russia, they want to be their own sovereign nation. And that's because modern day Ukrainians have very different political and philosophical views from modern day Russians. They don't want to live under Putin's fascism, they don't look back on the USSR days with a smile and they certainly don't want to rebuild it. What they actually want is to preserve their democracy and turn to real capitalism so they could join the EU and NATO. So if you care about your "brothers", you should respect their wishes and let them protect their sovereignty and join the EU and NATO. Like it or not, it doesn't matter if you really were the same people over 1000 years ago(and you weren't), nowadays Ukrainians have a vastly different culture and set of beliefs than nowadays Russians.
@@ВладимирГалицкий-х8ц Also, most Belarusians don't want to live under Putin and Lukashenko's fascism either, as they hate Lukashenko's guts and actually voted him out of office. But once he lost, he decided to exile the woman whom he lost to, alongside her entire family and simply just beat up and arrest her supporters. Belarusians also wish to break away from Russia so they could become a capitalist democracy so again, if you actually care about your "brothers" you should respect their wishes and support their desire to break away from both Putin and Lukashenko so they could become a westernised democracy.
By the way, speaking of brainwashing, my dad was a child in Nazi Germany. And he always had a little bit of admiration for Hitler left. Even though he would not admit it. One time, I told him Hitler was kind of dumb, because he tried to take on the whole world in an unwinnable war. And I said if hitler was smart, he never would have tried that. My dad got very upset by hearing that. He was upset at hearing hitler called dumb. But then eventually, he calmed down and admitted I was right. But he still had that internal brainwashing left, from when he was a child.
Well ur dad was right, Hitler was not dumb, u cant become a Dictator and rule over half of Europe as a dumb person. Hitler was Evil, that is what u should have said.
I think hitler was very much a flawed genius, evil beyond comparison, but he was talented. To call him dumb is to reduce all the other key statesmen to an even lower level and reduce the losses of millions to what - stupidity?
@@wokeaf1337 Nah Hitler was an idiot. He started wars with a zillion countries, thinking he could win. Only an idiot would believe that. His speeches were idiotic and clownish as well. They were oversold. The guy was a low class fool.
North-Korean dissidents often say they feel love for the Kim-dynasty. Not that they do not fully comprehend that they are dictators, but they were trained to love the Kims straight from birth, so each time they see the bastards, a sense of warmth, warm fuzzy love runs through their bodies - it's just a biological response after decades of conditioning, while their mind says no, fuck it. Incredible, right?
This is so interesting Roman. You speak and explain your thought processes and experiences so well. Today this is super important in this age where many people in Russia and the US use blind hate of their "enemy" to build their identity. Your story is relatable and shows others to be more compassionate, patient and accepting. Boy does the world need it. Keep it going keep it real brother.
I don't see any "blind hate" of Russia here in the US. Although US people don't approve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, no one is trying to stop US Russian asylum rules. US people are quite accepting of Russians that immigrate to the US.
@@TheBandit7613 I have seen blind hate, it is ugly as ugly as racism, homophobia, religious bigotry. Once you point out many Russians oppose Putin the hatred is less and does not apply to the people. Hate is cancer. It needs to be treated , some people can be cured.
To compare Nazi Russia, which killed tens of thousands of civilians with the aim of erasing people from the face of the earth, and the United States, one must be a victim of propaganda in the most remote village in Siberia
It’s awesome how self aware you are . Even I fell for Russian propaganda… and I’m an American . You know all the memes from the 2010s of Putin riding a bear and just how badass he was made out to be with his riches and martial arts , manliness etc . Another thing is that I’ve fallen for US propaganda as well and that’s another to keep an eye for . All sides play propaganda and no one is immune to all that , but these conversations like you have here about admitting when you’re wrong is how we combat it ! Keep up the great vids Roman
Actually the main part of Russians and Ukrainians are brainwashed by their propaganda and, I would say, their “new mythology”. But from time to time I meet some individuals (among Ukrainians and Russians) who clearly see that on both sides. I’ve got some friends in Ukraine, and it’s a big torture to discuss all that shit with them (by means of telegram, of course). We don’t have anything to separate, but there are so many people around us that think differently! 😒
Some points he mentioned even relate to Germany. One day, someone told me to appreciate that thanks to the Russians the nazis were beaten. I grew up on the western side of the border but not far from the border. The reunification happened before I went to school. But I asked myself how could I appreciate that another country replaced the most unjust state on our ground by the second most. That was far from what I could imagine to believe, especially thinking of the remaining scars in Germany's East. But some people do.
Yeah I at a point thought the same thing about russia and their military. Eventually I grew out of it and now watching this “special military operation” I see how weak russia is. Atleast compared to how they use to potray themselves
Trump is also (to some degree) a product of Russian propaganda. I’m not even talking about collusion, but just the fact that they actively tried to influence the American people. Heck even trump fell for Russian propaganda himself when he openly stated that he believed the word of putin above that of his own intelligence agencies. And Brexit is in the same category. It’s not that Russia single-handedly made those events happen, but they did influenced them and tried to steer them into a certain direction it went. How much their actions influenced those results and of the results would be different if they stayed out, is an other discussion. But it’s clear they did something (with or without help/collusion that’s also an other topic)
i’m 32 yo, from far east of russia (khabarovsk). the bell rings to me first when i went abroad for the first time - it was Finland and Sweden in 2006. the moment when our car transferred the boarder i felt the softness and smoothness of a road, and i thought “ok, finland is a cold country, just like russia. why the road is so good?”. second time: my classmate and his family moved to United Arabic Emirates in 2000, and when we all graduated school, he came back visiting his grandma. he was told that all citizens of UAE have a percentage of gas and fuel that theirs government sell abroad. and i thought “wtf, where is our percentage?!”. third - i studied journalism editing in university (and other sorts of publish relationships and how to manipulate information). and that was just a beginning of my long path of a putin-hater (by “putin” i mean all of that gang). our country is in hands of a thugs. i don’t know what to do. i fought, but i got tired (especially when they did anti anti-war law). absurdism and surrealism (in frightening way) are behind my door.
I understand your frustration, I am Russian myself, and the most depressing part is that Russia has a large potential, basically everything that is needed to create progressive, developed, tolerant society, but no, Russia always was/is and will be heavily corrupted because if nothing has changed throughout history, it is unlikely that it will ever change in the future. Sometimes I really feel like Russia is cursed or something like that.
@@samakat30 i don’t think it’s cursed. i think, russians must learn a lesson - we need to grow up and stop thinking that government think about us. we must to force them to do what good for us. constant vigilance. we tend to think so childish because we didn’t have much freedom: first - slavery, second - soviet union, were the concept of “you don’t need to think about politics because you can’t do anything” was the basis
You have your percentage in pensions and other state expenses. The budget is comprised by resource taxes. Check the population of uae and the amount of oil they are producing. Stop being delusional.
Oh wow. As one of the founders of Lurk I, honestly got a bit emotional when you mentioned it. It's really hard to comprehend what influence we had back in the day.
@@cringedelacringe6949 Ahaha, I bet it was. And I am glad that at least some audience get that self-reflection part. Yet I wonder sometimes, what impact it had on younger people. We were mostly in our mid to late 20s at the height of its popularity, and core team worldviews were mostly, ahem, unorthodox. And not that we received a lot of direct feedback from regular readers.
@@laierr Because lurk was critical of literally everybody, and whatever you do you would be laughed at, by it, it taught me to not be the blind slave of anonymous people opinions
On WW2, as an American I learned mostly about how the US was primarily responsible for defeating the axis, and while we were very important I didn't learn until I was older the fact that China and especially the USSR were very important too. In China I also went to a museum that portrayed them as the main reason for Japan's defeat. In other words, we've all kind of inflated our role in WW2
China had nothing to do with japans defeat they didnt even have a proper army at that time. What you saw in that museum was chinas goverment making stuff up and making their citizens belive it
well, if an alien with absolute zero bias would study WW2 I am pretty sure the conclusion will be that indeed the USA was the largest contributor to the war effort, but that doesn't make them better than others who did what they could with the resources they had. It just means that the USA had by far the most resources and manpower.
Fellow Russian here. I've grown up in akadem gorodok (it's basically a small city built for scientist by scientists and thus people tend to think a bit non-conventional here). All points you've mentioned have resonated with me plus dur to location i had a lot of scientific and social exchange with "westerns" which held my views very open and less Propaganda prone.
Hey, that is really cool and interesting you're in the scientific field! I would assume many people in the scientific field are well educated & have a pragmatic view of the world. BUT, those fields often rely on various forms of government funding and subsidies. So I would imagine it's difficult for some in research/development to receive proper funding if they are not publicly supporting the Kremlin propaganda and messaging?
@@justinhealey-htcohio3798 that's the problem: intelligence and education on their own are not a safeguard against propaganda or believing in conspiracy theories:( half of my highly educated family is pro-putin... Kinda scary:( Being open-minded and not old are so far the strongest factors for not being suseptible for that crap
@@FatDataUnicorn I can completely empathize and understand. Half of my family (Mostly my older aunt's & uncles) STILL support Donald Trump! They still think 🍊MANGO MUSSOLINI🤡 is the smartest most savvy businessman in the world even though 6 of his businesses have filed BANKRUPTCY & He is incapable of clearly understanding or articulating any complex issue. **I think a lot of the political division in the world is the result of the ELDER ESTABLISHMENT generation COPING and PANICKING because no they know GEN-X, MILLENNIALS & ZOOMERS are very well educated, knowledgeable & plan on drastically changing the status quo over the next decade! Our generation doesn't put up with bullshit & nonsense!
I'm an ethnic Russian living in Lithuania, so my family would always watch Russian channels. Up until 2014, I never really cared about what was said on it, mainly looking at American politics because I was figuring out I was left-leaning. After 2014, I did also notice suddenly the entire Russian media suddenly started shitting on Ukraine after the annexation, and any Western country that said anything bad about it. As years went by, I started asking myself, "why is Russia always talking about a nazi-filled country while nobody in the west is doing it?". Eventually I started seeing through all the bullshit and even asked my mother if she saw it. When I told her that I disagreed with Putin on things, she almost disowned me, called me brainwashed by the West, as Solovyev was talking on her TV. After she passed away and I moved in with my dad while my apartment was renovated, I noticed he'd also constantly watch that shit 24/7, both TV and laptop, bypassing the Lithuanian ban on Russian channels by watching them online. Ever since the full scale invasion started this February, I've not looked at Russia in any good light. It's actually disheartening how brainwashed so many Russians are, that they're not even realizing they're living in a colonial fascist state, calling everyone nazis when they themselves have a Z plastered everywhere like another swastika-like symbol. My hope for the coming future that this imperialist fascist state collapses, and they get some actually competent, democratic leaders. But I am not holding my breath, because from seeing how Russians been reacting to this whole war, I've given up on them.
Well said. It is down right disgusting when Z people calling Ukraine Nazi when Russia is the one doing the genocide of Ukrainians, wanting to erase Ukraine race. Using Donbass as an uxcuse to attack Ukraine when they are the one behind it, manipulating and brainwashing and promises to those regions so that it will fight Ukraine government.
@@mastersafari5349 I do the same thing about America, as an American. The reason is because speaking in the third person makes more sense in writing. To someone reading what I write, saying "American government" is more self-explanatory than "my government".
@@dukebanerjee4710 Yeah I see it when you're talking about *the government* because you aren't a government official, aren't you? So it makes sense to talk about them in 3rd person. The OP, in the other hand, writes in 3rd person about Russian people whilst also referring to himself as a Russian.
I love the Russian people, I love Russian food, and I love Russian culture. I despise Putin and his regime. Keep up the good work, Roman! #СлаваУкраїні #ПеремогаУкраїни 🇺🇦
That's exactly what I think of Russia! I haven't tried the food, but I am very much interested in the culture! I am also against the government, for understandable reasons. Героям слава!
Having seen copious interviews of Russians, I can't only state their"culture" appears to be money, possessions, status symbols. "I got a Lada because my son conveniently died". ????????.. "I don't care why I'm fighting ,look what I'm paid". ????? I don't care pass the Vodka, or rubbing alcohol??????? Let's starve , beat, rape, kill mutilate our own conscripts and prisoners ???CULTURE?????? Barbarians, vandals, the Orc Horde do not have culture. They are conscienceless, amoral and inhuman. A mother had to prosecute some years past when her son came back from conscription with no genitals or legs, his superior officers had done it!
Same think for me to Ukraine! Love your culture guys! You great! Hope one time we will eat and sing together and I hope we will be out of those fascists from Kremlin! A french Russian dude
I'm born abroad but my parents are Russian, I have a Russian passport, was raised in a highly Russian household during my childhood (like to the point where we only watched Russian television at home) and went back frequently. All that to say my parents have bought into the propaganda 100% despite living abroad. But almost all news they read (domestic or international) they read from Russian source etc. And because they supported the propaganda and Putin that's what I thought was correct growing up. To the point that I argued with one of my teachers about Crimea. Only once I got into Uni was I able to reframe/break away from that mindset. Now, the more I learn the more sad I get and I know I won't get anywhere with my parents cuz I've tried now on multiple occasions
Give up too easily. Not only is Crimea historically Russian but it had an autonomy agreement with Ukraine which Ukraine then proceeded to violate before abusing them for the next 18 years. 2013 just before things got crazy the US government sent a mission to Crimea to find out how people felt and they discovered the majority of people spoke Russian, saw thrmselves as Russian, and did not like Kiev. They had protested against their mistreatment before and the government responded by sending the army to kill them. The United Nations upholds the right to popular sovereignty in its charter. This means the right of a people to determine their rule and country. Crimea voted overwhelmingly to join Russia. This means by international law they are rightfully Russian now.
Great video Roman. We were just in Tbilisi and we kept saying "ope Roman went there here" "oh hey Roman filmed this too". As a westerner, you and Bald are the main reason we went to Georgia on our first major vacation. Keep it up man, stay safe and God bless.
Explore other countries too. 😂 There's even more excitement in other countries. I say that as someone who visited Georgia two months ago and been to a number of other countries.
I also went through a similar path and have the same mindset (27 yo from Saint Petersburg). As a teenager, I was a skater and liked listening to American punk rock, absorbed a need for freedom and realized that the government lies a lot. Unfortunately, those who are younger than me and Roman could grow up more brainwashed, I am afraid. PS I also took a DNA test and got the same result: 100% Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. It actually could be a part of propaganda as well! Since it is a Russian company that makes it (Genotek).
@@MuzzaHukka It is not necessarily more accurate... It all depends on the database that the company has and the algorithm they use. Therefore some companies are more adapted for certain ethnic backgrounds...
I am from poland(family from belarus), did dna test in myheritage got 100% east european. Exported it later to gedmach, and got same result, eurogenes even pinpointed the region my family is from. Since these are american companies, I think it's legit. There are just fairly a lot of ethnically pure people in eastern europe(due to lack of mobility and little immigration I assume)
I am polish and Ukrainian and got Russia and Eastern European DNA with areas in Belarus, Ukraine and Poland. It’s all slavic dna which is super similar but noone in my family is Russian. I think us Slavs are bunched into one group. I did get sub regions in Poland Ukraine and Belarus tho as well.
@@katrinakovalenko6206 Actually, slav is a culture, not ethnicity. That's why it's not called slav on these websites. For example, significant portion of people in belarus are of baltic ethnicity, but the culture of belarus is uniformly slavic.
I just want all Slavs to be friends to be perfectly honest. Especially as a Pole who lived in the UK for 9 years (I moved when I was 10), i barely see any Polish media and when I do I'm as embarrassed as when I see other Slavic country media. The Polish and Russian governments hate eachother but when my mum went to climb Elbrus, and had a Russian fella drive her and her friend they spoke their languages to eachother and even not everything was understood, there was some friendship. Why can't everyone just be nice. Literally all I want is for no more human life to be lost over stupid war. Stay positive guys :)
Because when people fail to take responsibility of their own lives and happinness, they band together and start looking issues in other "tribes"... those damn liberals/conservatives, polish/russians, west/east, etc. And the politicans use this kind of mood to promote their agenda. And promoting HATE, conspiracy theories, tribalism, etc. is in fact a lifeblood of modern media. It appeals to the most basic animal side of humanity. In every country, unfortunately. And humans are relatively the same everywhere.
We're not as divisive as our governments would like us to believe. People are people, and although reactionaries exist, most folks are kind and more than willing to be friendly and helpful to one another.
Poland has a right-wing government right now, hating on Russia and Germany belongs to the package, unfortunately. The other parties - and people even more so - clearly differentiate between the Russian state and the Russian people. In the words of Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, they are 'anti-Russia rusophiles'. Russian literature is still taught in Polish schools. Many people learn and like the language. The majority of people do not dislike Russian people (about 2/3rd are either positive or irrelevant towards Russians. May not be much, but this is the highest value since 1990, since the data is collected by CBOS, the government public opinion agency). Sure, the war changed a lot. But I would still say that most people do not hate Russians because they're Russian. If anything, they hate them for supporting this war, for supporting genocide, for supporting this authoritarian regime. This is an attitude issue, not ethnicity issue.
I'm gratified to hear you credit Navalny for playing such a big role in your enlightenment and that of others in your generation. My hearts breaks for that guy -- I am incapable of feeling any optimism at all for Russia anymore, and I often wonder what the hell he accomplished by GOING BACK there and ending up brutalized in jail. It staggers me that he risked his life and lost his freedom over a belief that Russia can be more than what it is ... but now I can see that even if he doesn't manage to save Russia, he has very much saved an entire generation of Russians, mentally at least. He didn't sacrifice himself for no reason -- he sacrificed himself for the good of millions of young Russians like yourself.
Navalney could be doing so much more, there was no reason for him to go back, that was heartbreaking insanity and now nothing good has or is coming from that decision.
Is that really what you think about Navalny? Well don’t look now but it turns out he’s in ultranationalist who openly hates Muslims and Asians and Caucasians all non-Christian non-ethnic Russky. Seriously the guy even made a TV ad comparing people from the caucuses to cockroaches and recommending different guns to shoot them with. Seriously. Watch. m.th-cam.com/video/hT0tCSaWZ9Q/w-d-xo.html And this guy is supposed to be the hero Russia needs?
@@LHSMeleeClub he wanted to inspire russian people do disobey regime and rise up. It worked. There were massive demonstrations after his arrest for weeks in most largest cities all over the country. However, because of rosgvardian soldiers and very violent suppression of demonstrations thousands protestors were captured, harmed and sentenced to years in prison. After that parliament ratified few laws that made protesting impossible (like you can be sentenced to 10 years of prison for standing near metro station with empty piece of paper) and most free thinking citizens decided to leave the country or keep quiet. So, sadly, Alexey's spark was not enough to start the fire.
This is a truly great video. I commend your wisdom and humility and wish that a lot of my compatriots here in the USA were capable of such a level of self-reflection and self-criticism.
Hey, you rock! Overcoming one’s childhood / environmental conditioning is a huge challenge. I think it’s awesome that you did it, that you have self-reflection, and that you share your experiences so honestly. You make the world just a little bit better.
It's an ongoing struggle. We are *constantly* bombarded by propaganda. It's a bit worrying how so many people lament about people in other countries falling for it. and yet won't even entertain the thought that "their side" would do the same. I only recently learned that the videos we watch about the war, are *very carefully* tailored to cater to our biases. For instance, vloggers on the frontlines who happen document anything negative about the Ukrainian side, get pushed down by the YT algorithm. And all those intercepted Russian phonecalls are very carefully cherrypicked by Ukrainian intelligence. But those are just some of the more blatant examples. Modern propaganda can be extremely effective, that shit is a science. It can be hard to catch yourself parroting something you don't actually agree with if you stopped to think. But we're social animals, and our tribalistic instincts are used against us. It's depressing...
Your experience makes a lot of sense. When people learn (and are not inhibited from learning) history, experience different cultures and are able to experience differing opinions, it can open up the world for you in the best ways.
Your growth as a person is inspirational. I experienced something similar living in the US by understanding how government bodies work and how populations are affected. Everyone should understand the world is advancing faster than our mindsets are
Literally same experience here. Internet culture, Lurkmore, Navalny, Nemtsov, are amongst the gravest things that shaped my political consiousness. I remember going to the rally in 2012 (not the first one of that period, but I guess the second one), just because it was so popular, but then getting a Nemtsov-Milov report about Putin's corruption handed me there which was the thing that kick-started my awareness about the Russian state of internal affairs. But I have to say, Internet culture and Lurkmore were always a double-edged sword where on one side, it had been always promoting the critical thinking I guess (which was good), but on the other hand - "condemning" human morality (moralfag was the word) and common values
I can sorta relate to this video as an American who grew up in a military/conservative environment. Crazy how we're shaking off our indoctrination around the same age. I love these different perspectives of a similar struggle. Another great video, Roman. I really appreciate the honesty and reflection shown here and it encourages me to continue on my own journey.
Not crazy but normal. The middle teenage years are a time of awakening & rebellion against conventions of the older generation. We all argue with our dads and we see that it makes them angry. Then we wonder if maybe they are not the all-knowing leaders that we thought when we were small but just fallible people who can't actually examine or justify their opinions nor accept any dissent. For many of us, this is what sent us to the history books to find out for ourselves what really happened. This was not at all easy 50 years ago but today's internet generation are much luckier, except for Russians, Japanese & Chinese apparently. When we were young, we were suspicious of the motives & the stories of anyone over 30. Now I'm 66 and I can confirm we were right to be.
I was born in Ukraine, but I was brainwashed the same way. Because we had exactly the same history classes at school here, we watched Russian TV channels, and there were many USSR bigots among the elderly. I thought Ukrainians and Russians were one nation that defeated Nazism. I believed that the West was evil and that Russia and Ukraine should unite to oppose it. Then I got the Internet and had access to different sources of information. I changed my mind about 80% of what I had been told about Russia, Ukraine and the West as a child. The remaining 20% were shattered in 2014, when Russia went to war against Ukraine. I realized that Russia and the USSR was the real evil, and Ukraine should unite with the West to oppose it.
I can relate. I am originally from Russia as well and lived there for a good deal of my life but I left & came back at times. Both my grandparents (on one side of my family) were massive Putin supporters and thought I was insane for being against him. Even other Russians I know aboard still push that line. It can be hard to get out of the propaganda since I also at one point supported Putin. Ever since the Ukraine stuff first started , all my right wing friends are basically pro Putin.
I think another problem with being Russian abroad is that the propaganda machine targets expats, too. And I remember in 2016-2018, it was preying on the vast differences between different news sources (at least in the US). The rhetoric was "you can't trust your own news sources, so why do you think that your media would be depicting Russia accurately?" And a lot of people fell for it, completely ignoring that such a stance was conveniently advantageous to the current regime.
I think you summed up my feelings towards any war ever conducted with one question! "What is the point of this territorial gain if peoples lives become worse?"
Your English mastery is impressive. I have been in USA from 2005 since early age and I can't express my self that well in English. It just so different from east European languages, even Spanish flows better for me in small talk scenarios. I guess a script in front of camera is easier.
I dont actually think his stuff is that scripted. Yes he certainly has a script but he isn't reading off a teleprompter. Also he has been doing this for like 10 years or almost half of his life, so it is no surprise.
I don’t think he uses a script. I am a native speaker who taught English as a foreign language abroad, this does not seem scripted to me, he did what all my best students did to learn English -played video games and spoke with native speakers while doing it. 😂 By “script” I mean he isn’t reading it, of course he outlines what he is going to discuss, everyone does. You can tell a difference between his content and when he’s discussing the sponsor.
I think Roman also tries pretty hard to become a better orator, maybe you speak your native languages in private or with friends more than is conducive to learning English better. Like all of my Iranian friends, they picked up English fast but their parents are lost causes because they literally never even attempt to speak English.
Very relatable. I was a full vatnik until MH17. I was convinced that UA brought down the plane but then I saw some things that made me start questioning russia's narrative on this. I guess it made me start applying critical thinking and thats when the uncomfortable truth revealed itself to me.
Dude, I really appreciate the perspective you give. I think if more people watched your stuff they would have better insight of what living in Russia is really like and the impact of your environment and social conditions. I'm glad you left I hope things work out for you and the rest of the Ukrainian and Russian people. Keep your head up. Well informed people question their states, no one is a lost cause.
I was hella brainwashed, but instead of the government it was wild conspiracies and religion. It's harder to escape that mentality than people would imagine
@@mh-rl4sz It really depends on how deep and dedicated you get. For most people religion is just one part of life and an explanation for the unexplainable. For me though it was literally my entire existence. So giving it up was to give up all friends, family ties, existential purpose, future goals and to admit my 6 years of theology study was nearly worthless.
@@lol-ih1tl I mean yeah really the only difference between a cult and a religion is its age (older ones get seen as more legitimate for some reason…) and its popularity. But they are fundamentally the same thing.
@@mduckernz Though cults are broader as they don't necessarily ought to be religious while religions by definition are. Cults also usually retain the pejorative connotation of often having a top-down authoritative hierarchy that cult followers don't question (but then again you either eventually die out or live long enough to become authoritative, which is how you get from multiple Early Christianities to the main Orthodox-Catholic branch).
@@NewNecro True, that is a worthwhile point, I indeed should have specified religious cults. As you say, the category has more in it than “just” religion (although most cults share at least some of their “skeleton” with religious ones, notably the authoritarian top-down structure and the absolutist reality shaping aspect, e.g. “truth is what we say it is, all conflicts of reality vs dogma is a result of sin - of yourself, and/or the society you live in” )
Respect Roman. I grew up in comunist Poland and was also a subject of school and media indoctrination. It was starange mix of lets say pro-soviet and slightly nationalist propaganda which offered narrow, Poland-centric view of history and issues. Fortunately polish society at that time was anti-comunist and that guaranteed a certain level of incoherence of views and endoresed critical thinking. In 1989 we become fully independent. Democracy and freedom of speech followed and it became much easier to access different opinions and ideas. But still even in such friendly environment it takes a lot of work and effort to find credible sources of information and opinions, to compare different perspectives and think it over to build your take. So once more respect that you managed to break free of Z-world.
Don’t beat yourself up too much for your mistakes bro. It says a lot about your character to publicly admit them and work to get better. I went through a similar political journey. Keep up the good work bro!
The very fact you are willing to call yourself out on mistakes made in the past ie the Ukrainian comment demonstrates the ability of self-reflection which is a rarity in all parts of the world, but keeps you as honest as you can be and humble. kudos to you roman keep fighting the good fight in the information space and keep sharing your life which got a lot more interesting, not in a good way ie due to mobilization and the conflict stay safe and stay honest. love your content!
Hey Roman, I recently gotten into your videos. As a Russian myself, who moved to USA in 2007, I really like watching someone who speaks English and Russian in their videos since I got a case of rusglish only having my mom to talk to :) Anyway, as others have pointed out, you're one of the few TH-camrs who've made videos admitting mistakes and or recognizing how far they've come. Feel free to call me out on it, but my two sources of Russian news are you and the InfoGraphics channel :)
i would search some more legitimate sources. roman is just a dude and infographics can be pretty terrible. maybe tvrain(dozd) would be good for you. only remaining independent russian tv news channel (not operating from russia anymore).
Ukrainian TV can be pretty decent if you have the mental flexibility of a contortionist to somehow think a country that calls Nazi collaborators its heroes and sends into battle soldiets who wear Nazi SS emblems and even uses their version of the Nazi motto as its state greeting is somehow not Nazi.
I agree. I was taught in school that we won in the ww2 and saved everyone all by ourselves. But also later our classes turned into something even worse. Like watching movies about our great president Putin and writing essays about it later. Ugh... My dad was very wake-russian so he explained to me the concept of propaganda and allowed me to skip the history lessons. And this pretty much was the point where my historical education just stopped. This could be the reason I never raised my interest in history and politics. Like I was against the current government (because I could see in what shit we live in compared to other countries, lol), but I never was politically active and never was interested in what is happening. When the Crimea was annexed the only question I had was "why on Earth would you need more land if you can't keep order on the land you already have? Wtf? Why is everyone happy about it? This is stupid..." And I found out the truth about ww2 only in 2022, when youtube got flooded with political videos... And I'm glad that this channel was recommended to me :) P.S.: sorry for my English, I'm self-taught >
there's also a similar issue here in the U.S., the idea that we singlehandedly won WW2. I thought this too for a while but the reality is Britain, America, and the USSR all played an extremely important role and without one the war could've gone very differently. There's a saying that WW2 was won with "British intelligence, American steel, and Soviet blood." also your English is amazing
I have been following you for a few months now, and appreciate your perspective as a native of Russia. You are well spoken. I am an American who was taught and didn’t think to question as a child, the notion of “American Exceptionalism”. It wasn’t until as a teenager in the late eighties did I start to look back at our role in the world with skepticism. Meeting more people from around the world during my life does give me the impression there is good in every country. Or, at the very least, the potential. I wish you the best and will keep watching. Thanks! 16:38
Glad I’m not the only American seeing the similarities. I started rebelling against “American exceptionalism” when I was 13 in ‘95. It started with an obsession with the hippy movement and music, then I moved to punk, then of course moved on to Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, etc. in college. Now I’m 40 and I am still learning, reading Bakunin, Kropotkin, Bookchin, etc. But when he said he was taught that Russia single-handedly saved the world from the Nazis, I was like “gee, that sounds similar” cause the US acts the same way….
Ya bro, I too am slavic but a polish/american and would NEVER claim that I am Russian, no offense but given the circumstances you must understand! Stay cool bro, peace!
If you are an English speaker I would recommend learning Russian next. Learning Russian opened me to an entire world of different perspectives and also stories I was never told as an English speaker. For example, basically everything going on in Eastern Europe for the past eight years.
Even though you sometimes say it's hard for you to stay sane, I think you've got most of your neurons wired together pretty good ;) I'm convinced you're a bloody decent human being Roman 🙏
Your self awareness when it comes to how being exposed to propaganda influences you even when it's uncomfortable to confront is incredibly admirable. I find people have this tendency to reject bad aspects of their nation's power structures or whatever; and then suddenly think they're immune to it's influence because of that conscious rejection, all while being unaware of all the subtle ways that those power structures influence you; that you're susceptible to even if you reject something as a whole.
What a wonderful video!! In essence, what freed and protects you is EDUCATION! This is why oppressive regimes always go after schools first. They want schools to be little propaganda factories and force the kids to be little robots who don't ask questions, and to instill the regime's values into them. The internet breaks that by allowing people to collaborate and teach each other. It's a dictatorship's literal worst nightmare and I love it. Thank you for sharing your stories. Keep up the great work!!
have you been in a German school? LOL. 80% is about the Holocau$t and people being drilled to accept all kinds of abuse from migrants and muslims. To be ashamed of who they are. I think I'd rather live in a country where the Christian religion, traditional family values and my own national identity are cherished and protected.
As a Student of History myself, (B.A. History 1996) with an interest in Military Conflicts throughout history, I can just say that the Soviet Military Doctrine was absolutely insane with its plan of just throwing wave after wave of poorly armed and equipped men at the enemy. That's how they lost 27 million people. In contrast, I just looked up U.S. casualties in WWII. And here's what I got. 405.4K deaths and 670K wounded for a total of 1.076M casualties. And we found in two theaters of war, Europe and the Pacific. One of the things that you'll often see among the Communist countries, Soviet Union, North Korea, China, Cuba, etc os that they will often push the idea that there is no where better in the world than inside their Communist country, so there'd be no logical reason to want to escape these countries. That's why they must block out any outside information because it would quickly debunk the Communist propaganda.
As for DNA, I am nearly 100% Slavic, but my DNA does not map to Russia, rather Carpathian Ruthenia, Poland and Croatia. I get how there are DNA connections among Slavs, but there are definitely differences too. I agree with you that the Ukrainians have a better argument about having the closest connection to the Kievan Rus.
They don’t have a closer connection to the Kievean rus. And I am saying this as someone who has the degrees to back what I’m saying because they are known facts, part of the region’s history. Roman is not a specialist, he’s a young man who studied languages in Russia. And as another fact, Russia is not famous for its education, no shade, truth, so his input on historical matters has to be taken as an opinion piece, not actual science.
One of our (Czech Republic) famous writers said something like "Russians say Slavic and mean ours". We were never in history really friends with Russia. There was always fear of Russia present in some form. Even when Russia help us during WWII to get free from Germany, it wasn't without a price. We saw 1989 as a chance to start over and free. So its funny Russia people see it as our betrayal.
There is a great essay by Milan Kundera (The Stolen West or the Tragedy of Eastern Europe, it's from 1984 I think) about that. Most of Central European Slavs did not have that much in common with the Russians - and when they did, like Poland, it was more often war than friendship, or subjugation than partnership (e.g. Belarusians, Ukrainians). The whole thing about pan-Slavic friendship was a useful propaganda tool to project justification of forcing these countries into the Eastern Bloc and under the Moscow boot. . The Southern Slavs are somewhat different - I'd assume due to shared Eastern Orthodox tradition and the fact that both Serbia and Bulgaria - two countries most in favour of Russia in the Balkans, also have or had colonising appetites in their respective region (and their appetites did not clash with Russia's as Polish-Lithuanian did). They have less experience with Russia being a threat to them - because they served a good role for Russian imperial interest (controlling the imperial attempts of both Austria and Ottomans). And of course, Tito managed to keep Yugoslavia out, so they never experienced the Soviet boot directly after that.
In Poland, we remember that it was Germany and the USSR invaded Poland in 1939 (the start of WWII) as part of the German/Russian Ribbentrop/Molotov pact. We also remember 1920 and Bolsheviks invading Poland. Russia was never a friend of Poland, so there is nothing to be betrayed. We look at 1944 - 1989 as a sort of occupation of Poland by Russia. We remember that Russia always screens like a little girl that it is being threatened, but it is Russia that always invades every country around. A sad story as Russia always is on the bad side of history and WWII fighting the Germans was just a fight for survival. When Regan called Russia an Evil Empire he was right, with the exception that Russia is not an empire, it is a regional power. Roman, I enjoy your video, and I'm hoping that Russia at some point will stop their nonsense with countries of Central Europe and we all be able to live peacefully as separate countries (not part of Russia) LOL.
The world war II history coverage is quite interesting. In Germany its usually mentioned that the Soviet Union was cooperating with the nazis when it came to Poland which gives a quite different perspective.
Oh yeah, the 39-40ies are mentioned in our books ever so briefly with no elaboration, since keeping the mental image of "USSR = Paragon of justice" is difficult when thinking of your country in a negative light
It depends on the school honestly, my experience is that in Germany history of the war is really skipped when it comes to certain details. in a very propaganda like way, which resulted in many of my german former (I did not want to assosiate with them) colleagues claiming "oh we are not racist we have black friends" while at the same time absolutely hating Polish people, thinking the holocaust was overblown by polish and jewish propaganda and that Germany has the right to be imperialistic and made fun of holocaust victims all the time. and these were all educated young men from both poor and rich backgrounds I met around the world in the corporate world and university.
@@kokojambo4944 Right now world war II is among the most overdone topics in history class everywhere. It is even repeated after like 3-4 years. I don't know where you got your experience from but tracing it to history lessons seems odd.
This was really interesting. I would never have known anything about the Russian internet otherwise, and you explain it all with Western comparisons and references that make it really easy to understand. Thanks! I love these looks into a very different world, but with so many similarities that it's easy to sympathize. Old relatives say awful things everywhere.
Your outlook and ability to see the bigger picture and think for yourself set you apart from the majority of the population. Its the same here in America and im sure everywhere else also. The majority of the crazy ideology comes from people that just go with what theyre told without attempting to learn the truth or whole story of what theyre being told. Your the man homie!! Keep up the fantastic content bro
regarding lend-lease: my grandfather from Ukraine was in soviet army back then in ww2, one of his stories was that they were receiving M4 Sherman from US allie, it was quite a nice tank according to him, but it was decorated with a lining inside the cabin, which, although it was comfortable, had the property of catching fire during a battle, so they removed it all the time. But the most warm and nice thing he remembered was that the allies soldiers put bottles of wine or whiskey in the muzzles of tanks, which greatly pleased the people at the front.
Great video! One thing I'd add is on the WWII thing. In the USA we have the exact problem except in the opposite direction. We are taught, pretty much, the USA won WWII single handedly while fighting two fronts, Europe and Asia. It wasn't until I was an adult that I learned just how much Russia suffered and sacrificed to help win the war. It was truly a global effort and it is sad that's not how it gets taught in either of our countries.
@@TizerisT. American here -- definitely a British victory in the 'best speeches' category. I'm surprised Zelensky doesn't make more of an effort to channel Churchill. The 'finest hour' speech -- my god...
Bang on! We grew up with so much anti Russian propaganda to the point that I’m quite ashamed after seeing how much they sacrificed. I’m sorry, I don’t agree with Roman’s overly harsh criticism of his country, but I don’t blame him for thinking that the grass is always greener on the other side. We’re all guilty of that. Our own propaganda is horrendous and becoming unbearable. I always listen to both sides, so even though I don’t agree with Roman, it’s good to get an overall perspective of the dissenting Russians. If you take our own propaganda and Russias, apply some historical context, use your own brain, logic and question each agenda and trust nobody completely then, perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle. What’s important is that we learn history and apply logic and don’t buy into everything we’re fed.
As a millenial in Hungary (former Soviet puppet, the "happiest barrack") we were given a pretty balanced view. How the Soviet Union made a deal with Nazi Germany to crush Poland from two sides then how Germany attacked the USSR regardless once they secured the rest of mainland Europe. How Stalin got drunk in the first week of the invasion then poured millions of Russians to the front to push Hitler back. How the US stayed out of the war until Pearl Harbor, the heroic landfall on D-Day, how they deployed the A-bombs. And of course we were also taught how Hungary itself allied with Nazi Germany at the time mainly under duress while not downplaying that yes, we too took part in the genocide as part of the machine. It was pretty balanced. We've never been the main villains or main heroes, the privilege of a small country, but man have we consistently stood with the wrong side all throughout the 20th century.
I find it so interesting what you said about the framing of your school’s curriculum regarding WWII. In the US it’s the mirror story where we are framed as the saviors and the USSR’s involvement is downplayed as much as possible. I’m finding there is always more to unpack and like you learning other languages and viewing history and modern geopolitics intimately through a diversity of lenses creates overall a clearer picture. I’m not sure how possible it is to ever completely deconstruct the biases worked into us in our formative years, but every effort makes us into better stronger people. Or whatever
I was thinking the same about how we teach these things in the west. I live in France, and in most of western Europe we put a greater effort on the American effort than on the Russian one. Probably because we were freed by Americans and also because we were their alleys during the Cold War. While the USSR did not do it alone for sure, they did put in a big effort, which we sometimes tend to forget here in the west. In France we also have a weird ambiguity with how we teach WW2 anyway. While it is getting better, we sometimes tend to present things as though everyone was against the Nazis and all, while in reality we had the Vichy regime which was personally responsable for rounding up Jews for example. It is a huge taboo actually, and there are some huge biases in our curriculum as well.
I think this is mostly a phenomenon of "lower" education. When I went to college, I learned an almost completely different version of American history. Unfortunately, in "lower" education, there is almost no emphasis on "critical thinking". My personal theory is that parents have a greater influence on local curriculum because school boards are locally elected, allowing parents to prevent education which they might feel personally threatening (which critical thinking tends to do). Higher education tends to focus a lot more on learning how to think. What this means is informed by political ideology. Some might see it as critical thinking, especially postmodernism. Or, some might see it as "re-education", and why some people view higher education with suspicion.
This is probably wrong, but this is how I look at it: Russia and Germany made a pact. All for selfish reasons, and the countries they divided--be damned. Well, Germany gets what it wants from Russia, and it is good for the short term. But soon, Germany invades Russia. The only reason Russia fought Germany was that Germany invaded their country. (The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact signed in 1939 by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union shortly before World War II. In the pact, the two former enemies agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years.)
@@TheBandit7613 what are you saying bro we didn’t choose to join, we got attacked by the fascists just like everyone else. We didn’t do it out of nobility or as a favor, we did it to protect our country, the same as all the other allies.
Around late 2019 and early 2020 I was a HUGE Putin supporter. I saw those those “tough” propaganda photos. I was like this guys amazing, and living in the USA I saw a bunch of old people, and then there was this big “tough” guy running Russia I thought it was amazing. It then died down, and I got more invested in American politics, and then the war happened, and I instantly flipped. I went from seeing propaganda and liking him, then just not caring, then to disliking him. Also your content has given me a great view into what it’s like to be a real Russian person, and what’s happening.
Somehow, it doesn't occur to Russians to wonder and ask why East Europeans are indeed ungrateful for what the USSR brought them: political oppression and economic misery. The imperial notion of "liberating" neighboring nations from their freedom never abated and remains alive more than ever.
Listening to this made me realise that this happens in all countries to some level, our elders basically program us to have an idealised view of our country.
It starts with education ministry who chooses the topics and manuals for history class. I have a culture studies degree, and we all end up with a small identity crisis when we learned our country history from a different non high school prespective. It's a shock but a great one.
Just to think, before the internet almost everyone lived their entire life brain-washed. Now everyone can see how their countries and institutions really operate and what they care about, although most people will choose to ignore everything that makes them uncontrollable.
Nope that's not the case, some countries yes but not the majority, internet is just a modern form of media, we here in cro, and yu in general, but i can speak for cro understood the official narrative on the tv, but it wasn't like russia at all, and printed media was pretty liberal and proffessional, and also you could buy foreign press, western press, not everywhere, but some centrally located kiosks with high frequency for sure. Also the official pripaganda was just that and not taken seriously even by the officials and in tv shows like series mocking it was almost compulsory as exposing the corruption, also the domestic press was free to criticise especially the economy.
I gotta admit, Im born and raised in Oregon but I have always found the Soviet era facinating, Baltic countries, Lake Baikal, Siberia, Moscow, Russia in general fascinates me especially when it comes to geography, architecture, cultural diversity, natural Ecosystem's and animal diversity. (I just have to put aside politics, and most "normal" things about Russia and Russian people, {as long as they aren't psycho political *just like how I don't like psycho political Americans ya know?} besides that I find places very interesting and I like learning exploring unique places and Russia is full of that, just like how parts of American wilderness areas are unique and interesting. "I really miss the 90's America vibe. Being born in 1989. Those day's and very early 2000's were the best and so much has changed and become devoid of life, character, and creativity sadly.)
Listen, I don't want to sound disrespectufl but America doesn't have as much of a problem with people who're are "psycho political" as Russia. Even most of the people who oppose Putin only oppose him for the way he ruined their economy and now, for the obligation to go to war in Ukraine. But they still agree with his views on the LGBT, women and other slavic people, especially, ukrainians. That's why most of Europe eventually had to deny russians asylum. Because these russian refugees would come into Europe and harasse ukrainian refugees and LGBT people. It is what it is but people like Roman have to suffer because the majority of the people from his country have been brainwashed to be fascists even if they're not willing to go to war themselves to invade Ukraine. And people like Roman will continue to suffer unless we do something to deprogram russians the same way we deprogrammed germans after WWII.
@@dork7546 as a russian, i disagree. the alt-right has been on the rise for quite some time now in the US, with this year marked by a huge anti-LGBT campaign that mostly targets trans people and drag queens for "grooming" children. which was followed by literally armed nazis protesting and harassing people irl. it's "psycho political" in the sense that conservatives will go out of their way to "exercise" their rights, support QAnon, and deny the 2020 election results. last i checked, around 40% of americans thought trump was robbed. marjorie taylor green (or whatever her name is) is a psycho. doug mastriano is a psycho. so, in my view, the country is clearly unstable. whereas most russians tend to be more apolitical and yes, approve of putin and his MAGA (or should i say MRGA) policies, but not really engage in politics (unless pressured by their employer). like, i don't see russians protesting with "you're an abomination" or "you're going to hell" signs. it's just the propaganda pundits that make it feel like a circus every time i turn on the tv. (by the way, i'm not trying to excuse the war or russians buying into the propaganda & expressing their fascist tendencies, i'm just saying that i feel safer as a queer person here, well, at least for the time being).
@@laincoubert7236 There are only 23 million americans at most that identify as Qanon right now. That's less than 10% of the entire country's population. The reason why you keep on hearing news about drug queens or gay bars being attacked in the US is because, unlike in Russia, hate crimes againsts LGBT people get reported and punished. You don't see people in Russia prostesting with signs calling gay people groomers because they don't need to, since they can just randomly throw with brinks in LGBT people and suffer no consequences for it(and at times, the police even aids in these hate crimes as Roman pointed out a few years ago). And Trump and the MAGA/Qanon movement is so despised in America right now that literally, every Trump endorsed republican candidate lost the mid terms elections, even in the most conservative states. The fact that you're so brainwashed to think you're safer in a country where crimes against LGBT people are legal than you'd be in the US just proves my point. Also, I don't know where the hell you got that 40% stats but I can assure you, it's fucking wrong. The vast majority of people in America identify as democrats and even when it comes to the republican party, 60% of republican voters said they don't like Trump while only 40%(aka those 23 million people) said they'd vote for him again.
@@laincoubert7236 Also, I do not care if russian people don't passionately engage into politics. Even if they don't crawl over broken glass for Putin, the vast majority of them still agree with Putin's views on women, LGBT people, Russia's ethnic minorities and other slavic nations, even if they may not like him for the way he handled your economy. You don't need to have a picture of your leader on your wall to be a fascist. Putin doesn't rely on the love his people have for him. He relies on the hate they share with him for the people I mentioned earlier and for the west to stay in power. And even if he'll somehow, be removed from power because people will get tired of him ruining your economy, your country will never get to experience this thing called human rights unless your people get deprogrammed from hating this concept because it's western and everything western is evil in their eyes. You need to acknowledge the damage all of this brainwashing has done to your people's views unless you want to keep hopping from a dictator to another.
Same for Poles, Slovaks, Croatians and Slovenians just to give a short list of slavic countries who were lucky not to be really connected to Russia and it’s Golden Horde inherited medieval dictatorship style of ruling :)
@@RealTunesStudio neither were serbians, bosnians or bulgarians. They only got independence thanks to them, but their mentality barely has anything to do with the russian one.
@@andybogdan4380 yep, I intentionally left out countries you mentioned to let them say for themselves :) The ones I mentioned I know better because I live in this region. Generally speaking Russia’s claim to be “homeland of slavs” is totally a propaganda fake. The only similarity is language group, everything else is different.
lol. Are you proud that Germans and Austrians ruled over you for centuries? that you had to do menial jobs for them? Are you proud that you killed and displaced ethnic Germans in 1945? Questions over questions.
I remember your videos of walking through old Soviet parks, showing us your first car! Or at least the car you drove at the time. It was a great time I no my childhood, it was amazing to see a different world from my own. Many of us in America are taught to hate Russians. I grew up hearing about the Cold War, but you showed me how cool Russians can be. That Russians are just human too. Been here since like 2013 and hope to be here much longer. Bless you Roman
Wow. This was super interesting. Thank you. It does seem like a LOT of things must align to get one's head out if the propaganda mud. Intellect, curiosity, access to alternative media, ability to read a foreign language, a guy like Navalny coming along at just the right time, a willingness to study history rather than listen to propagandists retelling of it... It seems like the odds were stacked against you or anyone getting out...
I recently traveled outside of the U.S. for about six months. Upon returning, I realized how much more propagandized Americans, myself included, are than maybe many think we are. I think propaganda happens everywhere.
You all say without question america is the greatest country in the world and have a creepy pledge of allegiance for small kids, and you dont notice the propaganda?
The epiphany of critical thinking and intelligence over emotions are two very important keys to being a stable man. Thanks for your excellent insights in this video.
Thank you for telling your story, Roman! I think, by opening yourself in this way, it calls each of us to look more earnestly at biases that may have infiltrated our minds either at a young age or through sources-like friends and family-that we may not have the presence of mind to distrust the way many of us ‘naturally’ distrust politicians and pundits. Hope life in Georgia is treating you well, my friend!
I have a friend who I went to college with and back in the day she told me she was Ukrainian, and in my mind I heard "Soviet" which in my mind was also synonymous with Russian, so years later I talked with her again and said something like 'I remember you said you were Russian' and she was like, 'no Ukrainian' and I was like 'ooooh...right'. So even in my American mind back in the day I automatically thought Russian when someone said Ukrainian.
To be fair, no one ever taught us westerners that there was a difference. It was like Brits and Irish. It was just a province in The USSR, and USSR was Russia in my mind. It took a war to teach me.
Ukrainians have been brainwashed to believe they are completely separate from Russia, Oleg the Seer himself was born in Novgorod (modern day Russia) Ukrainians and Russians are in fact the same people.
@@GrichkaBogdanofff Different culture and genes. But even if they were both culturally and genetically identical, they would still be a separate people because they choose to be. And if you're going to drag history in to it, you woukd be more accurate to say that Russians are Ukrainians because that's where Russia got its start. Yhe only brainwashed people are those that think they have anu business telling others what to do.
I'm not sticking my nose where it doesn't belong, and neither should you. Let people live in peace. It makes a person look very weak when they feel the need to insult others and try to tell them what to do. Someone with a healthy self-esteem doesn't need to view others as below them. And btw, just saying "wrong" without trying to address the issue makes it look like you don't actually have a reply.
Your podcast yesterday brought memories of how my husband and I felt during the Viet-Nam war. We were preparing to move to Canada knowing we could never return to the US. and some would think of us as traitors. It did not happen but we still both remember those feelings. This was a time of upheaval in the US with the "Make Love Not War" hippie revolution.. I still have my tattered quote on our refrigerator which reminds me daily of what we reap when we have an uninformed or misinformed population: "Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire' We seem to be living in a time of great changes and with that comes great turmoil. Please remember what you and many other young people are doing in their podcasts may well change this old world for the better.
👏🏻 Say it louder for the Americans in the back! I didn’t have to flee because (a) I’m a woman, and (b) there was no conscription in Afghanistan and Iraq, but I hated that we were invading them, and got called a traitor a lot (not that I care, I hate nationalism anyways). But the hippy movement did inspire me to learn more about America’s atrocities when I was 13, and I still listen to Phil Ochs, Barry McGuire, Dylan, etc to this day. So thank y’all for that!
@@TheBLGL No one says it better than Lennon's" Imagine". Also in those years I was a fan of Jacques Brel - His play "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" - very dark but spot on with "Next, Marieke,If We only had Love". Now a fan of Rhiannon Giddens. I have never supported nationalism either - always pushes folks apart.
Tbh, growing up in the UK, our history education about the WW2 barely touched on the eastern front. It largely focused on the Blitz, Battle of Britain and D-Day. Most Brits wouldn't be aware of the huge Soviet contribution to the war effort.
I think you'll find a great deal of people are aware of the invaluable contribution of the Russians in WW2. Unfortunately the Russians find it convenient to forget the Allies convoys that aided their contribution. This is never mentioned in their later almost constant tirades about how the wicked West is constantly wanting to destroy Russia. The west doesn't want or need to destroy Russia, it's own suicidal leaders like madman Putin are doing that. We just sit back and watch and wonder why the Russian people put up with this insanity.
I'm a Brit. I remember watching documentaries about 20 or 30 or so years ago or more, about the epic battle of Stalingrad, also the siege of Leningrad, that withstood siege for two and a half years. Both horrifying - but horrifying doesn't cover it. I seem to have absorbed over the years quite a bit about 'the eastern front'. I don't remember how much about it I was taught at school - too long ago in my case!
Roman, I love how you are continuously growing, your opinions are constantly evolving and you are also capable of self-reflection, I appreciate that! That initial reflection of the sentence "Russians and Ukrainians are brothers..." is great! ...unfortunately, this misconception of "Slavic brotherhood" is probably appropriated by most Russians even now. The 19th century Czech writer and journalist Karel Havlicek Borovsky, who visited Russia before the 1848 revolutions, glossed this way of thinking very interestingly "Russians like to call everything Russian Slavic, so that they can then claim that everything Slavic is Russian." ... may you continue to thrive, Roman! :)
Man. Calling Russians, Belarus and Ukrainian people the same nation has nothing to do with so-called Pan-Slavism invented by Slovak Ján Herkeľ. It is the same ethnicity with the same DNA, same religion, speaking the different dialects of ancient Russian language.
@@NikkY93x wow someone didn't take history at school. Also as a linguist, I'm saying you're wrong about the language - they come from one proto-language but it's not ancient Russian, Russia didn't exist back then.
@@NikkY93x Tell that Russian imperial bullshit to someone else. Ukrainians have created a distinct nationality for themselves over the last 3 centuries. You're talking DNA bullshit on Russian TV, idiot.
@@Sprnda1 Yeah it is Russia which created DNA test lol. Is it also imperialistic to you to consider Portuguese and Spanish or Jordans and Palestines the same ethnicity? You sound like a commie
Go to ground.news/nfkrz to try Ground News for free or subscribe to get unlimited access to avoid propaganda, spot bias, and know where your news is coming from!
4 days ago moment
4 days?
Wha
Makes sense why you became such a loony westarrded lib.
Never liked Putin or gov. Still not a loony leftoid lib
From one extreme to another. Low lQ
@@AutismoInternational look at the date the comment was posted lol
@@bravelittleabacus yea i commented about that
Guess Gen Z has a different meaning in Russia now
Lol
good one lmfao
noooo lmao
I'm angry I liked your comment
I was about to say that joke
Hey Roman!
As a Ukrainian, I want to say huge thanks to you for educating the Westerners. I think that is really valuable that there's a person from Russia actually sharing what the experience in the country is like.
he does not know what the "country is like". He has only his opinion, and also says what he is paid to say. Or do you think that a large youtube channel is created without "support" from above? You are very naive.
@@grundgesetzart.1463 I see you have a soviet sailor as a pfp, if you have any respect for the USSR you should understand that Lenin, the one so many Russian's revere, would never have stood for this war. Ukraine has the right to self determination. The Russian Federation is rebuilding everything which Lenin and the Soviets sought to destroy. 80 years of Russian history are being wasted by the day.
@@VeryFamousActor That's not a Soviet sailor lol but you are absolutely correct about Lenin.
@@electricdazz Really looks like a sailor but I can't read the hat to say for certain. Not that it really matters
@@VeryFamousActor Oh damn I'm blind, for some reason I thought you were replying to the comment above yours and not the first comment.
What I respect about you is that you are not afraid to admit your shortcomings or mistakes. We are all only human. And I think you're a pretty cool dude.
Give me the thug shaker
Be quiet
@@Kosackk Bite me.
@@Kosackk na dude
I see Roman as a freelance Journalist with a focus on Russian History & Culture, which is extremely in-demand & important right now.
2023 on-track for the most important year in human history.
I always saw Russia & Ukraine as Cousins, like many Slavic countries.
It's likely not that close.
I wouldn't call Irish, Scottish, Welsh & the British Cousins but I could see the comparison.
I met a women who was russian but now lived in a western country as an adult. I asked her how life in russia was and sha answered that she didn't think much about it. It was only when she moved from russia that she understood how bad the political climate and corruption was, same with history. She learned more about russian history outside russia than inside
Feedback appreciated!!! ⬆️⬆️Send me a dm on TeIegram now to claim your prize. Merry Christmas 🎁🎄🎄
history is not science. Everyone can write it and interpret it however they like.
Especially the history of ancient Rus. There are very few sources, unlike the Greeks, Romans and Scandinavians.
@@СаниМихайловscandinavians have many sources, and each one tells different story, slavic history has lesser sources but they all tell +- the same, except western source, that appeared much later than events, and russian "scientist" lomonosov, who thought he could be megamind in history too
My in laws are from Russia and also told me it’s hard to realize how bad it is until people leave which is why Putin has blocked a lot of Russians from leaving the country.
It´s a sign of a great ability of self reflection that you noticed and admitted that even you as an opposer of the regime sometimes pick up talking points/arguments of the Russian propaganda. Respect!
I agree. I watch Inside Russia and often hear a smidgen of Russian right wing propaganda in Konstantins words and views.
It's true with many things, the mark of an anti racist is not someone who has never had a prejudiced thought, we are all products of our societal conditioning, but those who actively fight against and challenge that conditioning.
@@annai6393 The difference between my country (Austria) and Russia is that we don't have state propaganda here but free media - which covers all kinds of positions across the political spectrum. This doesn't mean that they are completely unbiased whatsoever but a very broad range of angles is available.
So my country is "telling" or "feeding" me nothing. I consume various types of news outlets and make the conclusions in my own - as every mature citizen.
the west could learn something
@@jessicamorrell4713 Check out the 1 hr interview with Konstantin on Silicon Curtain. It's good.
I am from Lithuania, and I grew up with a lot of Russian people around me saying the same propaganda you mentioned in this video: Baltics betrayed Russia, Soviet Union gave us factories and we betrayed its trust, war was won by USSR etc.
I had the advantage of having a lot of conflicting information around me, which made me question a lot of things.
turbut rusu seimoje augai, nes ne vienas is mano giminaiciu ar draugu niekad nesake kad lietuva isdave sovietu sajunga, ar kokia sovietu sajunga buvo gera lietuvai
@@Edis12121 mano giminaiciai ar draugai irgi nieko panasaus nesake, bet va is svetimu zmoniu (viresnes kartos) isgirsdavau.
Yeah, noone ever questions, how USSR got there in the first place. Though this conflict is in fact way older, like middle ages older.
They kinda have a point, but still yes propaganda still
@@АлександрБолбат-ы1у Yeah, I remember my grandmother was always saying "Baltics was the most prosperous region of the USSR and now they are the poorest in the EU ha-ha, not so good without Russia, huh, why you keep shitting on Russia?" And when I was 12 it suddenly hit me - wait a minute, that doesn't actually mean they've become poorer than they were.
2 mins in Roman, I heard a quote from the Beastie Boys recently: "I'd rather be considered a hypocrite, than someone who never changed their mind." As long as you do it with truth and honesty, there are enough humans in this world that will recognize that and understand. I regret what I've thought and said in the past, but am grateful to be able to think differently. You have a kind soul, brother, cheers!
I feel like hypocrisy is an overrated insult. Humans are pretty much inherently contradictory.
LOL I've quoted that from the Documentary too.
Side note - whenever I first heard crazy Marjorie Taylor Green say “Jewish Space Lasers,” my first thought was Intergalactic by the Beastie Boys… idk, my brain works in a weird way. This is why I laugh at the wrong moment - I’m wildly offended by the batshit idea of “Jewish Space Lasers” causing wildfires in California, I’m dying bc I’m thinking of an old Beastie Boys song from the late 90s..
The Beastie Boys did have a full turn around in their ideas and I don’t know why anyone would call that hypocrisy. You can’t stay in the “License to Ill” phase of your life as a grown ass human. LOL
A sign of an educated and emotionally intelligent person is to admit when they were wrong. You not only did that, you showed us and talked about it. Good video.
Still it is hard not to admit that technically we are one nation, the main word here is technically. It is a long story.
We had the same ancestors (русичи) and we origin from the same country (Русь also known as Киевская Русь). Kiev was the capital of Русь. Also we had another language slavic language, also known as ancient russian. And up until year 1147 Kiev was an capital of Русь, because in this gear Kiev's князь (technically prince) Юрий Долгорукий (Juri Longarms) decided to build Moscow. Juri Dolgorukij also wanted to move capital from Kiev to Moscow. But it didn't happend. Juri actually wanted to unite Русь, because there were no borders, there were not "kings", there were only князья, and Knjaz of Kiev was the main Князь, and that is why Jury build Moscow as a new beginning, but in reality his action lead to complete collapse of Русь. All knjazs thought, that if kiev's knjaz can make a new capital, then why we can't do the same? The end of Русь was in 1242, whe Tatars invades into Русь. As a result of this Русь was separated to three regions (Ukraine, Belaruss and Moсковия (Moscow Region)), which developed completely differently.
So yes, technically we are the same, but we still have a lot of differences, and that is why we are different nations. And that is why people, who against war, speak that this war is the fratricidal war, because tecgnically we are the same.
@@ВладимирГалицкий-х8ц Ukrainians are the true ancestors of Kieven Rus and Ukrainian culture has existed for far longer than Russian culture. Ukrainian culture didn't deviate from Russian culture, Russian culture deviated from Ukrainian culture, just like any other slavic cultures. Cope.
@@dork7546 both nations are true ancestors, cope with that. We just choose different passes and so became different, and now both nations who have the same ancestors and a lot in common are fighting with each other, which is sad, especially to me, whose grandfather was ukrainian. And we became different nations during tatar mongol igo, because it was usefull for them to keep us separately . Up until this event, there weren't russians, ukrainians nor belorussians, there was only one nation rusichi. Just before and during igo there was complete chaos and Kiev Russia couldn't decide where the capital should be. Up until this event all regions had the same traditions, culture and language. In fact, it was Petr I, who in 1721 completely changed russian culture and traditions to be more like European culture, and Rus was renamed to Russia. And i still can't decide was it a good decision or not. ...
@@ВладимирГалицкий-х8ц Russians literally still lived the same way they did during medieval times before Peter the Great came along because Russia skipped the renaissance. I think Peter the Great did his people a huge ass favor by trying to modernize Russia so it could be more like the more developed, neighbouring European countries and less like a medieval time capsule. Also, it's the 21st century now. It's not the Mongols or Tartars that want Russia and Ukraine to be different nations now, it's the Ukrainian people, themselves. They DON'T want to merge with Russia, they want to be their own sovereign nation. And that's because modern day Ukrainians have very different political and philosophical views from modern day Russians. They don't want to live under Putin's fascism, they don't look back on the USSR days with a smile and they certainly don't want to rebuild it. What they actually want is to preserve their democracy and turn to real capitalism so they could join the EU and NATO. So if you care about your "brothers", you should respect their wishes and let them protect their sovereignty and join the EU and NATO. Like it or not, it doesn't matter if you really were the same people over 1000 years ago(and you weren't), nowadays Ukrainians have a vastly different culture and set of beliefs than nowadays Russians.
@@ВладимирГалицкий-х8ц Also, most Belarusians don't want to live under Putin and Lukashenko's fascism either, as they hate Lukashenko's guts and actually voted him out of office. But once he lost, he decided to exile the woman whom he lost to, alongside her entire family and simply just beat up and arrest her supporters. Belarusians also wish to break away from Russia so they could become a capitalist democracy so again, if you actually care about your "brothers" you should respect their wishes and support their desire to break away from both Putin and Lukashenko so they could become a westernised democracy.
By the way, speaking of brainwashing, my dad was a child in Nazi Germany. And he always had a little bit of admiration for Hitler left. Even though he would not admit it. One time, I told him Hitler was kind of dumb, because he tried to take on the whole world in an unwinnable war. And I said if hitler was smart, he never would have tried that. My dad got very upset by hearing that. He was upset at hearing hitler called dumb. But then eventually, he calmed down and admitted I was right. But he still had that internal brainwashing left, from when he was a child.
Well ur dad was right, Hitler was not dumb, u cant become a Dictator and rule over half of Europe as a dumb person. Hitler was Evil, that is what u should have said.
I think hitler was very much a flawed genius, evil beyond comparison, but he was talented. To call him dumb is to reduce all the other key statesmen to an even lower level and reduce the losses of millions to what - stupidity?
@@wokeaf1337 Nah Hitler was an idiot. He started wars with a zillion countries, thinking he could win. Only an idiot would believe that. His speeches were idiotic and clownish as well. They were oversold. The guy was a low class fool.
North-Korean dissidents often say they feel love for the Kim-dynasty. Not that they do not fully comprehend that they are dictators, but they were trained to love the Kims straight from birth, so each time they see the bastards, a sense of warmth, warm fuzzy love runs through their bodies - it's just a biological response after decades of conditioning, while their mind says no, fuck it. Incredible, right?
@@barokeszter it seems to last a lifetime. Although I don't think I am personally susceptible.
This is so interesting Roman. You speak and explain your thought processes and experiences so well. Today this is super important in this age where many people in Russia and the US use blind hate of their "enemy" to build their identity. Your story is relatable and shows others to be more compassionate, patient and accepting. Boy does the world need it. Keep it going keep it real brother.
I don't see any "blind hate" of Russia here in the US.
Although US people don't approve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, no one is trying to stop US Russian asylum rules. US people are quite accepting of Russians that immigrate to the US.
I agree.
@@TheBandit7613 I have seen blind hate, it is ugly as ugly as racism, homophobia, religious bigotry. Once you point out many Russians oppose Putin the hatred is less and does not apply to the people. Hate is cancer. It needs to be treated , some people can be cured.
Don't know who in the US you're talking about but high majority of us don't have any hate for anyone!
To compare Nazi Russia, which killed tens of thousands of civilians with the aim of erasing people from the face of the earth, and the United States, one must be a victim of propaganda in the most remote village in Siberia
It’s awesome how self aware you are . Even I fell for Russian propaganda… and I’m an American . You know all the memes from the 2010s of Putin riding a bear and just how badass he was made out to be with his riches and martial arts , manliness etc . Another thing is that I’ve fallen for US propaganda as well and that’s another to keep an eye for . All sides play propaganda and no one is immune to all that , but these conversations like you have here about admitting when you’re wrong is how we combat it ! Keep up the great vids Roman
Totally agree with you, I feel it the same way, but from Russia.
Actually the main part of Russians and Ukrainians are brainwashed by their propaganda and, I would say, their “new mythology”.
But from time to time I meet some individuals (among Ukrainians and Russians) who clearly see that on both sides.
I’ve got some friends in Ukraine, and it’s a big torture to discuss all that shit with them (by means of telegram, of course).
We don’t have anything to separate, but there are so many people around us that think differently! 😒
Some points he mentioned even relate to Germany. One day, someone told me to appreciate that thanks to the Russians the nazis were beaten. I grew up on the western side of the border but not far from the border. The reunification happened before I went to school. But I asked myself how could I appreciate that another country replaced the most unjust state on our ground by the second most. That was far from what I could imagine to believe, especially thinking of the remaining scars in Germany's East. But some people do.
Yeah I at a point thought the same thing about russia and their military. Eventually I grew out of it and now watching this “special military operation” I see how weak russia is. Atleast compared to how they use to potray themselves
Trump is also (to some degree) a product of Russian propaganda. I’m not even talking about collusion, but just the fact that they actively tried to influence the American people. Heck even trump fell for Russian propaganda himself when he openly stated that he believed the word of putin above that of his own intelligence agencies.
And Brexit is in the same category.
It’s not that Russia single-handedly made those events happen, but they did influenced them and tried to steer them into a certain direction it went. How much their actions influenced those results and of the results would be different if they stayed out, is an other discussion. But it’s clear they did something (with or without help/collusion that’s also an other topic)
i’m 32 yo, from far east of russia (khabarovsk). the bell rings to me first when i went abroad for the first time - it was Finland and Sweden in 2006. the moment when our car transferred the boarder i felt the softness and smoothness of a road, and i thought “ok, finland is a cold country, just like russia. why the road is so good?”. second time: my classmate and his family moved to United Arabic Emirates in 2000, and when we all graduated school, he came back visiting his grandma. he was told that all citizens of UAE have a percentage of gas and fuel that theirs government sell abroad. and i thought “wtf, where is our percentage?!”. third - i studied journalism editing in university (and other sorts of publish relationships and how to manipulate information).
and that was just a beginning of my long path of a putin-hater (by “putin” i mean all of that gang). our country is in hands of a thugs. i don’t know what to do. i fought, but i got tired (especially when they did anti anti-war law). absurdism and surrealism (in frightening way) are behind my door.
Feedback appreciated!!! ⬆️⬆️Send me a dm on TeIegram now to claim your prize. Merry Christmas 🎁🎄🎄
I understand your frustration, I am Russian myself, and the most depressing part is that Russia has a large potential, basically everything that is needed to create progressive, developed, tolerant society, but no, Russia always was/is and will be heavily corrupted because if nothing has changed throughout history, it is unlikely that it will ever change in the future.
Sometimes I really feel like Russia is cursed or something like that.
@@samakat30 i don’t think it’s cursed. i think, russians must learn a lesson - we need to grow up and stop thinking that government think about us. we must to force them to do what good for us. constant vigilance. we tend to think so childish because we didn’t have much freedom: first - slavery, second - soviet union, were the concept of “you don’t need to think about politics because you can’t do anything” was the basis
Emiriati citizen dont have percentage of gas and fuel?? Can you elaborate
You have your percentage in pensions and other state expenses. The budget is comprised by resource taxes.
Check the population of uae and the amount of oil they are producing. Stop being delusional.
Oh wow. As one of the founders of Lurk I, honestly got a bit emotional when you mentioned it.
It's really hard to comprehend what influence we had back in the day.
I got emotional, too. Lurk was a part of my teenagehood and you contributed to it! Thank you for founding one of the coolest websites ever.
Self-reflection gained by lurk at a young age was a blessing and a curse
@@cringedelacringe6949 Ahaha, I bet it was. And I am glad that at least some audience get that self-reflection part.
Yet I wonder sometimes, what impact it had on younger people. We were mostly in our mid to late 20s at the height of its popularity, and core team worldviews were mostly, ahem, unorthodox. And not that we received a lot of direct feedback from regular readers.
@@laierr Because lurk was critical of literally everybody, and whatever you do you would be laughed at, by it, it taught me to not be the blind slave of anonymous people opinions
I have a great respect for Lurk and I think many Russians as well
On WW2, as an American I learned mostly about how the US was primarily responsible for defeating the axis, and while we were very important I didn't learn until I was older the fact that China and especially the USSR were very important too. In China I also went to a museum that portrayed them as the main reason for Japan's defeat. In other words, we've all kind of inflated our role in WW2
China had nothing to do with japans defeat they didnt even have a proper army at that time. What you saw in that museum was chinas goverment making stuff up and making their citizens belive it
well, if an alien with absolute zero bias would study WW2 I am pretty sure the conclusion will be that indeed the USA was the largest contributor to the war effort, but that doesn't make them better than others who did what they could with the resources they had. It just means that the USA had by far the most resources and manpower.
If you go to france they have museums that make out they were the main combatants in the normandy invasion. Its comedy gold
@@Blackadder75 the USSR and china contributed far, far more. Guessing you are american.
@@Ukraineaissance2014 bodies to be thrown in the meat grinder? Sure but a war isn't won with just bodies
Fellow Russian here. I've grown up in akadem gorodok (it's basically a small city built for scientist by scientists and thus people tend to think a bit non-conventional here). All points you've mentioned have resonated with me plus dur to location i had a lot of scientific and social exchange with "westerns" which held my views very open and less Propaganda prone.
Hey, that is really cool and interesting you're in the scientific field!
I would assume many people in the scientific field are well educated & have a pragmatic view of the world.
BUT, those fields often rely on various forms of government funding and subsidies.
So I would imagine it's difficult for some in research/development to receive proper funding if they are not publicly supporting the Kremlin propaganda and messaging?
@@justinhealey-htcohio3798 that's the problem: intelligence and education on their own are not a safeguard against propaganda or believing in conspiracy theories:( half of my highly educated family is pro-putin... Kinda scary:(
Being open-minded and not old are so far the strongest factors for not being suseptible for that crap
Which place is that? Didn't know about these scientist regions.
@@kiradotee en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akademgorodok. Known for magnets for CERN and maniacs
@@FatDataUnicorn I can completely empathize and understand.
Half of my family (Mostly my older aunt's & uncles) STILL support Donald Trump! They still think
🍊MANGO MUSSOLINI🤡 is the
smartest most savvy businessman in the world even though 6 of his businesses have filed BANKRUPTCY & He is incapable of clearly understanding or articulating any complex issue.
**I think a lot of the political division in the world is the result of the ELDER ESTABLISHMENT generation COPING and PANICKING because no they know GEN-X, MILLENNIALS & ZOOMERS are very well educated, knowledgeable & plan on drastically changing the status quo over the next decade!
Our generation doesn't put up with bullshit & nonsense!
Greetings from a traitor (from Czechia)!! Thank you for sharing this video with us, it was great!
I'm an ethnic Russian living in Lithuania, so my family would always watch Russian channels. Up until 2014, I never really cared about what was said on it, mainly looking at American politics because I was figuring out I was left-leaning. After 2014, I did also notice suddenly the entire Russian media suddenly started shitting on Ukraine after the annexation, and any Western country that said anything bad about it. As years went by, I started asking myself, "why is Russia always talking about a nazi-filled country while nobody in the west is doing it?". Eventually I started seeing through all the bullshit and even asked my mother if she saw it. When I told her that I disagreed with Putin on things, she almost disowned me, called me brainwashed by the West, as Solovyev was talking on her TV. After she passed away and I moved in with my dad while my apartment was renovated, I noticed he'd also constantly watch that shit 24/7, both TV and laptop, bypassing the Lithuanian ban on Russian channels by watching them online. Ever since the full scale invasion started this February, I've not looked at Russia in any good light. It's actually disheartening how brainwashed so many Russians are, that they're not even realizing they're living in a colonial fascist state, calling everyone nazis when they themselves have a Z plastered everywhere like another swastika-like symbol. My hope for the coming future that this imperialist fascist state collapses, and they get some actually competent, democratic leaders. But I am not holding my breath, because from seeing how Russians been reacting to this whole war, I've given up on them.
Same
Well said. It is down right disgusting when Z people calling Ukraine Nazi when Russia is the one doing the genocide of Ukrainians, wanting to erase Ukraine race. Using Donbass as an uxcuse to attack Ukraine when they are the one behind it, manipulating and brainwashing and promises to those regions so that it will fight Ukraine government.
Strange how you write about Russians in third person like you aren't one of them)
@@mastersafari5349 I do the same thing about America, as an American. The reason is because speaking in the third person makes more sense in writing. To someone reading what I write, saying "American government" is more self-explanatory than "my government".
@@dukebanerjee4710 Yeah I see it when you're talking about *the government* because you aren't a government official, aren't you? So it makes sense to talk about them in 3rd person.
The OP, in the other hand, writes in 3rd person about Russian people whilst also referring to himself as a Russian.
2014: funny mlg quickscope video
2022: how i was brainwashed by a tyrannical government
same thing with china north korea and meny more
Ohh the evolution of man, mlg wrestling, ur mom gay, nobody can touch my swag
How things change.
all for the views
NEW YEAR NEW NFKRZ
I love the Russian people, I love Russian food, and I love Russian culture. I despise Putin and his regime. Keep up the good work, Roman! #СлаваУкраїні #ПеремогаУкраїни 🇺🇦
That's exactly what I think of Russia! I haven't tried the food, but I am very much interested in the culture! I am also against the government, for understandable reasons. Героям слава!
Having seen copious interviews of Russians, I can't only state their"culture" appears to be money, possessions, status symbols. "I got a Lada because my son conveniently died". ????????.. "I don't care why I'm fighting ,look what I'm paid". ????? I don't care pass the Vodka, or rubbing alcohol??????? Let's starve , beat, rape, kill mutilate our own conscripts and prisoners ???CULTURE??????
Barbarians, vandals, the Orc Horde do not have culture. They are conscienceless, amoral and inhuman. A mother had to prosecute some years past when her son came back from conscription with no genitals or legs, his superior officers had done it!
Same think for me to Ukraine! Love your culture guys! You great! Hope one time we will eat and sing together and I hope we will be out of those fascists from Kremlin!
A french Russian dude
Who do you think bombing Ukraine and raping its women and kids? It’s not putin. It’s hundreds of thousands of russians. Putin is russians.
Same here.
I'm born abroad but my parents are Russian, I have a Russian passport, was raised in a highly Russian household during my childhood (like to the point where we only watched Russian television at home) and went back frequently. All that to say my parents have bought into the propaganda 100% despite living abroad. But almost all news they read (domestic or international) they read from Russian source etc. And because they supported the propaganda and Putin that's what I thought was correct growing up. To the point that I argued with one of my teachers about Crimea. Only once I got into Uni was I able to reframe/break away from that mindset. Now, the more I learn the more sad I get and I know I won't get anywhere with my parents cuz I've tried now on multiple occasions
Give up too easily. Not only is Crimea historically Russian but it had an autonomy agreement with Ukraine which Ukraine then proceeded to violate before abusing them for the next 18 years. 2013 just before things got crazy the US government sent a mission to Crimea to find out how people felt and they discovered the majority of people spoke Russian, saw thrmselves as Russian, and did not like Kiev. They had protested against their mistreatment before and the government responded by sending the army to kill them.
The United Nations upholds the right to popular sovereignty in its charter. This means the right of a people to determine their rule and country. Crimea voted overwhelmingly to join Russia. This means by international law they are rightfully Russian now.
Now you're brainwashed by the West.
Love them and let them be. Then dunk on them during the holidays.
Great video Roman. We were just in Tbilisi and we kept saying "ope Roman went there here" "oh hey Roman filmed this too". As a westerner, you and Bald are the main reason we went to Georgia on our first major vacation. Keep it up man, stay safe and God bless.
Explore other countries too. 😂 There's even more excitement in other countries. I say that as someone who visited Georgia two months ago and been to a number of other countries.
isnt Bald a sex offender or something?
Bald is a pervert.
I also went through a similar path and have the same mindset (27 yo from Saint Petersburg). As a teenager, I was a skater and liked listening to American punk rock, absorbed a need for freedom and realized that the government lies a lot. Unfortunately, those who are younger than me and Roman could grow up more brainwashed, I am afraid.
PS I also took a DNA test and got the same result: 100% Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. It actually could be a part of propaganda as well! Since it is a Russian company that makes it (Genotek).
Export the data and put it in 23andMe or use another tool to get a more accurate result
@@MuzzaHukka It is not necessarily more accurate... It all depends on the database that the company has and the algorithm they use. Therefore some companies are more adapted for certain ethnic backgrounds...
I am from poland(family from belarus), did dna test in myheritage got 100% east european. Exported it later to gedmach, and got same result, eurogenes even pinpointed the region my family is from.
Since these are american companies, I think it's legit. There are just fairly a lot of ethnically pure people in eastern europe(due to lack of mobility and little immigration I assume)
I am polish and Ukrainian and got Russia and Eastern European DNA with areas in Belarus, Ukraine and Poland. It’s all slavic dna which is super similar but noone in my family is Russian. I think us Slavs are bunched into one group. I did get sub regions in Poland Ukraine and Belarus tho as well.
@@katrinakovalenko6206 Actually, slav is a culture, not ethnicity. That's why it's not called slav on these websites. For example, significant portion of people in belarus are of baltic ethnicity, but the culture of belarus is uniformly slavic.
I just want all Slavs to be friends to be perfectly honest. Especially as a Pole who lived in the UK for 9 years (I moved when I was 10), i barely see any Polish media and when I do I'm as embarrassed as when I see other Slavic country media. The Polish and Russian governments hate eachother but when my mum went to climb Elbrus, and had a Russian fella drive her and her friend they spoke their languages to eachother and even not everything was understood, there was some friendship. Why can't everyone just be nice. Literally all I want is for no more human life to be lost over stupid war. Stay positive guys :)
Because when people fail to take responsibility of their own lives and happinness, they band together and start looking issues in other "tribes"... those damn liberals/conservatives, polish/russians, west/east, etc. And the politicans use this kind of mood to promote their agenda. And promoting HATE, conspiracy theories, tribalism, etc. is in fact a lifeblood of modern media. It appeals to the most basic animal side of humanity. In every country, unfortunately. And humans are relatively the same everywhere.
Being nice is good and all, but for Putin youre like pets he has to catch after they escaped.
We're not as divisive as our governments would like us to believe. People are people, and although reactionaries exist, most folks are kind and more than willing to be friendly and helpful to one another.
I like "break the fake" from TVP 😉
Poland has a right-wing government right now, hating on Russia and Germany belongs to the package, unfortunately. The other parties - and people even more so - clearly differentiate between the Russian state and the Russian people. In the words of Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, they are 'anti-Russia rusophiles'. Russian literature is still taught in Polish schools. Many people learn and like the language. The majority of people do not dislike Russian people (about 2/3rd are either positive or irrelevant towards Russians. May not be much, but this is the highest value since 1990, since the data is collected by CBOS, the government public opinion agency).
Sure, the war changed a lot. But I would still say that most people do not hate Russians because they're Russian. If anything, they hate them for supporting this war, for supporting genocide, for supporting this authoritarian regime. This is an attitude issue, not ethnicity issue.
Don't listen to people who call you a traitor. Dissent, as a wise man once said, is the greatest form of patriotism.
he is a traitor, traitor of his own motherland. he betrayed everything his ancestors once stood for.
@@ShadowEmpathywho cares his decision 😂
@@Soccerexgaming no patriotism in this new generation
I'm gratified to hear you credit Navalny for playing such a big role in your enlightenment and that of others in your generation. My hearts breaks for that guy -- I am incapable of feeling any optimism at all for Russia anymore, and I often wonder what the hell he accomplished by GOING BACK there and ending up brutalized in jail. It staggers me that he risked his life and lost his freedom over a belief that Russia can be more than what it is ... but now I can see that even if he doesn't manage to save Russia, he has very much saved an entire generation of Russians, mentally at least. He didn't sacrifice himself for no reason -- he sacrificed himself for the good of millions of young Russians like yourself.
Navalney could be doing so much more, there was no reason for him to go back, that was heartbreaking insanity and now nothing good has or is coming from that decision.
The man who led neonazi marches in the mid 2000's? Why is everyone anti russia pro fascist?
Is that really what you think about Navalny? Well don’t look now but it turns out he’s in ultranationalist who openly hates Muslims and Asians and Caucasians all non-Christian non-ethnic Russky.
Seriously the guy even made a TV ad comparing people from the caucuses to cockroaches and recommending different guns to shoot them with.
Seriously. Watch. m.th-cam.com/video/hT0tCSaWZ9Q/w-d-xo.html
And this guy is supposed to be the hero Russia needs?
@@sangria1able didnt he almost die of russian state poisoning??? WHY would he go back after that!?
@@LHSMeleeClub he wanted to inspire russian people do disobey regime and rise up. It worked. There were massive demonstrations after his arrest for weeks in most largest cities all over the country. However, because of rosgvardian soldiers and very violent suppression of demonstrations thousands protestors were captured, harmed and sentenced to years in prison. After that parliament ratified few laws that made protesting impossible (like you can be sentenced to 10 years of prison for standing near metro station with empty piece of paper) and most free thinking citizens decided to leave the country or keep quiet. So, sadly, Alexey's spark was not enough to start the fire.
Thanks for the perspective as always. You've taught me a lot about Russia. Best of luck and stay safe.
Crowe?
This is a truly great video. I commend your wisdom and humility and wish that a lot of my compatriots here in the USA were capable of such a level of self-reflection and self-criticism.
this shit cringe bro 😭. tf happened to the dank cod montages 💀
The US is the most self-critical country on the planet lmao.
Hey, you rock! Overcoming one’s childhood / environmental conditioning is a huge challenge. I think it’s awesome that you did it, that you have self-reflection, and that you share your experiences so honestly. You make the world just a little bit better.
It's an ongoing struggle. We are *constantly* bombarded by propaganda. It's a bit worrying how so many people lament about people in other countries falling for it. and yet won't even entertain the thought that "their side" would do the same.
I only recently learned that the videos we watch about the war, are *very carefully* tailored to cater to our biases.
For instance, vloggers on the frontlines who happen document anything negative about the Ukrainian side, get pushed down by the YT algorithm. And all those intercepted Russian phonecalls are very carefully cherrypicked by Ukrainian intelligence. But those are just some of the more blatant examples.
Modern propaganda can be extremely effective, that shit is a science. It can be hard to catch yourself parroting something you don't actually agree with if you stopped to think. But we're social animals, and our tribalistic instincts are used against us. It's depressing...
Your experience makes a lot of sense. When people learn (and are not inhibited from learning) history, experience different cultures and are able to experience differing opinions, it can open up the world for you in the best ways.
Your growth as a person is inspirational. I experienced something similar living in the US by understanding how government bodies work and how populations are affected. Everyone should understand the world is advancing faster than our mindsets are
Wow, your level of self-confidence combined with your level of self-consciousness and honesty is amazing. Thanks for what you do. Please, be safe!
This is one of the reasons he has so many subscribers... 👍🏻😀🇬🇧
@@fredfred2363 yep, you're not wrong there buddy.
Привет из оппозиционной стороны Челябинска! Приятно видеть земляка с адекватной позицией
Literally same experience here. Internet culture, Lurkmore, Navalny, Nemtsov, are amongst the gravest things that shaped my political consiousness. I remember going to the rally in 2012 (not the first one of that period, but I guess the second one), just because it was so popular, but then getting a Nemtsov-Milov report about Putin's corruption handed me there which was the thing that kick-started my awareness about the Russian state of internal affairs. But I have to say, Internet culture and Lurkmore were always a double-edged sword where on one side, it had been always promoting the critical thinking I guess (which was good), but on the other hand - "condemning" human morality (moralfag was the word) and common values
А Лурк вже зачинили?(
Навальный нацист епрст
I can sorta relate to this video as an American who grew up in a military/conservative environment. Crazy how we're shaking off our indoctrination around the same age. I love these different perspectives of a similar struggle.
Another great video, Roman. I really appreciate the honesty and reflection shown here and it encourages me to continue on my own journey.
Not crazy but normal. The middle teenage years are a time of awakening & rebellion against conventions of the older generation. We all argue with our dads and we see that it makes them angry. Then we wonder if maybe they are not the all-knowing leaders that we thought when we were small but just fallible people who can't actually examine or justify their opinions nor accept any dissent. For many of us, this is what sent us to the history books to find out for ourselves what really happened. This was not at all easy 50 years ago but today's internet generation are much luckier, except for Russians, Japanese & Chinese apparently. When we were young, we were suspicious of the motives & the stories of anyone over 30. Now I'm 66 and I can confirm we were right to be.
I'm in a conservative family but we don't support states like Russia
Omg, I loved Lurkmore so much. This year I felt a little nostalgic about it and I was so disappointed to know it no longer exists. Such a loss. 🕯
I was born in Ukraine, but I was brainwashed the same way. Because we had exactly the same history classes at school here, we watched Russian TV channels, and there were many USSR bigots among the elderly. I thought Ukrainians and Russians were one nation that defeated Nazism. I believed that the West was evil and that Russia and Ukraine should unite to oppose it.
Then I got the Internet and had access to different sources of information. I changed my mind about 80% of what I had been told about Russia, Ukraine and the West as a child. The remaining 20% were shattered in 2014, when Russia went to war against Ukraine. I realized that Russia and the USSR was the real evil, and Ukraine should unite with the West to oppose it.
You just changed sides😂you are still brainwashed but by internet instead of russian TV
You just changed sides😂you are still brainwashed but by internet instead of russian TV
You just changed sides😂you are still brainwashed but by internet instead of russian TV
You just changed sides😂you are still brainwashed but by internet instead of russian TV
You just changed sides😂you are still brainwashed but by internet instead of russian TV
I can relate. I am originally from Russia as well and lived there for a good deal of my life but I left & came back at times. Both my grandparents (on one side of my family) were massive Putin supporters and thought I was insane for being against him. Even other Russians I know aboard still push that line. It can be hard to get out of the propaganda since I also at one point supported Putin. Ever since the Ukraine stuff first started , all my right wing friends are basically pro Putin.
I think another problem with being Russian abroad is that the propaganda machine targets expats, too. And I remember in 2016-2018, it was preying on the vast differences between different news sources (at least in the US). The rhetoric was "you can't trust your own news sources, so why do you think that your media would be depicting Russia accurately?" And a lot of people fell for it, completely ignoring that such a stance was conveniently advantageous to the current regime.
I've not met a single right wing person that had any good thoughts of russia, just my experience
So you support ukrainians killing ethnic russians in donbass with western weapons? Have you seen the pictures from donbass?
@@kittycatwithinternetaccess2356 Trump
@@paddington1670 false
I think you summed up my feelings towards any war ever conducted with one question!
"What is the point of this territorial gain if peoples lives become worse?"
Your English mastery is impressive. I have been in USA from 2005 since early age and I can't express my self that well in English. It just so different from east European languages, even Spanish flows better for me in small talk scenarios. I guess a script in front of camera is easier.
I dont actually think his stuff is that scripted. Yes he certainly has a script but he isn't reading off a teleprompter. Also he has been doing this for like 10 years or almost half of his life, so it is no surprise.
I don’t think he uses a script. I am a native speaker who taught English as a foreign language abroad, this does not seem scripted to me, he did what all my best students did to learn English -played video games and spoke with native speakers while doing it. 😂
By “script” I mean he isn’t reading it, of course he outlines what he is going to discuss, everyone does. You can tell a difference between his content and when he’s discussing the sponsor.
I think Roman also tries pretty hard to become a better orator, maybe you speak your native languages in private or with friends more than is conducive to learning English better. Like all of my Iranian friends, they picked up English fast but their parents are lost causes because they literally never even attempt to speak English.
it’s nothing unusual lmao
Just keep speaking! Script or not, keep speaking! Record yourself, correct yourself, etc. You will get better
Very relatable. I was a full vatnik until MH17. I was convinced that UA brought down the plane but then I saw some things that made me start questioning russia's narrative on this. I guess it made me start applying critical thinking and thats when the uncomfortable truth revealed itself to me.
Dude, I really appreciate the perspective you give. I think if more people watched your stuff they would have better insight of what living in Russia is really like and the impact of your environment and social conditions. I'm glad you left I hope things work out for you and the rest of the Ukrainian and Russian people. Keep your head up. Well informed people question their states, no one is a lost cause.
I was hella brainwashed, but instead of the government it was wild conspiracies and religion. It's harder to escape that mentality than people would imagine
@@mh-rl4sz It really depends on how deep and dedicated you get. For most people religion is just one part of life and an explanation for the unexplainable. For me though it was literally my entire existence. So giving it up was to give up all friends, family ties, existential purpose, future goals and to admit my 6 years of theology study was nearly worthless.
@@mh-rl4sz believing that a person is a descendant of a god almost sounds like a cult to me.
@@lol-ih1tl I mean yeah really the only difference between a cult and a religion is its age (older ones get seen as more legitimate for some reason…) and its popularity.
But they are fundamentally the same thing.
@@mduckernz Though cults are broader as they don't necessarily ought to be religious while religions by definition are.
Cults also usually retain the pejorative connotation of often having a top-down authoritative hierarchy that cult followers don't question (but then again you either eventually die out or live long enough to become authoritative, which is how you get from multiple Early Christianities to the main Orthodox-Catholic branch).
@@NewNecro True, that is a worthwhile point, I indeed should have specified religious cults. As you say, the category has more in it than “just” religion (although most cults share at least some of their “skeleton” with religious ones, notably the authoritarian top-down structure and the absolutist reality shaping aspect, e.g. “truth is what we say it is, all conflicts of reality vs dogma is a result of sin - of yourself, and/or the society you live in” )
Respect Roman. I grew up in comunist Poland and was also a subject of school and media indoctrination. It was starange mix of lets say pro-soviet and slightly nationalist propaganda which offered narrow, Poland-centric view of history and issues. Fortunately polish society at that time was anti-comunist and that guaranteed a certain level of incoherence of views and endoresed critical thinking. In 1989 we become fully independent. Democracy and freedom of speech followed and it became much easier to access different opinions and ideas. But still even in such friendly environment it takes a lot of work and effort to find credible sources of information and opinions, to compare different perspectives and think it over to build your take. So once more respect that you managed to break free of Z-world.
Good for you to acknowledge your shortcomings. Seriously. I wish we all did this-even if it was only once in a while.
Don’t beat yourself up too much for your mistakes bro. It says a lot about your character to publicly admit them and work to get better. I went through a similar political journey. Keep up the good work bro!
The very fact you are willing to call yourself out on mistakes made in the past ie the Ukrainian comment demonstrates the ability of self-reflection which is a rarity in all parts of the world, but keeps you as honest as you can be and humble. kudos to you roman keep fighting the good fight in the information space and keep sharing your life which got a lot more interesting, not in a good way ie due to mobilization and the conflict stay safe and stay honest. love your content!
Hey Roman,
I recently gotten into your videos. As a Russian myself, who moved to USA in 2007, I really like watching someone who speaks English and Russian in their videos since I got a case of rusglish only having my mom to talk to :) Anyway, as others have pointed out, you're one of the few TH-camrs who've made videos admitting mistakes and or recognizing how far they've come. Feel free to call me out on it, but my two sources of Russian news are you and the InfoGraphics channel :)
i would search some more legitimate sources. roman is just a dude and infographics can be pretty terrible. maybe tvrain(dozd) would be good for you. only remaining independent russian tv news channel (not operating from russia anymore).
He is parroting American propaganda bs.
Infographics? Thats not news bro
@@hullmees666 actually some of ukrainian TV speaks russian, may be good to
Ukrainian TV can be pretty decent if you have the mental flexibility of a contortionist to somehow think a country that calls Nazi collaborators its heroes and sends into battle soldiets who wear Nazi SS emblems and even uses their version of the Nazi motto as its state greeting is somehow not Nazi.
I agree. I was taught in school that we won in the ww2 and saved everyone all by ourselves. But also later our classes turned into something even worse. Like watching movies about our great president Putin and writing essays about it later. Ugh... My dad was very wake-russian so he explained to me the concept of propaganda and allowed me to skip the history lessons. And this pretty much was the point where my historical education just stopped.
This could be the reason I never raised my interest in history and politics. Like I was against the current government (because I could see in what shit we live in compared to other countries, lol), but I never was politically active and never was interested in what is happening. When the Crimea was annexed the only question I had was "why on Earth would you need more land if you can't keep order on the land you already have? Wtf? Why is everyone happy about it? This is stupid..."
And I found out the truth about ww2 only in 2022, when youtube got flooded with political videos...
And I'm glad that this channel was recommended to me :)
P.S.: sorry for my English, I'm self-taught >
there's also a similar issue here in the U.S., the idea that we singlehandedly won WW2. I thought this too for a while but the reality is Britain, America, and the USSR all played an extremely important role and without one the war could've gone very differently. There's a saying that WW2 was won with "British intelligence, American steel, and Soviet blood." also your English is amazing
I have been following you for a few months now, and appreciate your perspective as a native of Russia. You are well spoken. I am an American who was taught and didn’t think to question as a child, the notion of “American Exceptionalism”. It wasn’t until as a teenager in the late eighties did I start to look back at our role in the world with skepticism. Meeting more people from around the world during my life does give me the impression there is good in every country. Or, at the very least, the potential. I wish you the best and will keep watching. Thanks! 16:38
Agreed. As a German, US propaganda reminds me of fascism and makes me deeply uncomfortable.
Glad I’m not the only American seeing the similarities. I started rebelling against “American exceptionalism” when I was 13 in ‘95. It started with an obsession with the hippy movement and music, then I moved to punk, then of course moved on to Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, etc. in college. Now I’m 40 and I am still learning, reading Bakunin, Kropotkin, Bookchin, etc. But when he said he was taught that Russia single-handedly saved the world from the Nazis, I was like “gee, that sounds similar” cause the US acts the same way….
Ya bro, I too am slavic but a polish/american and would NEVER claim that I am Russian, no offense but given the circumstances you must understand! Stay cool bro, peace!
I loved this video. Thanks so much for sharing your thought process and how things have changed for you over the years.
Солидарен с тобой, в России даже сейчас очень много людей с непромытыми мозгами. А ещё я учу английский по твоим роликам 🙃
That’s good man. Keep it up smart man. Getting this message from California, USA.
I feel like learning a language that unlocks global knowledge is very helpful in developing your own opinion on things
If you are an English speaker I would recommend learning Russian next. Learning Russian opened me to an entire world of different perspectives and also stories I was never told as an English speaker. For example, basically everything going on in Eastern Europe for the past eight years.
@@brianmead7556 I would love to but I have no time for it
You pretty much described my own experience. Can't explain it better 👍
Even though you sometimes say it's hard for you to stay sane, I think you've got most of your neurons wired together pretty good ;)
I'm convinced you're a bloody decent human being Roman 🙏
Your self awareness when it comes to how being exposed to propaganda influences you even when it's uncomfortable to confront is incredibly admirable. I find people have this tendency to reject bad aspects of their nation's power structures or whatever; and then suddenly think they're immune to it's influence because of that conscious rejection, all while being unaware of all the subtle ways that those power structures influence you; that you're susceptible to even if you reject something as a whole.
What a wonderful video!! In essence, what freed and protects you is EDUCATION! This is why oppressive regimes always go after schools first. They want schools to be little propaganda factories and force the kids to be little robots who don't ask questions, and to instill the regime's values into them. The internet breaks that by allowing people to collaborate and teach each other. It's a dictatorship's literal worst nightmare and I love it. Thank you for sharing your stories. Keep up the great work!!
have you been in a German school? LOL. 80% is about the Holocau$t and people being drilled to accept all kinds of abuse from migrants and muslims. To be ashamed of who they are. I think I'd rather live in a country where the Christian religion, traditional family values and my own national identity are cherished and protected.
@@grundgesetzart.1463 Not only have you missed the point of my comment, but it sounds like you're a Nazi. lol
As a Ukrainian i have way to much respect for you😎
Don't worry, we have minority like him)))
Некоторые из нас знают правду.
Putin: "Ukraine once was russia. So I'm just taking it back."
Mongolia: "now this looks like a job for me"
*revives Kublai Khan
As a Student of History myself, (B.A. History 1996) with an interest in Military Conflicts throughout history, I can just say that the Soviet Military Doctrine was absolutely insane with its plan of just throwing wave after wave of poorly armed and equipped men at the enemy. That's how they lost 27 million people. In contrast, I just looked up U.S. casualties in WWII. And here's what I got. 405.4K deaths and 670K wounded for a total of 1.076M casualties. And we found in two theaters of war, Europe and the Pacific.
One of the things that you'll often see among the Communist countries, Soviet Union, North Korea, China, Cuba, etc os that they will often push the idea that there is no where better in the world than inside their Communist country, so there'd be no logical reason to want to escape these countries. That's why they must block out any outside information because it would quickly debunk the Communist propaganda.
As for DNA, I am nearly 100% Slavic, but my DNA does not map to Russia, rather Carpathian Ruthenia, Poland and Croatia. I get how there are DNA connections among Slavs, but there are definitely differences too. I agree with you that the Ukrainians have a better argument about having the closest connection to the Kievan Rus.
Kievan Rus-> Ukraine
Muscovy-> Russia
They don’t have a closer connection to the Kievean rus. And I am saying this as someone who has the degrees to back what I’m saying because they are known facts, part of the region’s history. Roman is not a specialist, he’s a young man who studied languages in Russia. And as another fact, Russia is not famous for its education, no shade, truth, so his input on historical matters has to be taken as an opinion piece, not actual science.
@@minime7375 you’re such a joke lol
@@umhello3733 insults are not arguments. Sorry if that’s all your intellect (or lack thereof) can produce.
@@MaxTheLegend_YT Kieavan rus-Novgorod-Moscow🙂
One of our (Czech Republic) famous writers said something like "Russians say Slavic and mean ours". We were never in history really friends with Russia. There was always fear of Russia present in some form. Even when Russia help us during WWII to get free from Germany, it wasn't without a price. We saw 1989 as a chance to start over and free. So its funny Russia people see it as our betrayal.
There is a great essay by Milan Kundera (The Stolen West or the Tragedy of Eastern Europe, it's from 1984 I think) about that. Most of Central European Slavs did not have that much in common with the Russians - and when they did, like Poland, it was more often war than friendship, or subjugation than partnership (e.g. Belarusians, Ukrainians). The whole thing about pan-Slavic friendship was a useful propaganda tool to project justification of forcing these countries into the Eastern Bloc and under the Moscow boot.
.
The Southern Slavs are somewhat different - I'd assume due to shared Eastern Orthodox tradition and the fact that both Serbia and Bulgaria - two countries most in favour of Russia in the Balkans, also have or had colonising appetites in their respective region (and their appetites did not clash with Russia's as Polish-Lithuanian did). They have less experience with Russia being a threat to them - because they served a good role for Russian imperial interest (controlling the imperial attempts of both Austria and Ottomans). And of course, Tito managed to keep Yugoslavia out, so they never experienced the Soviet boot directly after that.
And don't forget what they did to suppress the Prague Spring in 1968.
russians aren´t slavs. They literally originate from scandinavia.
@@dmitrycherepov3242 you... you realize how the russian ethnicity that claims superiority over those others is meant here do you?
Thank you for sharing your journey with us, Roman. I love how humble and honest you are. Take care.
In Poland, we remember that it was Germany and the USSR invaded Poland in 1939 (the start of WWII) as part of the German/Russian Ribbentrop/Molotov pact. We also remember 1920 and Bolsheviks invading Poland. Russia was never a friend of Poland, so there is nothing to be betrayed. We look at 1944 - 1989 as a sort of occupation of Poland by Russia. We remember that Russia always screens like a little girl that it is being threatened, but it is Russia that always invades every country around. A sad story as Russia always is on the bad side of history and WWII fighting the Germans was just a fight for survival. When Regan called Russia an Evil Empire he was right, with the exception that Russia is not an empire, it is a regional power. Roman, I enjoy your video, and I'm hoping that Russia at some point will stop their nonsense with countries of Central Europe and we all be able to live peacefully as separate countries (not part of Russia) LOL.
Reagan called that ussr not russia and ussr was a global power. Nice knowledge.
The world war II history coverage is quite interesting. In Germany its usually mentioned that the Soviet Union was cooperating with the nazis when it came to Poland which gives a quite different perspective.
Oh yeah, the 39-40ies are mentioned in our books ever so briefly with no elaboration, since keeping the mental image of "USSR = Paragon of justice" is difficult when thinking of your country in a negative light
It depends on the school honestly, my experience is that in Germany history of the war is really skipped when it comes to certain details. in a very propaganda like way, which resulted in many of my german former (I did not want to assosiate with them) colleagues claiming "oh we are not racist we have black friends" while at the same time absolutely hating Polish people, thinking the holocaust was overblown by polish and jewish propaganda and that Germany has the right to be imperialistic and made fun of holocaust victims all the time. and these were all educated young men from both poor and rich backgrounds I met around the world in the corporate world and university.
@@kokojambo4944 Right now world war II is among the most overdone topics in history class everywhere. It is even repeated after like 3-4 years. I don't know where you got your experience from but tracing it to history lessons seems odd.
Yeah they, really, really dont like that bit mentioned, especially tankies
In Britain we did about 2 months on world war 2 and most of that was tedious crap about pearl harbour.
Roman, you'd be a dissident in any society, Buddy. And that's a good thing.
Your work is super interesting. I’ve shown snippets of your content to my 8th and 9th grade students here in Denmark.
Thank you for explaining how things were in Russia in the recent past. I could learn a lot from this video.
This was really interesting. I would never have known anything about the Russian internet otherwise, and you explain it all with Western comparisons and references that make it really easy to understand. Thanks! I love these looks into a very different world, but with so many similarities that it's easy to sympathize. Old relatives say awful things everywhere.
Not all old relatives. :(
@@joannmarie61 No, not all of them, but if I'm going to hear something awful at a holiday gathering, that's where I expect it to come from.
Excellent self awareness Roman. Love your channel. Luv and Hugs from your American friend. Appreciate your perspective on things.
Love your insight into this. You and ai mori are my favorite RUS youtubers/artists!
I can see why. They both have great hair
Well done, Roman! That was very interesting and encouraging that there are people like you who can see through the bullshit. Keep up the good work.
Your outlook and ability to see the bigger picture and think for yourself set you apart from the majority of the population. Its the same here in America and im sure everywhere else also. The majority of the crazy ideology comes from people that just go with what theyre told without attempting to learn the truth or whole story of what theyre being told. Your the man homie!! Keep up the fantastic content bro
regarding lend-lease: my grandfather from Ukraine was in soviet army back then in ww2, one of his stories was that they were receiving M4 Sherman from US allie, it was quite a nice tank according to him, but it was decorated with a lining inside the cabin, which, although it was comfortable, had the property of catching fire during a battle, so they removed it all the time. But the most warm and nice thing he remembered was that the allies soldiers put bottles of wine or whiskey in the muzzles of tanks, which greatly pleased the people at the front.
I absolutely love your channel, Roman. Keep the interesting and entertaining content coming!
Great video! One thing I'd add is on the WWII thing. In the USA we have the exact problem except in the opposite direction. We are taught, pretty much, the USA won WWII single handedly while fighting two fronts, Europe and Asia. It wasn't until I was an adult that I learned just how much Russia suffered and sacrificed to help win the war. It was truly a global effort and it is sad that's not how it gets taught in either of our countries.
In the UK its said to be a British victory
@@TizerisT. American here -- definitely a British victory in the 'best speeches' category. I'm surprised Zelensky doesn't make more of an effort to channel Churchill. The 'finest hour' speech -- my god...
Bang on! We grew up with so much anti Russian propaganda to the point that I’m quite ashamed after seeing how much they sacrificed. I’m sorry, I don’t agree with Roman’s overly harsh criticism of his country, but I don’t blame him for thinking that the grass is always greener on the other side. We’re all guilty of that. Our own propaganda is horrendous and becoming unbearable. I always listen to both sides, so even though I don’t agree with Roman, it’s good to get an overall perspective of the dissenting Russians. If you take our own propaganda and Russias, apply some historical context, use your own brain, logic and question each agenda and trust nobody completely then, perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle. What’s important is that we learn history and apply logic and don’t buy into everything we’re fed.
As a millenial in Hungary (former Soviet puppet, the "happiest barrack") we were given a pretty balanced view. How the Soviet Union made a deal with Nazi Germany to crush Poland from two sides then how Germany attacked the USSR regardless once they secured the rest of mainland Europe. How Stalin got drunk in the first week of the invasion then poured millions of Russians to the front to push Hitler back. How the US stayed out of the war until Pearl Harbor, the heroic landfall on D-Day, how they deployed the A-bombs. And of course we were also taught how Hungary itself allied with Nazi Germany at the time mainly under duress while not downplaying that yes, we too took part in the genocide as part of the machine. It was pretty balanced. We've never been the main villains or main heroes, the privilege of a small country, but man have we consistently stood with the wrong side all throughout the 20th century.
Honestly I think you just weren’t paying attention in class because the US teaches about the Soviet Union and everyone 😅
I find it so interesting what you said about the framing of your school’s curriculum regarding WWII. In the US it’s the mirror story where we are framed as the saviors and the USSR’s involvement is downplayed as much as possible. I’m finding there is always more to unpack and like you learning other languages and viewing history and modern geopolitics intimately through a diversity of lenses creates overall a clearer picture. I’m not sure how possible it is to ever completely deconstruct the biases worked into us in our formative years, but every effort makes us into better stronger people. Or whatever
I was thinking the same about how we teach these things in the west. I live in France, and in most of western Europe we put a greater effort on the American effort than on the Russian one. Probably because we were freed by Americans and also because we were their alleys during the Cold War. While the USSR did not do it alone for sure, they did put in a big effort, which we sometimes tend to forget here in the west.
In France we also have a weird ambiguity with how we teach WW2 anyway. While it is getting better, we sometimes tend to present things as though everyone was against the Nazis and all, while in reality we had the Vichy regime which was personally responsable for rounding up Jews for example. It is a huge taboo actually, and there are some huge biases in our curriculum as well.
The world is lucky the US even got involved in WWII. It wasn't our war to begin with. US solders dying in Europe was a great service to the world.
I think this is mostly a phenomenon of "lower" education. When I went to college, I learned an almost completely different version of American history. Unfortunately, in "lower" education, there is almost no emphasis on "critical thinking". My personal theory is that parents have a greater influence on local curriculum because school boards are locally elected, allowing parents to prevent education which they might feel personally threatening (which critical thinking tends to do). Higher education tends to focus a lot more on learning how to think. What this means is informed by political ideology. Some might see it as critical thinking, especially postmodernism. Or, some might see it as "re-education", and why some people view higher education with suspicion.
This is probably wrong, but this is how I look at it: Russia and Germany made a pact. All for selfish reasons, and the countries they divided--be damned. Well, Germany gets what it wants from Russia, and it is good for the short term. But soon, Germany invades Russia. The only reason Russia fought Germany was that Germany invaded their country.
(The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact signed in 1939 by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union shortly before World War II. In the pact, the two former enemies agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years.)
@@TheBandit7613 what are you saying bro we didn’t choose to join, we got attacked by the fascists just like everyone else. We didn’t do it out of nobility or as a favor, we did it to protect our country, the same as all the other allies.
Around late 2019 and early 2020 I was a HUGE Putin supporter. I saw those those “tough” propaganda photos. I was like this guys amazing, and living in the USA I saw a bunch of old people, and then there was this big “tough” guy running Russia I thought it was amazing. It then died down, and I got more invested in American politics, and then the war happened, and I instantly flipped. I went from seeing propaganda and liking him, then just not caring, then to disliking him. Also your content has given me a great view into what it’s like to be a real Russian person, and what’s happening.
Glad I grew out of this easily impressionable phase early
@@Vitorruy1 Same
You live in USA and watched russian propaganda??? How come??
@@Sophie-Ocean Well I saw those tough guy edits on TH-cam and searched out for more, I also googled photos.
I agree with you other GP-5 gas mask.
Interesting video. You engage in more self-reflection than most people.
Somehow, it doesn't occur to Russians to wonder and ask why East Europeans are indeed ungrateful for what the USSR brought them: political oppression and economic misery. The imperial notion of "liberating" neighboring nations from their freedom never abated and remains alive more than ever.
Listening to this made me realise that this happens in all countries to some level, our elders basically program us to have an idealised view of our country.
It starts with education ministry who chooses the topics and manuals for history class. I have a culture studies degree, and we all end up with a small identity crisis when we learned our country history from a different non high school prespective. It's a shock but a great one.
Sounds like Roman should read more about libertarianism, that ideology could save Russia from itself
Your story is great, a story of an intelligent young man who thinks by himself and has the heart at the right place.
Just to think, before the internet almost everyone lived their entire life brain-washed. Now everyone can see how their countries and institutions really operate and what they care about, although most people will choose to ignore everything that makes them uncontrollable.
This isn't really accurate. PLENTY of people challenged their government's propaganda pre-internet.
Nope that's not the case, some countries yes but not the majority, internet is just a modern form of media, we here in cro, and yu in general, but i can speak for cro understood the official narrative on the tv, but it wasn't like russia at all, and printed media was pretty liberal and proffessional, and also you could buy foreign press, western press, not everywhere, but some centrally located kiosks with high frequency for sure.
Also the official pripaganda was just that and not taken seriously even by the officials and in tv shows like series mocking it was almost compulsory as exposing the corruption, also the domestic press was free to criticise especially the economy.
Not uncontrollable … Uncomfortable
I gotta admit, Im born and raised in Oregon but I have always found the Soviet era facinating, Baltic countries, Lake Baikal, Siberia, Moscow, Russia in general fascinates me especially when it comes to geography, architecture, cultural diversity, natural Ecosystem's and animal diversity. (I just have to put aside politics, and most "normal" things about Russia and Russian people, {as long as they aren't psycho political *just like how I don't like psycho political Americans ya know?} besides that I find places very interesting and I like learning exploring unique places and Russia is full of that, just like how parts of American wilderness areas are unique and interesting. "I really miss the 90's America vibe. Being born in 1989. Those day's and very early 2000's were the best and so much has changed and become devoid of life, character, and creativity sadly.)
Listen, I don't want to sound disrespectufl but America doesn't have as much of a problem with people who're are "psycho political" as Russia. Even most of the people who oppose Putin only oppose him for the way he ruined their economy and now, for the obligation to go to war in Ukraine. But they still agree with his views on the LGBT, women and other slavic people, especially, ukrainians. That's why most of Europe eventually had to deny russians asylum. Because these russian refugees would come into Europe and harasse ukrainian refugees and LGBT people. It is what it is but people like Roman have to suffer because the majority of the people from his country have been brainwashed to be fascists even if they're not willing to go to war themselves to invade Ukraine. And people like Roman will continue to suffer unless we do something to deprogram russians the same way we deprogrammed germans after WWII.
@@dork7546 as a russian, i disagree. the alt-right has been on the rise for quite some time now in the US, with this year marked by a huge anti-LGBT campaign that mostly targets trans people and drag queens for "grooming" children. which was followed by literally armed nazis protesting and harassing people irl. it's "psycho political" in the sense that conservatives will go out of their way to "exercise" their rights, support QAnon, and deny the 2020 election results. last i checked, around 40% of americans thought trump was robbed. marjorie taylor green (or whatever her name is) is a psycho. doug mastriano is a psycho. so, in my view, the country is clearly unstable. whereas most russians tend to be more apolitical and yes, approve of putin and his MAGA (or should i say MRGA) policies, but not really engage in politics (unless pressured by their employer). like, i don't see russians protesting with "you're an abomination" or "you're going to hell" signs. it's just the propaganda pundits that make it feel like a circus every time i turn on the tv. (by the way, i'm not trying to excuse the war or russians buying into the propaganda & expressing their fascist tendencies, i'm just saying that i feel safer as a queer person here, well, at least for the time being).
@@laincoubert7236 There are only 23 million americans at most that identify as Qanon right now. That's less than 10% of the entire country's population. The reason why you keep on hearing news about drug queens or gay bars being attacked in the US is because, unlike in Russia, hate crimes againsts LGBT people get reported and punished. You don't see people in Russia prostesting with signs calling gay people groomers because they don't need to, since they can just randomly throw with brinks in LGBT people and suffer no consequences for it(and at times, the police even aids in these hate crimes as Roman pointed out a few years ago). And Trump and the MAGA/Qanon movement is so despised in America right now that literally, every Trump endorsed republican candidate lost the mid terms elections, even in the most conservative states. The fact that you're so brainwashed to think you're safer in a country where crimes against LGBT people are legal than you'd be in the US just proves my point. Also, I don't know where the hell you got that 40% stats but I can assure you, it's fucking wrong. The vast majority of people in America identify as democrats and even when it comes to the republican party, 60% of republican voters said they don't like Trump while only 40%(aka those 23 million people) said they'd vote for him again.
@@laincoubert7236 Also, I do not care if russian people don't passionately engage into politics. Even if they don't crawl over broken glass for Putin, the vast majority of them still agree with Putin's views on women, LGBT people, Russia's ethnic minorities and other slavic nations, even if they may not like him for the way he handled your economy. You don't need to have a picture of your leader on your wall to be a fascist. Putin doesn't rely on the love his people have for him. He relies on the hate they share with him for the people I mentioned earlier and for the west to stay in power. And even if he'll somehow, be removed from power because people will get tired of him ruining your economy, your country will never get to experience this thing called human rights unless your people get deprogrammed from hating this concept because it's western and everything western is evil in their eyes. You need to acknowledge the damage all of this brainwashing has done to your people's views unless you want to keep hopping from a dictator to another.
To me generally the talks about any sort of identity triggers me
Good commentary!
Love you Roman just hearing your voice helped me avoid those bad feelings
As a Czech citizen, I'm kinda proud to be a "traitor" then. :D
Same for Poles, Slovaks, Croatians and Slovenians just to give a short list of slavic countries who were lucky not to be really connected to Russia and it’s Golden Horde inherited medieval dictatorship style of ruling :)
@@RealTunesStudio neither were serbians, bosnians or bulgarians. They only got independence thanks to them, but their mentality barely has anything to do with the russian one.
@@andybogdan4380 yep, I intentionally left out countries you mentioned to let them say for themselves :) The ones I mentioned I know better because I live in this region. Generally speaking Russia’s claim to be “homeland of slavs” is totally a propaganda fake. The only similarity is language group, everything else is different.
lol. Are you proud that Germans and Austrians ruled over you for centuries? that you had to do menial jobs for them? Are you proud that you killed and displaced ethnic Germans in 1945? Questions over questions.
Bro, you're the realest for this breakdown
I remember your videos of walking through old Soviet parks, showing us your first car! Or at least the car you drove at the time. It was a great time I no my childhood, it was amazing to see a different world from my own. Many of us in America are taught to hate Russians. I grew up hearing about the Cold War, but you showed me how cool Russians can be. That Russians are just human too. Been here since like 2013 and hope to be here much longer. Bless you Roman
Wow. This was super interesting. Thank you.
It does seem like a LOT of things must align to get one's head out if the propaganda mud. Intellect, curiosity, access to alternative media, ability to read a foreign language, a guy like Navalny coming along at just the right time, a willingness to study history rather than listen to propagandists retelling of it...
It seems like the odds were stacked against you or anyone getting out...
I recently traveled outside of the U.S. for about six months. Upon returning, I realized how much more propagandized Americans, myself included, are than maybe many think we are. I think propaganda happens everywhere.
Yeah, typically the more arrogant and blindly patriotic a society is, the more likely it's propagandized.
@@fisher3317 Well said. Seems to be the case down thru history.
You all say without question america is the greatest country in the world and have a creepy pledge of allegiance for small kids, and you dont notice the propaganda?
What are you brainwashed about?
I've never been brainwashed.
sounds like growing up russian is not so different from growing up around right wing americans.
Cred for owning past mistakes. Peace! ✌
The epiphany of critical thinking and intelligence over emotions are two very important keys to being a stable man. Thanks for your excellent insights in this video.
Thank you for telling your story, Roman! I think, by opening yourself in this way, it calls each of us to look more earnestly at biases that may have infiltrated our minds either at a young age or through sources-like friends and family-that we may not have the presence of mind to distrust the way many of us ‘naturally’ distrust politicians and pundits. Hope life in Georgia is treating you well, my friend!
I have a friend who I went to college with and back in the day she told me she was Ukrainian, and in my mind I heard "Soviet" which in my mind was also synonymous with Russian, so years later I talked with her again and said something like 'I remember you said you were Russian' and she was like, 'no Ukrainian' and I was like 'ooooh...right'. So even in my American mind back in the day I automatically thought Russian when someone said Ukrainian.
To be fair, no one ever taught us westerners that there was a difference. It was like Brits and Irish. It was just a province in The USSR, and USSR was Russia in my mind. It took a war to teach me.
Ukrainians have been brainwashed to believe they are completely separate from Russia, Oleg the Seer himself was born in Novgorod (modern day Russia) Ukrainians and Russians are in fact the same people.
@@GrichkaBogdanofff Different culture and genes. But even if they were both culturally and genetically identical, they would still be a separate people because they choose to be.
And if you're going to drag history in to it, you woukd be more accurate to say that Russians are Ukrainians because that's where Russia got its start.
Yhe only brainwashed people are those that think they have anu business telling others what to do.
@@VikingTeddywrong, wrong, and wrong. And yes stop sticking your nose in the business of Ukrainians (little Russians) and Russians
I'm not sticking my nose where it doesn't belong, and neither should you. Let people live in peace.
It makes a person look very weak when they feel the need to insult others and try to tell them what to do. Someone with a healthy self-esteem doesn't need to view others as below them.
And btw, just saying "wrong" without trying to address the issue makes it look like you don't actually have a reply.
Why does 2019 look like 8 centuries ago and under the sea in that flashback? I've not even changed clothes since 2019
Your podcast yesterday brought memories of how my husband and I felt during the Viet-Nam war. We were preparing to move to Canada knowing we could never return to the US. and some would think of us as traitors. It did not happen but we still both remember those feelings. This was a time of upheaval in the US with the "Make Love Not War" hippie revolution.. I still have my tattered quote on our refrigerator which reminds me daily of what we reap when we have an uninformed or misinformed population: "Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire' We seem to be living in a time of great changes and with that comes great turmoil. Please remember what you and many other young people are doing in their podcasts may well change this old world for the better.
👏🏻 Say it louder for the Americans in the back!
I didn’t have to flee because (a) I’m a woman, and (b) there was no conscription in Afghanistan and Iraq, but I hated that we were invading them, and got called a traitor a lot (not that I care, I hate nationalism anyways). But the hippy movement did inspire me to learn more about America’s atrocities when I was 13, and I still listen to Phil Ochs, Barry McGuire, Dylan, etc to this day. So thank y’all for that!
@@TheBLGL No one says it better than Lennon's" Imagine". Also in those years I was a fan of Jacques Brel - His play "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" - very dark but spot on with "Next, Marieke,If We only had Love". Now a fan of Rhiannon Giddens.
I have never supported nationalism either - always pushes folks apart.
Tbh, growing up in the UK, our history education about the WW2 barely touched on the eastern front. It largely focused on the Blitz, Battle of Britain and D-Day. Most Brits wouldn't be aware of the huge Soviet contribution to the war effort.
Man it’s even worse now we didn’t even cover World War 2 in any depth just a slight brush over it and done.
I think you'll find a great deal of people are aware of the invaluable contribution of the Russians in WW2. Unfortunately the Russians find it convenient to forget the Allies convoys that aided their contribution. This is never mentioned in their later almost constant tirades about how the wicked West is constantly wanting to destroy Russia.
The west doesn't want or need to destroy Russia, it's own suicidal leaders like madman Putin are doing that.
We just sit back and watch and wonder why the Russian people put up with this insanity.
lol yeh here ww2 history is basically "winston churchill saved the world, with a little help from the Americans later"
@@hamzah5643 Whatever makes you happy to believe 😊
I'm a Brit. I remember watching documentaries about 20 or 30 or so years ago or more, about the epic battle of Stalingrad, also the siege of Leningrad, that withstood siege for two and a half years. Both horrifying - but horrifying doesn't cover it. I seem to have absorbed over the years quite a bit about 'the eastern front'. I don't remember how much about it I was taught at school - too long ago in my case!
Roman, I love how you are continuously growing, your opinions are constantly evolving and you are also capable of self-reflection, I appreciate that! That initial reflection of the sentence "Russians and Ukrainians are brothers..." is great! ...unfortunately, this misconception of "Slavic brotherhood" is probably appropriated by most Russians even now. The 19th century Czech writer and journalist Karel Havlicek Borovsky, who visited Russia before the 1848 revolutions, glossed this way of thinking very interestingly "Russians like to call everything Russian Slavic, so that they can then claim that everything Slavic is Russian." ... may you continue to thrive, Roman! :)
We seen "brotherly help" for slavs already from the USSR and the amount of suffering that brought.
Man. Calling Russians, Belarus and Ukrainian people the same nation has nothing to do with so-called Pan-Slavism
invented by Slovak Ján Herkeľ. It is the same ethnicity with the same DNA, same religion, speaking the different dialects of ancient Russian language.
@@NikkY93x wow someone didn't take history at school.
Also as a linguist, I'm saying you're wrong about the language - they come from one proto-language but it's not ancient Russian, Russia didn't exist back then.
@@NikkY93x Tell that Russian imperial bullshit to someone else. Ukrainians have created a distinct nationality for themselves over the last 3 centuries. You're talking DNA bullshit on Russian TV, idiot.
@@Sprnda1 Yeah it is Russia which created DNA test lol. Is it also imperialistic to you to consider Portuguese and Spanish or Jordans and Palestines the same ethnicity? You sound like a commie