Within the Russian community the dislike for Obama is very strong, which is rather counter-intuitive since immigrant communities more often than not lean Democratic. One recent example of such sentiment was Jan Schakowsky, getting booed on a stage at the annual Russian picnic. The Russian community, and specifically Russian Jews have had experiences within their lives that have shaped their strong opposition to the Goldenchild.
First of all, it is my strong belief that the hardships of life in the Soviet Union has created a society of realists rather than idealists. Russian Jews want to hear answers rather than vague promises of hope, change, unicorns, kumbaya, and rainbows. So far (and this is unlikely to change) the Obama campaign has been built around vague policies and the notion of feeling good.
To Americans, perhaps this is a new concept and a change from politics as usual, but anyone who has lived in a socialist society can see these overtures for what they really are, empty promises. The Soviet government also talked about change, in fact they went one step better, they touted a world revolution of the proletariat. You see the working classes would seize power from the greedy rich people, and everyone would start living in a harmonious society. I mean who wouldn't want that? Every step of your life is planned out, you get to share your communal apartment with two or three of your favorite random families, and everyone will be on equal footing, with some being more equal than others. And while we try to get there, lets "Spread the wealth" as Goldenboy insists.
This brings me to the second point. Russian Jews don't like government handouts to the poor. Within only a few years after immigration, many Russian families are able to achieve a level of success not often parried by American families. If a Russian family can become successful after only a few years in a foreign country, why can't all Americans have the same level of success? Undoubtedly, most American have had many more opportunity to succeed yet they fail to do so? Perhaps in that case they don't deserve another opportunity.
Unlike other segments of the population, Russian Jews realize that certain people just leach off of society. In fact given the opportunity to enjoy a lifestyle of their choice at the government's expense, many Russians would probably do just that. This makes Russian uniquely equipped to sniff out slackers and leaches to society, and when they hear groveling to such segments of the population they can't help but be appalled.
4 comments:
"Within only a few years after immigration, many Russian families are able to achieve a level of success not often parried by American families. If a Russian family can become successful after only a few years in a foreign country, why can't all Americans have the same level of success? "
At least 90% of families who become successful here came here already very educated and/or their parents were. At least 90% of successful people in the US in general are very educated as well. I'm detecting a pattern here.
It's a lot harder to be born and grow up here with nothing and become successful, than it is to come here fully educated and become successful.
Also, I don't know what the percentage of this may be, but a significant amount of Russians regardless of their ethnicity won't vote Obama because of race. You forgot to mention that.
Well, I'm not sure how much of this you know arturo, but Russian Jewish families had to overcome obstacles much greater than the poor folks in the United States. Such as discrimination, biggotry, and extermination. Growing up in Russia, Jews didn't have any advantages mandated by the government, in fact they were quite disadvantaged. Lets just say over the last century Russian Jews have experienced more hatred than any other ethnic group. The differentiating factor is value of education and high morals.
I completely disagree with the fact that Russians are against Obama because of his race. Russian-Jews are deeply bothered by his shady connections to people who are unfriendly to Israel. If you are going to talk about Russian people in general (ie in Russia) they were overwhelmingly pro-Obama.
You are switching between the word Russian and Jew. Are you talking about all immigrants from Russia? Or Jewish immigrants from Russia?
Regardless of what we went through in Russia, we came here with a good education and succeeded because of it. If we came here with the kind of education you receive as an average person who grows up in some of the city neighborhoods of Chicago, we would not have done so well. Most likely we would never have even left Russia if we were so undereducated. The sample you are drawing your conclusion from is also not a true sample of Russian Jews or Russians. Saying that the majority of Russians or Russian Jewish immigrants succeed here can only help you in understanding the people who actually immigrated here. And those who immigrated here tended to be more driven/intelligent/educated on *average* than those that remained. So of course a high percentage of this immigrant subset will be successful, the undriven/uneducated are still in Russia.
If you or I had grown up in an area of Russia with poor education(was there such an area in cities?) and your parents were poorly educated, I doubt you would be in the US right now.
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