Colonizer’s Mentality

~ Clarissa

A hilarious link contributed by reader el tells the story of a min-scandal on LiveJournal, the Russian-language blogging community. An American woman decided to tone-police the Russian bloggers who are unfamiliar with trigger warnings and the mellifluous, saccharine writing style that is widely accepted among the most primitive of the English-language bloggers. 

In the condescending tone of a kindly missionary offering a string of beads to savages and expecting eternal gratitude, the woman chides Russian-speaking bloggers for not being the way she wants them to be. Of course, when the savages do not respond with wholehearted worship of this valiant benefactor, she, like all missionaries, becomes very angry, referring to the Russian-speaking bloggers as animals and attacking them. 

I thought this scenario was dead and buried but now I’m witnessing colonizer mentality in action and it’s creepy. 

P.S. The link is mostly in English.

Published by Clarissa

81 thoughts on “Colonizer’s Mentality”

  1. Just to correct a small mistake – LiveJournal is not “the Russian-language blogging community.” It’s a blogging platform, like Blogger. Now the platform belongs to a Russian firm, but in the beginning it was American.

    When I discovered Internet in the early 2000-ies, I read numerous English blogs on LiveJournal.

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    1. Today LJ is almost exclusively Russian-speaking, although you are right, I believe I have one English-language LJ blog in my blogroll. LJ doesn’t let non-LJ bloggers to comment which makes it a perfect little reservation for Putin’s control. And I don’t think LJ bloggers are aware how isolating the platform is.

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      1. Thank you for the link. I had insomnia and was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning. But then I read the link and jumped out of bed full of energy and anger. 🙂

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      2. \\ Today LJ is almost exclusively Russian-speaking

        No. From wiki:

        ” LiveJournal is most popular in English-speaking countries (although there is a language selection feature), and the United States has by far the most LiveJournal users among users who choose to list a location. There is also a sizable Russian contingent. LiveJournal is the largest online community on the Runet, with about 45% of all entries in the Russian blogosphere. According to Alexa Internet 50% of LiveJournal’s audience is located in Russia. ”

        I have read and am still reading quite a few English livejournals.

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        1. If I comment, I want the comment to link to my blog. I see zero value in participating anonymously. If I give my previous words and time to somebody, I should be getting something out of it.

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      6. \\ I tried commenting with Twitter but the comments go directly to spam.

        That’s how the user defined it in his/her lj, I suppose.

        In general, one can comment with LiveJournal, Facebook, Twitter, OpenID, Google, Mail.Ru, Vkontakte and Anonymous. I have checked it right now.

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        1. The problem is that these options are fictional. Bloggers think the options are real but the platform doesn’t let them through. LJ is owned by a buddy of Putin’s.

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      7. This is strange. Obviously, I’ve never commented on Russian-language LJs, but I’ve never had any trouble commenting with a Twitter account on English-language LJs. I also saw plenty of comments with Google and WordPress IDs.

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  2. Can I read the text the American blogger originally posted? Because in the referred one she just describes what she did (allegedly “promoted tolerance”), but it is impossible to tell how exactly she did it.
    Frankly, Russian internet space, so to speak, is full of aggression, both motivated and completely unmotivated, so I am not sure that the reaction this American woman experienced had anything to do with her alleged “colonialism”.

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    1. Yes, we are aggressive and angry. And I’ve received countless emails and comments from tone-policing do-gooders, lecturing me on how I will “attract more flies with honey” and how I was repelling readers with my anger. And I’m sick and tired of these people.

      The very idea that she is entitled to promote tolerance or anything among people of a different community is offensive. The blogging community is teeming with trigger-warning-happy mellifluous spaces. Why not just go there if you don’t like this one?

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  3. Frankly, you know what my first association was?
    When I was a student, I was making money gathering berries and mushrooms in the forest. One had to bring those berries to town to sell them. And the nearest town was a predominantly Russian-speaking one. So there I stand in line , about to sell my berries. Some Estonian old lady approached the line and asked something. The reaction of a Russian grandma next to me – “гоните ее нахуй, чего она здесь воняет!”
    (go the fuck away, why are you smelling badly here)

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      1. Everybody sees whatever they are hung up on the most. The phrase I noticed is this one: “The women are glamarous, wearing decorative hijabs, make-up and stylish sunglasses. Typical for most big cities around the globe – women usually dress fancier when compared to provincial areas.” I’m obviously very incensed.

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        1. And this: “To me, she looks completely feminine in her floral shirt, with painted lips and eyes. Yet some will never see it, instead equating beauty with the amount of skin shown.” Gosh, what a creepazoid, seriously.

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          1. “My Indian friend decided to wear a sleeveless, bright outfit. I didn’t agree with her choice of dress, and told her so.”

            – I admire the extreme kindness of the friend who remained a friend after this. Seems like this blogger is into lecturing everybody around her on “proper behavior.” I totally hate such people.

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            1. “So, here it is. The bright orange, sleeveless outfit worn by my friend. It’s an interesting image, with the Muslim female in the background, completely covered from head to toe. I can tell you the outfit was not well received by locals, much to my friend’s shock. People, especially females, stared at her on the streets. A few men made comments as they passed. At a street corner, she reached to give her boyfriend a hug and kiss. It was the only time we encountered hostility during the entire trip. A Palestinian guard approached them, told her she needed to cover up and informed her to not engage in public displays of affection. What do you think? Was it okay for my friend to wear this outfit on the streets of Ramallah?”

              – Wow. I mean, just wow. Can you imagine doing something like this to a friend of yours? “Here is my friend. let’s judge her collectively for not being like me.” Jeez.

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              1. “Whether the killings were in self-defense or out of provacation”

                – Meaning, I guess, “in favor of a vacation.” This post is really brightening up a dull committee meeting for me.

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              2. “When will Putin ban Coca-Cola, perhaps the most symbolic beverage from America?”

                – Why would Putin ban anything in West Bank? This is so weird.

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    2. “The reaction of a Russian grandma next to me – “гоните ее нахуй, чего она здесь воняет!”
      (go the fuck away, why are you smelling badly here)”

      Shouldn’t that be more “get her the fuck out of here, she stinks (of something)” or is my limited understanding of Russian grammar all wrong?

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      1. \\ Shouldn’t that be more “get her the fuck out of here, she stinks (of something)”

        You are right. It’s “what for she is stinking here”.

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      2. “what for she is stinking here”

        I was wondering if it was something like that but didn’t know if чего can also be used for ‘why’.

        Polish old ladies can be pretty sharp tongued but it’s hard to imagine one being as crude in public as this (unless she were a hardcore and possibly homeless alcoholic).

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  4. You are right. It was an absoloute colonial mentality. And her anger that they didn’t “accept” her “help” just proves it. I am glad they reacted the way they did. It reminds me of this portion of Fanon’s _Black Skin White Masks_. http://books.google.com/books?id=tK_KhHOkurYC&pg=PA424&lpg=PA424&dq=the+handsome+negro+says+fuck+you+man&source=bl&ots=NVzpe-qRNF&sig=TPLLnC3w_gBtCDiAikDHINcHGKw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=eAA0VL3vHMr9yQT744K4BA&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=the%20handsome%20negro%20says%20fuck%20you%20man&f=false

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  5. My comment about her 2 posts on the West Bank wasn’t an answer to valter07.

    Btw, in “Streets of Ramallah, Palestine” she writes

    “25. This is one of my favorite portraits. I want to know her life story, but I never even spoke to her. The photo was taken from a distance.”

    Do you think it’s OK to photograph people on the street and publish the photos without their permission? I would hate somebody do it to me, but I am paranoid a bit and a very private person in a way.

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    1. “Do you think it’s OK to photograph people on the street and publish the photos without their permission?”

      – Normally, I’d say yes, but I have to say that I was disturbed by the close-up portraits of people who seem not to have been asked for permission to publish the photos at the linked post.

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  6. Some of her posts tagged “Russia” reminded me of yours “Through the eyes of the Stranger” series. You didn’t like American usual food, and she didn’t like Russian one:

    Bizarre Russian Foods
    http://peacetraveler22.livejournal.com/56234.html#cutid1

    Btw, this post also links to another post, describing her visit to “During my recent trip to Uki Village in Chicago, I came across this Ukrainian market. ” I was surprised by her comment about the behavior of (new immigrant) sellers in a small shop: “Something very weird with Russia and some former Soviet Bloc countries – the need to prohibit photos of something as basic as food.” In a supermarket, nobody sees you taking photos and I don’t think somebody would care. However, I can’t imagine Israeli small shop owners not saying anything about me photographing every little thing in their food/clothes/etc. shop.

    Another difference is not smiling Russians: “Известный лингвист раскрыл тайны знаменитой русской неулыбчивости.” She commented:

    “there’s an implication that all American or Western smiles are artificial and meaningless. It’s not the case. We’re not indoctrinated in youth to smile at people. We smile because we’re happy. […] Do you like being greeted by rude waiters and others in the service sector who simply look at you when they come to your table? Or, those who stare at you and say nothing when you go through their check-out line in a grocery store or at the post office? ”
    http://peacetraveler22.livejournal.com/59116.html

    Now, I don’t think that American people on the street simply “smile because we’re happy”. It’s an issue of socialization, not of feeling happy all the time. Americans even get self-help advice “pretend to be happy and you will become happier.”

    Completely different issue is behavior of service industry workers. They are ordered to smile, defnitely don’t do it “because we’re happy”. I read American service industry workers describing constant required smiling as additional pressure, as something tiring and unpleasant for them. Read this in comments on American blogs.

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    1. “Now, I don’t think that American people on the street simply “smile because we’re happy”. It’s an issue of socialization, not of feeling happy all the time. Americans even get self-help advice “pretend to be happy and you will become happier.””

      – Oh, of course. From her posts, I did not get a perception of her as a happy person. Happy people don’t have a need to engage in such public and obsessive policing of their friends’ clothing choices. Happy people are capable of love and they can love their friends.

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    2. “Some of her posts tagged “Russia” reminded me of yours “Through the eyes of the Stranger” series.”

      – I know you are not trying to be offensive but I don’t relish being compared to this brainless, chirpy, self-congratulating idiot.

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  7. Yikes! the Palestinian stuff brings her self-satisfied condescension to levels I scarcely believed possible.

    And she doesn’t even realize the hijabs she’s rhapsodizing about are a relatively recent fashion born out of an explicit rejection of modernity.

    Sadly this year in Turkey I saw a lot more than just a few years ago.

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    1. No, I’ve found something even better: “I know my opinion is in the minority, but I could never be in this sort of relationship, where a man pays for absolutely everything, and my only value is to be attached to his arm, looking pretty.” http://peacetraveler22.livejournal.com/100368.html

      Yes, she is a total minority because most women are whores who are happy to find their value in being attached to an arm. I’m sure that every single day crowds of women tell her “my only value is to be attached to a man’s arm, looking pretty, and that’s so fantastic!”

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  8. Weird Russian Behavior: American Viewpoint
    http://peacetraveler22.livejournal.com/65195.html#cutid1

    Racism in Russia
    http://peacetraveler22.livejournal.com/55053.html#cutid1

    I laughed at:
    ” I immediately noticed the absence of blacks during my visits in Russia. Some readers told me there are quite a few, but I didn’t see them walking around the city in either Moscow or St. Petersburg, and certainly not in the villages we passed while driving between the two cities. Perhaps they’re more concentrated in university areas, where foreigners come to study. ”

    Blacks in Russian villages. 🙂

    Or coming to study since Russian university education system is world-famous, and Russian is an international language. I know that people from FSU and some Russian-speaking Israelis (*) may study in Russia, but what would black people search there?

    (*) People who weren’t accepted to Israeli universities to become a doctor, a dentist, etc.

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    1. “” I immediately noticed the absence of blacks during my visits in Russia. Some readers told me there are quite a few, but I didn’t see them walking around the city in either Moscow or St. Petersburg, and certainly not in the villages we passed while driving between the two cities. Perhaps they’re more concentrated in university areas, where foreigners come to study. ””

      – OK, I’m now thinking this must be some sort of a spoof concocted to bug people. She can’t seriously be that dumb.

      “Or coming to study since Russian university education system is world-famous, and Russian is an international language. I know that people from FSU and some Russian-speaking Israelis (*) may study in Russia, but what would black people search there?”

      – You are digging too deep. She is used to seeing black people move around in the background and now she is wondering why the surroundings have suddenly changed, that’s all.

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  9. \\ – OK, I’m now thinking this must be some sort of a spoof concocted to bug people.

    I am sure everything is in earnest.
    (The latter phrase made me think of “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde with his “it is absolutely essential to the success of this piece that it should be played with the most perfect earnestness and gravity throughout.”)

    \\ Typical for most big cities around the globe – women usually dress fancier when compared to provincial areas.” I’m obviously very incensed.

    Is she right or not? Since there are more rich(er) people in big cities, it may be true.

    Why are you incensed? Unlike me, you weren’t born in a small provincial town. 🙂

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      1. Yes, the people in the streets of NYC may be dressed ugly on average, but in the same time the vicinity of NYC is the place where we go shopping for clothes… The choice is amazing and the prices are better, compared to Montreal.
        You must be mistaking Southern Illinois for … yourself. 🙂 🙂

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        1. I’m not even remotely the most fashionable person in my department, actually. And fashionable clothes are cheaper in NYC because nobody there buys them. These stores are filled with tourists.

          I’m my tiny town, we have a fashion boutique with great Canadian designer clothes.

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    2. I still think this is a “look at the dumb blonde” kind of spoof. Or maybe I move in such rarefied circles of intense intelligence that I’ve lost all touch with the number of dumbasses out there.

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        1. I also thought he was inventing this to get some sick kicks out of the narrative. The sad thing is that the blogger on whose blog the comment was made took it in her stride. Can you imagine what I would do to a sicko who came to my blog with this story? I’d eviscerate him. These creeps should know that they are not welcome among normal people.

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      1. I got a feeling she is very obsessed with the number of followers. I despise bloggers who allow any kind of garbage to be posted in their spaces just so that no follower gets antagonized. As a result, such blogs turn into sewers.

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  11. // The problem is that these options are fictional. Bloggers think the options are real but the platform doesn’t let them through. LJ is owned by a buddy of Putin’s.

    I have just left a comment as Anonymous on one lj. 🙂

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  13. In “Sebastia – A Look Inside Rural Palestine,” she writes

    “Prior to 2005, the Identity Cards displayed the holder’s ethnicity (Jewish, Arab, etc.), but after many fierce court battles, the ethnic designations were abolished.”

    Only Jews have their birth date written according to Jewish calendar too. You still can see whether somebody is a Jew or not in Israeli ID. Don’t understand what was the point of “abolishing” ethnic designations, what people were pretending to achieve with that.

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  14. My favorite so far is the exchange between her and an Orthodox Jew in “Battle with Orthodox Jew” post. Colonizing mentality at its best, imo. Specially the fact that after she photographed a teen boy on Saturday (!) and without his permission, she responds to the comment:

    // ” Taking a photo of someone specifically and posting it on the internet without their consent is illegal under Israeli law. […] Delete the photo, or I contact the Israeli police. ”

    with

    // ” Feel free to report me to the Israeli police. I’m an American lawyer and can readily defend myself. Btw, you harass everyone on Instagram who posts photos of Orthodox Jews? Or only me? It is not illegal in the U.S. to post someone’s photo online, even without their consent, particularly when it’s done for educational and cultural purposes. This was my intention when posting. End of conversation. ”

    I don’t understand. If it’s really illegal to do so in Israel and she went to Israel and done it, why should we care about USA laws? She did it in Israel, not in USA. The only explanation is “you can’t do anything to me since I am in USA already, la-la-la!”

    In high school, I once visited the super-Orthodox area in Jerusalem with my class (in modest clothes). It was part of “Knowledge of the nation, society and country” studies and everybody was supposed to take the trip. They do hate being stared at, even by fellow Jews in modest clothing. When two girls got lost and a few minutes passed till our teacher found them, our group moved fast out. The teacher explained he wanted to show us different clothing and explain about different groups among Orthodox Jews, but since we took time standing as a large group (one class) on a very narrow street and people looked at us, we had to move. (Nobody said anything, people just looked.)

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  15. Btw, nobody from my class took any photos. I am afraid to think what people would do, had somebody foolish tried. Let alone on Saturday.

    I think she could’ve been physically attacked, had people noticed.

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    1. It is beginning to sound like you approve of the sickos who would attack a person physically.

      Religious fanatics of all religions are equally disgusting to me.

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      1. \\ It is beginning to sound like you approve of the sickos who would attack a person physically.

        No, I don’t.

        But if you go somewhere, it’s your responsibility not to photograph on Saturday, and/or not go sleeveless and boyfriend-kissing in the West Bank. Part of respect for other countries and cultures.

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  16. She posted a post calling people animals and was “shocked, shocked” that the board rejected it? I mean, this isn’t Reddit.

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  17. \\ And if you “disrespect” other cultures in this way, you deserve to be hit?

    No, but you can be.
    I wouldn’t advise anybody to put herself in needless danger on purpose.

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    1. Have you read any of those articles telling women not to dress provocatively and go out drinking to avoid putting themselves in needless danger on purpose?

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      1. Let’s stop at that: regardless of which things one is battling in one’s own place / country, when you visit other countries, one should learn about them first and be careful.

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  18. \\ I’m not even remotely the most fashionable person in my department, actually.

    University professors are often fashionable.

    But in many countries there may be a difference between an average person on a street in a small town vs in a big city.

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    1. In the US – and now in many Western European countries – people who work in big business, in large companies, etc., live in small towns and come to work in the city. One exception I know of is Montreal.

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  19. Had a thought. May be, the users who wrote “чё за гавно висит в промо?” and “Люби Россию – пиши по-русски!” don’t even understand English. Hard to show “curiosity or intrigue at the sight of something new,” if you don’t understand what it is. 🙂

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    1. The community she was posing in was allegedly “pora valit” – “it’s time to leave [Russia]”. Thus the argument about not knowing any English cannot be taken very seriously…

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      1. “Thus the argument about not knowing any English cannot be taken very seriously…”

        – The percentage of Russian-speaking immigrants who can read this text in English and understand it at least vaguely even 5 years after emigration is, in my experience, extremely tiny. And that tiny percentage would not visit such a website.

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      2. \\ The community she was posing in was allegedly “pora valit” – “it’s time to leave [Russia]“. Thus the argument about not knowing any English cannot be taken very seriously…

        pora_valit hasn’t published her posts. Those reactions came after she –

        “decided to promote two of my English language posts on the Cyrillic homepage… to see how Russians would react upon seeing something highly unusual – English text in the top promo box of ЖЖ.”

        On another topic, who knows whether Russian Internet dreamers about US know English. I wouldn’t be surprised, if some don’t. Moreover, I glanced at pora_valit and they also talk about Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, Asia and even Africa.

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      3. —– The percentage of Russian-speaking immigrants who can read this text in English and understand it at least vaguely even 5 years after emigration is, in my experience, extremely tiny.

        Not in my experience. What you are describing may be correct for some fraction of Brighton Beach population (those who also work there, in Russian, and “do not go to America”), but majority does not live this way.

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        1. I don’t know anybody from Brighton Beach. 🙂 But everybody else I’ve met, both here and in Montreal doesn’t have any English to speak of, let alone written English. And that’s not only our immigrant community. Most immigrants (unlike their children) wouldn’t be able to read this text in English.

          Of course, it is possible that you and I meet some entirely different kinds of immigrants. 🙂

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