You can’t understand Russia without knowing who the vatnik is and how vatnost manifests itself in every area of existence in Russia.
Thanks to reader Cliff Arroyo for this great link. It isn’t often that one reads anything in English about Russia that actually has value and is well-informed.
These days, I mention “the stupid vatniki” more often than “vile freakazoids,” and that’s telling something. The best thing one can do to understand what’s going on in Russia is figure out who the vatniki are.
Clarissa's Blog 
What can you (or N) tell us about Russian “pofigism?”
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I read in Russian, but understood better what is meant by “vatnik” after reading the article. Loved it.
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So are you going to buy your Putin Voodoo Magnet for May 9th?
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The overwhelming desire for stability makes absolute sense and completely fits data and behavior for the last decade. That said, we don’t have a term for comparable people in the US. They used to be called “Archie Bunkers” after the TV character. There’s no question that we have a large bloc of these people here, and they are the reason that change has been so slow to come, and for toleration of GOP initiatives that hurt them and their families.
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“The overwhelming desire for stability makes absolute sense”
But the joke is that vatniki never get stability except in the form of the government’s boot on their face (and they’ll take that over the horrible unknown of working for a living).
“They used to be called “Archie Bunkers” after the TV character”
By who? Part of the subtext of All in the Family (probably accidentally) was that Archie, despite his prejudices was probably overall morally superior to his freeloading, big-mouthed, do nothing son-in-law.
The term I’m more familiar with is Joe Six-pack (though vatnikii seem to be worse on almost every level).
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“Vata” is cotton wool, so just imagine people with cotton wool for brains and you’ll know who vatniki are.
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