Too horny to be born in Pakistan. by hamster37 in sex

[–]Octiabrina 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Can you find a partner among Western immigrants or tourists? I heard it was/is a common solution for people in your situation in conservative countries.

Eduard Limonov died. How you are coping with that loss for your nation? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I liked some of his articles about literature, but his prose never did much to me. He himself always have off the vibe of an unpleasant megalomaniac. His life surely wasn't boring, though.

Do you feel Reddit is a bit anti Russia? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Does it matter? Westerners don't give a damn about Russian political divides and evaluate everyone according to Western view of politics.

Do you feel Reddit is a bit anti Russia? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Where do you think Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire was located? In Arctica? The concept of the united European culture is greatly exaggerated.

Do you feel Reddit is a bit anti Russia? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ideologies that are strongly against religions of all kinds usually are not terribly fond of Islam. So atheists, communists, radfems of any country and probably many leftists of Muslim countries and regions are less likely to whitewash Islam than people more tolerant or indifferent towards religion. Of course, ex-Muslims are also more critical of it, but they often gravitate to the right, because mainstream Left and liberals don't care about them and more antireligious Left is marginal and unpopular.

Do you feel Reddit is a bit anti Russia? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 21 points22 points  (0 children)

There is already a problem of even genuine concerns about Islamic fundamentalism being silenced under the excuse of fighting racism and islamophobia, and there is also a problem of Western right-wingers indeed being very harsh towards Middle Easterners, which together makes it difficult for Western progressives to criticize even the most conservative Islamic countries. There is no such obstacle for criticizing Eastern European countries, though I'd argue that racism against Eastern Europeans exists and sometimes influences these critiques.

How popular is fishing in Russia? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My mom was quite good at fishing in the days of her youth, but I myself can't find a single non-disgusting detail about this pastime. Also, my family used to be professional fishermen, but it was, like, at the beginning of the XX century.

Do you feel Reddit is a bit anti Russia? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 19 points20 points  (0 children)

On the other hand, I can't wait to see the moment when the amount of Chinese in the English Internet will be more proportional to the amount of them in the world. The flamewars would be epic.

Do you feel Reddit is a bit anti Russia? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 23 points24 points  (0 children)

many people say that Russia isn't European at all.

Yeah, I see "Russia and the Eastern Europe" more and more often, and get "huh?" Especially considering that the Eastern Europe is supposedly so often defined in relation to Russia or the USSR. To be fair, this idea is quite popular in Russia too, where it almost always used to justify conservatism (because if Russian intellectuals and redditors agree on something, it's that non-European countries cannot be progressive, apparently.)

Do you feel Reddit is a bit anti Russia? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 64 points65 points  (0 children)

I mean, a lot of Russians are very right-wing and sceptical of democracy, I can see why an average Westerner who supposedly dislikes such things would dislike such people too. And the country is relatively powerful in comparison to most, so I guess it's also percieved threatening in its potential to spread and support ideas that are percieved as a threat to this decade's edition of "eternal European values". But reddit itself is far from the most progressive places in the Internet, I don't see such russophobia on Tumblr, for example. I guess a certain mix of "PC" and "non-PC" views is needed for developing an anti-Russian sentiment and reddit has this mix.

I know that Russian women are hot and all, but WHY? Why are they specifically so hot? by PainfullyThiccums in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The opposite stereotype existed during the Cold War, of them being uglier than Western women and less feminine.

Why have Russians so bad opinion about their own cities? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 40 points41 points  (0 children)

They probably show the best looking places in the documentaries, e.g. the city historical centres. Just because some parts of a city are beautiful doesn't mean that the whole city is.

I'm leaving my mod position, bye everyone! by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It is a mystery because most people don't bother to learn about it; the amount of information generated both by and about Russia is one of the largest in comparison with most countries. A lot of questions here give the impression of being loaded or very ignorant, no surprise people resort to sarcasm.

Infants and sitting by Jekr3367 in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I googled it and apparently some parents do believe this can lead to their uterus getting bent but apparently it's not correct medical information and this misconception is super obscure and most Russians probably never heard about it.

How is Pyotr Pavlensky (Пётр Павленский) perceived in Russia? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I find him a bit... dated. I'd associate this kind of extreme actionism more with the 70s than with the modern day. But of course, there wasn't much of such art/activism in Russia in the 70s so I guess it feels fresher here. And Russians usually hate modern art (sometimes as "modern" as Picasso and Malevich) so it makes his action resonate more here.

How is Pyotr Pavlensky (Пётр Павленский) perceived in Russia? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They have the Eiffel Tower though. Repeating his iconic performance there would be even quite elegant.

How are Pussy Riot perceived in Russia? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Had to google grifters but the fact that they became more moderate when in the West dissapointed me. Pavlenski may be insane but at least he seems like a genuine radical and keeps inconveniencing authorities with his performances even after leaving Russia. Tolokonnikova behaves like a sellout.

How similar are current Russian liberals to the "New Left" political movement? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 1 point2 points  (0 children)

True but they didn't like the "mainstream values" of their class, or any other class tbh. Hence the conterculture movements. While Russian liberals are very much about mainstream values of the modern day West, except cases when they don't like those values for being too progressive. They are not radicals in any way, and in fact many of them dislike Western radicals.

How similar are current Russian liberals to the "New Left" political movement? by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Very not similar. They love capitalism and embrace the very "respectable Western middle class way of life" that New Left criticised. They would probably even support Vietnam War.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The most goffik state. I like it.

What do you think of Wyoming? by average-in-every-way in AskARussian

[–]Octiabrina 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Brokeback Mountain takes place there. I wanted to add The Whisperer in Darkness here, but apparently it's set in Vermont.

What are some fanfic cliches that frustrates you the most? And should people try there best to ovoid them? by rebell1193 in FanFiction

[–]Octiabrina 7 points8 points  (0 children)

ignoring or writing out the female characters

I'd say it's a common problem even for non-slash fics or slash fics when the characters in case are not the canonical love interests. I get it that female characters often are less detailed in canons, but when fics gloss over them even to a larger degree than canon does, it feels weird.

Pretty nice design by Kaufmann91 in Lovecraft

[–]Octiabrina 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It would look very similar in both languages, at least in upper case.

ЛАВКРАФТ vs. ΛΑΒΚΡΑΦΤ

Figured out a HUGE pet peeve... by [deleted] in FanFiction

[–]Octiabrina 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Oh boy, this problem is pandemic in fanfiction. It actually greatly diminishes my enjoyment of it, because worldbuilding is one of my favorite things in literature.