I hated Russia Growing up....who do your kids hate?

[HEyHEY]

I just had a long conversation with my buddy's girlfriend..she is russian. I was telling her how growing up I hated the Russians. Not for any good reason, my parents never said a word to me about them. It was all media. The media made a young man hate the Russians. No matter what game I played, the bad guys were always Russian.
She said in Russia they grew up liking Americans.

First Question: Russian DUers..is that true?

Second: What country are your children grwoing up hating through no fault of your own?

It's really sick, what's worse is the 45-year-olds who still think this way.

[7th_Sephiroth]

1. through some cartoons i have viewed

thier engeneering a hatred twards france.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

24. Remember the bullseye poster of Saddam Hussein?

The first one I remember was Momar Quadafi in the early 1980s, than during Gulf War I there replaced the face with Saddam Hussein's. The anti-French thing is amazing - just like in World War I when they renamed everything German - sourkraut to Liberty Cabbage and other such nonsense.

[izzie]

2. My God but the grandchildren where I live hate Bush.

I was a little shocked as I live alone so they do not get it from me. It seems to be coming from their school. We grew up hating the Gov of Germany and Japan. My mother was wild if we said we hated the people. I kept that up with Russia. Bad gov and not people. Even my 29 yr navy husband felt that way. His mother was also like that. We were a family that did not like bad gov.

[JCMach1]

3. They hate us for our Bush...

MY kids already hated him.

[HEyHEY]

4. There ya go!

Just what really needs to be taught!

[JCMach1]

5. It may sound strange, but the kids here in the UAE

are pretty sophisticated. Most of them love America and the American people (especially American culture).

Who they hate is Mr. Bush...

[HEyHEY]

6. Dang you live in the UAE

Must be good for the kids..I'm jealous, little buggers will know way more than I ever will.

[AWD]

18. Sigh.....

....wish I were there. I almost was.

Hey, you ended up going to a place I tried to go to....maybe now I'll end up going to a place YOU tried to????

[DEMActivist]

25. Just asked my 8 yr. old

Nope, no one to hate in her little world. In fact, she looked at me like "why would I dislike anyone Mom?"

Of course, we've raised her to believe that all people are equal, so I can't imagine why she WOULD think otherwise.....

Our family gatherings are like a mini UN meeting, with white, hispanic, black all enjoying each other's company and love.

[speckledgator]

7. I am reminded of Firesign theatre

and one of their sketches that included a song that was so politically incorrect I would dare not repeat it here! I like the idea of hating governments (or their reps) and not people...basically "folks is folks". Sometimes it is tiresome having to defend myself as a resident of America. And I'm from Florida, so to quote a fellow DUer, we are "double-bushed".
And yes we can vote...when we are allowed to!! check this site out: www.ericblumrich.com/gta.html

[slor]

8. Having studied propaganda...

albeit unwittingly, at a tender age (my sister told me about Hitler, and I read as much as I could, eventually learning of Goebbels and all the other nazi tricks), I was always suspect of the portrayal of the Russians as pure evil. As an African-American I also watched on tv older shows that portrayed people like myself as lazy, shiftless, and just plain stupid, while the reality I saw around me was the lunar opposite. I guess I have to say that I never accepted someone else's need to hate as my own, without some sort of personal experience or overwhelming evidence. Yes many leaders are bad people, but I tend to believe that those subject to their rule are probably quite similar to myself as far as their needs and wants. And as it stands now, I have that personal experience of living under a totalitarian wannabe regime.

[diamondsoul]

9. You won't believe this, but NONE!

No, I'm not BSing, not a single country is viewed as "the enemy" in my house. Not a single person is assumed to be "the enemy" in my house. Different, familiar, people are people and we're all as human as the next one.:shrug:

We cry for Iraqis, Palestinians, anyone who suffers, we just hurt for humanity. Now what I want to know is why this is looked at as foolish, idealistic or something to be ridiculed. We're great people, and selfish creeps can suck it up and move on.

[speckledgator]

11. Congrats! diamond!

You are a bedwetting liberal! Please see the special Rush edition of the hate mail bag, before having me banned! Oh...and here's some clean sheets *S*

[Serrefine]

10. My kids hate Castro.

and Saddam and Bin Laden

[REP]

12. I Didn't Grow Up Hating Russia or Russians

Perhaps because one of grandfathers emigrated from Russia in 1917.

Growing up in the 60s and 70s, my parents assured us that despite what the propaganda said, Russians were like anyone else and wanted to live, and there was nothing to fear. So I wasn't afraid.

I have ended the cycle of breeding in my family, so no children to hate anything.

[onebigbadwulf]

13. Dichotomy

The smart ones hate republican fundamentalists

The dumb ones hate "AYE-RABS"

[hippywife]

14. I don't have any kids but

I definitely didn't grow up hating the Russians. In fact, anytime anyone managed to defect, I cheered. I was caught up in the fact that they were prisoners in their own country. That just didn't register with a kid growing up free to go anywhere she pleased.

[Stupdworld]

15. I hate Madagascar

They really piss me off for some reason. just cant think of what it is.

[AWD]

17. Me too

I hate that country...it always made Africa harder to conquer in Risk.

[BigMcLargehuge]

20. all the damn Lemurs

Madagascar is the island of evil.

[HEyHEY]

31. Cause they're hording all that good cranberry rum!

[union_maid]

16. My kids are grown up now

I don't think that they grew up hating anyone, although my son, whose formative years were in the 80s kind of got the impression that Republicans were the enemy. When you talk around the kitchen table, kids pick up things and they kind of get magnified. Of course, now that he's in his 20s, he's learned that his childhood impressions were correct.

[BonjourUSA]

19. Was Gorbatchev right when he said to Bush I ?

"We're going to do the worst for you, we're going to deprive you of enemy"

[tlcandie]

21. My family hated everyone... my dad has little man's syndrome

and he's caucasian. Interestingly enough I tried to fight it while growing up, but he has never changed and now my mother is more like him than not :( The only time he had anything good to say about any one of another culture or color was if he could use them or they bent over to kiss his arse. (Reminds me of Colon and Condidit)

I never hated anyone or any country. Isn't that interesting? I wonder at what age and how I learned this? There were nothing but caucasians in my little Texas town except for those ... African Americans across the tracks.

When I visited Washington state (Seattle area) I cried because it felt like I had come home. I ended up moving there and living for about ten years and that is where I came into my own!

Something for me to think about :D


EDIT: I have two awesome grandbabies who I talk to and teach about love, compassion, accepting others. :hi:

[htuttle]

22. Yes he was right

In fact, they had to scramble to manufacture another enemy, which, of course, turned out to be Islam.

I was born just after the height of the Cuban missile crisis (actually, precisely 9 months after...), but I never 'hated' or even really disliked Russia or Russians. As a boy, I was always somewhat fascinated by Russia and Russians -- probably the same way I was fascinated by the idea of Martians.

As far as the threat of nuclear annihilation, it always seemed to me that it was most likely to happen either via an accident, or would be started by us. We had already shown that we were willing to use (and justify the use of) nuclear weapons.

I'd like to at least travel there someday. It would be very interesting to see what I was told was once 'the Evil Empire' first hand. I'd like to get a sense of 'place' about Moscow (ie, What does the air smell like there? What is the sound of a city there? What do they eat? How do they have fun?, etc...kind of banal questions, perhaps).

Even after 40 years (without traveling much) about all I really know first hand about Russia is that their cigarettes with the black tobacco in the little tins will make me dizzy if I smoke a whole one!

As to the question: "who do my kids hate?" We've tried to raise them without having to 'hate' people in order to find worth in themselves. On their own, however, it seems they've grown at least an extreme dislike of Bush and his class (okay...they hate them). They aren't too fond of frat boys, either, but that's not a country.

[doc03]

27. Hate of Russia

Remember the commercials a few years back of the Russian swim suit
contest. All the contestants looked like Ernest Borgnine in drag.
Now we have Anna Kornikova!

[leftofthedial]

23. republicans

and religious wack jobs

[JohnKleeb]

26. ummmmmmm ok

From what I observe as a student a lot make Arab country references, yes I know, I know a kid who has it out for the French but he goes to private school and HeyHey you know how the French tried to help the Irish well he like me and you has Irish blood and is fully aware of the fact. Oh yeah and some of the guys dont like Bush too much, more jokes on Bush IIRC than Al Gore.

[JohnKleeb]

28. Oh and on Russia to a certain degree that still exists

Lots of games and movies have Russians as the bad guys now its Arabs for the most part I think.

[starroute]

29. Just the opposite problem with my kids

They grew up so tolerant, they refused to believe racism still existed.

I remember having a major argument with my younger son during his last year of high school. He insisted that nobody he knew had racist attitudes and told me that I was just an old fogey stuck in the past if I thought racism was a current problem.

He's in his fourth year of college now, and though he may still not know any racists personally, I'd hope he's learned enough about the world to have changed his opinions about racism. I'll have to ask him some time.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

30. For the last 30 years there has been a concerted effort to make...

...Americans hate Middle Eastern countries and anyone from the Middle East. It all started when we were hit with the first gas shortage in the early 1970s

[patdem]

32. I remember hating Russia...then suddenly one summer....

the media was presenting Russians as HUMAN BEINGS..I knew right away that something was up. How did the enemy suddenly become 'just like us?' I knew something was afoot and sure enough, Russia was no longer the enemy, but our lifelong friends, we just were not aware of it?

I then realized that any nation or nationality could be made the boogy man in the media and began to look very closly at why the media presented people we were supposed to hate and why.

I think the Russia-our enemy...suddenly our friend made people look closer at the media...which is why I think cable news became important in order to override our questions???

[Syncronaut Seven]

33. The "Evil Russian" was my first serious clue

as to how heavily propagandized we really were/are. How could they be so evil? Mommies, daddies, even the little children? What an epiphany!

BTW no more lurking, First post!

[DisgustipatedinCA]

35. Hello, and welcome

Good to see you here.

I was born in 1969, graduated high school in 1987. There was a Sting song called "Russians" that had an effect on me. It talked about mutually assured nuclear destruction and had the refrain "I hope the Russians love their children, too".

[mlawson]

34. I think it was more 'fear' than hate.

We were taught in school (NOT in my house), that the Godless communists wanted to take away our Bibles, our guns, and put our parents in prison. And if the nuclear war began we would all be incinerated. So, yeah, it was fear (of war, not of having Bibles or guns taken away). But I do not remember hating them.

But a good friend now is from Belarus. He is 26, but said that his parents who are mid 50s, were taught almost the same thing about the US, except for the Bibles, of course.

[ThirdEye]

36. I am young and married to a Russian

To be honest, the term 'communism' has special meaning to me. It represents how a group of people can twist language so that intelligent dialogue can not happen. It's unprecedented the amount of ignorance surrounding the term, and I get a special giggle when people compare communism with democracy (apples, oranges).

Regardless, it's been interesting to meet, fall in love with, and marry a Russian who saw communism fall in her homeland and then have it transform into quadi-capitalism. I like to call her a communist pig in public, and I get to be a fat cat captilist (makes for some good looks from people). It's good fun when you're in the more ignorant areas of my state (VT, yes we have repugs and worse here too you know).

I'm rambling so I'll get to the point. In our discussions on how I feel our society has manipulated the word 'communism' and how it reduces conversations to that so beloved level of conversation where everything is name calling and rethoric. She's made it clear to me that in Russian they had no strong hate for the America, or capitalism for that matter... but they had ample love for their country. Now I don't just mean patriotism, I mean borderline or full on nationalism. That's what they had, nationalism, and we had the fear of communism.

Who do kids hate these days? Well I'm 23 and can't speak for the current generation of high schoolers... but from where I'm from people disliked, simply, The Man. Almost all of my fellow high school students smoked marijuana (I was surprised to realize that out of the top 10 student in my class, on the Valadic didn't smoke weed regularly) and during my years in HS there was a zero tolerance attitude being pushed in VT, particularly towards marijuana and Alcohol. It backfired and people from all stripes found a common disdain for authority that didn't solve problems, but punished people for victumless crimes.

[genius]

37. They think Bush is Hitler and the Republicans are stupid or NAZIs

Does that qualify? I don't think they actually hate anyone though. As for Russia, once I found out that my fourth grade teacher lied to us everyday about Russia (she kept trying to tell us they were trying to nuke us), I always looked with doubt at all the paranoid claims about the USSR.

[quaker bill]

38. Mine do not like republicans

Though my son dated one for a while. (She was quite pretty, well proportioned, and fairly stupid, but then again he was just 20). I chalk it up to hormones. He is doing much better and is now hooked up with a liberal political science major.

[xultar]

39. Ditto Republicans...

I'm glad the DU Store has bibs!
and the thongs!