Something unique about the US is that it is the last of the great 20th century powers (Ottoman Empire, Imperialist Japan, Nazi Germany, British Empire, USSR, etc.) to have never been humbled into a radical reform. At least, not yet.
I don't think it makes sense to refer to the USSR as an empire, it was Socialist. They invariably made the lives of its citizens better. Compare pictures of Afghanistan in the 1960s to today. There were free universities, women wore what they wanted.
i also don't think it makes sense to say they were humbled into change. There was a lot of pressure being exerted in them y eastern nations, as well as constant harassment from the CIA, to adopt capitalism. This prompted them to begin selling off the national infrastructure, to corrupt parties who snatched it up. Previously nationally owned industry and utilities, etc. were privatized, and this created the oligarchs who ruined the country in short order.
I have heard something similar about the cult of suffering in Russia. It's not a lie that our people walk almost only with sour faces.
I assume that Christianity in our region is turned not as "you should pray more, and then it will feel better", but as "the human race originally deserved suffering and must endure". People justify the shit in their lives by saying that it could have been worse, it used to be worse, it was worse in the USSR, it was worse in the Russian Empire, it was worse during the Tatar yoke, hah, so what is happening now can be tolerated.
Against the background of the war, our shitty president brings to those who believe him, not some hopes for success and minimal losses, but words like "the enemy side will just die, and we will die, but we will go to heaven." And people eat this shit
I remember some proverbs like "if you didn't live richly, there's nothing to start with", "there is no person without sadness, and if there is, then it is not a person", "it's sad to live, but it's sickening to die", "other laughter responds with crying", "laughing for no reason is a sign of foolishness". And the literature we are passing through is really a manual about how terrible everything can be
During the Soviet era, religion was all but squashed out. This type of thinking was not a prominent feature of the population. There was a lot more confidence and pride in national leaders.
According to a recent pew research poll: 75% of Russians Say Soviet Era Was 'Greatest Time' in Country's History. When asked to name the things they associate with the Soviet era, respondents pointed to "future stability and confidence" and said they associated it with "a good life in the country."
Russian respondents said "the state took care of ordinary people" when asked to name the defining characteristics of Soviet rule. Russian respondents described late 1970s-early 1980s Soviet rule as "close to people" when offered a list of choices. When asked to characterize Russia's current leadership, half called it "criminal and corrupt" and "distant from the people and alien."
The absence of ethnic conflicts as well as economic growth and lack of unemployment were the second and third-most common responses. Constantly improving living conditions and advancements in science and culture placed fourth and fifth in Russians' ranking of Soviet life.
Russians tend to view the Soviet era in a mostly positive light, and their personal memories of that time are of social stability, confidence in the future and a good life. The Soviet era is seen as a time of high living standards, and as a time of justice. Today's capitalism is viewed as unfair: the injustice is in distribution, access to goods and infrastructure. And this feeling is growing stronger.
More than 6-in-10 Russians consider it a "great misfortune that the Soviet Union no longer exists." Just 22% in Russia say ordinary people have benefited from the changes since 1991, while a majority say life is worse than it was under communism. Russians are convinced that the economic situation was better under communism. And in Bulgaria, and Ukraine, more than half believe the economic situation is worse today than it was under communism.
Majorities in all the former Soviet orbit countries surveyed say politicians and business people have benefited the most since the fall of communism. And in all cases, more people say political and business leaders have prospered than say changes have benefited ordinary people.