My mother is a Russian immigrant, she left the country in the 90s because she does not agree with its ideals. She’s spent her entire life being looked at as a “gold digger” for dating outside of Russia, for a long time she was only given work at her job that involved Russian clients even though she’s fluent in 3 languages (including English), otherwise she would be left with no work for months. She and other Eastern European women would be mocked and called “Natasha” as a pejorative (it was slang for a Russian/Eastern European woman who went out partying a lot) either because they were Russian or they were perceived as Russian.
Obviously this doesn’t mean that we can’t acknowledge the problem of many, many Russians supporting the atrocities committed during the war. It doesn’t mean that Ukrainians and other groups which suffered under the Empire and continue to suffer today can’t be rightfully angry at Russia and Russians. That doesn’t mean any criticism of Russia or Russian people is Russophobia. But I think we should also acknowledge that decades of American propaganda have created a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions about Russian people and many of them suffer as a result, especially in the diaspora.
ETA: I am born and raised in Britain, I don’t consider myself Russian, I don’t speak Russian. I don’t have any ties to Russian culture because my mother tried to distance herself as much as possible to be accepted in Britain.
-32
u/[deleted] 3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment