Thread: Who is more Russian? Siberians or European Russian?

What is the opinion of Russians? I have heard people say Russians in Siberia are more Russian since they are less Europeanized. On the other hand, obviously the cultural centers of Russia is in European Russia.


p.s. I am neither Siberian nor Russian. The name refers to Maria Sharapova whom I am a big fan of... :P

add voting here
I think they (we) are very same everythere

What is "more Russian" or "less Russian". Here in Russia we have not the terms.

Originally Posted by FL

What is "more Russian" or "less Russian". Here in Russia we have not the terms.

By "more Russian," I mean a truer Russian, one who better possesses the characteristics of what makes a Russian, Russian, whatever those characteristics are.

Well, your words are rather dim. Different people would say different things answering such a question. A truer Russian? Seems like something nationalistic.

Here, in Siberia, everyone lives his / her own way. Deviations are possible, but I don't think it makes them "more" or "less" Russian.

Asking me one may get the highly subjective answer that I am drawn towards Europe, and this statement digs under the opinion of Siberia as a cultural enclave.

I think that the only way to know if your Russian friend is a true Russian is by checking the response to the question: "ты меня уважаешь?" when(if) he refuses to drink.

Who is more American, someone from Maine or someone from Minnesota?

The sentiment is not translatable to American geography. Perhaps a vague similarity might be comparing a New Yorker to a rural Oklahoman or an Alaskan. Some Russians I know have a keen sense of the difference between Asian and European Russians and as to who represents the Russian soul better. The easy answer might be western Russians, but I have heard some complain western Russians are too European, not Russian enough. I was just curious to see from other Russians how or if that sentiment is universal.

Originally Posted by Линдзи

Who is more American, someone from Maine or someone from Minnesota?

Maine because Minnesota sucks! Full of rude tailgating types.

Russian East is the Russian Yorkshire. (The folks there even share an expression - "ee by gum"/"ии баа гум")

Originally Posted by siberiangoddess

The sentiment is not translatable to American geography. Perhaps a vague similarity might be comparing a New Yorker to a rural Oklahoman or an Alaskan. Some Russians I know have a keen sense of the difference between Asian and European Russians and as to who represents the Russian soul better. The easy answer might be western Russians, but I have heard some complain western Russians are too European, not Russian enough. I was just curious to see from other Russians how or if that sentiment is universal.

I disagree. My rhetorical question is as impossible to answer as the one you expect to get some answer for, because there's no clear definition for what it means to be "more Russian" or "less Russian". Russia, like most other nations, has been developed by a bunch of historical populations smacking into one another. Some regions tend more toward one genotype than another, but that doesn't preclude them being part of the same ethnic group. It's stupid to say "this region has more Varangian influence, ergo it's more ethnically Russian!" or the reverse.

I agree with Линдзи. How you can determine? What are your criteria of being Russian? Ethnically I am not Russian at all, but damn if anybody would guess that if we seat on the same party. Not speaking about those who are ethnically Russians.

There are different dialects alghough and Moscow one is considered to be classical, as far as I understood. But it does not make it more Russian.

Thanks for the input from the Russians. The sentiment is not mine. It is one I have heard from some Russian friends. Personally, european or siberian, they are both Russian, in my view. And I would say it is even more intriguing and exotic to be from siberia. It may be a dirty secret about ethnic discrimination more so than geographic discrimination I may have stumbled into. Thanks for the different points of view.

Originally Posted by Pioner

Ethnically I am not Russian at all, but damn if anybody would guess that if we seat on the same party.

Sorry, dude, but if that's you or your child in the avatar, you won't be considered Russian by "русские" and I'm sure you know that. Believe you me, even my coupon won't pass for a Russian one with the majority of them. On the other hand most people in Sibiria are as Slavic as one can hope to get - they are definately more "thoroughbred" Russian than we in St Pete and Moscow. And it's not just the right shape of the coupon I'm talking about here, they are far more Russian than us spiritually. There are many talanted engineers and scientists among them (Novosibirsk rocks, obviously) and since the majority of them are non-believers and are quite vocal about it the orthodox church there dares not play its dirty tricks on them. (Unlike here, where they act as if they bloody owned the place! It makes me wanna puke.) But there's one thing about East Russians that really bugs me - they're so damn uppercrust, they act as if they were the centre of the universe.

Most of the coastal states (Washington, Oregon, California; Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, as well as urban Florida) are definitely less American than the rest of the USA. (Lindsey's icon will testify to this fact.)

People in these states tend to embrace what they call a "cosmopolitan" worldview, embracing foreign ideas, foreign products, foreign media etc. while showing contempt for all things "American." These people are notorious for their degenerate social behaviors (chronic drug use, broken families etc.) that, unfortunately, have seeped into the non-coastal regions of the USA. But it's well known that these degenerate trends had their start on the coasts.

Originally Posted by Jeff

People in these states tend to embrace what they call a "cosmopolitan" worldview, embracing foreign ideas, foreign products, foreign media etc. while showing contempt for all things "American." These people are notorious for their degenerate social behaviors (chronic drug use, broken families etc.) that, unfortunately, have seeped into the non-coastal regions of the USA. But it's well known that these degenerate trends had their start on the coasts.

I wouldn't say that makes the United States of Canada less American than Jesusland. Degenerate behavior? Love of foreign ways? Sounds like traditional American practice to me!

Just curious, why on Lindsey's avatar map Alaska is a part of "Jesusland" and not of "US of Canada"?

Fucking stupid topic, by a stupid poster.

And do you mean more russkiy, or more rossiyskiy.

Originally Posted by Triton

Just curious, why on Lindsey's avatar map Alaska is a part of "Jesusland" and not of "US of Canada"?

Because they voted overwhelmingly for President Bush.

Many coastal people would prefer despotism (because it's European) to democracy (because it's American).

Lindsey doesn't actually live on either coast, she's just a slavish imitator of all things degenerate.