The Generational Divide in Eastern Europe: the Stability Generation (The Youth)
I readily admit that “Stability Generation” isn’t a moniker that will ever stick in the public consciousness. But, I chose the term to highlight the stark difference in society that the younger generations grew up in. Those who spent their conscious, formative years in the Putin period of relative stability are quite different from the generations that preceded them. Basically, people who were children in the 90s or 00s and who have entered young adulthood now, grew up in a Russia that was on the upswing. Once the Chechen problem was solved, stability returned to the country and the real economy began to recover in ways that improved the quality of life for the average Russian.
In Ukraine, in contrast, the stability period never really materialized. Yes, the economy generally recovered some from the shocks of the 90s, but the organized looting never ended and political turmoil only intensified as time went on. This had notable ripple effects on average Ukrainians, who became far more demoralized as the years went by and fled the country in droves. It is hard to imagine it, but Ukraine used to have a population of 50+ million souls. Some analysts put the number at 27 million now, but estimates vary. This is a shocking statistic to even consider.
What happened to all those people? Well, they either emigrated or died, I suppose. Not many new Ukrainians were born in the post-USSR period, either.
In Belarus, in contrast, the period of instability was less intense and stabilized quicker because of Lukashenko, who, for all his flaws and habit of playing footsie with the West from time to time, refused to let national assets and industries be dismembered and sold to foreigners for pennies. Having a strong leader during a time of crisis pays dividends, does it not?
Generally speaking, the youth who grew up in the stability period in Russia and Belarus are more or less normal people. They don’t have ideological “cockroaches in their head” as the expression goes i.e., they don’t have a set of bizarre political complexes at war with reality running around their heads. That means that they’re not really participants in the never-ending pro-USSR vs anti-USSR ideological debate that dominates Russian political discourse and for the most part largely eschew regular politics. Putin isn’t going anywhere and besides, the only serious opposition party in Russia has always been the Communists, and the youth weren’t going to go out into the streets waving red flags. They got enough of that at home from their grandparents. That being said, many of them are possessed with an inferiority complex vis-à-vis the West like the generation that preceded them. But if the Bariga generation is militant in its aggressive pro-Western posturing, the younger people have less of a knee-jerk anti everything related to the USSR and Russia mentality.
Yes, things were going well for awhile with the youth, and I had high hopes for the future of Russia based on my interactions with this generation. They had few of the bad characteristics of either the Sovoks or Barigas and were generally optimistic about the world and their place in it.
But then it all began to change.
Eastern Europe has benefitted, unbeknownst to itself, from a “cultural lag” and from the unintended positive effects of the Iron Curtain, which cut off ties between East and West. Trends started in the West by Hollywood or the CIA or MI6 used to take decades to make their way over to the USSR. My parents only saw Star Wars in 1991, for example. But that cultural lag has started to wear off and what may have taken decades to permeate Slav society is now flooding in at an alarming, transformative rate.
Eastern Europe was blissfully insulated from the SJW craze for a time — they were still watching the old Terminator films and talking about cowboys and gangsters when I made my way over in 2014. America was seen as a cool and macho place overflowing with fun and guns and easy sex and not much else. When I started sounding the alarm about SJWism to my friends all the way back in 2015, I received only scoffs of unbelief that such a thing could even exist.
“No-no-no, you don’t understand. It’s like Marxism, really. Instead of Proles and Bougies though, it’s Blacks and Whites, Gays and Normals, and so on.”
Nowadays, SJWism has already made its inroads into youth culture. You see rainbow flags and pins on the backpacks of young girls sitting at trendy cafes. Metrosexuality is quite popular as a fashion trend among big-city young men and there has been a veritable explosion of interest in elective sexual identities among both boys and girls. Being pro-Ukraine has become trendy as well, with the Ukrainian flag coming to symbolize Human Rights Freedom Democracy™ and opposition to Russia’s oppressive and backwards conservative culture. Coffee shops routinely play Ukrainian rock music like Okean Elzy (not bad, actually) to signal their support for Kiev and their hatred for their own country.
These trends used to be confined to places like Kiev and Minsk and Moscow and St. Petersburg. However, because of smartphones and apps like Tinder and Instagram, this culture has become accessible in even far-flung places like Barnaul (Siberia), which I visited half-expecting to find Hyperboreans walking around in furs and animal pelts, but instead ended up spending my time talking about K-Pop stars with trendy Vans-wearing local students at the anti-cafe (a coffee-shop where you pay for time instead of drinks). University towns are where these alarming trends are most visible. There is an almost one-to-one correlation between English-language penetration and progressive views. Young Russians who know English well almost all display the warning signs of latent SJWism, which they no doubt acquired through their Netflix subscription or reading the various fashion/trend magazines in English.
This is made worse by English-language cultural content being translated into Russia by media outfits geared to the youth like Medusa and The Village. Both have been shut down, thankfully, within Russia since the special operation began.
Of course, the situation is nowhere near as bad as it is in America, for example, but the general trend isn’t good. Central Moscow and St. Petersburg are hotspots of rabid anti-Russian hatred and opposition politics. As soon as the special operation was announced, throngs of students went out to protest and get man-handled by the police. Because of the swift, illiberal response from the OMON, these protests were quickly quashed. But these are very bad optics on the part of the Russian government — young people getting beaten up by riot cops isn’t exactly a PR victory.
Naturally, instead of investing in a patriotic youth movement, the Kremlins in their infinite wisdom, decided to do literally nothing over the years to work with the youth and so ceded the future of the country to the malign influence of Western media. This means that spending an afternoon wandering around Moscow’s trendy youth hotspots is akin to spending time in Brooklyn, albeit with far less diversity, thankfully. Luckily for the Russian government, the youth doesn’t really vote with any consistency and hasn’t rallied behind an opposition candidate to date, although Alexey Navalny came close to capturing that youth energy with his antics.
Why was Navalny successful with the youth? Well, unlike the standard run-of-the-mill Russian politicians, he had Western-educated advisors with deep pockets and experience running color revolution ops advising him to utilize the internet and to tailor his message to appeal to the youth. In other words, unlike other political figures, he actually tried. The youth, eternally gullible and naive, rallied behind an actual bariga from the older Bariga generation who had gotten caught embezzling money on two separate occasions (the perfume and the forest scandals) and then had the gall to run on an anti-corruption platform. Ah, to be young…
But what problems do the youth face? What issues do they want addressed?
Well, the problems that the youth face in Eastern Europe are pretty much identical to the problems that the youth in the West face, even if we factor in the grotesque ethnic grievance agenda aimed at Western Whites by Jews and brown people. Anti-Russianness, however, is largely confined to the universities and isn’t actively promoted by the major media like in the West. On the economic front, the Russian youth can’t afford housing and unlike in America, credit is quite tight. A loan for a starter apartment usually comes with 12–16% interest. There are few jobs and even fewer jobs that pay well. Gone are the days of Soviet macroeconomic stability and gone are the days when one could steal enough for a personal nest egg. Programming is the only real field for a smart Russian without connections to make some money and set himself up for middle-class stability later on in his life. The youth go to universities where they get useless degrees and a good dose of Liberal propaganda much like their Western counterparts (albeit without the crushing debt) and then realize that a lifetime of service economy drudgery awaits them. Some of them decide to take to the streets, I suppose.
Also, many young people come from broken homes and are the product of single-mommery and divorce drama. Relationships between the sexes are strained, but not quite as bad as in the West. Toxic feminism has been growing at an exponential rate in Russia with negative effects for both women and men. It has become fashionable to go to a psychologist and start taking anti-depressants SSRIs — an alarming trend, and one that the parents remain largely ignorant of. Designer drugs are readily available and cheap and popular (“metadron,” in particular). Tattoo culture is also widespread and ubiquitous, especially among the women, as is Western gangster rap, although there’s plenty of “Russian” degenerate music from rappers like Oxxxymiron (Jewish) to choose from as well.
Again, if we were to compare this with the West, it’s simply a difference of cultural lag and scale.
If you want to know what trendy big-city Russians will look and act like in 5 years time, simply look at how they act in the West now and wait. There is no meaningful local counter-culture pushing back against these trends as of yet. Political pundits on TV will occasionally whine about the youth, but seem genuinely baffled that WWIIism and old Soviet movies are not enough to reverse the trend. Parents don’t know what to do or generally don’t care enough to intervene.
The trend is bleak, but that doesn’t mean that the youth is lost entirely — far from it. In the West, there are many young men who have begun rebelling against the culture of hedonism and self-destruction promulgated by the Jewish culture-creators. So too, in Russia, there are many young men who are disgusted by what they see occurring in their country. Only, we have yet to see an analogous youth cultural movement like the meme-right appearing anywhere in Eastern Europe.
However, I believe that the war will have a positive effect on youth culture in Russia.
Not only are many Liberal media projects being shut down, but many Russians are waking up to the fact that the people running the West hate them and want them dead. Young veterans from the war will start trickling back into civil society and will contribute to the overall level of “basedness” as well. Because this war is popular, unlike the war in Afghanistan, for example, the prestige of the military in society will only grow as a result. Hopefully this translates into increased political power as well. I’d like to see popular military figures running for office and demanding to be put in charge of key industries and civil institutions once the conflict dies down. Russia used to be run by military men, not by the merchant class and its time to RVTVRN to tradition as far as I’m concerned.
Other than that, what else can I say?
Things could be better, I suppose. But they could be worse, to be fair, as well. There aren’t really that many young people to make much of a dent in the cultural landscape of Russia, really. Also, current reproductive rates indicate that there will be even fewer young people in a generation’s time and I see little to indicate that this generation will start having large families any time soon. In 2021, there was were either 1.5 or 1.82 births per woman, depending on what statistics are to be believed.
Luckily, neither Russia or Ukraine or Belarus have begun a society-wide program of population replacement like the governments of the West have. In fact, the number of non-White migrants seems to have precipitously fallen in all these countries as a result of recent events, but the official statistics (for what they’re worth) have been delayed this year and we don’t know for sure yet.
In other words, the situation is grim, but it’s far from hopeless.
I want to conclude this series by pointing out that both Western and Eastern Whites are in a civilizational death spiral. There is, however, the faintest glimmer of hope for Eastern Europe because there are still organized forces in society that are capable of standing up to the power of the Global Oligarchy. Both Putin and Lukashenko seem hell-bent on surviving and not meeting the same fate as Hussein and Ghadaffi. The military by and large remains a bastion of Spartan conservatism and martial stoicism. A vast hinterland of rednecks and hicks still retains the capacity to turn up their noses in disgust at the behavior of the big-city people.
If Russia can prevent the youth from falling for the cultural brainwashing coming from the West, and if the country survives the NATO onslaught, the situation may very well still be salvaged.
I am sure that any generational divide among the people of Eastern Europe and even the rest f the West is primarily due to a greater sense of individualism among the younger generations while the older generations are either individualistic in their own way or are loyal members of an ethnic or religious group with only a tiny fraction of younger people having that same loyalty.
Of course, the authoritarianism regimes of eastern Europe like Belarus or Russia do not always represent the interests of their own people but such regimes do manage to preserve some form of group unity such as Russia’s anti-LGBT policies and a strong crackdown on individualistic Liberal movements. In general, I am sure that any generation divide among the people of a nation is split between group loyalty and the self-liberated individualistic which threatens to rip these nations apart. Such conflicts between individuals and groups are as old as life itself and the cause, as well as the origin of this kind of conflict, can be explained in this document.
https://humanitylifeandscience.blogspot.com/2022/04/What%20is%20the%20Basis%20of%20Morality.html
https://humanitylifeandscience.blogspot.com/2022/05/What%20is%20True%20Love%20.html
https://humanitylifeandscience.blogspot.com/2022/05/Why%20are%20People%20Pro-Choice%20or%20Pro-Life.html
“authoritarianism regimes of eastern Europe like Belarus or Russia do not always represent the interests of their own people”
And the Western governments do? All but the most primitive society is ran by an elite minority, so yes even so called Western Democracy is Oligarchy.
Not that elites will rule, but wich elites will rule – and they all rule for their own benefits. Today in the Last Stage Liberalism West we have elites who made a devil’s bargain with the Left. What will come next I don’t know, as long as the Left doesn’t have any power. I prefer efficient Autocracy.
I wonder if Russia should propose a military alliance with China but then it could sour its relations with India and others. Russia will come to China’s defense in any war and China will do the same for Russia. As of now, I think both countries would have few allies in a war. Maybe they could also say any country that is not in NATO or any other alliance against themselves will not be considered a potential enemy and won’t be targeted if a war breaks out.
I’m from the west but I have the feeling if you want Americans (real Americans – White Christians) and real Europeans to survive you should be routing for Russia. I also don’t like the way others are ganging up on Russia and I also think the Jews pretty much run the whole west, Europe, USA, etc. and they want Whites destroyed thru culture and race mixing. The evidence is very strong going back to Theodore Kaufman and Earnest Hooton’s “soft” genocide plans for Germans in WW II already. But now all Whites are targeted.
One of our accountants at the company I work for here in Canada is an immigrant from Russia. A young guy for such a position really and speaks writes perfect English. His head isn’t full at all with the garbage like many others. I’m still amazed. I jumped at the chance to speak to him about his life and what he thought of Putin? I then learned he was from Siberia which blew me away and wanted to know how he went from that place to British Columbia, Canada? To make a long story short he didn’t share my thoughts about Putin and said democracy doesn’t exist in Russia. There are no checks and balances like here in Canada. Alas he left the company couldn’t take the long hours after being promoted to Comptroller. Worked at times weekends and put in from what I heard later were 14 plus hour days. sorely missed. Siberia of all places.
as for “elective sexual identities” I have to share an experience I had upon leaving a parking lot after some shopping. Starting the car and about to leave I raised my eyes up to the windshield and was greeted by a person walking past the front of my car. He was tall but the way he carried himself shrugging his shoulders back and forth was quite odd. Further as I watched this person strut by I didn’t know or understand what i was looking at. This person looked like a he with stubble of a bread on his face but he had female breasts and long hair and the way he carried himself he liked the attention and looks he was getting. A first for me and as I watched him get into his car there were two others exactly the same in the car with him? I drove home shocked mumbling too myself a he and a she in the same body and I can’t understand!!!
Actually a correction the more I reflect upon that experience with a he/she a scripture does impress upon the mind:
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. Romans 1:28
It is verse 18 though that is surely the most significant and applicable as climate change is now making it presence known. If any had asked St. Paul what he meant by the ‘Wrath of God from Heaven’ he would have said well climate change of course!
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, etc etc …
How’s the weather in Tel Aviv today?
@ Pat Kittle
How’s the weather in Tel Aviv today?
More drought like conditions I suspect which guess what Pat Kittle is exactly what God promised to them.
One of the conundrums of our scientists about climate change is “they don’t understand certain abrupt meteorological events that pop up now and then.” When I came across this quote in a local newspaper I was stunned by it because well there we have it. Just another piece of the puzzle falling into place where the bible is concerned regarding climate change.
Why, O why Pat Kittle when there exists such a huge body of information in the Bible about such an important topic and it get ignored, totally and completely ignored? Why? Except that is from me and if you would want an understanding of what is actually going on you could do no better than beginning at this link:
https://thesaker.is/shes-gonna-blow-its-weimar-but-where-is-our-adolf/#comment-1100983
https://thesaker.is/whose-lies-can-you-trust/#comment-1100365
Keep a weather diary and you’ll be amazed that contrary to what our scientists have told us, that God can’t be observed to exist so faith is blind, is pure hogwash!!!! Bull$%^ of the highest order!!!!!!
Do you like enjoy being lied to?
I liked these series, but you say the strangest things sometimes. From which planet exactly came the “analysts” that estimated Ukraine’s population at 27 mil now? Per Trading Economics, it is now between 42 and 44 mil. Also, if the “special operation” is popular now in Russia, that might not last. Russia might very well be on its way to receive such a thrashing by Ukraine that they may be left not even holding Crimea at the end of it. Unless they resort to tactical nukes, but will be another dimension.
Does E Asian pop cultural influence compete with or complement globo-homo acceptance in Eastern Europe? I’d like to see an article on the relationship between K-pop and globo-homo acceptance.
But in tackling globo-homo as Westerners, there is no better counter than the Swaz. Not just the symbol per se, it just happened to be the symbol chosen for the first backlash against the enemy that worked. Today, the spirit of the swaz needs to be defined and reinforced in the counter-culture, not just dismissed as LARP as is now the trend. Maybe it can’t be worn outwardly on a patch or chain today, but keeping it alive in our hearts and minds is indispensible. (All the more important as the Juice have managed to subvert even that symbol recently) Whether or not it is true that among AH”s last words in 1945 was a declaration of hope that although his Party had met certain defeat, it had established a model (spirit) for future generations, he did establish that model, and it is the only model our enemy fears. That should tell us something.
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East asians have a syncretic culture that includes the material culture of the pre-cultural revolution west: that is the culture of classical music, suits and ties, and european style universities. the confucian part is highly elitist and heirarchical and makes makes them uninterested in the jewish glorification of the scum of society. When I see asians in canada i see people that enjoy western high culture but have no interest in negro worship, rap, LGBT, democracy, or any other jewish obsession.
I talked to a chinese guy a while ago that wailed about western culture and i said, “listen pal. We gave you the suit you are wearing, the schools you study in, and the classical music that was a status symbol to enjoy in your youth. Jews – who are in power now, not us – are the ones that gave you rap, weed, democracy, porn, drug glorification, BLM, and other degeneracy”.
Your thoughts are appreciated, Martin V.
“…the spirit of the swaz needs to be defined and reinforced…”
For me, that eternal symbol has come to represent taking self-responsibility. And all the courage that involves. When I say, “It starts here,” and point to myself, I am embodying that symbol.
“many Russians are waking up to the fact that the people running the West hate them and want them dead.”
The (((people))) running Russia also want them dead.
“. . and then had the gall to run on an anti-corruption platform.”
Didn’t Zelenski run on an anti-corruption platform as well?
At least no one can say our overlords don’t have a sense of humour.
Thank you for another very illuminating article, Rollo. Don’t mind the crotchety old duffers in the commentariat too much: the majority of them of them are in the process of shuffling off this mortal coil anyway, I suspect.
That reminds me, though…given the quote frankly slavish attitude towards China displayed by many aging Westerners (as seen here and especially at unz.com) can you provide any insight on how Russians view contemporary China?