https://elvirabary.com/inside-russias-decadent-west-myth/
"People often ask me the same question: “Can Russia ever change? Can it ever
become a normal country?”
Reforms don’t appear out of thin air. They need a foundation—a shared idea of
what’s right, what’s wrong, and what the future should look like. And here’s
where the problem begins.
For centuries, Russia has defined itself not by what it is, but by what it is
not. Not Europe. Not the West.
A proud rival that secretly depends on its
“decadent” neighbor for everything—from machine tools to markets.
After the French Revolution, Russian elites looked across Europe and saw a
nightmare: Kings beheaded, nobles bankrupted, new men rising from
nowhere—bankers, engineers, industrialists. And they thought: If that’s
progress, we want none of it.
That’s how the myth was born—the myth of the Decadent West. A dangerous,
godless place where order collapses and moral boundaries dissolve. A myth that
still shapes how millions of Russians see the world today."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
