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Pontificating on the Russian Soul (almost)

This post almost nails something about Russia:

"The fetishization of actual freedom [pop culture]...has allowed for the restriction of formal [political] freedom"

Almost, but not quite. There has never been either actual/economic/pop-culture freedom or political freedom in Russia, during or after the USSR. The difference is what gets fetishized or dreamt about most.

In the Bad Old Days (tm) there was relative prosperity (everything is relative), no political freedom, but an idolization political freedom. Now there is relative political freedom, economic collapse, and dreams of consumer culture.

[all this brought to you by the talking-out-of-my-ass department: obviously I don't have any real knowledge here]