Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011)

blog.properrussian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 235 posts

Re: Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011)

#41

Post by ryanackley »

bowlofpetunias wrote: post #35

It's interesting how an article like this provokes multiple reactions that come down to "the American way is the right way". Also, unlike the article suggests, I think Russians are closer to (fellow!) Europeans than Americans in this respect. The way the Russians described in this article perceive Americans is not that different from the way most Europeans do.

I'm not really picking that up from the comments. Most of the discussion I see is debating the root causes and/or the validity of sweeping generalizations of different societies.

Re: Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011)

#42

Post by jlgreco »

forgottenpaswrd wrote: post #22
blah32497 wrote: post #13

As a Russian-American this comes off as complete BS. I've seen this written before and it's always in the form of "It's not us that smile too little, it's you Americans that are fake and smile too much!". For one, Americans don't just smile to be polite. For the most part it's genuinely conveying positive emotions. Now I know this is going to be unpopular, but I think the real reason Russians don't smile is cultural.…

I agree and I had my remark down voted, you know it by the number of suicides. We pay a price for living with terrible weather, with no sun light half of the year, where you can't get out of buildings because it is so freezing cold. I would say what you see in places like Costa Rica(pura vida!!) is genuine happiness because people need much more the Sun and friendships for being happy than a Ferrari or whatever we co…

I don't think you can just write it off as sun exposure. Alaska has fewer suicides than Nevada: http://dhss.alaska.gov/SuicidePrevention/Pages/Statistics/ag...

I think there genuinely are different norms for human interaction in different cultures. Why should people in "The South" be so much more famous for being insincerely pleasant than, say, people in Arizona or southern California? The climate in the deep south is absolutely miserable a large portion of the year, with oppressive head and humidity, yet they are infamous for being pleasant on the surface.

Looking at the map on this page, I see no casual correlation between how artificially pleasant a states population stereotypically is, and their suicide rate: http://www.afsp.org/understanding-suicide/facts-and-figures Notice New Jersey and New York beating out any Southern state.

Re: Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011)

#43

Post by djm_ »

vowelless wrote: post #32
blah32497 wrote: post #13

As a Russian-American this comes off as complete BS. I've seen this written before and it's always in the form of "It's not us that smile too little, it's you Americans that are fake and smile too much!". For one, Americans don't just smile to be polite. For the most part it's genuinely conveying positive emotions. Now I know this is going to be unpopular, but I think the real reason Russians don't smile is cultural.…

> As a Russian-American this comes off as complete BS. I've seen this written before and it's always in the form of "It's not us that smile too little, it's you Americans that are fake and smile too much!". I agree and it always appalls me how these sweeping-generalizations make it to the front page of HN.

or you know, into a top-ranked comment..

>It's because they are genuinely more cynical miserable people.

Re: Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011)

#44

Post by nostromo »

bowlofpetunias wrote: post #39
nostromo wrote: post #9

There's really no need to be stingy with your smile. If you smile more often at work, even if there's nothing specific to be happy about, it really does lighten up the mood and make people cheerier. People will want to work with you more. Also, I hope I don't sound like a sociopath here, but smiles are a form of brain hacking. If they are genuine, or at least seem genuine, they disarm people and make them more recept…

To be perfectly honest, and I'm not trying to be personally aggressive here, that kind of behavior makes me want to punch people in the face. A smile is an involuntary response. Unless you are a really, really good actor with full control over ever muscle in your body, people will spot a fake smile ("if there's nothing specific to be happy about") from a mile away. It's not even a conscious thing, human body language…

I'm with you. I'm not a proponent of fake smiling.

Another way to think about it: try and be more like the Dalai Lama. Notice how he's often smiling? Notice how when he greets strangers, he takes a genuine interest in their well being?

You may want to punch Tony Robbins in the face, but I doubt you want to punch the Dalai Lama in the face.

That's the goal I think. Not to brain hack by fake smiling, but to brain hack by practicing real empathy and finding inner happiness.

Re: Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011)

#45

Post by PavlovsCat »

nostromo wrote: post #9

There's really no need to be stingy with your smile. If you smile more often at work, even if there's nothing specific to be happy about, it really does lighten up the mood and make people cheerier. People will want to work with you more. Also, I hope I don't sound like a sociopath here, but smiles are a form of brain hacking. If they are genuine, or at least seem genuine, they disarm people and make them more recept…

> smiles are a form of brain hacking.

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy." -- Thich Nhat Hanh

Re: Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011)

#46

Post by seldo »

My parents, who live in Trinidad, have this problem every time they visit me in America. After a couple of days of everyone fake-smiling at them the whole time they get pissed off. To them, everyone's smiles come off as insincere and even slightly condescending. (They hate it even more when people tell them to "have a nice day".)

Re: Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011)

#47

Post by astine »

jlgreco wrote: post #42
forgottenpaswrd wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree and I had my remark down voted, you know it by the number of suicides. We pay a price for living with terrible weather, with no sun light half of the year, where you can't get out of buildings because it is so freezing cold. I would say what you see in places like Costa Rica(pura vida!!) is genuine happiness because people need much more the Sun and friendships for being happy than a Ferrari or whatever we co…

I don't think you can just write it off as sun exposure. Alaska has fewer suicides than Nevada: http://dhss.alaska.gov/SuicidePrevention/Pages/Statistics/ag... I think there genuinely are different norms for human interaction in different cultures. Why should people in "The South" be so much more famous for being insincerely pleasant than, say, people in Arizona or southern California? The climate in the deep south i…

Hey now, that's cherry picking data if I've ever seen it. Of course Nevada has a high suicide rate. Try comparing Alaska to sunny states where people don't throw their life savings away.

Re: Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011)

#48

Post by pilsetnieks »

wavefunction wrote: post #27
javert wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Socialism makes every other person a potential enemy and a potential victim. Resources are scarce. People come to hate one another. Capitalism makes every other person at worst a neutral non-threat and at best a potential trading partner. Resources are plentiful. People feel benevolent towards one another. This is not an apology for America; America is only semi-capitalist. You can see Americans getting meaner over t…

You do realize that most of Western Europe is socialist? That some of the countries that enjoy the highest quality of life and happiness are socialist? How do you square that with what you've written?

On a tangential note, it's not quite right to call the European system socialist. "Social democracy" might be more correct, otherwise people confuse it with communist socialism which is an entirely different regime with much more negative connotations. There are very few things in common between the systems in, say, Sweden and Soviet Russia.

Re: Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011)

#49

Post by wil421 »

I have seen someone get fired at a restaurant I worked at because they were always too overwhelmed to smile consistently. Perhaps Americans are forced to smile at times but why would someone foreign take offense to that?

By the way he got directly fired because he wasnt smiling when he was walking around. Dont you just love being employed in a Work at Will state.

Re: Why Russians Are Not Smiling (2011)

#50

Post by grecy »

jlgreco wrote: post #40
grecy wrote: post #7

Living in far Northern Canada I can relate to this. Up here, if someone wants to smile and say "Have a nice day", they will do so while making eye contact and you can tell they genuinely mean it. They are usually prompting you for further friendly chit-chat and happiness. Even when there are other customers waiting in line - those customers will be made to wait while two people have a friendly chat. When they don't w…

If this difference is in fact real and actually represents a difference in emotion or happiness, then I don't think climate has much to do with it. Alaskans have always struck me as overly cheerful people and they get similar cold and darkness.

> Alaskans have always struck me as overly cheerful people

Exactly. They're genuine and real, as are Yukoners.

It always strikes us how similar Yukoners and Alaskans are, to the point people from both places always agree we should break off and form our own country.

Post reply on HN