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Soviet Santa

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Re: Soviet Santa

#61

Post by LessDmesg »

RickJWagner wrote: post #44
aasasd wrote: post #39

Even though we're behind Europe in religiosity and far behind the US, Orthodox Christianity was alive and well here after the fall of the SU, and Christmas and Easter are variously observed. It's rather notable that despite the Bolsheviks' no-nonsense and literal approach to eradicating religion, Christianity and the church have survived the Soviet era pretty well. One reason for this is said to be that in the ramp-u…

It's just my opinion, but it's not uncommon. I believe Blaise Pascal (the brilliant French mathematician) got it right when he said "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing....." For this reason, I doubt religion will ever die. It will be with us always.

Yes, religion will never die because it's primitive paleolithic thinking embedded in all of us. With education and development of critical thinking, however, anyone can get free of religion and become intelligent (though it IS a lot of work that most are too lazy for).

Re: Soviet Santa

#62

Post by LessDmesg »

skrebbel wrote: post #55
RickJWagner wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just my opinion, but it's not uncommon. I believe Blaise Pascal (the brilliant French mathematician) got it right when he said "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing....." For this reason, I doubt religion will ever die. It will be with us always.

I'd wager that most atheists assume that God is very much a "created thing", which makes that quote feel pretty awkward.

No, some atheists may allow for existence of an uncreated creator God. It's just that this hypothesis is so inconclusive, unprovable and uninteresting that most atheists don't opt to pursue it (or disprove it for that matter). Assume there is a God or even The God - then what? We've no way of knowing anything about it.

Re: Soviet Santa

#63

Post by cat199 »

lucian1900 wrote: post #36
cat199 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP, but see Hungary '56 and Czechoslovakia '68 for what happens to 'leading warsaw pact members' who decide they want to deviate from the soviet party line.

Yes, we should be so sad that fascist uprisings threatening to exterminate the poor, disabled and non-native were instead defeated with help from friendly socialist countries. Not all protests, uprisings and revolutions are good. Look at their class character and composition.

a) Thread context was communist poland being a vassal of the USSR, whose policy was subordinate to the CPSU. These examples highlight that policy was not in fact independent in these countries, and, when significant deviation occured, soviet military invasion was a consequence. Whether the uprisings / deviations are good or bad is secondary to this point.

b) As for 'facism': show me the 'facism' in the key documents:

HU: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demands_of_Hungarian_Revolutio...

CS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism_with_a_human_face

(yes, wikipedia scholarship, better sources welcome)

while I have no doubt that facists would piggy-back on to any anti-communist movement to seize a moment of opportunity, framing either of these as 'facist' at their core is at best poor analysis. Even hard-core bolsheviks would differentiate betwean 'bourgeois-democratic reactionaries' and 'facists' since being clear in distinction is necessary for proper argument/strategy.

Re: Soviet Santa

#64

Post by xmars »

to1y wrote: post #48
xmars wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Снегурочка. But she is probably granddaughter

Shes not related to Ded Moroz. If anything shes depicted as his wife

Wtf, she is always with him on performances and helping him. And check wiki, she is his granddaughter. She is too young relatively to him))

Re: Soviet Santa

#65

Post by trhway »

tomaszs wrote: post #47
trhway wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

history is never one-sided like hand-picking of facts and interpretations tends to present. Together with the "occupation by Russia" Poland also got to annex significant parts of German territories (some of those had had no valid Polish claim, like for example the Prussia, some had been historically contested between German and Poland) - it was practically spoils of war gifted by the "Russian occupiers" to Poland (an…

Polish borders were decided in Postdam conferrence between USA, UK and USSR with a pupped goverment that acted as reprezentation of Poland. But they were USSR designates. Polish government in excile was not invited to the talks. So Poland could not annex anything. The big 3 decided how to draw borders.

i see. So, Poland was a victim forced by the occupants to take the lands. "They made us do it!". Well, now that the occupants is long gone, and the Poland is finally free ... When does Poland is going to get rid of this last disgusting vestige and symbol of occupation, ie. those foreign lands forced upon the Poland? As far as i see, judging by the booming development of resorts and everything else going on for example on the Baltic sea shores in the former Prussia, Poland is planning to enjoy these "forced" gifts from the occupants for a very long time ahead. All that while continuing to cry how bad the "occupation" was for Poland. :)

Re: Soviet Santa

#66

Post by RickJWagner »

LessDmesg wrote: post #61
RickJWagner wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just my opinion, but it's not uncommon. I believe Blaise Pascal (the brilliant French mathematician) got it right when he said "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing....." For this reason, I doubt religion will ever die. It will be with us always.

Yes, religion will never die because it's primitive paleolithic thinking embedded in all of us. With education and development of critical thinking, however, anyone can get free of religion and become intelligent (though it IS a lot of work that most are too lazy for).

I don't think it's 'intelligent' to be anti-religious. Numerous studies have shown that religious people tend to be healthier, live longer, and have higher levels of subjective well-being.

I'm not saying it's for everybody, or that everybody should follow one flavor of religion. But it's definitely wrong to look down upon those who choose to be religious, as there are several advantages (in the here and now).

Here's a Harvard paper and another, for good measure. The internet is chock full of papers like these.

https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/December-2016/The-Menta...

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=40219

Re: Soviet Santa

#67

Post by Shorel »

LessDmesg wrote: post #61
RickJWagner wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just my opinion, but it's not uncommon. I believe Blaise Pascal (the brilliant French mathematician) got it right when he said "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing....." For this reason, I doubt religion will ever die. It will be with us always.

Yes, religion will never die because it's primitive paleolithic thinking embedded in all of us. With education and development of critical thinking, however, anyone can get free of religion and become intelligent (though it IS a lot of work that most are too lazy for).

I think you can have rationality and a deep spiritual connection to nature.

There are some doctrines in Buddhism and the writings of Carl Sagan that make me feel that.

Re: Soviet Santa

#68

Post by Shorel »

RickJWagner wrote: post #66
LessDmesg wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, religion will never die because it's primitive paleolithic thinking embedded in all of us. With education and development of critical thinking, however, anyone can get free of religion and become intelligent (though it IS a lot of work that most are too lazy for).

I don't think it's 'intelligent' to be anti-religious. Numerous studies have shown that religious people tend to be healthier, live longer, and have higher levels of subjective well-being. I'm not saying it's for everybody, or that everybody should follow one flavor of religion. But it's definitely wrong to look down upon those who choose to be religious, as there are several advantages (in the here and now). Here's…

> Numerous studies have shown that religious people tend to be healthier, live longer, and have higher levels of subjective well-being.

It's at least a bit of the tragedy of the commons. Religious people feel and live better but make others feel worse and have more stressful lives.

Of course this is a very subjective opinion, but I have witnessed enough examples where this is true.

Re: Soviet Santa

#69

Post by [deleted] »

dmix wrote: post #17
andreyk wrote: post #2

As a Russian, can confirm this article is quite accurate - my family only ever celebrates New Years, it's the same as Christmas is usually in the West, and Ded Moroz is totally a thing.

How do you pronounce Ded Moroz in an anglophone way? I noticed you used “Dez” instead of Ded.

[deleted]

Re: Soviet Santa

#70

Post by dang »

firstbabylonian wrote: post #18
dmix wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you pronounce Ded Moroz in an anglophone way? I noticed you used “Dez” instead of Ded.

That’s a typo. The pronunciation is close to “dee-yet mah-ross”

Belated, but we fixed the typo above.
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