From 1995 to 2015 Lisa wild (Lisa Dickey) made three trips to Russia. In these 20 years things have changed there — in politics, Economics, and especially technology. However, as wild writes in his book “Bears on the streets” (Bears in the Streets), misconceptions Russians and Americans about each other for the most part remained the same.
Wild gave his book this name, because during her trip to Russia in 2015, she often heard from his people that “all you Americans think that we still walk the streets bears”. But, she notes, even if some Americans really do believe that we have in America, too, there are so many wild bears.
“They think that we do not respect, explained wild in a new interview with Recode Decode with Kara Swisher (Kara Swisher). They think that we don’t pay attention to them. Of course, today we talk about Russia, and, from my point of view, it allows them to feel — to say that “all” so I think it would be a huge exaggeration — but it seems to me that there is a certain segment of Russian society, whose members think, “Now you pay attention to us, as it was before when the world had two superpower””.
In Russia, as in the US, the media plays a huge role in regulating how often people think about events in the outside world. Most of those with whom wild was able to interview during her trips to Russia, get their news through the Kremlin-controlled television, and — although in 2015, when she traveled to Russia, it did not take Donald trump seriously to ask the opinion of Russians about it — she managed to get some curious comments about American presidents.
“They kept saying, “It’s terrible, all that he says and does is a lie, you should not believe one word,” said Dickie, remembering what he said the Russians about Barack Obama. And then one of them said, “If a Democrat becomes President, Russia should not expect anything good”. I said, “Okay. Whether you liked George W. Bush?” “No, of course! We hated”. Then I asked: “was in U.S. history, the presidents that you like and that you admired?” “Ronald Reagan””.
Just as Americans are now experiencing concern about the alleged involvement of Russian hackers in the presidential elections in 2016, the Russians, according to wild, with great distrust of the American media, which, in their opinion, also allegedly tried to influence them. The wild recalled how she once went to the cinema to see the film “the Martian,” in which Americans are turning to China to help them to return of Matt Damon (Matt Damon) is from Mars.
“My friend said, “I can’t Believe it! Who would have thought that you ask about China, not Russia,” said wild. — He was really offended. And he was certain that the American government forced the filmmakers to make a choice in favor of China, to once again humiliate Russia”.
And even among young people with full access to information coming from outside — such young people as a rapper named MC Pavlov or girl who have the means to travel around the world, anti-American sentiment is quite strong.
“She almost immediately began to tell me why the Russian press is more free compared to the us, why the Russians are freer than Americans, and began to prove that the September 11 attacks, is the handiwork of the Americans, told wild about this wealthy girl. I just told her that, although America is far from perfect, she is very much mistaken in this regard”.
“Although, look at what is happening to our press. It is not allowed to shoot a press conference at the White house, she is accused of spreading fake news, added wild. — We are certainly moving down the incline”.
