http://articles.philly.com/1986-01-15/news/26052630_1_hostage-crisis-soviet-captives-islamic-liberation-organizationI use this story all the time to illustrate the superiority of Russian and Chinese cultures in their understanding if both human nature and how to deal with “the middle people” of the arid zones who cause all the trouble in the world.
But even the Russians seem to have lost all aspirations to aristocracy.
Source date (UTC): 2014-08-23 13:11:00 UTC
INTERESTING QUESTION: How do family structures vary?
The family structure determines:
the amount of inbreeding
the inheritance system
the private property rights that originate with the inheritance system
the degree of trust extended to non-family members, with inbreeding producing lower overall trust, and outbreeding higher trust.
the degree degree of authority necessary to maintain order (prevent violence in retaliation for unethical and immoral actions.)
the level of corruption demonstrated by members of the government, since they are merely members of society in a position to abuse authority.
the mobility of labor, since the larger the family structure the harder it is to move it to capital.
the economic velocity of the polity (wealth).
Conversely increase in family size determines:
the degree of alienation and loneliness, since family members treat you almost always better than others will.
the stress of raising children, since sharing child rearing across generations is so much easier.
The redistribution family members provide each other with.
the insurance from the vagaries of the economy and life
the demand for the state to provide all of the above in the absence of the family that the state has destroyed in pursuit of economic velocity. 🙂
LIST OF FAMILY STRUCTURES
SMALL HOMOGENEOUS HIGH TRUST PRIVILEGED SOCIETIES CAN TOLERATE HIGHLY REDISTRIBUTIVE GOVERNMENTS
STATE FINANCED SINGLE PARENT FAMILY – Medium term and short term pairings with or without a marriage ceremony that produces offspring, whereupon the parents cease cohabitation, and state redistribution finances directly or indirectly the support of the mother’s household.
HIGH TRUST SOCIETIES WITH HIGHER ECONOMIC VELOCITY, CAN TOLERATE LIBERTARIAN GOVERNMENTS
ABSOLUTE NUCLEAR FAMILY – The “absolute nuclear” family is liberal and non-egalitarian (that is, indifferent to equality). Children are completely free upon adulthood, founding independent families. Inheritance is freely distributed by will.
NUCLEAR FAMILY, EGALITARIAN NUCLEAR – The “egalitarian nuclear” family is liberal and egalitarian. Children are completely free upon adulthood, founding independent families. Inheritance is equally distributed, implying at least a vestigial necessary link between parents and children throughout their lives.
MEDIUM TRUST MARGINAL SOCIETIES WITH MEDIUM ECONOMIC VELOCITY – REQUIRE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS
EXTENDED FAMILY, STEM FAMILY, AUTHORITARIAN FAMILY – The “stem” family is authoritarian and inegalitarian. Several generations may live under one roof, notably the first-born, who will inherit the entirety of property and family headship (and thus perpetuate the family line). Other children typically leave the home to get married or become priests/soldiers.
A family that extends beyond the immediate family, consisting of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all living nearby or in the same household. The stem family is sometimes associated with inegalitarian inheritance practices, as in Japan and Korea, but the term has also been used in some contexts to describe a family type where parents live with a married child and his or her spouse and children, but the transfer of land and moveable property is more or less egalitarian. In these cases, the child who cares for the parents usually receives the house in addition to his or her own share of land and moveable property.
LOW TRUST, POOR SOCIETIES WITH LOW ECONOMIC VELOCITY – REQUIRE AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNMENTS
TRADITIONAL FAMILY, COMMUNITARIAN FAMILY – The “communitarian” family is authoritarian and equal. Several generations live under the same roof until the eldest die and the inheritance is divided equally.
HETAERISTIC MONOGAMY – Monogamy with frequent extra marriage sexual relations.
PAIRING FAMILY, SERIAL MARRIAGE – Medium term pairing of individuals either in patrilineal or matrilineal property systems.
CONSANGUINE FAMILY – three generations of interrelated individuals live together (pre-polynesian) without any prohibition on relations. Property is irrelevant in this system.
Source date (UTC): 2014-08-22 16:18:00 UTC
CULTURAL OBSERVATIONS
Interesting. Displaced people from “the east” are now in evidence around kiev and lviv. They are definitely a little more ‘Russian’ (meaning on the rude side). Which is what a few people seem to be complaining about. But I just got a ride in a taxi from a guy from Lugansk who seems to be ‘doing it right’ here in Kiev. Mostly I think it’s just good nationalism showing up everywhere. It’s so good to be part of this. It’s beautiful.
If someone gives me that look at a bar again, I’m just going to hit him in the face though. If you come to this city you better behave in a civil manner. 😉
Source date (UTC): 2014-08-22 14:56:00 UTC
Pretty girls, stray cats, graffiti.
Its the people that make a place downtrodden, not the property.
Source date (UTC): 2014-08-22 05:22:00 UTC
https://www.quora.com/How-do-family-relationships-differ-between-countries
https://www.quora.com/How-do-family-relationships-differ-between-countries
http://blog.insart.com/?p=392Ukrainian’s are ‘us’. Moral people. Hard working people. (Well, except around New Years. 🙂 ) Smart. They speak english. And they have innate nobility.
Source date (UTC): 2014-08-21 10:50:00 UTC
WHY DOES EASTERN EUROPE HATE RUSSIA? BECAUSE THEY SHOULD.
“It was those early morning hours that we learned to dread.” The little Latvian woman trembled and tried to keep back the tears, but she continued to speak with quiet dignity. “That was when the secret police would knock on the door and take people away. Usually we never heard from them again. Sometimes we heard that they had been shot, and sometimes that they were still alive somewhere in Siberia, but we never knew. Whole families would be taken, separated, their houses would be occupied by the Soviet authorities. During the Russian occupation of the Baltic countries, almost half the populations of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia were taken away. Sometimes the whole family would be sent to Siberian prison camps, but that was a death sentence too, usually within a year, from cold and starvation and overwork. Others were told to get out of their homes with just the possessions they could carry on their backs, they were told to migrate east, wherever they could find a place, but of course there weren’t any places, and they tried to live off the land, but mostly they just starved along the way, the aged and crippled first. But in the end there was no chance for any of them, and the Russian authorities knew it. I guess they wanted to get rid of all of us Latvians, and they didn’t care how.”
She paused, trying to keep her composure. “I wasn’t on their June 14 [1941] list, but I heard that I was on the next one. But in the meanwhile the Germans came, in the invasion of Russia. Naturally we ran to them as if they were saviors. But they were no better. Still, two from our family managed to get through to the West, my brother and I. As far as we know, all the rest died. We never heard from them again. I don’t know how they died, I do know there was a big purge. The best Latvian army officers, including one of my brothers, were ordered by the Russians to some ‘field maneuvers‘, and then they were all killed by the Russians, with bullets in the back of the head, and dumped into a mass grave.”
I thought of the student who had sat in that same chair in my office just a week before and told me that the Soviet way was the wave of the future, and that “the Czechs had it coming.” And of the professor who had broadcast a speech that evening saying that “the United States has become so bad that it must now be liberated by Soviet Russia.” I wondered how many mass graves for Americans he was planning as the price for American “liberation.”
NAZIS GOT NUTHIN’ ON RUSSIANS
Source date (UTC): 2014-08-18 14:57:00 UTC
MEN’S STYLE
It’s official. While the height of men’s fashion was the 1950’s in america, and Ralph Lauren and Gucci tend to perpetuate these ideals, the current heart of men’s fashion is actually GERMANY.
So cool.
Source date (UTC): 2014-08-17 07:32:00 UTC
THE PROBLEM OF LONDON : MULTICULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS
We are staying at a hotel on the Thames, near London bridge. It’s beautiful.
And it has taken an hour to get coffee and pastries. Now that the tray arrives, it includes two breakfasts that we didn’t order. The Russian delivery man calls the hispanic order taker, and talks to the Turkish cook, and they must speak in pidgin because they cannot really communicate.
I can’t get my freaking morning coffee because the hotel doesn’t consider facility with language a skill.
Source date (UTC): 2014-08-17 07:12:00 UTC