“Brave and smart Russians”: How Americans see us

The theme of stereotypes about Russian people is one of those that sound very often in the media space. The Open Russia community has published another similar list. About eight stereotypes that exist in the United States, said the Russian living there Vadim Sovitsky. This time, the review has not only negative, but also positive views.


One of the stereotypes is that the Russians are too braked people. This can often be seen in American films. It’s not that all the inhabitants of Russia presented themselves as some kind of “slow-thinking”, but they do everything slowly, calmly, without fuss. And even Vadim’s speech seemed too fast to the Americans, which made them doubt: “Are you definitely from Russia?” And they were surprised when they heard a positive answer.



Quite tenacious is the opinion that the Russians are unsmiling, they cannot joke. And not only in films where they are depicted gloomy and gloomy, but also in everyday life. Americans think that a person from Russia will meet any joke with a stone face. And when the hero of the publication laughed in response to their humor, and he himself was not averse to joking, his interlocutors were surprised once again: how is it, Russian - and suddenly he smiles and even laughs?

It is often thought about Russia itself in the USA that all people live there too poorly, and the country itself is completely undeveloped. As Vadim said, they tried to explain to him how iPhones and computers work, how to access the Internet on various gadgets. They thought that in Russia such equipment no and cannot be. And they were very surprised when he told them that in Russia there is all this: both mobile phones and access to the World Wide Web. They were not just surprised, but fell into a real shock. It seems to them that Russia is not even a “third” country, but some kind of a “fifth” world, in which all citizens live in tents made of wood and rags. They do not know that there are large cities in which life is completely at the European level. Vadim considers this stereotype unpleasant, meaning only one thing: Russia is losing the information war. And as a result, there are too few Americans who would like to move to our country.

And in the United States, they believe that the Russians do not know anything about life abroad. It is still believed that there is a certain “iron curtain”, that Russia is a very closed country, from which you can’t even leave. Vadim often told his American interlocutors that he traveled a lot to different countries in Europe and, finally, came to the USA. Nobody rescued him with the help of "fur seals". All trips were carried out calmly and in accordance with the law, and just as calmly you can return. This was another reason for shock.

It is no secret that American propaganda for many decades claimed that communist views were something completely bad. And so far, the Americans are scared by the "ghost of communism." And all Russians were initially considered communists. The publication hero (who holds close to liberal views) says he is surprised by this: now it’s not the twentieth, but the twenty-first century. In fact, in Russia there are people with different views, including those who are hostile to the ideas of Marx and Engels. (Of course, there is a significant part of those who share the Soviet ideology, well, there are Communists in the USA too!)

At the same time, among Americans, there are other stereotypes about Russians - very positive. For example, that all Russians are very smart people who can pause non-stop over the blueprints of an atomic bomb or something like that. If a Russian man in front of them decides any quadratic equation, this will cause great surprise. Well, and if the solved problem is more complicated - here you can even talk about the Nobel Prize. They are also surprised that a Russian can relax and spend his leisure time not in the most intelligent way.

In addition, Russians are considered in the United States to be very bold, heroic, and courageous. In American films it is difficult to find a character who would be Russian and at the same time cowardly. Of course, they have their own idea of ​​the Second World War (the victory in which they ascribe to themselves), but they do not deny Russian valor. And courage is also expected from every visitor from Russia, and so much so that one wants to conform to this image.

The eighth stereotype is that every Russian person shoots excellently, and indeed owns any weapon. That every child can assemble and disassemble the machine. That all children do not play with dolls or cars, namely with weapons. In part, Vadim himself supported a similar image - he came across a model of a Kalashnikov assault rifle, which he was able to assemble and disassemble four times faster than the Americans. They looked at him with horror - what if he would shoot them now? “Well, let them be afraid,” he summed up his story.