{"id":698,"date":"2010-04-30T10:00:40","date_gmt":"2010-04-30T10:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=698"},"modified":"2018-08-22T15:46:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T15:46:34","slug":"russian-news-its-all-in-the-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/russian-news-its-all-in-the-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian News – It’s All in the Comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

When planning what to write about in April, I decided to write one news-related post. With so much going on in the world and in Russia, the task didn\u2019t seem too difficult. Except, of course, that April turned out to be one heck of a month with catastrophes and tragedies piling up on top of each other. It just didn\u2019t feel right to do linguistic analysis of an article about terrorist attacks in Moscow subway.<\/p>\n

Today, as I was scanning BBC Russian<\/a> news, I saw something that I thought would be just right. Not only the subject raised lots of comments in the forum, but it is also easy to relate to and gives a glimpse of peculiarities of Russian life. I\u2019m talking about the issue of retirement age.<\/p>\n

The short article<\/a> titled \u00ab\u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u044f<\/span>\u043d\u0430\u043c <\/strong>\u0433\u0440\u043e\u0437\u0438<\/span>\u0442 <\/strong>\u043f\u043e\u0432\u044b\u0448\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0435 <\/strong>\u043f\u0435\u043d\u0441\u0438\u043e<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e <\/strong>\u0432\u043e<\/span>\u0437\u0440\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [Russian citizens are threatened with an increase in retirement age] mentioned that Arkadiy Dvorkovich, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation, announced a possibility of having to increase retirement age.<\/p>\n

Currently, retirement age for Russian women is 55, for men \u2013 60. In case you are wondering why such a discrepancy in retirement age between men and women, here\u2019s a comment from one of the readers:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u2026<\/strong>\u0433\u043e\u0441\u0443\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0443 \u044d\u043a\u043e\u043d\u043e\u043c\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u0438 \u0432\u044b<\/span>\u0433\u043e\u0434\u043d\u0435\u0435 \u043e\u0442\u043f\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0432\u0438\u0442\u044c \u0436\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0449\u0438\u043d\u0443 \u043d\u0430 \u043f\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0441\u0438\u044e \u0440\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u044c\u0448\u0435, \u0447\u0442\u043e<\/span>\u0431\u044b \u043e\u043d\u0430<\/span> \u0441\u0438\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u043b\u0430 \u0441 \u0432\u043d\u0443<\/span>\u043a\u0430\u043c\u0438, \u0447\u0435\u043c \u0441\u0442\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0438\u0442\u044c \u0434\u043e\u0448\u043a\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0435 \u0443\u0447\u0440\u0435\u0436\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u044f \u0438 \u0441\u043e\u0434\u0435\u0440\u0436\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c \u0438\u0445 \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0441\u043e\u043d\u0430<\/span>\u043b…<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong><\/p>\n

[\u2026instead of opening child cares and paying staff salaries, government finds it more profitable to let a woman retire earlier so that she can stay home with grandchildren\u2026]<\/p>\n

It seems to me sometimes that to be Russian means to be a conspiracy theorist. Most Russians do not trust their leadership and suspect, not totally undeservedly, their government of all sorts of corruption, selfishness and \u00ab<\/strong>\u0430\u043d\u0442\u0438\u043d\u0430\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0434\u043d\u044b\u0435 <\/strong>\u043f\u043b\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u044b\u00bb<\/strong> [plans that go against the interests of the people].<\/p>\n

It is interesting that here, in the US, the ones to blame are the elected leaders, the politicians. In Russia, it is \u00ab<\/strong>\u0447\u0438\u043d\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u043d\u0438\u043a\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [administrators and officials, appointed by the government] that get blamed for whatever problems there are in the society.<\/p>\n

Comments, in general, are the most interesting part of any article since they allow a glimpse of the real Russia, whether to confirm the stereotype of Russians as heavy drinkers:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u2026<\/strong>\u043f\u0435\u043d\u0441\u0438\u043e\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u0432\u043e<\/span>\u0437\u0440\u0430\u0441\u0442 \u0434\u043b\u044f \u0436\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0449\u0438\u043d \u043c\u043e<\/span>\u0436\u043d\u043e \u043f\u043e\u0434\u043d\u044f<\/span>\u0442\u044c \u0434\u043e 65 \u043b\u0435\u0442, \u043f\u043e\u0441\u043a\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u043a\u0443 \u0432 \u0420\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u0438 \u0436\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0449\u0438\u043d\u044b \u043c\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u044c\u0448\u0435 \u043f\u044c\u044e<\/span>\u0442.<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong><\/p>\n

[\u2026women\u2019s retirement age can be raised to 65, since in Russia women drink less.]<\/p>\n

to realize that expectations regarding gender roles are still very traditional, even at the policy level:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00ab\u0436\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0449\u0438\u043d\u044b \u0438\u043c\u0435<\/span>\u044e\u0442 \u043f\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0432\u043e \u043d\u0430 \u0431\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u0435\u0435 \u0440\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u044e\u044e \u043f\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0441\u0438\u044e, \u0442\u0430\u043a \u043a\u0430\u043a \u0443 \u0436\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0449\u0438\u043d <\/strong>\u0437\u0434\u043e\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u044c\u044f \u043c\u043d\u043e<\/span>\u0433\u043e \u0443\u0445\u043e<\/span>\u0434\u0438\u0442 \u043d\u0430 \u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0434\u044b, \u043d\u0430 \u0432\u043e\u0441\u043f<\/strong>\u0438\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0435, \u043d\u0430 \u0445\u043e\u0437\u044f<\/span>\u0439\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e \u043f\u043e \u0434\u043e<\/span>\u043c\u0443…\u00bb <\/strong><\/p>\n

[women have a right to an earlier retirement since women \u2018s health is affected by giving birth, raising children, and keeping the household].<\/p>\n

Or to find out that Russia does not have much in the way of Equal Opportunity Employment laws. Many job ads read \u00ab<\/strong>\u0442\u0440\u0435<\/span>\u0431\u0443\u044e\u0442\u0441\u044f \u043b\u044e<\/span>\u0434\u0438 \u0434\u043e 35-40 \u043b\u0435\u0442\u00bb<\/strong> [hiring workers ages 35-40]. As a result, older workers have problems with \u00ab<\/strong>\u0442\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043e\u0443\u0441\u0442\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0439\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> [getting hired for a job].<\/p>\n

Still, compared to the retirement age here in the US, Russian workers don\u2019t have it that bad. Unless, of course, you take into account the average life expectancy, which according to the same article is 59 years for men and 73 \u2013 for women.\u00a0 Not too bad for women, but it looks like an average Russian man works until he dies. The expression \u00ab<\/strong>\u0432\u043a\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u044b\u0432\u0430\u0435\u0442, <\/strong>\u043f\u043e\u043a\u0430<\/span> <\/strong>\u0434\u0443<\/span>\u0431\u0430 <\/strong>\u043d\u0435 <\/strong>\u0434\u0430\u0441\u0442\u00bb<\/strong> [slaving away until kicking the bucket] comes to mind.<\/p>\n

Quite typically, the comments are high on sarcasm and finger-pointing, but light on constructive criticism. Some suggest \u00ab<\/strong>\u0443\u043b\u0443\u0447\u0448\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0435 <\/strong>\u0443\u0441\u043b\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u0438\u0439 <\/strong>\u0442\u0440\u0443\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [improvements in work conditions], others \u2013 \u00ab<\/strong>\u043f\u043e\u0432\u044b\u0448\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0435 <\/strong>\u0440\u043e\u0436\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u0435\u043c\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [raising birth rates] and most agree that the government needs to stop \u00ab<\/strong>\u0440\u0430\u0437\u0432\u043e\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u044b\u0432\u0430\u0442\u044c <\/strong>\u043f\u0435\u043d\u0441\u0438\u043e<\/span>\u043d\u044b\u0439 <\/strong>\u0444\u043e\u043d\u0434\u00bb<\/strong> [pilfering the pension fund].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When planning what to write about in April, I decided to write one news-related post. With so much going on in the world and in Russia, the task didn\u2019t seem too difficult. Except, of course, that April turned out to be one heck of a month with catastrophes and tragedies piling up on top of…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8,179,7827],"tags":[385639,1256],"class_list":["post-698","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-language","category-news","category-russian-life","tag-russian-life","tag-russian-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11308,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698\/revisions\/11308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}