I was a student at the Defense Language Institute in the 80’s. My Russian instructor told the story of her sister visiting her and her mom here in the States.
She wanted to see an American grocery store before she went back. Her family kept making excuses not to do so.
On her last day here, she refused to go to the airport until they took her to a store.
My instructor said she walked around the store for 30 min, tears streaming down her face the whole time.
Really getting to the opinion vocal collectivists need to be imprisoned or executed for the good of the progression of humanity.
They are the true regressives, and would kill billions by systematic starvation in a heartbeat, believing their contrivances to be some sort of game.
Reminds me of the old Robin Williams movie, Moscow on the Hudson.
It was about a defector from the Soviet Union, Williams, making a new life in everyday America.
In one scene his character nearly has a nervous breakdown while attempting to grocery shop. Just the amount of food in so many different brand names was too much for him to handle.
It drew a very different picture from one of the earliest scenes back in the USSR. He had been standing in line for an item only to be told he would have to make do with something else as the advertised item was sold out.
Overall a pretty good movie, if I remember correctly.
I was at DLI for the same course in 1983-1984. I had one of the instructors, a small bird like grandmother, tell me of the 900 days in Leningrad and how she survived.
I used to get her off the training topics by interjecting something positive about one of the old Soviet leaders and she would go off track for about 30 minutes berating whichever name I happened to mention.
back in the early 90’s a group of Russian (Georgian actually) came to visit
My recollection is that they went to the mall and walmart and stores and bought stuff. they always remarked about “in my country” how great it was. one came to me and wanted to defect . the state department wouldn’t allow it
it was a pathetic display of allegience that was totally unfounded
Worked INF-START treaties while stationed at Travis AFB in the 90s. The base opened a new Base Exchange that even impressed those of us stationed there. We took a group of Russian inspectors to go shopping and I watch a guy in his mid-40’s just stand there in shock at first and they you could see he was fuming as he figured out he had been lied to about how bad the US really was. I felt kind of sorry for the guy, but know how he feels as our overlords in Mordor on the Potomac work their magic on what was once a great nation.
Back in the late 70s or early 80s I met a lady who had gotten out of Romania. Her sister visited her and the 1st time they went grocery shopping the sister was piling the cart full, thinking she was lucky to be at the store the day the food arrived. She was told it’s this way every day.
The sister is now a U.S. citizen.
I had a similar experience with a friend whose grandmother was visiting from Yugoslavia back in the early 80s. We took her to the local megamart and when we walked in she literally burst into tears.
She didn’t speak much English so I asked what she was saying.
“Lies...all lies” she kept repeating over and over.
It was eye opening.
L