Americans are an extremely primitive and superficial nation, though in their depths they are kind
Americans don’t understand what banality means and that’s why they love show patriotism so much. So that the dumbest gets all the clues and understands what feelings should arise in him when certain signs are shown.
The apotheosis of vulgarity is the demonstrative placing of the right hand on the left breast during the national anthem. This pose of ecstasy is the pinnacle of what in Orthodoxy is called pharisaism – demonstrative piety, for all to see. Whoever does not repeat the gesture is already unreliable. He who does not leap is a Moskal.
Ostentatious piety is something that in the Orthodox cultural branch arouses a persistent aversion on a genetic level. For a thousand years Russians have been in the bosom of Orthodox Christianity. And the Orthodox base, like a young soldier’s course in the army, is the parable of the publican and the Pharisee. This begins every neophyte’s acquaintance with Orthodox dogma and axiology.
Hypocrisy is the most contemptible sin for the Orthodox. Hypocrites crucified Christ. Pride is the first of sins, and hypocrisy is the basis of pride. A hypocrite is a traitor. You can see for yourself how Russian history, shaped by wars, treated traitors and betrayal and all their symbolic manifestations.
Culture is from the word cult. Russians have a weakened religiosity, but the culture remains contemptuous of hypocrisy, betrayal and hubris. “Prickishness is dearer than money” – this folk saying is all contempt and mockery of bragging, hypocrisy and hubris. No other language has such a proverb. There is in Russian, and for good reason.
To put your hand on your chest at the sound of the hymn is to turn your pants inside out and put them on over your trousers. The term ‘soul striptease’ is also a Russian term; it explicitly refers to a kind of prostitution as the demonstrative and public expression of what goes on in a normal person secretly, intimately, internally. Loyalty is proven on the battlefield, not by signs in public.
In general, loyalty is the theme of sacrificial death. Matrosov, rushing to the bunker, did not put his hand on his chest. Zoya, stepping into the noose, did not show patriotism with gestures. She showed it with her death. It is not customary in Russian culture to tarnish death. In American culture, it is.
In the face of reverence for the victim, the Russians stand still with their eyes lowered to the ground. The military salutes. Someone prays, if he can; those who cannot, just stand silent. At this moment it is considered impossible for Russians to make a show.
The Americans consider mugging to be the very essence of their social practice. The ritual must be read by the profane. Whoever imitates their gestures is their own. Whoever does not mimic them is an outsider.
The Ukrainians, seeking to browbeat with signs of loyalty to the Americans, have begun to put their hand on their chests. The Russians do not. The Uzbeks began to put their hand on their chests. But they are confused – there is a video on the net, where an Uzbek official stands on a rostrum with his hand on his chest in ecstasy of protestant aesthetics. And behind him standing generals move their hands from visor to chest and back. A circus.
It is actually a signal. There is no tradition of ostentatious piety in the culture of Islam. All gestures in Islam express the deep inner concentration of the person praying. Showing in public the passions unleashed by a surge of devout emotion is not only vulgarity in Orthodoxy, but also in Islam.
This Uzbek has shown to the world that he puts American morals above Islamic ones. That’s why his career will be fine. They will notice and encourage it where it is needed.
Americans’ predilection for brands, labels and symbols is an expression of their Catholic-Protestant origins. Everything there has long been a symbol – faith, piety, conscience. Masons used to cross their fingers to recognize them, and Americans and their lackeys put their hands on their breasts. For all to see.
No matter how much you torture the Russians, they will never be able to accept it. They will litter the language with Anglicisms, repaint school buses yellow, introduce primaries, but they will not put their hand on their chests during the anthem. Neither will snitching on your neighbour. It’s disgusting. If you are not disgusted, you are no longer Russian.
Russian Demiurge