Russian Acts of Kindness

Sun May 5 21:49:33 UTC 2013

The most recent Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters Without Borders places Russia 148th out of 179 countries, and its position has fallen six points from last year.  The United States is ranked at 32.  For those of us who study Russia and the Russian media, this should come as no surprise.  I don't think it is at all accurate to suggest that freedom of speech and expression in Russia and the U.S. are in any way comparable (though the U.S. might want to take some pointers from Finland, which ranks #1 in the Press Freedom Index).

http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2013,1054.html

Kirsten Rutsala
Assistant Professor of Russian
Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
University of Oklahoma
206 Kaufman Hall
780 Van Vleet Oval
Norman, OK 73019
(405) 325-1393
________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of Rylkova,Galina S [grylkova at UFL.EDU]
Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2013 4:30 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Russian Acts of Kindness

With all due respect, I find such statements condescending and ill-informed. I watch several Russian programs and read Russian news on a daily basis and can say that Russian people enjoy the same amount of freedom (freedom of speech and expression) as any Americans do in the United States. I would actually say that the variety of opinions that one can find in Russian newspapers and on Russian political shows would be very hard to match here.

Sincerely,

Galina Rylkova

On Sun, 5 May 2013 17:20:01 -0400, Charles Townsend wrote:

We always knew there were lots of kind Russians, and it's such a great country in so many ways.  But that benighted entity has become the Soviet Union again, with its constant repressions, suppressions, threats and the obstacles to humane policy it throws up.  It's really sad.  We're left with their marvelous language.
Charlie Townsend
On May 5, 2013, at 5:03 PM, Katya Ites wrote:

Thank you, Ben, for sharing :)

Katya I.
UMass-Amherst

2013/5/5 Benjamin Rifkin <rifkin at tcnj.edu<mailto:rifkin at tcnj.edu>>
Dear SEELANGers:
In the context of all the negative stories about Russia, there is this:
http://kottke.org/13/05/tender-moments-caught-on-russian-dash-cams
With best wishes to all,
Ben Rifkin
The College of New Jersey
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--
Galina S. Rylkova
Associate Professor of Russian
Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
256 Dauer Hall
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
USA
grylkova at ufl.edu
http://www.languages.ufl.edu/russian

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