Whenever I come across someone from western country and that person is telling a story and there is a bad guy in there, that bad guy always has to be from Russia (or just Slav in general).
And it rubs me in a wrong way.
I am curious to know why is that.
Yes, now you will tell me it is just for the story purposes.
Yeah, I don’t buy that.
It must be something way deeper than that, something engraved deep down in your brain and your belief system that whenever there is a bad guy, it just has to be a Slav.( Not racist at all, don't you think?)
Does the school system in western countries teach children that, or you got that mindset and belief system from your parents, or you just came to that conclusion by going through the historical records and seeing it with your own two eyes, seeing it by yourself that, for example, up to this date Russia is the only country that had thrown nuclear bomb on some other nation (Oh, wait, maybe it wasn’t Russia, maybe I just made a mistake) or you are just that narrow-minded and you go on that easier path where there is always somebody else who is wrong and bad and on that path you don’t stop and think for a second about bad doings and mistakes made by western countries( again I am making a mistake, what am I saying, western countries are immaculate, there is no way western countries can make any mistake).
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Sorry but that sounds very bullshit. The bad guy in this story is the AI. We all know that a nuclear war between Russia and the US can happen anytime and it will probably be very random who shoots first or whatever. In this case the protagonist is US based (I think) so it makes sense from his point of view to view Russia as the other side.
And aside from that, the part with the nuclear attack seems to be simulated by the AI. So it might be the AI using the protagonists US based biasses against him.
Please think before calling an author racist for their story flow.
I think we are talking about two different things, two different levels.
What you have said right here – that is the root of the problem right there.
It makes sense for protagonist from a western country to view Russia as the other side/bad guy/ bogeyman or call it whatever you want – it is all the same; or the AI knows the west based protagonist’s biases, AI knows what protagonist from a western country thinks and how he feels about Russia and will use it, AI knows that in western protagonist’s eyes Russia is the bogeymen.
But that is just a surface level, just a plot-for-the-story level and that level is not very important.
The important level is a few layers deeper and that is: What is the author’s urge or need or belief deep down within herself to use and see Russia as the other side/bad guy/bogeyman? Where does that come from? From which part of her brain? Where does she find that? As if, when she was writing this story, her thought process went : “Ok, I have this guy in the west, and now whom will I have, when I look form west based guy’s point of view, when I look from his position, when I look through west guy’s eyes, whom will I put to be on the opposite side, who will be the other side. Who will and can be, when looking through west based guy’s perspective, opposite, who will and can be the other side, who will and can be that bad guy that will start World War 3 and nuke everything to the ground, who will and can be the bogeyman. And all of that just by looking through west based guy’s eyes. If anything bad happens, who can take the blame in west guy’s eyes. And all of that process the author had made consciously or subconsciously. Then her conscious or subconscious mind said: “Russia!”. Didn’t say: “Peppa Pig!”. If it said Peppa Pig we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. That is the level I was talking about in my comment.
Yes, she said that it was the first time that she used Russia in that way, and I have no reasons to doubt that, but in this case she did use Russia and I made my comment based upon that.
And many times I have come across western citizens saying things like that and it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth and it just brings me back to the first sentence in my original comment and every other sentence that comes after that.
You want my thought process?
"Hm, I need a reason why everything outside is dead"
"Nukes. Nukes are good."
"Who has nukes?"
"USA. Russia. North Korea. Uh... I have no idea who else."
"Where is my character? Ugh. Why do I need to waste thoughts on deciding where he is. Hm. I might want to make this more than just a short story, so I should pick a country I know something about, to make it easier for myself. Germany? France? Great Britain?"
"I just had Great Britain. Meh. Also, if his country has been nuked, he wouldn't still be alive."
"Should be an allied country that's nuked then, far away enough."
"USA. Let's nuke the USA."
"That only leaves Russia and North Korea, I am too lazy to look up who else has nukes."
"Nobody takes North Korea seriously."
"Russia it is."
That is the exact the same process as I was describing it but with one huge difference. That difference is in using Russia just for the story purposes and nothing deeper than that. You already told me that in your first reply, I saw that. I already told you my general opinion about “using it just for the story purposes” in my very first comment. But, in your particular case, by the way you conducted yourself in your replies and from the “tone” of your replies it made me think, made me believe that you were using it just for the story purposes.
Real talk: Russia has atom bombs. So Russia is one of the prime contenders to start a third world war. not the only one but one of the few that are likely.
If you want to go the "every time a slav is the bad guy" you will have to read multiple stories by the same author. If you chekc multiple stories by @suesa you will notice that the bad guy/gal/whatever is all over the place, suggesting that what you are thinking is bullshit.
If you want to go the "oh noes, americans worry about russia bombing them" route then no shit, that is what is happening in the world. Using a country that has atom bombs as the country that starts the nuking is what you do if you want your story to make sense.
Taking a very unimportant part of one short story of an author, putting your own biasses into it and then trying to call that author out on your random interpretation of that. That is what leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
A recommendation: Would you have come here and asked why Russia was the one doing the bombing. Or tried to clarify on that perceived bias. Then you would have learned very fast that your stuff is not that case in this story. But by spewing random stuff that makes no sense to the other people around you, you wasted your chance to do change and educate people. This story is not biassed in the way you think. But even if it were, would I be the author, I would just ignore you even if you were right. Giving people the benefit of the doubt makes them listen to you more ;)
PS: All you talked about is Russia. But the story is not about Russia. Are you biassed against AI? Are you biassed against non-slavic countries? Are you biassed against bogeymans? I could go on :P
After your first reply I saw that we are talking about different things. After your second reply I saw that we are still talking about different things. There is no point in continuing the conversation.
Lately there's been a lot of stories with bad guys being religious terrorists from Middle East too.
But these are getting pretty lame. It's either Russians, German Nazis, the Chinese or Muslim Terrorists or evil old men in suits who control the US.
Why it's never something innovative? The bad guy could be a goat farmer from South Africa. An oil driller from Norway. A kindergarten teacher brainwashing children to strike after 20 years?!
scribbles down all of these
I like the kindergarten teacher. Is she from Finland?
She might be. We wil never know.
I have a photo of her too if you want to see!
Honestly, almost as often it's Germany. As a German myself, I didn't really want to use Germany.
In my last long story, the evil power was Great Britain, who took over most of the world (helped by aliens). There were also hostile forces from South America. Russia wasn't even mentioned.
In "Stranded/Space War", my protagonist lands in the USA, which is the home country of the villain.
Luna 3 plays in space, no nationality attached.
In my short story "world war 3", one of the two characters carries a Hebrew name.
In all my stories, it's usually humanity as a whole, or a country - and this is the first time that I used Russia. So, I get your general frustration, but don't accuse me of being narrow-minded when this is the only story of mine you've read.
Thanks.