Chernobyl, the Ukrainian response to McDonalds

You can usually figure out how people feel about their country by their first reactions to questions about it. This is a good way to tell what they may be proud, embarrassed or scared of (fear is often connected with respect). I’m not going to provide a psychological analysis of what John wrote about Ukraine, I just want to talk about some out-of-date facts, which are no longer true but have never the less become part of our history. We have learned since primary school, that Ukraine used to be a bakery of Europe, but for me it seems embarrassing to even say this aloud now. While we still have rich soil, Ukraine doesn’t use this resource in a productive way. Our harvests don’t yield enough because of a lack of modern agricultural technology and also because of some unpredictable changes in the weather during the last few years.

So, let’s talk about some less historical and more trivial issues. The question is: what are the real things that could be mentioned about Ukraine? To discover this, I’ve carried out an informal survey concerning what Ukrainians think the two most famous or infamous things about our country which are well known abroad. The answers could be random events, facts or persons but the requirement was to answer my question quickly and spontaneously. The absolute chart leader among them unfortunately happened to be Chernobyl. Second place was a tie between the brothers Klitschko (http://klitschko.com/)  (although Andriy Shevchenko was named too) and the Orange Revolution (2004). In the third position we had the Ukrainian dishes borsch and salo. Oddly enough, among the culinary delights, varenyky was brought up just one time. Other things mentioned were The Black Sea and the fact that UA was once part of the Soviet Union. Some of the responses showed that Ukrainians have quite a low opinion of their country. The cruelest thing I’ve heard was the reply of a 21-year old girl (she studies in conservatory, plays violin and is quite modest in general), who answered “salo and vodka”. On the contrary, someone also remembered the Antonov airliner (http://www.airliners.net/aircraft-data/stats.main?id=389). This probably means that we still have patriots.

Of course, the goal of my exploration was to also find two facts about America. This questioning basically divided people into two camps (although the participants were not really aware of it). The first of these was concerned with economics and politics, with the other discussing national symbols of America and some trivial stuff as well. The primary group referred to their widespread currency represented by the U.S. dollar, the powerful economy, strong military, NATO, and finally struggling with and suffering from terrorism. Among the most memorable events named was September, 11th.

But anyway, and it is the second group’s entire fault, the absolute leader among the things associated with America was fast food in general (and McDonalds particularly), which according to the latest investigations of American scientists can be put on the same footing as Chernobyl for Ukraine. The second place was allocated by such “icons” as cowboys and the Statue of Liberty while the third one was occupied by Hollywood which of course is the principal center of the US movie industry. Also mentioned by one person each were the NY Yankees baseball team and US Capitol.

I’ve got to say that a lot of people have some positive stereotypes about America being a country of big opportunities, independence, and a high standard of living; (maybe this also was a hidden meaning in bringing up the iconic cowboys and the Statue of Liberty). American people were considered outgoing (people’s mentality will be discussed at a later date). Seems like Ukrainians are much more negative about their country and do not really appreciate what they have here. For example, just one person pointed out the beauty of Ukrainian women.

Even though I have a good excuse because I’m not a sociologist and I didn’t have a large audience to ask my questions (the very first intention was just to write my own opinion), any complaints about the results of the “exploration” will be accepted.

Posted by Helen