“Perhaps 80 years of communism hollowed their collective consciousness.”
It is also something you see with Muslims, people from India, and the Chinese.
It’s because they have to adopt a kind of fatalism to get through their lives.
Someone on FR turned me on to the Soviet jokes that Ronald Reagan would tell and the fatalism inherent in them was one of the most damning condemnations of the Soviet and Russian cultures.
2) There seemed to be something missing from their souls/consciences.
But remember there is always an exception to the observation, a remnant.
So what is the application of your statement? There is much work to be done to change the situation.
I find this comment interesting as I’m currently involved in a lawsuit where an eastern European man has talked his idiot American girlfriend into filing an expensive lawsuit against a residential renovator over a deck that’s not up to HIS standards as a contractor/handiman - and in a situation where she bought the property by being competitive via waiving all inspections. She beat out four other bids - and is NOW suing for perceived defect, all being pushed by the ego of this arrogant migrant. She’s gonna lose, BIG, listening to this fussy foreigner.
A cursory look at photographs in the United States during the 1920s compared to 1920s Europe is telling and it's only gotten worse since.
We know some evangelical Christians from Ukraine. They are wonderful people when the light of Christ illuminates their soul. But they have years of indoctrination to relearn. For example, it took a really long time to teach them the meaning of “giving” of time, talent and money. It was just unheard of. Tithing? Forget it... Finally they did get it but it was really hard, they have been so poor for so long it was inconceivable to “give” anything away for free. (Talking about ordinary people not corrupt elite mafia types at the top)
There was actually a wave of conversions going on there before the war.
There are some lovely Slavic people, but in general I agree with you.
We have been trod on by the world so long, that something broke inside us.
Look up the concept of "inat".