Free Life
A statue from Pavlovsky Park in St. Petersburg. What is “Free Life” anyways?
photos by Yarju
| Tags: Russian Art, sculpture, statues |
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4:57 pm
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I hate taggers, but we have to admit this place has a special atmosphere.
What about the FAGOT?
I meant IGOR.
Is he still THE FAGOT?
… or just THE GAY?
I hate you
But why? I have made you a celebrity (IF YOU ARE THAT IGOR OF COURSE.)
You spelled “faggot” incorrectly.
Spell this, SPELLCHECKER. Ha-ha.
And I saw the Lord thy name be hallowed
And the Father said thy kingdom come
What a colourful world thy brought to us
What a honourable draught of humanity
“No fucking place there is for fagots”
The Lord would listen to no arguement
we know! Who’s the fagot Pros Pros Pros Pros Pros Pros Pros Pros Pros Pros Pros Pros Pros Pros Pros Pros
GOTCHA! GOTCHA! GOTCHA! GOTCHA! GOTCHA!
The correct answer is actually IGOR.
Pros = IGOR
It just doesn’t make sense.
Dork! I’m the one and only Texas1. If you don’t like it then too bad.
Texas1 I actually PREFER you over this pro guy.
If he lived near me he would be missing teeth.
And you would be missing the whole jaw. LOL
And you would be missing your vodka if you lived near me
All of you would just be “missing”.
Nice one
But IGOR is a baldy FAG anyway..
The statue and monuments would look better if they were sandblasted.
I think the statue’s face was painted to look like Ronald McDonald, no?
I think by tagging it with “free life” they meant “freedom”. It was probably spray painted during communist rule.
It’s strange that this statue is made from iron also. Most statues are bronze or some other material that won’t rot with age…but this one is iron and rusty and has been painted or coated. If you look closely at the face, you see that the vandals gave him the typical pen mustache and chin hair.
I doubt it was sprayed over 15 years ago, under “communist rule”.
What is it with you people? Get the image of evil red communist russia out of your head. You have been brainwashed by western propoganda and anytime you hear “russia”, you immediatly think evil, repressive, poverty, evil, red, evil, communism.
Wake up, open your eyes.. rub the crust off and look for yourself.
Ok, so explain the ‘free life’ graffiti then.
I didnt spray it, so I dont know for sure.
But could it not mean that they live the “free life” so thats why they sprayed it?
But your one track mind only sees this as a cause of evil communist oppression where these people beg for freedom.
Who can say I have a one-track mind? I offered one point of view and nobody has offered another even though I requested it.
So maybe Free Life means vagabonds that huff paint and leave wine bottles near statues and spray paint monuments for fun.
I just offered you a more likely point of view, and you didnt even notice it. One track mind for sure.
“So maybe Free Life means vagabonds that huff paint and leave wine bottles near statues and spray paint monuments for fun.”
Sounds reasonable.
Again with the stupid notion that all that people wanted in the USSR was FREEDOM. Freedom from what, or to do what? People wanted the same things that people want all over the world – peace, love, good health, more money, more leisure time, good food, casual sex, the list continues. Nobody wanted “Freedom”.
What is freedom, anyway? Are people in the US, or Australia, or Western Europe “free”? Free to do what? Wake up early in morning, have breakfast, go to work, get hassled by the boss, eat lunch, get hassled some more, go home, eat dinner, pay bills, watch TV or read, go to bed. Is that it? Is that freedom? If yes, Soviets were as free as anybody else, because that list of activities sums up my life as a former Soviet citizen very well.
How many of you in so called free countries can quit their jobs and start doing whatever you want? Not many, with all your mortgages/rents, car payments, utility and credit card bills, college funds for your kids, pension plans for yourselves, drinking and eating habits, computers and Internet, big screen TVs (there’s always a bigger one in a store near you, or soon will be). You call it responsibilities and enjoying your life, I call it slavery. Birds are free. People are not. Never were, never will be, regardless of where they live.
PS No paint can survive the harsh Leningrad weather for 20 years. This absurd writing was made by some stupid kid who had too much cheap Russian beer (or wine), and it most likely means, “Screw you, assholes. All I wanna do is hang out with my imbecile friends, drink beer, and make writings in English, which I will never learn how to read or speak!” Just ask that kid to define “Freedom”, you’ll see.
PPS The other word on that stone is a Russian prison term for “total happiness”, with a notion that total happiness usually comes from taking drugs or drinking alcohol.
While you make some good points (that freedom isn’t all it’s cracked up to be in the Western world these days), what you forget is that what the world assumes that Soviet Russians wanted was freedom from an oppressive dictatorship/military regime.
Take a look at North Korea. Do you think the people there want freedom? People usually want things they don’t have. Take away their religion, their right to speak their minds, their ambitions, their dreams, and you leave them hungry and frustrated.
Just yesterday we heard stories of working-class Russian citizens waiting hours for a potato or a bar of soap. Would you prefer this to the freedom you have today? How short is the memory of the brainwashed slave.
The western world assumes that soviets wanted freedom from an oppressive regime because thats what western propoganda told them. What the western world doesnt understand is that Russians dont like them and dont want to be them. They want money, food, and happiness, but they will not sell out to capitalism and America’s way to achieve it.
Koreans dont want American lives either. They would rather keep their leader, and get food, shelter, and live their own lives. If america tried to invade korea, all those oppressed and starving people would pick up rifles and stick up for their leader and their country. Thats what you americans dont get, and thats why your in this mess in iraq. The world doesnt want to be America! Understand?
Just yesterday? Try almost 20 years ago. I don’t know what you remember, but a lot has happened in 20 years, I suggest you catch up.
By just yesterday I was talking about the comments on the picture thread from the 60’s when communism had a stranglehold in Russia.
I know American democracy/freedom is nice unless we’re bombing it down your throats, but unfortunately our government is out of control. We no longer affect what our leaders do. The military industrial complex makes all the decisions wrt foreign policy. We’re about 5 years away from a dictatorship ourselves.
Your not headed for a dictatorship, but instead all out, free for all capitalism. The reason the government makes the decisions with its military is for money, or more accurately, black gold, oil. Foreign policy is also dicated by the dollar. Whatever is best for the economy. China pegging currency? Who cares, they sell us cheap shit. Iran out of control? Who cares, they got no oil. We got oil in iraq. Americans losing jobs to foreign workers? Who cares, its cheaper for the companies. NAFTA? CAFTA? They fuck the average american and help the corporations. In America, if your not making “The man” richer, then you dont matter.
Communism in the 60’s was enjoyed by Russians. 50’s 60’s 70’s were the best times for Russia. People were happy. Not until the mid to late 80’s do you start to see things fall apart. I’m not a communist and I dont defend communist ideas. I like to be an individual, which is what communism takes from you, but its not the evil threat that America was scared shitless of for so many years.
To Chingau Wei:
Well, the western world assumes wrong. There was no oppression, there was no military regime, and USSR was nothing like North Korea, not even close.
“Speak their minds” – again, these are just slogans and not much more. What does it mean? How exactly do people in the USA “speak their minds”? By voting? Please, give me a break. Their voting system just as absurd as the Soviet’s was. Or maybe by shitting in their pants when approached by the police? Ever been stopped by a highway trooper? You know, the one who looks like a character from Village People, wearing the faggot boots, with his hand on his gun? Ever tried to speak your mind to him?
You are not going to believe this, but I could say whatever I wanted when I lived in the USSR, well almost anything. Can you say the same about Americans who were hunted, blacklisted, prosecuted during the so-called McCarthyism? Sure you can, “almost anything” (“almost” being the keyword here).
“Ambitions” – another good one. You could be whatever you wanted to be in the Soviet Union. The sky was the limit, and you didn’t have to be a member of the communist party, as people in the western countries think. But if you were a member, it meant absolutely NOTHING! It was just a formality. All you had to do was to pay the membership fee, that’s it! And it didn’t really give you any advantages over other people. Some positions favored the members of the Party, but those were mostly the position within the party itself. Hard to believe, I know, but why do you think I would try to protect communists? I don’t particularly like them. So, it is all true.
What you heard yesterday was told by a person who never experienced it himself. Soap was never a problem. Potato was never a problem either. The only true stories are those about the toilet paper. There was a short period of time in the 70’s when you had to stay in line for it, but this was a very short period of time and the shortage was eliminated very quickly. On a verge of collapse, there were all sorts of problems, those were truly difficult times, but that is a different story altogether. Every country that ever lost a war experienced something similar, and USSR lost it, big time.
One other word of advice. Never learn a history of another country by watching Hollywood feature films. I like Hollywood movies, but historical documents they are not. Maybe this will help you open you mind a bit. Would you believe if I told you that most people here in Russia still have the same biased opinion about America, its culture, and its way of life as the Soviets did 20 years ago? Believe it. I am immune because I lived there so I know the truth. Other people are not. The propaganda machines never stop. They only get better.
Amen.
I think you meant IGOR IS A BALDY FAG!
Have i mentioned any soap or potatoes yesteday? Somehow i can’t remember that. I mentioned mayonaise, toilet paper, greepeas, sausage - but no potatoes or soap. Acually boiled or cooked potaoes was an everyday-meal, at least for my family. We lived nearby to a local “gastronom”, and if there was a word in the neighborhood that some more rare products that i mentioned above are brought to it - representatives of nearly every family lined up at gastronom door in about 10-15 min.
TO: Saulius, Lithuania
I was talking to the person with a Vietnamese name, not you in that particular instance. Sorry.
As for the “local gastronom,” you forgot to mention where exactly did you live and what year was that. I lived in Moscow in the 70’s. My relatives lived in Tambov and Tula. Nobody I know ever had to get by on boiled potatoes only, never ever in the 70’s and the early 80’s. Chicken, beef, bacon, vegetables, oil, butter, — everything was freely available. If you refer to “kolbasa” (Russian style sausage and bologna) , I never considered it to be a good food, not then not now, so if you couldn’t get any of that – good for you.
I have to agree though, many people in the USSR wanted the “kolbasa” (not to be confused with kielbasa sold in every US supermarket) and considered it a delicacy, and yes, it was not freely available in most remote Russian towns. Why? I have no idea. I never liked it. This was an ultimate junk food, much worse than McDonalds or Burger King combined. Lots of it for grabs now though, in Russia and in Russian grocery stores in Russian neighborhoods in America. Eat it up! Kill yourselves if you have to. The old fashioned steak or a nice plate of chicken wings is what I personally eat. It was also a mainstream food in the USSR in the 70’s. That’s why we were so thin back than
Besides, why were you starving in Lithuania when you had all the fish in the sea? If you don’t know the joke, that’s what English say about Irish when they complain too much about how English deprived them of everything. Live and learn, and don’t be a little baby.
You mentioned that you are a FAG.
And then you mentioned that you didn’t say that. But we know now. We understand.
Yes, money is a way to control poor and middle class people, the smarter ones know this and realize how little “freedom” they have if they buy into consumerism.
That’s why it’s said in USA:
“Work is like prostitution, you do humilating things for money”. (and get paid less!)
did you had freedom NOT to go to the army if you dont want to? And do it by the law? I think you still lack that
..
TO: Saulius, Lithuania.
Yes I had. All I had to do is get into a college and forget about the army forever. College education was free for everybody. Too stupid not to do that? Who needs you then, go the army. By the way, in today’s CNN news they said that suicide rate in the US army increased by some record percantage in 2006. How about that? Too much freedom?
People will usually give up freedom for security or stability (look at Russia now– Putin is very popular and he slowly removes freedoms, just ask Kasparov). A starving man doesn’t care about freedom, he cares about food.
I’m not saying that’s a good thing. Humans just revert to the primitive animal state when threatened, they don’t care about abstract things like “freedom” when they are facing death.
“Live free or die.”
Tell me about your freedom.
What is it that you are free to do that an average Russian is not?
I am free to say “our president is a thief and a liar” and not be poisoned with mysterious nuclear materials.
Be wary of Kasparov. He has connections to American right -wing organizations.
I just hope everybody understands that we are not comparing Russia and the USA? We are comparing the USSR and the USA. Because today’s Russia and the USSR are two completely different things.
Your comments and opinions have much value because you have experienced both cultures.
What about my experience?
I’ve experienced lots of cultures…
Places? Dates?
USSR before and after 90s (the territory of Russia, Ukraine and Latvia), USA before and after 90s, UK, France, Greece, and a bit of China and Japan (almost a year but I think it was enough to get a feeling of the cultures.) And no, I cannot speak Greek, Chinese or Japanese. It’s damn too hard for me. LOL