Dear Mom,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My hairdresser is Estonian. A few months ago, as she was cutting my hair, she told me all about how Russian babushkas are the best babysitters in the world. \u201cThey\u2019re the most loving people you\u2019ll find.\u201d When I was in her chair a few days ago, she said that Russians \u201care like cockroaches.\u201d You can squash them, she said, \u201cbut they\u2019ll just crawl back out of their filthy holes to make life miserable for the rest of us.\u201d Oh and one other thing. She didn\u2019t actually say \u201cRussian,\u201d she said \u201cRyss\u00e4\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They might both start with \u201cR\u201d, but there\u2019s a world (and about 70 years) of difference between a Russian and a Ryss\u00e4. Until a few months ago you wouldn\u2019t even expect to hear the junttiest of junttis using that word. But recently I\u2019ve noticed lots of well-educated, highly-cultured and otherwise very liberal people using it. A lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s an old saying here that \u201cwhere there\u2019s a Ryss\u00e4 there\u2019s a problem\u201d. And that\u2019s true. We do have a problem. P-U-T-I-N.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The word is back in our vocabulary today because people are scared. And angry. Just like they were over 70 years ago when Russia invaded Finland and the term Ryss\u00e4 was quite literally politically correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there\u2019s a big difference between then and now. The people who are using the word today \u2013 like my hairdresser \u2013 have over 20 years of recent experience with a totally different kind of Russia. Yes, they\u2019ve invaded Finland in that time, but only to fight us for bargains on UGG boots and Dolce & Gabbana clothes during the sale seasons. We were friends. At least that\u2019s what we thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s sad to see how quickly old wounds can be ripped back open again. And the harder Putin works to alienate Russia from the rest of the world, the easier it is for us to let the term Ryss\u00e4 creep back into our vocabulary. But we shouldn\u2019t. It\u2019s an ugly name rooted in hatred. That\u2019s not who we are. And that\u2019s not who the majority of Russians are either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Love,\nLissu<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Mom, My hairdresser is Estonian. A few months ago, as she was cutting my hair, she told me all about how Russian babushkas are the best babysitters in the world. \u201cThey\u2019re the most loving people you\u2019ll find.\u201d When I was in her chair a few days ago, she said that
\nRussian…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"asauth_required_access_level":0,"asauth_cansharepaid":"true","om_header_attributes":[],"footnotes":"","om_featured_image_focal_point":[],"om_primary_tag":0,"om_contributors":[],"om_co_authors":[],"beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_code":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[186,187],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kirjeita-aidille","tag-russia","tag-semantics"],"om_views":null,"acf":{"tuuma_off":false,"tuuma_kysymys":"","tuuma_vastaus":""},"asauth":{"required_access_level":1,"share_token":"","is_paid":false},"yoast_head":"\n