Art Morte wrote:Well, to me, enough time has passed. History should never be forgotten but neither should it be cling onto for too long.

Awww come on you're nearly my age, we were both already potty-trained and possibly starting to read when the Soviet Union went poof, TBH if something that lasted triple my lifetime has been over for less than my life time, there are probably still a lot of people around who really remember it as a fact of life.

I agree that you don't have to be oversensitive, and you can poke fun at a lot of things, I also don't think that the Russian banner was that bad, since it was more of a 300 reference than a Stalinist offense...

But come on. It's not ridiculous to be a bit careful.

VivaStPauli wrote:

Art Morte wrote:Well, to me, enough time has passed. History should never be forgotten but neither should it be cling onto for too long.

Awww come on you're nearly my age, we were both already potty-trained and possibly starting to read when the Soviet Union went poof, TBH if something that lasted triple my lifetime has been over for less than my life time, there are probably still a lot of people around who really remember it as a fact of life.

I agree that you don't have to be oversensitive, and you can poke fun at a lot of things, I also don't think that the Russian banner was that bad, since it was more of a 300 reference than a Stalinist offense...

But come on. It's not ridiculous to be a bit careful.

If someone - however old they are - remembers the Soviet Union as a fact of life 20+ years after its collapse then they are needlessly living in the past.

If the banner said "Welcome to Russia" then it would have been stupid and uncalled for. But if someone gets offended by a "This is Russia" banner that seems to be a popular culture reference more than anything, then they are making a big deal out of nothing, imo.

Moreover if "This is Russia" slogan cannot be used in Eastern Europe then what can the Russian use? Surely can't have them going "Russian Power!", those Soviet-Union-is-a-fact-of-life people just might grab rifles and head for the border. "Victory for Russia!" and you probably get people running for air shelters. "Russian domination!" would likely provoke suicide, then.

I say live in the 21th century and let the Russians support their team anywhere in the world like all other countries would, too.

Oh, I agree with you in that the banner was fine. I didn't think there was anything wrong with it, it was clearly more of a 300 reference than anything else.

I was just disagreeing with your dismissal of history because it's in the past.

That banner looked fine to me.