Final Reflective Essay
After reading the memoir by Lev Golinkin, A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka, I have learned that our American culture and the Russian culture are more similar than they are different. Our research project made us analyze a huge part of both our and their culture, which made us discover that both cultures have been invaded by corrupt leaders, yet there is more corruption in Russian culture. After my reading and I-Search Project I have realized that American and Russian political systems are exceedingly similar; however, that does not mean we, the citizens, react the same way.
While reading this memoir it surprised me how nonchalant Lev and all of his Russian equals were by all of the corruption going on around …show more content…
I always thought that our government was better protected from corruption but my research has lead me to believe that our government is not at all better guarded. My findings came to the conclusion that both our political systems are full of corruption. Most of our sources told us how Russian leaders deal a lot with bribery, which is when you illegally persuade someone to do something in your favor with the use of a gift. This was mentioned very frequently throughout the book, when Lev's family bribed the visa secretary, Lev's father's supervisor, and Lina's administrator. Lev's family used the corruption in their system to their advantage by offering bribes to those in power to be able to leave the USSR. Bribery might be the most popular form of corruption in Russia and it might not be as common in America, but our research alerted us that bribery is also a problem here in the U.S. Our research also informed us that both our systems are also strongly corrupted by electoral malpractice, clientelism and patronage, and illegal campaign contributions. However, we also learned that there are more political scandals on corruption in America than on corruption in Russia, which shocked me personally seeing as how there is much more corruption in Russia than in the U.S. All that told us was what we already knew: Americans and Russians do not react the same when dealing with corruption because of the difference in their rights. In America we are encouraged to stand up to corruption and any crooked official, but in Russia you are silenced and threatened for speaking up against such
After reading the memoir by Lev Golinkin, A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka, I have learned that our American culture and the Russian culture are more similar than they are different. Our research project made us analyze a huge part of both our and their culture, which made us discover that both cultures have been invaded by corrupt leaders, yet there is more corruption in Russian culture. After my reading and I-Search Project I have realized that American and Russian political systems are exceedingly similar; however, that does not mean we, the citizens, react the same way.
While reading this memoir it surprised me how nonchalant Lev and all of his Russian equals were by all of the corruption going on around …show more content…
I always thought that our government was better protected from corruption but my research has lead me to believe that our government is not at all better guarded. My findings came to the conclusion that both our political systems are full of corruption. Most of our sources told us how Russian leaders deal a lot with bribery, which is when you illegally persuade someone to do something in your favor with the use of a gift. This was mentioned very frequently throughout the book, when Lev's family bribed the visa secretary, Lev's father's supervisor, and Lina's administrator. Lev's family used the corruption in their system to their advantage by offering bribes to those in power to be able to leave the USSR. Bribery might be the most popular form of corruption in Russia and it might not be as common in America, but our research alerted us that bribery is also a problem here in the U.S. Our research also informed us that both our systems are also strongly corrupted by electoral malpractice, clientelism and patronage, and illegal campaign contributions. However, we also learned that there are more political scandals on corruption in America than on corruption in Russia, which shocked me personally seeing as how there is much more corruption in Russia than in the U.S. All that told us was what we already knew: Americans and Russians do not react the same when dealing with corruption because of the difference in their rights. In America we are encouraged to stand up to corruption and any crooked official, but in Russia you are silenced and threatened for speaking up against such