Damn. I can't put my feelings into words. There's so much ambient disdain for Russia, and all the various peoples that live there, but no one can bother to know or remember anything about the place.

All the boomers around me watched the USSR get destroyed on live TV. I know this because I saw it too. But as recently as a couple weeks ago I had to listen to someone loudly and confidently expressing themselves and they had actually forgotten that the Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore. Also, when they watched the parliament building getting shelled you can see the streets are paved.

I heard someone my age joking about how terrible it would be to fight drunk Chechens in Ukraine, and I had to point out that most Chechens are Muslim, so they're probably not drinking much.

It goes on and on, and you're right, it's beyond parody. I hate these people.