Were Soviet people better than the people living in this country now, i sometimes wonder. They were more pure and kind perhaps, and had a certain set of morals that is absent now. They weren't so corrupted when it comes to the delicate issue of a human soul. Ideology was like a glue that held everything together, including spirituality (if i may) of the people. On the other hand the very same people turned a blind eye when a next door neighbor they celebrated birthdays with was taken away in the middle of the night and no one would have even went to comfort his fainting wife and crying children. If the soul wasn't corrupted, the mind was. Trying to go back to sleep the 'good' neighbor was probably thinking 'can't believe we though he was a decent guy'. Or might have been concerned that he'll be next. And one by one they went, men and women disappearing into the night, while the country applauded its own new achievements. The higher ideological, mythical even reality was more important than a human life. The image was all-marching and reporting on a daily basis about the harvest and a 'hero' who milked more cows that the others.
In 2009, the souls, at closer examination, are so empty there is an echo. And the minds are corrupted just the same. People, often innocent, are rotting in jail in preliminary custody; political assassinations are commonplace; old women are begging on the streets or selling the last they have-books and ceramic figurines. But what's really important to the Russian people is that Eurovision song contest is held in Moscow (and cost 40 million dollars that could have been much better spent) and everyone wants to make sure that the show is the most impressive (and expensive) in history. With Russians it's about ego and pride.
It has never been about anything more than an empty shell.