Quote:
Originally Posted by SolRaven
Wow... that's really interesting. Instead of seeing something that they want and figuring out how they can elevate themselves to be able to have one as well, they wish to bring their neighbors down. That must come from being put down so many times, that they almost lose their ability to elevate themselves. Talk about killing vision and self-actualization.  |
This has deep historical reasons.
Here I am not talking only about Croatia, but about all Eastern block and former Soviet Union.
During early "good, old socialistic times" there was forced collectivisation. They were forcing individual farmers to give up their land / machinery / livestock to the "collective". "Collective" was a huge farm, that *in theory* could be managed much more effectively than small, independant farms. As you can imagine, lots of deep injustice was done back then.
Then there was "clensing". When farmer was successful, he was pronounced a "Kulak" - that meant farming capitalist that was exploiting poor and defenseless farm workers. Kulak was put into prison and, very often, the person who reported him got [some of] his farm / livestock / produce / machines.
Later, in advanced socialistic times, when the collectivisation of farms and factories was finished and the economy was up and running (kinda, sorta, running), you were not supposed to have more than your neighbor. You were all paid more or less the same. Having better car, or going for holiday to a capitalistic country meant you called attention to yourself.
For example kids from a "working class background" had better chance of going to good university. If there were two kids that had exactly same entrance tests for university or good high-school, and one had parents that were manual workers (and party members) and the other one that had parents a doctor and a lawyer, the "working class" kid had much better chance to get to university.
Times are changing, because it has been 20 years since the "Good Old Socialistic System" has collapsed in Eastern Europe, but some things are still perceived differently. Things like flaunting expensive electronics, or respecting intellectual property.