I usually don't get involved in the expat list spitting matches, but this one floored me. An expat wrote: "After 6 years we have parted from our Nanny even though she was a part of the family, but unfortunately our son was outgrowing her ability to keep up with him and his needs. So here we are looking for a new Nanny... somebody who comes well recommended... English knowledge a plus, but not at all a must. A good education makes sense as she has to be able to challenge and stimulate our son also from an intellectual point of view."
Then Andrey makes up that "some expats assume that well-educated and stimulating Russian women must be ecstatic about the possibilities." (I've read the above several times and I don't see anything in there about ecstasy.) Then he makes up that it's a "dead-end and humiliating job", and he makes up that it's a job that "pays hardly enough to survive in Moscow." (How do you know how much they pay, and why are you sure that it's a dead-end job, or that it would be humiliating, Andrey?) And then, having made all this up and created a horrible straw man, Andrey damns foreigners (all foreigners? some foreigners?): "What gets me is how foreigners have no qualms about trying to exploit other people." What gets me is how some people make up stories to hang their stereotypes on. Andrey, here's some friendly observation and advice: In every national and ethnic group there are a few rotten apples. But it's a good rule of thumb to make sure the apple is rotten before you start making accusations. It's also generally a good idea to keep the accusations to one person and not generalize to entire nations. Sorry; end of Sunday sermon.
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