Translation of Adam’s post (RUS).

A guy I recently met at the Sheremetievo Airport (Moscow) told me about being in Minsk the night Belarus won a medal in Vancouver. You could never imagine such a thing in Kazakhstan. The fact that a Kazakh athlete won a medal was barely covered even by state media. The nation’s joy was limited to a line, at most, in a dozen blogs and some social network status updates. There was no reaction either when Miss Kazakhstan took second place at the Miss World contest, or when we beat Belgium in football (we celebrated with one extra round of beer in out pubs).

We don’t have real fans, and it feels like we never will. I don’t only mean this in the sporting sense, I mean enthusiasts, or even just people who are capable of expressing what they think, what makes them happy or what bothers them. And you cannot accuse them of feeling no pride at all for the country – they feel some, but it’s of a condescending nature.

There exists a stereotype about Kazakh laziness. Perhaps, it is true, but what comes first, laziness or a narrow range of interests, idleness, ignorance indifference and a lack of belief in oneself and one’s country? Some people believe it was the Tsar and the Bolsheviks who beat the proactive qualities out of us, replacing them with the instinct to “not stick out” coupled with one to “not change anything.” Is this really permanent?