you know what, up yours Nosik

This post contains a full translation of the interview with Anton Nosik.

http://darkrosetiger.livejournal.com/373663.html

in the end, cultural relativism is a poor excuse for bad behavior

I've seen numerous translations today of the Russian interview with Anton Nosik. I've also seen numerous posts excusing is comments on some spectrum of cultural relativism. Hey, it's okay to treat your customers poorly because in Soviet Russia there were no choices! We are about 15 years too late for that sort of bullshit. I can completely understand that business practices in Moscow are different from business practices in Dallas. That's normal. But what I don't understand is why we should give people a pass for boorish, idiotic behavior and claim it is a cultural difference. Would those same people cut Dallas businessmen the same slack if they went to Russia? No, they would demand that the businessmen learn to work with local culture! I've read every translation I've seen of Nosik's interview and compared them to my own notes - in every one he says the same thing. That's he not interested in what his customers have to say, and if they don't like it they can leave.

This is not just about advertising, revenues and free accounts. I am a permanent account holder and I've continued to spend money on LJ during over more than seven years here. This is about whether or not Livejournal is a place where fandoms, people with depression, and people of all sexual identities can have space and communities. If we aren't wanted here, then it is time for management to say "Right - no more queers or depressives or fanfic writer, get out before we throw you out." The ongoing, underhanded attempts to pretend that LJ's userbase does not have a significant population of these groups is what I find reprehensible. (In case you missed it all the first go round, this post has hilarious brief recaps of all the drama.)

When you do international business, one has to learn how to play in more than one sandbox.