(no subject)

[anglychanin.livejournal.com]

Does the adjective " Толерантлый " have any racial overtones in current Russian usage ?

Comments

[pinky-the-cow.livejournal.com]

There are other possible evaluations of racism status in Russia.

I would solely agree with one thing. That is, about xenophobic attitudes being at a high level in Russia (an article on the case (http://www.novayagazeta.ru/data/2008/63/14.html)). I'm pretty much sure that "tolerant" is an antonym for "xenophobic".

And there really had been attacks on african foreign students in Moscow, including "successful" attacks, so neither do I subtract the racial aspect from the issue.

Then again, when you happen to entertain some russian nationalist by trying to talk sense into him, he would jump at you with all sorts of reference to American racism eventually.
Just like in the old armenian radio joke: "How high's a soviet engineer salary?" replied after a long thought with "Oh, yeah? They lynch blacks in your country!"

The general answer I'd give — yes, there are racial overtones in "толерантность". At worst they're not the most important for most people at the moment.