tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917889028116824739.post1915142913010690539..comments2023-07-03T06:08:55.373-07:00Comments on Ritik Dholakia: Russian BeautiesProfessor Atishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01473365932161328377noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917889028116824739.post-72809145613705151072008-01-30T20:36:00.000-08:002008-01-30T20:36:00.000-08:00Well, you probably know better than I do. I've rea...Well, you probably know better than I do. I've read her in Slate and the Washington Post, and I thought that the strange turn of this particular article was the attribution of this freeing of "talent" to open markets, specifically, and not just open societies. That in the Soviet Union, there was "no market for female beuaty." <BR/><BR/>It seems a frivolous answer to an actually interesting question, whose answer lies more closely in the fact that the Soviet Union was "highly suspicious" of unusual beauty and talent. The lack of opportunity for beauties to shine due less to the lack of a market for fashion than a social ethic that (in principle) placed no premium on exceptional beauty.Professor Atishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01473365932161328377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7917889028116824739.post-64959705608443501872008-01-30T09:12:00.000-08:002008-01-30T09:12:00.000-08:00I'm not sure Applebaum writes paeans to free marke...I'm not sure Applebaum writes paeans to free markets the way Tom Friedman does. She's more excited about Soros-style open societies. IT's not so much a question of capital leaving Cold-War countries that amazes her, it's the people. Her chapter on Joseph Brodsky in Gulag is one of the most powerful. She basically thinks the Soviet system deemed Brodsky's talent a crime, not just the content of his poetry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com