Russian built... must be bad!

The term 'Russian-built' is very much a laden term, completely negative in all senses when used by the Western media. Whether it be Russian-made weapons (always used by the bad guys), or Russian-built aircraft or vehicles (crashing and faulty), the ideological, black vs white Cold War imagery still associates anything made in Russia as being intrinsically bad, as if anything in the West must be technically and structurally superior. The latest event to overstress the point is the recent crash of a Dagestan Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 airliner at Moscow's Domodedovo airport. In an incident reminiscent of an accident that occurred with a European-made Air France Airbus 340 2 years ago (by the way, have you ever seen that term 'European-made' before?... Of course not!), the 25 year old plane overran the runway while making an emergency landing and crashed. Unfortunately 2 people died and many were injured, however this is an accident that was not caused because the plane is 'Russian-made'. Such an accident to occur to any aircraft, even US-made Boeing planes, at any time. But why ruin a good story with reason?

The fact remains that these types of accidents in Russia are being attributed to the wrong factors. The political factor to relate bad incidents to the country is quite stark; however, like in most aspects of life, politics gets in the way.

The use of laden terms like 'Russian-built' or 'Chinese-made' is similar to way actors who happen to be gay are referred to as 'gay actors' while their straight colleagues are never labelled 'straight actors'. The insinuation here pigeon holes the actor, or the Russian/Chinese built item of manufacture, into a typecast role, often in a negative light or limited in capacity. It is this type of language which helps instill negative, often propagandistic-based , connotations - something used in all propaganda systems from North Korea and China through to the West.

My condolences go out to the family and friends of those who have been affected by this accident. But remember, this accident could have happened anywhere, at any time.