as a person coming from a totalitarian country, I would still prefer dealing with a single gang which also has its own welfare obligations can be corrected or overthrown when needed, than several mafia-like cartels which only care about extorting money from me providing nothing to both me and the society as a whole.

governments have responsibility, too, it’s just some don’t accept it

tbh, in this interpretation, it sounds like extortion, sort of what gangs usually do to minor business owners

tax is tax, it’s a mandatory contribution to society you morally and legally obliged to do, not a payment for not being killed

Which carries a spoon and looks French

“you are so smart, just a bit lazy”

Come to think of it, yeah, sounds also like a Korean drama about bullying or social inequality :)

On a more serious note, there is only one public person I could think of who has enrolled into MGIMO through the game show, that’s Alexey Navalny’s aide Kira Yarmysh (there is even an episode of the game with her on YouTube; she lost that year and won a year later). I don’t remember her mentioning any animosity towards her because of her participation.

There was a game show in Russia in 2000s where high schoolers had to answer ridiculously hard questions about Ancient Greece in order to enroll into MGIMO, a prestigious state university of foreign affairs, which was near-impossible to enroll in any other way (e.g. entrance exams) if you weren’t a child of a top-level government official.

The contestants had to sit as the audience first and answer some pop-up questions before even having a chance to actually participate in the game show, and then win in a series of games (like quarter-finals, semifinals, finals…)

It really does look like modern job application process where you have to participate in a series of never-ending interviews and test tasks

Even ADHD-oriented media is often being dishonest with people who suspect themselves to have this condition, being toxicly positive and showing ADHD as a “superpower” as if you can hyperfocus your way to success. It is neither a gift nor even an equal exchange between advantages and drawbacks like “you’ll be always late but also always creative!” It’s a crippling thing that may ruin career or end a relationship. There is nothing good with ADHD.