why can’t those Eastern Europeans just be normal like the rest of the world

Now that I think about it... Let's define "normal". Does a country that:

• conducted over 300 interventions (including wars/invasions, coups, acts of political meddling, sabotage and terrorism) since 1776
• inflicted more deaths and suffering cumulatively (directly or indirectly) than any empire in history
• supported and/or inspired virtually all reactionary anti-communist and colonial movements in existence - monarchists, fascists (including the Nazis), the Contras, the Zionists, you name it
• crushed the majority of governments that were attempting economic sovereignty, let alone socialist transition
• nazified many former socialist countries to oblivion, at least partially for the sake of punishing them for the impunity of revolution
• went ahead and plundered the entire world

meet the definition of "normal"?

All I can say is... If we, Eastern Europeans, are not normal, then surely the country in question doesn't meet the definition of normality either. And I'm not trying to absolve the Banderites or the neo-Ustase or whoever from responsibility - they all should get the wall, but... If you want to be insanely reductive, at the very least do it in a materialist way.