That may have been the closest Russia came, but, ...

Post #110,388 by mmoffitt 7/18/03 3:42:00 PM Reply	That may have been the closest Russia came, but, ... War Communism (as pronounced in the West, usually) was a party. Times were good, briefly. But I'd sort of rely on Engels who said, "Communists the world over should look to the United States to see how well self government can work." We've got the best opportunity to try it, but won't. The propaganda here is to great and too broadly accepted. I never thought Soviet propaganda worked nearly as well as our own. I remember being unable to convince most Russians that the Tate murders had actually happened. The majority I met (yeah, I know, anecdotal) believed we were the "land of milk and honey where nothing ever went wrong." bcnu, Mikem The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been...We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had-- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism. - Mark Twain, "Monarchical and Republican Patriotism"
Post #110,409 by Arkadiy 7/18/03 5:57:15 PM Reply	To the best of my knowlege War Communism never was a party for anyone but Comissars and ChKists. As to your trouble with convincing Soviets that bad things happen in US... That was not US propaganda working, that was a backlash at Soviet propaganda. Those people refused to believe not because Voice of America decieved them so effectively, but because Radio Moscow was so untrustworthy. When a known liar keeps saying "it's black", you have to assume it's snow-white and sparkling. -- Less Is More. In my book, About Face, I introduce over 50 powerful design axioms. This is one of them. --Alan Cooper. The Inmates Are Running the Asylum
Post #110,436 by deSitter 7/18/03 9:17:33 PM Reply	Re: To the best of my knowlege Have you read/did you see Dr. Zhivago? It is a melodrama for sure - but it is deep in that it is about a selfish man who is neither White nor Red, rather simply civilized - not the dispassionate civility of the Victorians, rather the mistake-making observant lusty involvment in life without malice bungling of the - Russians. What was said of Pasternak when you were young? No one gives the great Russians any credit. -drl
Post #110,457 by pwhysall 7/19/03 6:38:45 AM Reply	Take to another forum plzkthx Peter [link\|http://www.debian.org\|Shill For Hire] [link\|http://www.kuro5hin.org\|There is no K5 Cabal] [link\|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org\|Blog]
Post #110,598 by Arkadiy 7/20/03 8:42:32 PM Reply	Dr. Zhivago (new thread) Created as new thread #110597 titled [link\|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=110597\|Dr. Zhivago] -- Less Is More. In my book, About Face, I introduce over 50 powerful design axioms. This is one of them. --Alan Cooper. The Inmates Are Running the Asylum
Post #110,676 by mmoffitt 7/21/03 10:16:57 AM Reply	Exactly. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. That was not US propaganda working, that was a backlash at Soviet propaganda. Precisely. That is why I say our propaganda machine had to be envied by the Soviet propaganda machine. Back then, Muricans would believe anything bad, no matter how ridiculous, about the Soviet Union. That was never the case in the Soviet Union. Indeed, the Russians I met would not believe anything written in Pravda that was bad about the US - even if it were true. bcnu, Mikem The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been...We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had-- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism. - Mark Twain, "Monarchical and Republican Patriotism"

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