I was in the Berlin Brigade during the time period mentioned, one of those 'real soldiers'. It was well known that our primary peacetime mission was to draw attention away from intelligence gathering activities, and I helped stage a couple of diversions myself. "Thunder in the East, Lightning in the West", if you know what I mean. There was lots of spooky stuff going on, and while I still can't talk about what I know I can say that this is very believable.
Hate to say it, but it seems that after the Wall came down, all the Commies jumped at the chance to come to the West and Spread their infection over here, since their Free Cheese disappeared. But hey, when the Professional Revisionist Historians were given Jobs in Academia, what can one expect from this Generation when all they got was "Yes, Stalin made some mistakes, but...."
Why should they have learned better? For all their lives, no place that counted was Communist (not even China, really) . And Communist countries had censorship and gulags, which we'd _never_ have here, not stores that looked like a badly-stocked Aldi. And the dears were never taught to think in principles (i.e., never taught to think), so of course the Skittle-shitting unicorn sounded like a great idea.
With the Soviets gone and the Chinese exploring Fascism instead of Communism, we lost our way.
Without the big-bad Soviets and the prospect of World War, we lost perspective. We overreact to terrorism and crime in ways we never would have in the 80's.
After terrorist attacks in the 80's, we didn't build an internal security apparatus and start strip-searching old ladies at the airport. That's something the Soviets would do.
True that, Bram. I recently re-watched the movie "Firefox," and couldn't help but notice the irony of the scene where they establish the evils of the Soviet regime. Eastwood's character was checking in at the airport in Russia, and was being given the figurative Dr. Jellyfinger. What we considered oppressive back then is now pretty mild compared to what we're routinely subjected to in the land of the used-to-be-free.
"Wow. It's hard to believe that babies born about the time the Wall came down voted in their first elections last November."
"You'd think they would have learned better."
Last November being November 2010, given that Congress and umpteen state legislatures/ governorships were handed to republicans, I agree completely with the expressed sentiment.
I was in the Berlin Brigade during the time period mentioned, one of those 'real soldiers'. It was well known that our primary peacetime mission was to draw attention away from intelligence gathering activities, and I helped stage a couple of diversions myself. "Thunder in the East, Lightning in the West", if you know what I mean. There was lots of spooky stuff going on, and while I still can't talk about what I know I can say that this is very believable.
ReplyDeleteHate to say it, but it seems that after the Wall came down, all the Commies jumped at the chance to come to the West and Spread their infection over here, since their Free Cheese disappeared. But hey, when the Professional Revisionist Historians were given Jobs in Academia, what can one expect from this Generation when all they got was "Yes, Stalin made some mistakes, but...."
ReplyDeleteWhy should they have learned better? For all their lives, no place that counted was Communist (not even China, really) . And Communist countries had censorship and gulags, which we'd _never_ have here, not stores that looked like a badly-stocked Aldi. And the dears were never taught to think in principles (i.e., never taught to think), so of course the Skittle-shitting unicorn sounded like a great idea.
ReplyDeleteRemember the old adage: If you're not a liberal at 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative at 35, you have no brain.
ReplyDeleteWith the Soviets gone and the Chinese exploring Fascism instead of Communism, we lost our way.
ReplyDeleteWithout the big-bad Soviets and the prospect of World War, we lost perspective. We overreact to terrorism and crime in ways we never would have in the 80's.
After terrorist attacks in the 80's, we didn't build an internal security apparatus and start strip-searching old ladies at the airport. That's something the Soviets would do.
True that, Bram. I recently re-watched the movie "Firefox," and couldn't help but notice the irony of the scene where they establish the evils of the Soviet regime. Eastwood's character was checking in at the airport in Russia, and was being given the figurative Dr. Jellyfinger. What we considered oppressive back then is now pretty mild compared to what we're routinely subjected to in the land of the used-to-be-free.
ReplyDeletejf
"Wow. It's hard to believe that babies born about the time the Wall came down voted in their first elections last November."
ReplyDelete"You'd think they would have learned better."
Last November being November 2010, given that Congress and umpteen state legislatures/ governorships were handed to republicans, I agree completely with the expressed sentiment.
Who won the youth vote, Scott-me-lad? (Hint: Not the LP).
ReplyDelete