In the USSR, there were closed borders and no access to any information other than Soviet propaganda. Yet nobody believed the propaganda and spent all day ridiculing the Soviet leadership. People crawled on their knees for food but at least they hated those who reduced them to it.
In today’s Russia, borders are open, foreign travel is available to many, there’s Internet, there’s easy contact with foreigners, there’s satellite TV, etc. Yet everybody believes every word of Putinoid propaganda and worships Putin. They crawl in the dumps and worship the government that makes them do it.
The only conclusion I can reach is that there’s no propaganda, no brainwashing. People simply choose to believe whatever they want to believe at any given time.
So here’s the question: if in the 1980s Soviet people refused to believe in the “evil West”, why do the same people so eagerly believe in it now?
The only answer I have is that in the Soviet times, “the West” offered a fantasy of living in extreme opulence while doing absolutely nothing. And people were unwilling to let any propaganda to rob them of that dream.
Since then, it’s become clear that “the West” of paradisiacal riches and endless leisure does not exist. People feel betrayed by their most cherished dream and engage in the joyful collective excoriation of the traitor.
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