Wow, I never thought I’d see a young Komsomol-type fellow any more, but here is one. Gosh, it does bring back memories. These Komsomol leaders, always so earnest and intense.
“What do you mean you couldn’t come to the subbotnik*, Comrade Bulochkina? Do you know how many starving Guatemalan children you slaughtered by that selfish, unthinking act? Here are some pictures of dead Guatemalans you murdered in cold blood this Saturday. Prepare to speak to the assembly on Tuesday night and explain to your comrades what turned you into a callous assassin of little, innocent, suffering Guatemalan babies.”
And all this was always delivered with an air of complete seriousness and without a shadow of irony.
But those komsomolets were children and grandchildren of the folks who survived stalinism. So I guess that’s as valid an excuse as any.
*An unpaid working Saturday where you had to donate your labor to some completely invented and ridiculous cause. The real reason was, of course, to tear you away from your family and to prevent you from having unsupervised time on a weekend.
Clarissa's Blog 
Comparing high school kids protesting gun violence to Soviet era apparatchiks is a hot take!
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I’m talking about one specific comment by one specific person.
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So basically the kids were exercising their 1st amendment rights to protest against 2nd amendment rights, which they simplistically blame for the shootings.
Another brief, feel-good moment in time, like the Million-Man March, Occupy Wall Street, the Women’s March, etc. — a lot of sound and fury, ultimately accomplishing nothing.
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I’m all for the protests and for teenagers getting politically active. What bothers me is that the protest is being hijacked by weird, unsavory characters who are coldly and exoloitatively self-promoting. I saw this young man on TV weeks ago and he scared me. His affect was all wrong and, frankly, disturbing.
This doesn’t mean the protest is bad. Just like the Komsomol propaganda didn’t cancel out the true suffering in Guatemala.
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“the protest is being hijacked by weird, unsavory characters”
Harvey Weinstein “I’ve decided that I’m going to give the NRA my full attention”
“His affect was all wrong and, frankly, disturbing”
Agreed, I’m assuming he’s being manipulated and put in positions that a person his age (who’s just experienced massive trauma) should not be expected deal with in public.
But applying the golden rule of protests: Who are they asking to do what? Can that person/institution do what they’re asking?
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I think the moment is overripe for a ban on assault-style weapons. I believe it’s going to happen. I further believe Trump will sign this bill after the 2018 election. And the reaction will be interesting to see.
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Trump already signed a budget Obama dreamed of (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/trump-obama-omnibus-spending-budget/556436/?utm_source=feed) and appointed a national security advisor so anti-Putin that all of the discussions of how he’s pro-Russian should die of shame. But they haven’t, so…
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