tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post1878875187525036659..comments2023-09-29T06:58:20.125-07:00Comments on Badtux the Snarky Penguin: Life in Soviet AmericaBadTuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-69778589967680476542011-02-21T19:40:39.223-08:002011-02-21T19:40:39.223-08:00people are afraid to talk about things that contra...<i>people are afraid to talk about things that contradict official ideology, except in certain circumscribed circumstances such as on blogs, for fear that they’ll be ostracized, fired, have their homes and vehicles vandalized, or otherwise suffer dire consequences. </i><br /><br />Exactly why I blog under a pseudonym. <br /><br />JzBJazzbumpahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07337490817307473659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-22512766129158911772011-02-21T00:10:08.424-08:002011-02-21T00:10:08.424-08:00Well, not everybody's going to die. Life was t...Well, not everybody's going to die. Life was tolerable, if downgraded from what it was before for a few during the Great Depression, the Panic of 1872, and all manner of other hard times. The people who can at least imagine it coming will be psychically braced and more physically prepared. The ones who can't think outside the Sovok, those are the ones whose heads will explode. Often from the firing of weapons they're holding to their own heads.Bukko Boomerangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02424677168216647964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-62932556638569996232011-02-20T10:45:54.007-08:002011-02-20T10:45:54.007-08:00Right, everyone's an informant, everyone's...Right, everyone's an informant, everyone's an enforcer. People won't even <i>think</i> about facts contradicting established ideology, it's just inconceivable to them, and any thoughts that their ideology is leading them to disaster is dismissed with a shudder of horror.<br /><br />I've thought about the expat life, but the fur-bearin' varmints keep me grounded. Not all that easy anyhow at my age and in my profession, best way to manage it would be as an overseas manager for a large multinational corporation, but I've avoided working for those large multinational corporations with the same zeal as I'd avoid working for the Nazi Party if I'd lived in Germany in 1935. So I guess I'm going to go down with the ship as Soviet America collapses. Bummer.<br /><br />- Badtux the Piano-player-in-the-dance-band-on-the-Titanic PenguinBadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-63209679153721669852011-02-20T09:50:28.501-08:002011-02-20T09:50:28.501-08:00It's not just the official commissars, 'Ba...It's not just the official commissars, 'Baggers and Freepers who buy into this. Average folks believe it too, that the Benighted States is the bestest place ever. I used to talk to lots of average folks in American hospitals, and I still chat to friends and family members inside the borders of the Eroding Empire. They've heard stats and stories about what life is like in other countries, but they don't KNOW that at a gut level, so it's easy to dismiss how things are elsewhere. People want to believe that their life is good, that their land is wonderful -- human nature. It's what happens when you're raised in an atmosphere of nationalistic propaganda, and aren't sufficiently skeptical to think otherwise. North Koreans believe they're living in a socialist paradise too. The ideological blinders aren't merely imposed from the top. They're put on willingly by the blinded.Bukko Boomerangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02424677168216647964noreply@blogger.com