Well, I don't know how cartoonish it is, but it's based on my own experience and that of my parents and the people around me. I know we can throw around stats all day, but there is no point in that - I know them too, I know that in many aspects it wasn't bad, or as bad as it would have been if it was capitalism from the start, but also we shouldn't romanticize these things.

I know for certain in my country there was no such thing as a LGBT caucus in the government, and being anywhere within the acronym lands you a visit to the psychiatrist and a number of not very nice treatments. I know about people snitching because I have memories of that. I know the differences between the lives of the ordinary people and the party cadre because my mom worked at a party institution.

Again, a lot of the negatives are just because it was a relatively poor country. But plenty are also because the oligarchic regime that acted more like a mafia, and you still had your bosses abusing you, struggling to pay your rent, and struggling to find a bottle of good Armenian cognac so the doctor will see your grandma and give her the right treatment and attention.

There is a difference between how things look on paper, and what actual life is on the ground.