:parenti: During the cold war, the anticommunist ideological framework could transform any data about existing communist societies into hostile evidence. If the Soviets refused to negotiate a point, they were intransigent and belligerent; if they appeared willing to make concessions, this was but a skillful ploy to put us off our guard. By opposing arms limitations, they would have demonstrated their aggressive intent; but when in fact they supported most armament treaties, it was because they were mendacious and manipulative. If the churches in the USSR were empty, this demonstrated that religion was suppressed; but if the churches were full, this meant the people were rejecting the regime's atheistic ideology. If the workers went on strike (as happened on infrequent occasions), this was evidence of their alienation from the collectivist system; if they didn't go on strike, this was because they were intimidated and lacked freedom. A scarcity of consumer goods demonstrated the failure of the economic system; an improvement in consumer supplies meant only that the leaders were attempting to placate a restive population and so maintain a firmer hold over them. If communists in the United States played an important role struggling for the rights of workers, the poor, African-Americans, women, and others, this was only their guileful way of gathering support among disfranchised groups and gaining power for themselves. How one gained power by fighting for the rights of powerless groups was never explained. What we are dealing with is a nonfalsifiable orthodoxy, so assiduously marketed by the ruling interests that it affected people across the entire political spectrum. :parenti:

archive link: https://archive.ph/HPdBO

  • sexywheat [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I wish there was this type of journalistic criticism of government policy when they lifted the mask mandates here

    • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      The journalists here have been stroking their egos since Woodward and Bernstein and coasting off that singular moment for decades. In the decades since they have been parroting government propaganda - to say nothing about their uncritical reporting of police narratives. It is a classic example of using a historical event to legitimize their current status despite doing none of the shit their forebears did.

      • Kieselguhr [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        despite doing none of the shit their forebears did.

        Remember how they treated Sy Hersh for daring to criticize/question the Obama administration's geopolitical narrative?

      • emizeko [they/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        and given Woodward's background and subsequent behavior, he never stopped working for US intelligence