US/Public School, late 80s-90s

we were taught that communism was when there was a massive government which had a huge military and secret police to make sure everybody was equal, but that this was a foolish way to run an economy so the USSR was basically one giant line of people waiting for bread all day under a grey sky and if anyone complained or listened to american music they were sent to a siberian prison and executed. and one day the soviets would launch nuclear weapons at us and then invade us like in the movie Red Dawn, starring Patrick Swazy, so we must all be vigilant.

but then ronald reagan came and used our economy to build up our military might so much that it made the Russians realize the superiority of our system and theirs collapsed, the walls came down and the Russians were now free to wear blue jeans and listen to our music.

my history teachers were all physical education coaches with no education in history, but carte blanche to tell us all of this and we ate it up as kids, because who doesn't want to be the Good Guys.

later in life the cracks formed and my curiosity made the dam burst, but the bad news is that most of the people my age in my middle school/high school cohort probably still mostly believe this narrative, at least on some passive level.