Soviet-Empire.com U.S.S.R. and communism historical discussion.
22 Sep 2013, 22:10
Hi everyone.
I would like to present my video where I talk on how propaganda in the former USSR worked:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgc4-bmoI-Q
I'll be more than happy to answer your questions if you have some.
Cheers!
I would like to present my video where I talk on how propaganda in the former USSR worked:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgc4-bmoI-Q
I'll be more than happy to answer your questions if you have some.
Cheers!
23 Sep 2013, 10:01
Hi Chimkin,
I won't critique your video, except to say that you do seem to have a bit of a double standard when it comes to the USSR and the West. Whether it's propaganda, 'mind control', or the construction of national mythologies (through 'stories and books'), all of those things exist in Western societies just as they did in the USSR, if perhaps in different forms. Also, it's interesting that you bring up the concept of self-sacrifice in the interests of the collective; this is as much a patriotic idea as it is a socialist one. If more of our businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians over the last 20 years had a shred of patriotism, we wouldn't be living in the richest poor country in the world.
Also, I don't know what 'Vremya' program you were watching, but the ones I've seen were pretty typical news reports, and often talked about social and economic problems. They haven't been of the sensationalist propaganda style since at least the 1950s. As for 'numerous homeless sleeping on benches' in capitalist countries, maybe the 'Vremya' reporters were just offering an all-too-ominous warning to our country about what might happen if we revert to capitalism...
I won't critique your video, except to say that you do seem to have a bit of a double standard when it comes to the USSR and the West. Whether it's propaganda, 'mind control', or the construction of national mythologies (through 'stories and books'), all of those things exist in Western societies just as they did in the USSR, if perhaps in different forms. Also, it's interesting that you bring up the concept of self-sacrifice in the interests of the collective; this is as much a patriotic idea as it is a socialist one. If more of our businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians over the last 20 years had a shred of patriotism, we wouldn't be living in the richest poor country in the world.
Also, I don't know what 'Vremya' program you were watching, but the ones I've seen were pretty typical news reports, and often talked about social and economic problems. They haven't been of the sensationalist propaganda style since at least the 1950s. As for 'numerous homeless sleeping on benches' in capitalist countries, maybe the 'Vremya' reporters were just offering an all-too-ominous warning to our country about what might happen if we revert to capitalism...
25 Sep 2013, 21:59
Hi,
I admit that in this video it's hard to understand what my point is. My goal was just to tell others how it was in the USSR and how I felt about it. I've gone through different stages of my life, including condemnation of all Soviet, and to the realization that there are no perfect places in the world because the world itself is imperfect. One can find positive and negative traits in every formation and in every country. So now I've become more lenient to our imperfections and acquired a more sober view on the fairytales about the western paradise.
What about the program "Vremya" - I meant the broadcastings of the 1980s. As far as I remember, it was exactly the way I described in my video.
PS: I'm new in here and I was wondering what the majority of the visitors on this forum was. Honestly, I thought it should be English-speaking people interested in the Soviet culture.
Coming across you I realized that that here are Russians perfectly speaking English as well... Nice)
I admit that in this video it's hard to understand what my point is. My goal was just to tell others how it was in the USSR and how I felt about it. I've gone through different stages of my life, including condemnation of all Soviet, and to the realization that there are no perfect places in the world because the world itself is imperfect. One can find positive and negative traits in every formation and in every country. So now I've become more lenient to our imperfections and acquired a more sober view on the fairytales about the western paradise.
What about the program "Vremya" - I meant the broadcastings of the 1980s. As far as I remember, it was exactly the way I described in my video.
PS: I'm new in here and I was wondering what the majority of the visitors on this forum was. Honestly, I thought it should be English-speaking people interested in the Soviet culture.
Coming across you I realized that that here are Russians perfectly speaking English as well... Nice)
26 Sep 2013, 10:16
I suppose a welcome is in order then! This place is English-speaking, but we have users from around the world (though admittedly they are mostly from North America, Western Europe, and Australia). I am Russian, but speak English well because by my life circumstances I lived in the West for a long time.
I generally think this is a positive attitude to hold for the critical thinking person, and I've known many former Soviet citizens with this attitude (and many more who have gone further in their thinking to wishing the USSR never disappeared). The destruction of the country was a tremendous psychological blow for most people, I think, hence the tendency I've noticed among some to praise and condemn the Soviet project in the same breath. Some Russian scholars have referred to this as the 'schizophrenization of public consciousness'. Even people critical of the USSR can't reject everything about the past, because that was their motherland, their life, their culture -a part of themselves.
I didn't want to be overly critical of your video; it just would be nice, for the sake of balance, to point out the kinds of media manipulation that occurs in Western countries as well. Otherwise I picture a guy with an American flag hat watching the video and confirming to himself that the US was on the right side of history; in other words, 'democracy, free markets, USA!' You have to remember that most people in the West have very little knowledge at all about the USSR, apart from James Bond and Rambo stereotypes.
Chimkin wrote:I've gone through different stages of my life, including condemnation of all Soviet, and to the realization that there are no perfect places in the world because the world itself is imperfect. One can find positive and negative traits in every formation and in every country. So now I've become more lenient to our imperfections and acquired a more sober view on the fairytales about the western paradise.
I generally think this is a positive attitude to hold for the critical thinking person, and I've known many former Soviet citizens with this attitude (and many more who have gone further in their thinking to wishing the USSR never disappeared). The destruction of the country was a tremendous psychological blow for most people, I think, hence the tendency I've noticed among some to praise and condemn the Soviet project in the same breath. Some Russian scholars have referred to this as the 'schizophrenization of public consciousness'. Even people critical of the USSR can't reject everything about the past, because that was their motherland, their life, their culture -a part of themselves.
I didn't want to be overly critical of your video; it just would be nice, for the sake of balance, to point out the kinds of media manipulation that occurs in Western countries as well. Otherwise I picture a guy with an American flag hat watching the video and confirming to himself that the US was on the right side of history; in other words, 'democracy, free markets, USA!' You have to remember that most people in the West have very little knowledge at all about the USSR, apart from James Bond and Rambo stereotypes.
26 Sep 2013, 23:12
Hey, soviet78!
Thanks for welcoming me here!
I try to be objective as much as possible. However, I admit that I'm a human being and hence I'm full of contradictories. Moreover, I've never been a person who has a stable view on certain things. I, on contrary, tend to live absorbing the information I get from different sources and thus constantly find something new around and within myself.
You wrote: "Otherwise I picture a guy with an American flag hat watching the video and confirming to himself that the US was on the right side of history..."
I would think the same way, but the surprising thing is that I got comments from some Americans who cheered me up and said good words about the former USSR and Russia...
So life is full of wonders)
Thanks for welcoming me here!
I try to be objective as much as possible. However, I admit that I'm a human being and hence I'm full of contradictories. Moreover, I've never been a person who has a stable view on certain things. I, on contrary, tend to live absorbing the information I get from different sources and thus constantly find something new around and within myself.
You wrote: "Otherwise I picture a guy with an American flag hat watching the video and confirming to himself that the US was on the right side of history..."
I would think the same way, but the surprising thing is that I got comments from some Americans who cheered me up and said good words about the former USSR and Russia...
So life is full of wonders)