"The Donald"

[fisheater]

Just to be clear, few minds have been changes.
No further engagement.

They'll be changed in the Gulags.
I remember the immortal words of Kyle Jurek, a paid Bernie Sanders organizer:

Jurek suggested the use of gulags for "re-education" of Trump supporters and praised political labor camps. He said gulags have been misunderstood and were actually "a lot better" than described, noting people were paid "a living wage" and allowed conjugal visits.

"There's a reason Joseph Stalin had gulags, right?" Jurek said. "Actually, gulags were a lot better than what the CIA has told us that they were. Like, people were actually paid a living wage in gulags, they had conjugal visits in gulags, gulags were actually meant for like re-education."

But we are fine slipping down SOME slopes!

Stare too hard into the abyss, and the abyss stares back. To paraphrase

Think the gulags were great, read the Gulag Archipelago, a book written by a Russian, for the Russian people. I have. Thinking gulags were okay, well, they weren’t.

[Montana St Alum]

@fisheater

I read it a long time ago. No, they weren't good. My great aunt was a child in Ukraine during the pogrom. She and her family managed to escape and eventually made their way to America. On the way, the children ate grass to help alleviate the pain of starvation.
My recollection from reading it was that the apparatchiks who were sent to the gulags believed they deserved their punishments, as they were completely committed to Stalin, and his policies (even if it meant they were imprisoned), which I found to be bizarre.
I thought Jurek's comments supported this observation.

[fisheater]

@Montana St Alum What I took away from the book that the communist believer Solzhenitsyn, had a rude awakening, his words, “everything changes the day you are arrested”.
He proceeds to talk about how the government puts people against people, “Perhaps the mistress reports the wife, perhaps the wife reports the mistress. It doesn’t matter, they will not return”. He talks about Stalin opening prisons, don’t speak against comrade Stalin. He talks about a government that has a policy of making people disappear, not to be seen again, and parents fearing their children as children are taught to tell if their parents speak against the state. Neighbor against neighbor, the state atheist, again speak against the state, there are consequences.

He mostly speaks of the horror of the gulags. A horror that is a terrible grind to read of for 100’s of pages. No paratroopers drop in, no man kicks 100’s of asses, takes bullets, yet wins. No, 100’s of pages of living a horror, starving, freezing, and a world where another prisoner can also commonly be your death. Probably for years, as close as you could come to hell on earth.
In the process, the communist, atheist, grandson of an Othrodox Russian grandmother becomes a believer, but I never heard him say the words. I believe he did.
He wrote it, so his countrymen would recognize how the Bolshevik’s took over. So they could understand the methods used.

He wasn’t warning about Donald Trump, quite the opposite actually.

[fisheater]

@Montana St Alum What I took away from the book that the communist believer Solzhenitsyn, had a rude awakening, his words, “everything changes the day you are arrested”.
He proceeds to talk about how the government puts people against people, “Perhaps the mistress reports the wife, perhaps the wife reports the mistress. It doesn’t matter, they will not return”. He talks about Stalin opening prisons, letting criminals run wild in the streets, unchecked. Don’t speak against comrade Stalin. He talks about a government that has a policy of making people disappear, not to be seen again, and parents fearing their children as children are taught to tell if their parents speak against the state. Neighbor against neighbor, the state atheist, religion forced underground, again speak against the state, there are consequences.

He mostly speaks of the horror of the gulags. A horror that is a terrible grind to read of for 100’s of pages. No paratroopers drop in, no man kicks 100’s of asses, takes bullets, yet wins. No, 100’s of pages of living a horror, starving, freezing, and a world where another prisoner can also commonly be your death. Probably for years, as close as you could come to hell on earth.
In the process, the communist, atheist, grandson of an Othrodox Russian grandmother becomes a believer, but I never heard him say the words. I believe he did.
He wrote it, so his countrymen would recognize how the Bolshevik’s took over. So they could understand the methods used.

He wasn’t warning about Donald Trump, quite the opposite actually.

[Lhartley]

There was all sorts of talk during covid of putting people "re-education" camps. I won't mention what the people talking about that had in common

[sharykin]

Неужели кто-то ещё всерёз воспринимает "Архипелаг ГУЛАГ" и остальное "творчество" графомана и "стукача" (подсадного осведомителя) Солженицына?
Там же, куда ни посмотри - ложь.
Неужели нет качественных разборов его писанины на английском языке?

[Musk Ox]

There was all sorts of talk during covid of putting people "re-education" camps. I won't mention what the people talking about that had in common

No there was not. For fuck's sake.

[Lhartley]

Nice historical revision, and spectacular gaslighting. It happened. It's ok to want to forget, it's an embarrassing time.


Disinformation campaign or not, there were folks that cheered on the idea. I was also on X. I was paying attention and I'll remind you my version of reality may be different than yours. Different algorithms, different echo chambers. Humans hear what they want to hear. Remember that Canada was the location of the "trucker convoy". On our social media there was a massive battle for narrative involving a an innumerable number of bots, deliberately trying to divide the population. At the time it was said to be a few different countries, but given current events I reckon there's one particular country that benefits from dividing it's neighbor

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid- ... -1.5769592

[telerat]

Discussing and choosing what the governing party/parties think is the best compromise is what politics are about, but it seem broken now. When you disregard the views of those you don't agree with and make them the enemies, we have a recipe for disaster. Both communism and tax free capitalism sounds great in theory, but neither works well in practice for any but the few on top. I think we should strive to make our world the best for as many of its inhabitants as possible.

I was hoping covid was a wake-up call, but when many disregard science altogether and attack the scientists I loose faith. Politicians should choose the measures after getting proper advice. Many measures have both good and bad results, so they have to choose what they believe is best for the society as a whole (and hopefully not just the sponsors). Luckily Ebola and Marburg has so far been just too effective in killing people for them to spread to the whole world.

Think the gulags were great, read the Gulag Archipelago, a book written by a Russian, for the Russian people. I have. Thinking gulags were okay, well, they weren’t.

Sara Paine is very interesting to hear. Here is a short with her on Gulags:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uv9B8JlPjP4

[Lhartley]

Discussing and choosing what the governing party/parties think is the best compromise is what politics are about, but it seem broken now. When you disregard the views of those you don't agree with and make them the enemies, we have a recipe for disaster. Both communism and tax free capitalism sounds great in theory, but neither works well in practice for any but the few on top. I think we should strive to make our world the best for as many of its inhabitants as possible.

I was hoping covid was a wake-up call, but when many disregard science altogether and attack the scientists I loose faith. Politicians should choose the measures after getting proper advice. Many measures have both good and bad results, so they have to choose what they believe is best for the society as a whole (and hopefully not just the sponsors). Luckily Ebola and Marburg has so far been just too effective in killing people for them to spread to the whole world.

Think the gulags were great, read the Gulag Archipelago, a book written by a Russian, for the Russian people. I have. Thinking gulags were okay, well, they weren’t.

Sara Paine is very interesting to hear. Here is a short with her on Gulags:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uv9B8JlPjP4

Correct me if I'm wrong, does United Arab Emirates not have a modified "tax free capitalist" system, and thriving?