An American tourist in Russia
State media outlet RT has fired their highest rated host, Tarl Richanov Carlsovich, after he repeatedly slammed the Russian armed forces for being incompetent and overly politicized. “We’re better Soviets without him bagging on our military every night in front of hundreds of thousands of people,” a commissar said, according to RT. That person also … Read more
Come and See (Иди и смотри), the iconic 1985 World War II movie by Elem Klimov, offers western audiences valuable insights into the Russian mindset. Unfortunately, they were all lost on us. We see the “horrors of war” trope and it overwhelms all of the other much more important lessons. On top of that, our minds are shielded by 80 years of Cold War propaganda, and the morality of Come and See goes over our heads.
Once upon a time, stop me if you’ve heard this story before, Anglo diplomats surveyed the ruins of a fallen empire, and hatched a nefarious plan. They insisted on the creation of a militaristic right-wing pseudostate, with borders drawn up in a way that would be deliberately provocative to her neighbors. Then the Western powers all swore that this weird artificial state had inviolable sovereignty and signed unenforceable mutual defense pacts with her. Just creating this imaginary country was a weird and stupid idea, and that decision was made even more weird and stupid by the following mutual defense agreements. Even a small border dispute would immediately and inevitably erupt into a world war, and of course that’s exactly what happened.
The American conservative movement is intellectually bankrupt and hasn’t produced anything new or interesting for decades. All they can do is cling to ancient Cold War propaganda and racist stereotypes. When they’re not being triggered by Dr. Seuss or Starbucks cups, they’re complaining that Wikipedia is too neutral. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and is supposed to be neutral. If you want a racist fantasy novel, pick up a Tom Clancy book. Yes, American liberals are guilty of cancel culture, but it is important to remember that conservatives invented cancel culture (McCarthy, anyone?). Even now, conservatives love cancelling any idea that scares them and aren’t even aware of their own hypocrisy. Both movements are equally guilty. Conservatives and liberals are sitting in the same guard tower in the same concentration camp.
