Really? Are you claiming that every person in Russia is literally locked in a cell at this moment? There’s not a single person walking around on the streets or sitting in their home or working at their job?
In their minds, which is all that is strictly required for these purposes, yes – not absolutely, but sufficiently. When Putin’s party gets turned out at an election with the votes honestly counted and actually goes, without provoking a civil war, then Russia will be a democratic republic; but not one day sooner than that.
And Russia will be a democratic republic, some day.
But there’s a vast difference between the kind of political control you’re talking about and the kind of thought control that brainwashing implies. The average Russian, under communism or Putin’s regime, is not unaware of the faults of his country’s political system. They accept it and don’t openly rebel but there’s grumbling and a need for the threat of police hanging over people’s heads. They may fear and respect the government but they don’t love it.
Terr was claiming that the people had actually been brainwashed to the point where they loved Big Brother.
I don’t think you people really understand the power of nationalism. Their personal lives may have sucked, and they could be dragged off to a gulag or shot on a moment’s notice, but they were living in the greatest and most powerful nation in the world, **and that made it all worth it. **
Besides, things would get better in the future.
It was only when they realized that they didn’t live in the greatest country on earth, and things *wouldn’t *be getting better in the future, that their government fell. But that took decades.
Terr was interested in that era, so Terr spoke to a couple hundred people who lived through it and asked them about it. That is what they claimed. Only a few said that they actually didn’t consider Stalin a perfect leader.
Terr is also, if I remember correctly, of Russian decent, and has better access to said people and understands the culture better.
Also, brainwashing isn’t what you (BG) think it is. It reinforces itself. It’s not the comic book idea that you have to actually be doing something 24/7 for it to work. Other true believers will gladly brainwash people for you. So you start with the most gullible, convince them, and then have them do the work.
Russians were, by nature of being isolated and being fed propaganda, effectively brainwashed 24/7, with most of them doing all the work themselves. They were not exposed to contradictory ideas, so, over time, they mostly stopped thinking them. And that is all brainwashing really is–those thoughts were metaphorically washed out of their brains.
This. Indeed, from the OP’s sentence;
I get the idea that he envisions Soviets sitting down and watching executions on the evening news.
Same as with the Germans during the holocaust; 80 to 90% of the people really had no idea what terrible things were going on.
‘The People’ rarely rise up against anyone. In general, revolutions are instigated by disenfranchised members of the ruling class.
Like all successful dictators, Stalin set up parallel organizations, so that every group (army, navy, state dept., etc.) had an opposite number to watch them. The army had “zampolits”(political officers) to keep watch on the generals, and report on them. If a bunch of senior generals started meeting each other, this would be reported to Comrade Stalin…and the "guilty"parties liquidated. This is why a very competent and popular general (like Zhukov) could never be allowed to rise too far-he would have become a serious threat.
The system died with Stalin, and his chief protector (Beria) was killed by an alliance of bosses led by Krushchev.
Everybody is brainwashed. Humans are not rational beings, humans are social beings. The more rational a human is, the more outside the group and the less influence he has in the group. Those who wield the power are never the most rational, on the contrary, the leaders are the most sociable, the ones with most charisma and ability to lead. Sometimes they lead to great things and sometimes they lead to disaster but the masses always follow. The masses do not lead, ever. The masses follow. The view that in democracy the rational individuals choose the best as their leaders is extremely naive and very wrong.
It does not take much to “brainwash” (if you want to call it that) people. Everybody is brainwashed and those who are not are misfits. What else is religion but brainwashing? What else is nationalism but brainwashing? Every form of groupthink is brainwashing and about the only thing humans do well is groupthink.
You can ask why does a woman stay with a man that beats her up? Because once we have a leader we are programmed to follow instinctively no matter what and feel we are better off sticking with what we have.
The only way to change things if for another leader to take over. The masses will not revolt on their own unless someone leads them.
Contrary to what people seem to think you do not have to hold all the people down, you only have to make sure there are no leaders who will challenge you as a leader. You can do this by castrating potential leaders or you can do this by coopting them into the leadership.
Why do millions of people in southern Europe who are without jobs, without home and without hope not rise up? Why does the corruption of the leading classes remain in spite of everything? Because the leadership is totally corrupt. Politicians who have the political power are corrupt. Labor unions are corrupt and part of the system of corruption. The rich classes are corrupt. And the lonely, suffering individual knows there is nothing he can do against the system but try to join it by being corrupt. In theory they could all join and rise but in reality they have no leaders because the leaders have a better deal by being integrated in the system and the system is very powerful and difficult to change. The only hope of Southern Europe would be to kick out all their leaders and put a German ruling class in their place but that is impossible because people would rather be badly ruled by their own than well ruled by outsiders. People are just not rational.
Why do millions of Americans suffer a system where they are homeless or have a job which barely pays the bills and have no health insurance while their government squanders billions in wars and other unnecessary spending? Because they are brainwashed, that’s why. Americans are being told every day and tell themselves every day that they are the best and that everybody wishes they could be American. Good leaders do not fight the system, good leaders join the system and profit by doing so. The masses just follow.
Once you are part of a group you do not question the group or the leaders, you defend them. That is what we as humans are programmed to do. You will defend your religion, you will defend your country to the death and against all reason. You will rationalize what your side does as good and necessary and you demonize what your enemies do as evil. The evil done by your side is denied or minimized or even lauded as necesary. The evil done by the enemy is exagerated in scope and in evilness. And when your leader tells you to do 180 yo do it. The good friend of yesterday is the evil enemy of today and the evil enemy of yesterday is the good friend of today. And people follow blindly and without question.
Every group, every culture, every nation is the same. You think America is any diferent? Americans are told by their leaders (political, economical, mediatic, etc) that their group, their nation is under outside attack and the masses support everything that the leaders propose even if it is irrational or stupid or goes against your own interest.
When people feel insecure they look for a leader and instinctively the leader chosen is the one who convinces the masses that ha can lead them to defeat the enemy. The one who, even if correct, shows the danger is much exagerated or even non existant does not get chosen as leader. So the best chances of being chosen leader are by exagerating the danger and importance and evil intent of the “other” group. There is no progress made by being conciliatory to the other side.
If you want to be a leader of blacks you tell them they are good, the other side is bad and you can lead them to victory.
If you want to be a leader of Americans you tell them they are good, the other side is bad and you can lead them to victory.
If you want to be a leader of Democrats you tell them they are good, the other side is bad and you can lead them to victory.
If you want to be a leader of Republicans you tell them they are good, the other side is bad and you can lead them to victory.
If you want to be a leader of Catholics you tell them they are good, the other side is bad and you can lead them to victory.
Etc.
In the end it is always the same game with the same result: The leaders profit and the masses get by.
Leaders mostly profit by integrating in the system. Some leaders may challenge the system successfully (Washington, Castro) but the system will always do the utmost to destroy leaders who challenge the power structure. This is true in North Korea, in Soviet Russia and in the USA. It is a result of the way we humans are. One thing we are not is rational.