In my experience they’ll usually have a retort for that with some bullshit about “authoritarianism” and how the Soviets were forcing the population to work focused only upon the will of the party. It doesn’t make sense of course, but it doesnt have to, it only has to fit with the narrative they already believe.
Fundamentally, a lot of people believe deep down in their heart that a mustached patriarch yelling at you to work harder is the best and most efficient way to run any given enterprise. If you have this assumption, then the only method that the Soviets had available to them to outcompete the “free” west was by yelling louder and forcing everyone to work harder than we were at the same time period (which flies in the face of facts about Soviet vacation days, job security, and so on, but facts are subordinate to feelings for most people most of the time).
Fundamentally, a lot of people believe deep down in their heart that a mustached patriot yelling at you to work harder is the best and most efficient way to run an enterprise.
No one ever really answers the question “if they were so bad at everything and starving, how did they compete with us in a space race and a Cold War?”
In my experience they’ll usually have a retort for that with some bullshit about “authoritarianism” and how the Soviets were forcing the population to work focused only upon the will of the party. It doesn’t make sense of course, but it doesnt have to, it only has to fit with the narrative they already believe.
Fundamentally, a lot of people believe deep down in their heart that a mustached patriarch yelling at you to work harder is the best and most efficient way to run any given enterprise. If you have this assumption, then the only method that the Soviets had available to them to outcompete the “free” west was by yelling louder and forcing everyone to work harder than we were at the same time period (which flies in the face of facts about Soviet vacation days, job security, and so on, but facts are subordinate to feelings for most people most of the time).
Everyone yearns for a J. Jonah Jameson
It has always been cope
Nowadays these same people are busy coping about China
“Our enemies are weak and incompetent. They are also an existential threat to not only our way of life but the entire world.”
it’s almost like there’s some kind of “continuous shifting of rhetorical focus”