I’ve spent the last few years devouring Soviet history. Books, papers, blog posts, podcasts, all of it. I can’t get enough. Not to brag, but I do feel as though I’ve achieved a certain level of understanding about the USSR, its history, and eventual collapse. But I’ve also put the work in.

And yet, whenever I engage people I know IRL or online, I’m amazed by how doggedly people will defend what they just inherently “know”: that the Soviet Union was an evil totalitarian authority dictatorship that killed 100 million of its own people and eventually collapsed because communism never works. None of these people (at least the people I know IRL) have learned anything about Soviet history beyond maybe a couple days of lectures and a textbook chapter in high school history classes. Like, I get that this is the narrative that nearly every American holds in their heads. The fact that people believe this isn’t surprising. But what is a little surprising to me is that, when confronted with a challenge to that narrative from someone they know has always loved history and has bothered to learn more, they dig their heels in and insist they are right and I am wrong.

This isn’t about me, I’m just sharing my experience with this. I’m just amazed at how Americans will be completely ignorant about a topic (not just the USSR) but will be utterly convinced their views on that topic are correct, despite their own lack of investigation into that topic. This is the same country where tens of millions of people think dinosaurs and humans walked around together and will not listen to what any “scientist” has to say about it, after all.

  • uralsolo [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    66·
    1 year ago

    I forget the details but I swear I saw a poll once where a plurality of Americans thought that “communism” and “dictatorship” were synonyms, which goes a long way towards explaining why most people think that being a communist means being pro-dictator and anti-democracy. I was basically “taught” this shit in college-level political science too (along with "socialism is when the government does stuff), so it’s not like it’s just the media that creates that misconception.

    • Ericthescruffy [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      15·
      1 year ago

      I forget the details but I swear I saw a poll once where a plurality of Americans thought that “communism” and “dictatorship” were synonyms, which goes a long way towards explaining why most people think that being a communist means being pro-dictator and anti-democracy.

      I mean that was basically the entire bait and switch that cold war propaganda did. They absolutely recognized that framing it as a battle between communism and democracy was a much easier sell to people.