elt@astrovax.UUCP (11/09/83)
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Contributors to this news group often assume or assert that the government
of the Soviet Union is 1) morally evil or wicked, 2) morally equivalent to
that of the US, or 3) morally good (or at least superior to the US
government).
When reading such articles I often wonder whether or not their authors have
ever visited or traveled significantly in the USSR or other Eastern Bloc
countries. I have noticed that such first hand experience often has a
strong effect on people's views about the USSR; this is particularly true
of those who have the opportunity to get to know at least a few of the
natives. Oddly enough, the effect can be of either sign, improving or
worsening peoples' opinions of the USSR, but I would guess that it most
often has a negative effect (this last is based on fairly small number
statistics).
Thus, I would urge those who have frequently held forth on the nature of
the USSR to let us, your faithful readers, know whether you have ever been
there or whether you are relying only on second hand information (and thus
at least potentially, propaganda).
Ed Turner
astrovax!eltriddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (11/10/83)
> Contributors to this news group often assume or assert that the government > of the Soviet Union is 1) morally evil or wicked, 2) morally equivalent to > that of the US, or 3) morally good (or at least superior to the US > government). I think that this classification is both too simplistic and mistaken. Mistaken because I don't know ANYONE who believes (3). Simplistic because I know at least some people who try to avoid thinking in the black/white terms you describe. The "progressives" I know, among which number I count myself (for want of a better word), tend to make a big distinction in their views of the USSR and the US between the ways the two nations treat their own citizens and the way they treat most of the rest of the world. Most of us would agree that in terms of personal liberty, at least, citizens of the Western democracies are much better off than their counterparts in the Soviet world. When it comes to the residents of the Third World who are the victims of Soviet- or American- style imperialism, however, the differences aren't so apparent. ---- Prentiss Riddle {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle riddle@ut-sally.UUCP
labelle@hplabsc.UUCP (WB6YZZ) (11/11/83)
Just to set you straight; the Soviet government is run by crooks whose strength lies in the informant system. I say glaze them before they glaze you!
mamula@fluke.UUCP (Don Mamula) (11/12/83)
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You ask whether any of us have first hand experience in the Soviet Union
or the eastern bloc. Well, I have travelled there since the 7th grade, and
have followed it up with academic and personal study.
Now that that makes me qualified to be a "USENET Kremlin Watcher" (send
in 10 boxtops and get your NSA decoder ring, kids!), you can expect to hear
from me. Who else out there is now "certified" to hold their opinions??
Don Mamula
John Fluke Mfg. Co.
Everett, WA
!fluke!mamula
PS: I personally think their system is wrong. More to follow in the future.judd@umcp-cs.UUCP (11/19/83)
.
not if they glaze back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<oo> judd rogers
-- (judd@umcp-cs)
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