[extropy-chat] gm biodiesel 'em

M.B. Baumeister mbb386 at main.nc.us
Sun Oct 30 14:22:37 UTC 2005



> In a similar vein.  I was rather surprised to see,
> back when the Soviet Union was collapsing and the
> Berlin wall was coming down, all the folks in the
> street nicely dressed in sturdy, warm, even stylish
> (if practical) attire.  What ever happened to the
> impoverished victims of communism?  You know, the
> ragged, downtrodden, dispirited folks, all condemned
> to wear boring, unaesthetic, gunney sacks of the
> lowest possible quality?  Did they all of a sudden get
> a credit card from REI or Land's End?
>
> Or perhaps the answer is that the information we got
> from the govt/MSM concerning the nature of their
> (govt/MSM's) ideological adversaries was a load of
> propacrap.
>

Interesting. My brother was in the SU shortly before the wall came down
and he said it was rather like going into a time warp, decades into the
past. He didn't mention clothing, he was speaking of the buildings.  He
found it quite depressing, for much seemed not all that different from his
previous "visit", at the end of WW2.

I heard similar comments from a couple who lived near us. They'd lived in
Denmark and visited the SU. Their comment was on "greyness" - the
clothing, the buildings, the vehicles.  Also there was trouble because
they took some pictures, and the camera film was confiscated at the border
after a several hour interrogation of the husband. They never knew what
pictures they'd taken that were "wrong". The wife said she was terrified,
she and her baby son sitting there waiting, not knowing if her husband
would ever be coming back.

That said, I've no doubt there's misinformation been spread for ever. It's
the human thing to do, isn't it?  :(

Regards,
MB



More information about the extropy-chat mailing list