Olivia Wertheimer: (Though I will say, no issues with the film Death of Stalin, 10/10, all of the protagonists are shitty as fuck, the entrance scene Jason Isaac's character had was top tier camp, and watching it with a friend who grew up with stories about the realities of the USSR was an excellent decision.)

Your regular reminder that I personally loathe Noam Chomsky for the reprehensible things he said in apologia for the Khmer Rouge - and has never really taken back. He was no friend to the Cambodian people. (Not to mention his stance on Ukraine).

Makes me sad that folks on the left like him, ngl.

It does indicate someone who perhaps has not done nearly as much research as they like to think they have

It's a bit funny because how quick the left usually is to cut people loose for failing purity tests, but there's always the few who manage to get into the state of grace where the test must be wrong.

Tbh the left is pretty fucking awful at enforcing the “supporting Russia/genocides committed by vaguely leftist seeming countries” purity test nowadays

I kind of got supporting Russia when it was a purportedly communist state, but now that it's basically a kleptocracy, what's the point?

I mean ... supporting Russia when it was a purportedly communist state was also really fucking dumb

I really, really winds me up with folks valorize the USSR. I really do not think most folks understand the sheer scale of horror and baseline violence society operated under, how totally pervasive the kleptocracy was, how incompetent it was, how vicious it was, or how nationalistic and expansionist.

It also ticks me off when people go, "Oh but it was just Stalin, Lenin and the others were amazing!" like. Um. No, all these DICTATORS were awful, killing political opponents, and utilizing propaganda to ensure they remain in power.

(Though I will say, no issues with the film Death of Stalin, 10/10, all of the protagonists are shitty as fuck, the entrance scene Jason Isaac's character had was top tier camp, and watching it with a friend who grew up with stories about the realities of the USSR was an excellent decision.)

(And for those curious who haven't seen it yet, The Behind the Bastards episodes on Boria, and the ones on Stalin, while a hard listen gives a LOT of context to what's going on and also to how much research was done in the process of making the film.)

I love that the actual line Boria crossed was the idea of selling East Germany. In his mind the Germans wpukd find a way to hurt the USSR eventually & "The West" would pay through the nose, so two-fer.

I love the fact that they had to tone Jason Isaacs character down because they felt the real guy was too unbelievable.

Honestly, not even surprising to me lol. Though damn, where's the "Let Jason Isaacs play this guy to the level of camp and brutality that he historically was" cut?

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