- 16 Apr 2003 22:01
#201509
Hi to all,
I was thinking about sharing some thoughts you the fellows here about the Cold War and perhaps why the Soviet Union did not succeed in gaining the sympathy of the public opinion and never was seen as a model of prosperity, freedom, modernity and etc....
Here it is:
Cold War : Silent invasion of American Pop Culture defeated the USSR
The U.S. was always exporting Pop Culture such as movies, TV series, soap operas, music, fast-food chains, consume goods and all sort of ‘Pop’ stuffs. In fact, they were always building some sort of parameter to other nations.
And the Soviet Union? The Soviets spent their time and money almost ONLY in heavy industry. And that was a mistake!
The USSR should pay more attention to psychological warfare. It could have done better if they just paid attention to cultural infiltration such as food, ballets, movies and literature.
With the movies the U.S. told its own distorted version of History, created its own fictitious heroes and so on..
They sold an image of how the U.S. was prosperous and friendly and how Soviet Union was an Evil Empire of Darkness, like all other Communist nations.
Almost the whole world community believe in these lies and propaganda.
Not generalizing but: Fast-food chains and goods for consumers carried the American trademark to all countries in this World, subtlely supplanting American culture and wasteful living style to other countries.
You did not need to spend a single bullet or missile, they culturally invaded many countries.
And those who refused to accept their values, were simply massacred and this will never be shown on movie screens.
Like what we see in the US invasion of Iraq!
I was thinking about sharing some thoughts you the fellows here about the Cold War and perhaps why the Soviet Union did not succeed in gaining the sympathy of the public opinion and never was seen as a model of prosperity, freedom, modernity and etc....
Here it is:
Cold War : Silent invasion of American Pop Culture defeated the USSR
The U.S. was always exporting Pop Culture such as movies, TV series, soap operas, music, fast-food chains, consume goods and all sort of ‘Pop’ stuffs. In fact, they were always building some sort of parameter to other nations.
And the Soviet Union? The Soviets spent their time and money almost ONLY in heavy industry. And that was a mistake!
The USSR should pay more attention to psychological warfare. It could have done better if they just paid attention to cultural infiltration such as food, ballets, movies and literature.
With the movies the U.S. told its own distorted version of History, created its own fictitious heroes and so on..
They sold an image of how the U.S. was prosperous and friendly and how Soviet Union was an Evil Empire of Darkness, like all other Communist nations.
Almost the whole world community believe in these lies and propaganda.
Not generalizing but: Fast-food chains and goods for consumers carried the American trademark to all countries in this World, subtlely supplanting American culture and wasteful living style to other countries.
You did not need to spend a single bullet or missile, they culturally invaded many countries.
And those who refused to accept their values, were simply massacred and this will never be shown on movie screens.
Like what we see in the US invasion of Iraq!
) bottom line is we missed a fine opportunity then, and we are headed down the same road today with 'pre-emptive' strikes and bickering inthe security counsel. 
). How many kids do you know of that would want to spend their time reading Soviet literature? Most of the people I know don't even want to know about Canadian government and history, let alone Soviet communist which most assume is still evil.
People are generally ignorant about the USSR and with this ignorance they tend to misunderstand communism. Some idiots I know have called me a communist. They only know it is evil, so they use it in a derogatory way (no I am not evil, I just support the death penalty 
) I have also been told that I should go to church. 
- By Puffer Fish
- By Sherlock Holmes
- By FiveofSwords
- By litwin