Here’s how wrong the West was about Putin in 1999. The Boston Globe told its readers that Putin was “widely viewed as a liberal.” A Heritage Foundation expert said: “I can’t imagine that in one year’s time it will be possible to turn Putin into a viable public politician.” 4/13 - ThreadSky

markjacob.bsky.social • 125 days ago

Here’s how wrong the West was about Putin in 1999. The Boston Globe told its readers that Putin was “widely viewed as a liberal.” A Heritage Foundation expert said: “I can’t imagine that in one year’s time it will be possible to turn Putin into a viable public politician.” 4/13

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markjacob.bsky.social•125 days ago

There was no such mystery with Trump. There were countless abuses in his first term. Yet 4 years later people voted for him. Truth is, Americans don’t seem to hold themselves responsible for their votes. I don’t remember a lot of people publicly apologizing for their votes for Nixon in 1972. 5/13

belmontx2.bsky.social•125 days ago

But in 1974 it was impossible to find anyone who'd voted for him.

markjacob.bsky.social•125 days ago

Some people do regret endorsing autocrats. Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini was an early Mussolini backer but later said, “If I were capable of killing a man, I would kill Mussolini.” Il Duce's Blackshirts demanded Toscanini’s orchestra play a fascist hymn. When he refused, they beat him up. 6/13

markjacob.bsky.social•125 days ago

Where there is regret after a political disaster, it’s oddly selective. Mao’s propaganda chief, Qi Benyu, regretted tormenting 3 intellectuals so viciously that they killed themselves. Qi singled out those 3 even though the death toll in China's Cultural Revolution probably was in the millions. 7/13

markjacob.bsky.social•125 days ago

Then there’s the rise of the Nazis. One could argue that German voters of the 1930s were less culpable than the Americans of 2024 in bringing an authoritarian into power. Hitler never got close to a majority in a free election; he was appointed chancellor. Trump got 49.9% this time. 8/13

markjacob.bsky.social•125 days ago

Nazism ended in disaster, of course. A doctor wrote in 1945 that Germans talked frequently of cyanide. “The question of whether to resort to it is not even debated. Only the requisite quantity is discussed – in an easy offhand manner the way people usually talk about, say, food.” 9/13

markjacob.bsky.social•125 days ago

I co-wrote a book called "Aftershock" about the last days of World War II, featuring U.S. Army Signal Corps photos of the widespread destruction. That war happened because of authoritarianism. Americans failed to learn the lessons. 10/13

chewolf.bsky.social•125 days ago

thunderstick.bsky.social•125 days ago

A large swath of Germany did experience insane economic hardship as well. Not an absolution of the people of the time but I grant them a far more understandable state of "Desperation'' and social upheaval than these fuckers driving brand new pick ups complaining about eggs.

crs1.bsky.social•125 days ago

I think of Mao frequently these days

I have some thoughts about modern society and the ability to recognize threats

chewolf.bsky.social•125 days ago

Wow. I'd never heard this. TU.

cynematik.bsky.social•125 days ago

That is a perfect observation. People do not hold themselves responsible for their votes. They blame the media, the campaign, the candidate. The willful ignorant never bear any responsibility for their lives.

claudiaputnam.bsky.social•125 days ago

The US gets Russia wrong almost as a policy.

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