Anyone here live in Eastern Europe in the 70s/80s?

[Protagoras]

I ask because we often draw parallels here between what is happening to our MSM and what was going on with the Soviet Press under their authoritarian rule.

Now I'm not really asking whether or not our press is freer...I think it is...if it wants to be. Maybe not completely free...very manipulated...very greedy..etc...but we do seem to have more diversity at least on the side...so far. I fear this is going away.

But what I'm really asking is this: If you have first hand experience over there then...and over here now...how do you compare the "public perception" of the job the press is doing?

Do we seem to give our press more or less credit? Did average people in the USSR greet their news with the same or different skepticism? Were there large numbers who swallowed it hook line and sinker? Or were they as cynical about everything as we seem to be becoming?

Just curious if anyone has actual experience to contrast the differences and similarities for us here.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. My wife, and man can she just SMELL the fascism here!

[Protagoras]

5. I'd love to see a writeup by your wife

that could explain to us here what her family and friends saw over there at the time. Was at clear to them there and then as it is to us here and now? I'm sure that these parallels are easy to see from the outside or after the facts...sad and scary.

But I'm also really trying to get a sense for what it's been like for other people who have been in the middle of these things before. Sounds like your wife could share some great insights with us.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

2. kick

I'd be interested in any responses too. :kick:

[Pacifist Patriot]

3. I lived in West Germany with ties to the East.

I'm not equipped to do a detailed analysis, but the current situation is probably far more alarming than the vast majority of Americans realize. I do not see much evidence of a free press here anymore. Not by contrast.

[JDPriestly]

4. I lived nearby.

And I once met a guy who had worked for Polish intelligence. (He defected to the West and, after you read this story, you will know why.)

Believe it or not, his job was to read the western news and censor information and stories that did not fit the Polish party line -- sort of cleaning up information and deciding what was OK for Polish consumption. He was actually paid to do that. It must have been the most disgusting job in the world. What a waste of time. Our press does a much better job of censorship than that. They just hire a bunch of true believers in the right wing koolaid and let them do their thing. Censorship is not necessary since these right-wingers don't see anything in the first place unless their ideology allows them to see it.