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Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you want to go there, being harassed by an opinionated mob is actually a mostly democratic phenomenon. In an autocracy, it would be a beating, either by the police, or thugs operating in agreement and probably paid by the police. You wouldn't even think of speaking openly of your views, or being beaten, as of things a sane person would do. Not condoning anything BTW.
Does it really matter the what and the who, if in practice both are effecting total submission and/or supression of dissent?
Much of the bill of rights is about what the state can't do to you in a way that doesn't impact how private citizens interact. Not saying it's perfect, but I'm far less concerned about an internet mob coming after me than the US government
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Real letters to wives don't include patriotic and political phrases about children being raised in a new paradise to come, except those written by cult members and those (in this case) written under duress.
A farmboy going to space praising communism makes a whole lot of sense. Just compare to the average nonsense you hear even impoverished American peasants say about "freedom."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
A farmboy going to space praising communism makes a whole lot of sense. Just compare to the average nonsense you hear even impoverished American peasants say about "freedom."
So your argument is he was a brainwashed peasant?
So, depending on how you look at it, yes and no.
I love that he name checks and quotes Chkalov. Not that I expect anyone to know who Chkalov was, but there's a Chkalov Drive in Vancouver WA, and I went down the "how do I pronounce that, who is it named for" rabbit hole a few years ago, so his name always makes me smile. The Vantucky locals typically say Chuckalov or similar, and look blankly at anything close to ˈtɕkaləf
Eyyy that's the Freddies I used to do most of my shopping at.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
He was but a small child then, being born in 1934 and they were very good at hiding the worst atrocities which was not exactly hard those years given the rather limited mass communication. No one was posting a Tiktok about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars.
Even with modern communications, most Russians publicly deny knowing that their government is committing atrocities against its own citizens. Of course, they know just as well as people knew throughout the Soviet era. Hence the degree of phoniness in a letter ostensibly to one's spouse that is only intended to satisfy the politburo. Could Gagarin possibly have been unaware of recent history or of what happened to her…
There were also the other words of Yuri Gagarin, on the way back from space: "Я горю, прощайте товарищи" ("I'm on fire. Farewell, comrades"). The capsule somehow managed to land successfully, and he ended up being alive.