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> And in a slight change of topic, I have been really shocked in the last 6 months how willing ordinary Americans are to defend Putin in political discussion. S

> And in a slight change of topic, I have been really shocked in the last 6 months how willing ordinary Americans are to defend Putin in political discussion. Something is working over there. Stefan Molyneux just did a video on McCarthy's attempt to root out Russian infiltration, that you might find interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wljpYZ8wejA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wljpYZ8wejA I don't have anything against Putin; he seems like an effective leader, though Russia has different values than the US. Though, the history makes for a good conspiracy story: Maybe McCarthy's spies are still there!

asveikau 10y ago
> I don't have anything against Putin; he seems like an effective leader, I suppose those journalists died of natural causes, then. As for your initial topic, you will find no defense of McCarthyism from me. It is wrong in a free society to talk about "rooting out" political ideas or equate them with treason, espionage, support of a particular government, etc. My problem with a lot of cold war rhetoric is: if someone is a Marxist, Trotskyist, etc. and you oppose that - so what? In a politically free society there ought to be open debate and let ideas stand or fall on their own. But I guess in those times a lot of people felt differently.