4 ms·

> In any event, why should people feel happy about living under an oppressive system -a system which stunted their potential? Their "police" were soviet milicij

> In any event, why should people feel happy about living under an oppressive system -a system which stunted their potential? Their "police" were soviet milicija They can be happy to live in the US and have police kneeling on their neck until they're dead.

mc32 5y ago
Don't swallow your contraband. In the US a callous cop gets tried and gets sent to prison. In the USSR you got taken around the back, shot in the head and dumped in a hole on the ground, or if slightly luckier you got a chance to freeze to death after the commander of the gulag had you tamp down the three foot snow for his truck to drive in in your ragged boots and in your escape attempt you get lost and starve and freeze to death a couple of miles away but the commander doesn’t bother with a search party knowing what your fate is.
- skzv 5y ago
  It really hurts your credibility when you mix up distinct Soviet eras. The Gulag system began to be dismantled immediately upon Stalin's death and was fully dismantled by 1960.
  - wiseowise 5y ago
    Just because it began to dismantle it doesn't mean it was completely gone. Stories about KGB are popular for a reason, you know.
    - int_19h 5y ago
      By late USSR, the KGB wouldn't put a bullet in the back of your head, either. They'd hand you over to "experts" who would declare you insane and shove you into a straitjacket - and even that treatment was generally reserved for active dissidents. By the way, the police and the KGB often didn't get along. There was a famous case where a couple of cops who were very drunk robbed a high-ranking KGB official (he was carrying food from one of those "special" stores). When their senior found out, he decided that it'd be better to cover it up, and had the KGB guy killed and dumped the body in the woods. The KGB eventually unraveled the case - and many other similar ones, of cops partaking in robberies and beatings. (https://www.tellerreport.com/news/2020-12-26-%0A---war-of-the-worlds--40-years-ago--there-was-a-murder-in-moscow-at-zhdanovskaya%0A--.r1773epN6D.html https://www.tellerreport.com/news/2020-12-26-%0A---war-of-th...) So on the whole, I suspect you'd be far more likely to be brutalized by the Soviet cops than by KGB.
  - razius 5y ago
  - FpUser 5y ago
    His writing style and credibility live on a different planets.
  - egze 5y ago
    Gulag still lives under a different name: FSIN https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/11/10/new-russian-prison-torture-video-surfaces-from-bombshell-leak-a75520 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/11/10/new-russian-prison... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/08/i-was-always-scared-inmate-who-exposed-systemic-russian-prisoner-abuse https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/08/i-was-always-s...
- th0ma5 5y ago
  Something with not entirely the same effect happens in the US but not often to rich white men.
- nebula8804 5y ago
  >In the US a callous cop gets tried and gets sent to prison. You're forgetting to include the fact that the cop was lucky enough to be recorded by a member of the population, that person had the courage to post the video, and this whole process required riots in all major cities to occur before it became serious enough to for the courts to properly prosecute. How many other offenses have gone unprosecuted? For example this same officer had a prior complaint from 2017 for hitting a 14-year-old black boy in the head with a flashlight so hard he required stitches and then afterwards holding him down with his knee for almost 17 minutes, ignoring the boy's complaints that he could not breathe. Thats just this officer, in a country this size there are likely tons of horror stories.
- FpUser 5y ago
  >"In the US a callous cop gets tried and gets sent to prison." Sure. Whole 2 times when they were caught on video and caused mass movements.
- scollet 5y ago
  How is the comparison helpful?
refurb 5y ago
If that’s the alternative to being a political prisoner in the USSR, then I’ll take it.
PolandKid 5y ago
Hey Vitya, we were wondering -- do you actually work at one of those famous troll farms, or are your HN comments just an after-hours gig?

mc32 5y ago

Don't swallow your contraband. In the US a callous cop gets tried and gets sent to prison. In the USSR you got taken around the back, shot in the head and dumped in a hole on the ground, or if slightly luckier you got a chance to freeze to death after the commander of the gulag had you tamp down the three foot snow for his truck to drive in in your ragged boots and in your escape attempt you get lost and starve and freeze to death a couple of miles away but the commander doesn’t bother with a search party knowing what your fate is.

skzv 5y ago
It really hurts your credibility when you mix up distinct Soviet eras. The Gulag system began to be dismantled immediately upon Stalin's death and was fully dismantled by 1960.
- wiseowise 5y ago
  Just because it began to dismantle it doesn't mean it was completely gone. Stories about KGB are popular for a reason, you know.
  - int_19h 5y ago
    By late USSR, the KGB wouldn't put a bullet in the back of your head, either. They'd hand you over to "experts" who would declare you insane and shove you into a straitjacket - and even that treatment was generally reserved for active dissidents. By the way, the police and the KGB often didn't get along. There was a famous case where a couple of cops who were very drunk robbed a high-ranking KGB official (he was carrying food from one of those "special" stores). When their senior found out, he decided that it'd be better to cover it up, and had the KGB guy killed and dumped the body in the woods. The KGB eventually unraveled the case - and many other similar ones, of cops partaking in robberies and beatings. (https://www.tellerreport.com/news/2020-12-26-%0A---war-of-the-worlds--40-years-ago--there-was-a-murder-in-moscow-at-zhdanovskaya%0A--.r1773epN6D.html https://www.tellerreport.com/news/2020-12-26-%0A---war-of-th...) So on the whole, I suspect you'd be far more likely to be brutalized by the Soviet cops than by KGB.
- razius 5y ago
- FpUser 5y ago
  His writing style and credibility live on a different planets.
- egze 5y ago
  Gulag still lives under a different name: FSIN https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/11/10/new-russian-prison-torture-video-surfaces-from-bombshell-leak-a75520 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/11/10/new-russian-prison... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/08/i-was-always-scared-inmate-who-exposed-systemic-russian-prisoner-abuse https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/08/i-was-always-s...
th0ma5 5y ago
Something with not entirely the same effect happens in the US but not often to rich white men.
nebula8804 5y ago
>In the US a callous cop gets tried and gets sent to prison. You're forgetting to include the fact that the cop was lucky enough to be recorded by a member of the population, that person had the courage to post the video, and this whole process required riots in all major cities to occur before it became serious enough to for the courts to properly prosecute. How many other offenses have gone unprosecuted? For example this same officer had a prior complaint from 2017 for hitting a 14-year-old black boy in the head with a flashlight so hard he required stitches and then afterwards holding him down with his knee for almost 17 minutes, ignoring the boy's complaints that he could not breathe. Thats just this officer, in a country this size there are likely tons of horror stories.
FpUser 5y ago
>"In the US a callous cop gets tried and gets sent to prison." Sure. Whole 2 times when they were caught on video and caused mass movements.
scollet 5y ago
How is the comparison helpful?

refurb 5y ago

If that’s the alternative to being a political prisoner in the USSR, then I’ll take it.

PolandKid 5y ago

Hey Vitya, we were wondering -- do you actually work at one of those famous troll farms, or are your HN comments just an after-hours gig?