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Literally every single nation does that. It's a natural bias. E.g. Americans don't lose sleep over Assange or the fact that Snowden is now a citizen of the evi

Literally every single nation does that. It's a natural bias. E.g. Americans don't lose sleep over Assange or the fact that Snowden is now a citizen of the evil Russia. > Hence the degree of phoniness in a letter ostensibly to one's spouse that is only intended to satisfy the politburo You really don't account for perspective. To Gagarin you'd sound no less phony if you'd said something like "I am proud to pioneer the advancement of our free democratic world". Also, consider that it was a modernist era back then - people hadn't yet really figured out being goofy.

noduerme 3y ago
"I'm proud to pioneer the advancement of our free democratic world" would be a completely weird and abnormal thing for someone to say in a private correspondence. To explain where I'm coming from in seeing the hand of tyranny and fear in this letter: If I ever said anything remotely like that, anyone who knew me would think someone was holding a gun to my head. Politicians may talk like that. But normal people in ostensibly private communications don't speak in political slogans unless they're either afraid or suffering from Stockholm syndrome.