5 ms·

Odd how nobody ever builds a balloon to fly towards the communist utopias.

by rottencupcakes 9mo ago

nephihaha 9mo ago
One guy did use a plane to land in Red Square. Remember him?
- echelon_musk 9mo ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust
- GaryBluto 9mo ago
  Not to live there though, just as a "symbol of peace".
  - nephihaha 9mo ago
    I'm not sure it worked much as a symbol of peace. He got sent to a Soviet prison/interrogation for a while which I'm sure was a laugh a minute.
- mopsi 9mo ago
  He was mentally disturbed, which kinda proves the point. After returning to Germany, he stabbed a woman for rejecting his advances. Later, he was convicted of shoplifting, and a few years after that he was convicted again of selling stolen goods. Definitely a "character", even if medically sound enough to stand trial.
  - nephihaha 9mo ago
    I didn't know about the stabbing bit. You'd have to be off your head to land a plane next to the Kremlin. He was lucky he wasn't shot down.
- wolvoleo 9mo ago
  Yes he was so cool. The plane is still in a museum. PS: He was dumb as hell too of course, and it was only due to incredible laxness of the air force that he was never shot down.
  - tim333 9mo ago
    I'm not sure any countries really shoot down light aircraft unless it's an active war zone. They are not much of a threat and it's also hard to tell if they are there legally or not. You're more likely to get hassled when you land like the Ethan Guo guy (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04rql923kdo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04rql923kdo)
    - nephihaha 9mo ago
      Guo must have been a few sandwiches short of a picnic to try and fly to Antarctica unaided as well. Three year ban from Chile isn't long.
    - wolvoleo 9mo ago
      This was the soviet union in a very tense time. If he hadn't been shot down he would have been forced down. But yes that would have been a more likely outcome, true. PS: Don't forget the Soviets knowingly shot and killed an entire airliner full of people. I saw an interview with the fighter pilot later and he didn't even have remorse for what he was doing, "just following orders". What a monster. But that was pretty typical there. Anyone with a backbone questioning orders was already dying in a gulag.
marcodiego 9mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servi%C3%A7os_A%C3%A9reos_Cruzeiro_do_Sul_Flight_302 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servi%C3%A7os_A%C3%A9reos_Cruz...
wolvoleo 9mo ago
If I were in the US I would certainly leave to a more socialist country. I could not live there. Even before Trump. However there is a spectrum between it. I don't think either extreme is great, neither American unrestricted capitalism nor full-on communism. A balance of both is needed. I was a lot happier in the 80s when Holland was a lot more socialist. Less things to worry about, a safety net, cheap housing and schooling, still the ability to run your own business if you really wanted to. We had a great combination. However the VVD neoliberals (who idolize America) have destroyed it over the last decades and there are so many huge problems now because they always went for the quick fix. With full-on capitalism you get lots of disenfranchised people angry at not having any upward mobility, corporations just dump all over the citizens, and differences in wealth get insanely high. With full-on communism you end up with a surveillance hellscape and inhumane processes. The secret sauce is in between IMO.
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
- immibis 9mo ago
  What would you call the current surveillance hellscape and inhumane processes in the USA? Is that full-on communism?
  - layer8 9mo ago
    Totalitarianism exists on both sides of the spectrum.
    - immibis 9mo ago
      That is a non-answer.
      - layer8 9mo ago
        I understood your question to be a rhetorical one.

Odd how nobody ever builds a balloon to fly towards the communist utopias.

nephihaha 9mo ago

One guy did use a plane to land in Red Square. Remember him?

echelon_musk 9mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust
GaryBluto 9mo ago
Not to live there though, just as a "symbol of peace".
- nephihaha 9mo ago
  I'm not sure it worked much as a symbol of peace. He got sent to a Soviet prison/interrogation for a while which I'm sure was a laugh a minute.
mopsi 9mo ago
He was mentally disturbed, which kinda proves the point. After returning to Germany, he stabbed a woman for rejecting his advances. Later, he was convicted of shoplifting, and a few years after that he was convicted again of selling stolen goods. Definitely a "character", even if medically sound enough to stand trial.
- nephihaha 9mo ago
  I didn't know about the stabbing bit. You'd have to be off your head to land a plane next to the Kremlin. He was lucky he wasn't shot down.
wolvoleo 9mo ago
Yes he was so cool. The plane is still in a museum. PS: He was dumb as hell too of course, and it was only due to incredible laxness of the air force that he was never shot down.
- tim333 9mo ago
  I'm not sure any countries really shoot down light aircraft unless it's an active war zone. They are not much of a threat and it's also hard to tell if they are there legally or not. You're more likely to get hassled when you land like the Ethan Guo guy (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04rql923kdo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04rql923kdo)
  - nephihaha 9mo ago
    Guo must have been a few sandwiches short of a picnic to try and fly to Antarctica unaided as well. Three year ban from Chile isn't long.
  - wolvoleo 9mo ago
    This was the soviet union in a very tense time. If he hadn't been shot down he would have been forced down. But yes that would have been a more likely outcome, true. PS: Don't forget the Soviets knowingly shot and killed an entire airliner full of people. I saw an interview with the fighter pilot later and he didn't even have remorse for what he was doing, "just following orders". What a monster. But that was pretty typical there. Anyone with a backbone questioning orders was already dying in a gulag.

marcodiego 9mo ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servi%C3%A7os_A%C3%A9reos_Cruzeiro_do_Sul_Flight_302 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servi%C3%A7os_A%C3%A9reos_Cruz...

wolvoleo 9mo ago

If I were in the US I would certainly leave to a more socialist country. I could not live there. Even before Trump. However there is a spectrum between it. I don't think either extreme is great, neither American unrestricted capitalism nor full-on communism. A balance of both is needed. I was a lot happier in the 80s when Holland was a lot more socialist. Less things to worry about, a safety net, cheap housing and schooling, still the ability to run your own business if you really wanted to. We had a great combination. However the VVD neoliberals (who idolize America) have destroyed it over the last decades and there are so many huge problems now because they always went for the quick fix. With full-on capitalism you get lots of disenfranchised people angry at not having any upward mobility, corporations just dump all over the citizens, and differences in wealth get insanely high. With full-on communism you end up with a surveillance hellscape and inhumane processes. The secret sauce is in between IMO.

deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
immibis 9mo ago
What would you call the current surveillance hellscape and inhumane processes in the USA? Is that full-on communism?
- layer8 9mo ago
  Totalitarianism exists on both sides of the spectrum.
  - immibis 9mo ago
    That is a non-answer.
    - layer8 9mo ago
      I understood your question to be a rhetorical one.