Culture, movements, propaganda, all odd and complex things. Seeing how things have changed in the last 30+ years in the US (since that’s what I know) and especially the last 10, and how that all came about, gives me a very different perspective about the directions various countries take and how the populous is led there gradually.
I’ve been to Moscow briefly. I know the people there are just people like anywhere. But their reality, like mine, is shaped by information available, the culture, the history.
Rise of right wing craziness to mainstream in USA via right wing media has been a targeted project for the last 40+ years following Watergate. Only now do we see those plans come to fruition in the form of judicial takeover and extreme divisiveness among the populace. As educational institutions continue to be eroded, underfunded, demonized, and subverted there will come a time when the majority of the population gladly accepts its strong man and relinquishes the rest of its freedoms with a smile.