I showed this post to my roommate Lena and she agreed emphatically: Soviets were always blaming everything that went wrong in their lives on the government.
>
>However, the popular perception of freedom of lack of it has little to
>do with actual level of discretion that individuals have. Instead, this
>perception is used to legitimate one's complacency with the
>social-political status quo. In x-Soviet bloc countries, people did not
>question the status quo (despite their widely expressed discontent)
>because they believed that "one could not do anything". In the U.S.,
>otoh, people do not question the status quo (again despite widely
>expressed discontent with political institutions), because they believe
>that everyone is free to do what ones want, and if one's situation sucks
>it is his own fault and laziness. In both cases, the total denial or
>total affirmation of individual freedom lead to the same end - the
>justification of one's conformism.
>
>Wojtek
>
>
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