Russia, 1978 Redux

 

Saint Petersburg, 1978. The store shelves are at best half empty. If it is Tuesday then we can buy milk, potatoes on Wednesday, Thursday is bread. Every other Sunday we can get toilet tissue if we are on line early. Vodka is always available, the water is filled with Giardia. We brush our teeth with vodka, only safe fluid for that purpose. 

Political commissars abound in all parts of our existence. The military, the Academy, the factory, has its political commissars. The GRU and KGB watch and track our every movement.

Then there is the US today. Went shopping, if one could cal it that. Half the shelves were empty. No cheese, eggs were on their way out, but today we bread day. Political commissars seem to be expanding everywhere, especially in Universities and Big Business. They monitor our "attitudes" and beliefs, and if we do not comply then "there will be consequences". The FBI, IRS, HHS etc now can monitor our very thoughts. All they have to do is see what we put on the web, this included. They have massive psych profiles of every citizen, and possibly even those not being citizens, but less so.

As I think back going on fifty years the similarities are amazing. And at the same time horrifying.