I looked more into that “elephant’s foot” that was really cool but very scary. Bryan also talked about Chernobyl, you should check his post! I think it is important that you mentioned the precedent of Three Mile Island. Public opinion was skewed against nuclear power and that continues to this day. I wonder what role Three Mile Island and the Chernobyl disaster played in the Japanese government’s response to the Fukushima meltdown. Great post!
Month: April 2018
Comment on Excuse me while I have a quick meltdown by dianaschulberg
I found your post very interesting! This meltdown has been one of the most infamous and devastating in history so far and it is sometimes difficult to fully conceptualize, but you break down the situation very well. I do wonder how they even began to clean up after the melt down? What is the process for dealing with this kind of nuclear material and what state if the area in now?
Comment on Countering the Counterculture by smaloney
Everything from the United States seems to be bourgeois propaganda, even if it’s not practiced by the bourgeoisie themselves. If you look at who was appreciating rock in the United States at this time, it’d be pretty difficult to describe them as the bourgeoisie.
Comment on The Disappearing Villages of the Soviet Union by Diana Schulberg
Fascinating topic! It is easy sometimes to forget how big Russia as a country is and these villages that are so easily cut off from the rest of the population. It is sad to hear that they were just forgotten and left to their own devices by the governm…
Comment on Chernobyl: Disaster at the worst of Times by scmaclay
I am glad that you included that quote from Gorbachev. Despite nuclear weapons multiplying in destructive capability since World War 2, both sides seemed keen on continuing the threat of nuclear war. Chernobyl showed the devastating potential of nuclear power and brought the Soviet Union to the table once again. Good post!
Comment on Gopnik’s Galore by smaloney
It’s always interesting how different classes of people still tend to crop up in a communist society where there isn’t supposed to be any classes. And how in the case of these Gopniks and most other poorer classes the people around them don’t find issue with the economy, it’s always the poorer classes fault. Other people are succeeding still, it must be something wrong that the Gopniks are doing
Comment on We Have No Sex Here by scmaclay
I second the questions Dalton is asking. There are a myriad of reasons that women choose to go into prostitution but I am interested to know if it is different for the Soviet Union. I like your point that their use of the word “sex” in “we have no sex here” shows how removed people were from understanding the topic at hand. Great post!
Comment on The lads of Liubertsy by scmaclay
I still crack up over the Liubers loving Sylvester Stallone but hating things that they see as anti-Soviet. You did a great job outlining the dual motivations for the Liubers. As you and many people in the comments have pointed out, the Liubers were walking contradictions. Great post!
Comment on The Sobering Truth by Bree Taylor
Awesome post! It’s crazy to think that billions of dollars come from the sale of alcohol. It’s even more interesting to see the anti-alcohol campaign worked so well, as it did in this instance. Although there were moonshiners, as you said, it seems as though the overall plan to decrease alcohol consumption worked.
Comment on Explosion? What explosion? by scmaclay
It is unbelievable that they would deny the extent of a catastrophe that would later kill 100,000 people. I think the cover-up is best shown in the documentary we are watching where one of the babushkas talks about the government promising the evacuees would only be gone for three days. In your research, did you read anything about how the Chernobyl meltdown affects the region today?
