Posted on 11/15/2017 11:01:55 AM PST by GoldenState_Rose
Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2015, is not so much an oral history as a lament. The work is multi-vocal, like a chorus, pierced in places by the solo of an anguished voice. Readers are swept on by a cadence that can ebb and swell with tidal force. The tone induces something close to a trance, demanding a complete surrender to its message of despair. This is no dry account of politics, no tasteful essay on the ending of the Soviet dream. Like any true lament, it comes from a primeval place of loss, the sort that goes with rending your clothes and clawing at your flesh until it bleeds.
All of these voices belong to people from the old USSR. As Soviet citizens, they were survivors of a long experiment whose purpose was to reprogram the human soul. For almost 70 years, entire populations were schooled, cajoled and corralled behind moral fences. The ideological project required them to rewrite their history and redefine each of their lives. Through songs and festivals, leader cults, perverted science and the ubiquitous red flag, Soviet messages saturated everyone’s imagination, reaching into the most sceptical of minds. The system was so effective for so long that even after December 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, citizens wandered amid its wreckage like the recently bereft, haunted by the only set of values they had ever known.
(Excerpt) Read more at newstatesman.com ...
“Never underestimate the ability of average Americans turn into deaf, dumb, and blind, mutes by a thriving economy.”
Hmm...this is most definitely a human nature thing, not just an American thing...
Things are pretty bad right now: 64,000 Americans dead in one year from opiate/drug overdoses alone. Don’t get me started on the mass shooting epidemic.
We must take up spiritual armor against the forces of darkness. Our lives depend on it now, not just our economic well-being.
BUT let’s also be reminded: hundreds and hundreds of abortion clinics have shut down. PRAISE. GOD. These victories should not go unnoticed.
JUDGMENT BEGINS WITH THE HOUSE OF GOD. as Saint Peter reminds us. The situation in our country, our world is a wake-up call. It doesn’t require millions of people to bring about change. Just a few brave, godly souls who won’t give up.
Is this about the Soviets or the US Democrat Party?
The modern US Democratic Party can trace their roots back to the Soviets/Bolsheviks.
Hahaha.
The system was so effective for so long that even after November 2016, when the Hillary! collapsed, liberals wandered amid its wreckage like the recently bereft, haunted by the only set of values they had ever known.
Wow. Fitting indeed.
Oh, I see positive things and even positive trends, just like I did in the eighties. Like I say, we’ll see.
History ebbs and flows and will do so till the return of Christ.
Ebb and flow has included the fall of nations and empires and will again. We'll see.
bkmk
Great holiday reading. Here is the correct link: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2016/12/historys-losers-intimate-stories-survivors-soviet-empire
The book is “Secondhand Time” by Svetlana Alexievich.
Winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize for Lit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.