There's also a lot of leftover CAPITALISM = BAD propgaanda left from the Cold War days in people's minds. It was indeed very effective because if there was one think the USSR was very good at it was precisely propaganda and espionage.
itchy01ca01: Not as much as you would think.
It was YEARS before anyone really understood the implications of just how many russians died fighting germans and what contribution the russians had to the entire war. That is another topic entirely, but keeps getting subverted by the RAH RAH RAH MERICA crowd. Sorry, Russia did kill the lions share of German soldiers and hell, even a few japanese as well. And it was their cities being bombed to shit, their land being soiled and destroyed, their civilians being raped and murdered by the thousands, no MILLIONS.
And BOTH sides had a hand in the Iron Curtain. The US just has a hard time accepting responsibility.
Not as much propaganda and espionage as I would think? How much do you think I think happened? Read at least some history that goes against your bias mate... there's enough facts around and physical evidence in plenty.
You're right about one thing, everything else you said is another topic indeed. Quite the non sequitur / strawman since I never denied anti soviet propaganda, nor denied Soviet contributions to WW2 victory. You're the one implicitly denying anti Capitalist propaganda - and I did include espionage in there or did you miss that keyword?
You know, there is a reason USSR counts the beginning of WW2, sorry Great Patriotic War - way to be nationalist that - from 1941 like the US. Here in Europe at least a lot more people actually know about things like Molotoff-Ribentropp pact, the Winter War, and Katyn for an example close to Polish national conscience - so to speak.
Other than the obvious ideological bias, that contributed to hide earlier stuff like the 30s Ukrainian famine until Robert Conquest came around - well let's be honest, even today a lot of people refuse to face the evidence of intent on that one - when Germany invaded the USSR the western allies basically whitewashed a lot of things in the interest of expediency. Not to mention the personal sympathy Roosevelt had for Uncle Joe. And the fact a lot of Western intelligence was infiltrated by communist spies.
One could make a case the overreaction of anti communism in the US was partially caused by the misguided trust placed on the Soviet Union during WW2. Trust which was not obviously shared by everyone, but nonetheless was the mainstream view, and needed stuff like the Berlin blockade to be truly shaken off. Trust which was betrayed, as should have been obvious to anyone, even before the war was over.
Bottom line. Anyone like you that doubles down on being overcritical of the US and undercritical of the Soviet Union, more likely than not is a perfect example of the lasting influence of anti capitalist propaganda. As is the specificity of focus on the Cold War, when looking just a little bit further back to say 1939 is quite the eye opener.
But I'm the ethics and philosophy asshole right? So other than historical realities, the thing that really pops out to me is the lasting stigma capitalism has as an ideology of selfishness, when in fact it is responsible for the largest reduction of poverty in the history of mankind - that in itself is a large enough example to show how ingrained the propaganda was and is. Of course the stigma also owes a lot to co-opting anti-semitic tropes. Also of course, a lot of capitalist supporters do believe capitalism is about selfishness - wrongly, just like a lot of communist supporters do believe communism is not inherently authoritarian - wrongly. But those popular opinions say nothing of the underlying truth.
You know, when I argue with folks like you, I always wish deep inside that you're trolling. But you never are. I'll stop here before I get an aneurysm.