My husband is a WWII history enthusiast. He has seen every movie, documentary, TV series, and fictional movie that contained any real footage of the actual events of the war. He has even made me watch every Godzilla movie made and explained the political undertones and inferences of each one and how they represent the people of Japan and the attitudes towards WWII. Believe me when I say that I don’t think I can watch Midway one more time. It seems to be on somewhere all the time. While I have found his impromptu lessons on history somewhat interesting, for him it is exciting and every time something new comes out and we just have to see it, even if it is in Japanese and we have to find the subtitles. He also is known for asking me, so you know what happened on this day in 1940.. whatever? Then says well at this exact moment this was happening. I think you get the idea.
One of the things I have learned from him was that (and I am summarizing to the best of my understanding here) the Japanese people were so upset with their military leaders and the propaganda that they had been being fed every day. They were being told that they were winning. Every day they were told that they were the strongest and would be victorious. There was never bad news, it was all very patriotic and pro Japan. The propaganda was coming from every direction and it was believable and the people sucked it up, and bought it hook, line and sinker. But when they discovered that it was all a lie, they were not happy about it. They felt betrayed, they felt that their government that they trusted had lied to them in a way that was dishonorable, unworthy, and had cost them too much. They turned on all of their leaders with the exception of their Emperor whom they assumed must have been lied to as well. Since he was not the one espousing these claims they felt that he was innocent. Then something amazing happened. The Japanese welcomed the American forces with open arms. They treated us as liberators and as the good guys. (Well my understanding of it)
I am wondering if Russia might suffer a similar fate at some point. From what I understand people in Russia fall in one of three categories. There are those that oppose the war, are listening to news from outside sources and know what is happening. There are those that suspect they are being lied to but are fearful of confirming it. Then you have the people that are hooked on the lie, believe Putin and every word he says and are “all in” for Mother Russia. Could it be that someday in the near future something like what happened with Japan could happen to Putin and his cronies? Could the people turn on Putin, see the lie, see the damage that he has done to them and their country and reject him and people like him? Possibly even embrace the ideology of the EU and the West?
It strikes me as a consequence of intense propaganda, as if propaganda is a double edge sword that can cut both ways. I have a feeling that when people discover that they have been lied to in a major way, and made to believe things that are so 180 degrees opposite of reality that they can get pretty mad at those that have been feeding them shit.
Now using that same logic, it makes me think of the Republican Party. The MAGA crowd and TFG’s lies that he has sold to his fan base and what would the consequences be for him and how are those people going to feel when they finally find out that they were lied to, made to believe shit that was not real. Then I come to one inevitable question. How do we make that happen sooner?