In the Spectator, Heli-Liis Võrno draws parallels between her upbringing in Soviet-era Estonia and contemporary British society, noting that Britain is beginning to evoke memories of the system she thought she had left behind for good. Here’s an excerpt:
When the Soviet system fell in my native Estonia I was 17 years old. I’d spent the entirety of those years mastering the main rule for surviving the USSR: you needed two separate identities. One was for home and those you trusted, the other for public places: We knew that in front of outsiders or certain relatives, you simply didn’t speak about some topics. If you followed the rules and kept the two identities apart, you could survive and even prosper. But if you mixed the two worlds up, woe betide you. …
I came to U.K. in 2011 after a decade in Asia, fully confident I was entering another free society. I could, within reason, say whatever I wanted to whomever I wanted. Holding different opinions, post-Soviet, from someone else hadn’t been a problem: We’d argue and end with compromise or simply agree to disagree.
Yet increasingly, Britain has started to remind me of the system I thought I’d left behind forever. Of course, it isn’t called communism this time, but various names like ‘Diversity’, ‘Equality’, ‘Inclusion’, ‘Multiculturalism’. Just like communism, it takes the ideals of the brotherhood of man but then adds on others from Western individualist tradition – LGBTQ rights, open borders, MeToo (a full pantheon is getting ever more complex, potentially wrong-footing you at every turn). Like communism, it presents many ideals which, on the face of it, are hard to disagree with: Equality of the sexes and of different races, for example – and then constructs a kind of secular religion out of them. …
Just as in the USSR, there is the issue with language and the reality it hides. ‘Democracy’ in the USSR was often the obligation to vote for one single candidate chosen for you by the Party. ‘Rule of the Proletariat’ meant rule by a small group of high-ranking Party workers. Likewise, in the Newspeak of the West, ‘inclusivity’ means making sure anyone who disagrees is not included. ‘Diversity’ spells a deadening uniformity of thought. And ‘equality’ frequently means shamelessly privileging one group over another.
Worth reading in full.
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Wow, coming straight from the horses mouth! The British aught to be worried
many of us are worried but it is hard to fight this when all Westminster political parties support what has been done and the pressure from any opposition there is for it to go further and faster.
the media is signed up to it.
Although Speccie has published this they have not been especially sound on the issues over the years, preferring to be inside with the political class.
Certainly has crept into some workplaces. Where there used to be a range of views, there is now a seemingly unspoken ban on politics. When it does come up, it might be in a hushed tone or broached with caution.
My workplace typical “political” conversation:
”You wouldn’t believe this bloke, he
was a Brexiteer/Trump supporter etc etc, chortle chortle”
Me: I voted Leave and were I American I would have voted for Trump
Colleague splutters into their coffee
Well I cannot disagree with any of this assessment.
I now exist almost as two people – the people who sort of know me here on DS and the vast majority of the rest of the world. A world which is largely made up of stupid and intelligent stupid ie the ones who cannot remember anything of the last three years, the ones who believe Russia is the bad guy, the NHS is wonderful, MSM are unimpeachable truth-tellers and Fishy and Co are trying their best, the WEF is a pantomime show and the United Nations exists solely to save mankind.
My public persona is largely a facade. I consider the majority of my contemporaries as utter fuckwits and contempt seethes beneath my fake, indifferent visage. As an actor I am now triple Oscar worthy. I trundle along trying with great difficulty to pretend that all is fine while raging inside at the reality that few of us can see.
I cling to the life I thought I knew but current reality is demolishing the memories. The future looks anything but pretty.
Pretty much where me and Mrs Tof are, can only really relax with a tiny fraction of the people we used to spend time with
Keep buggering on
Similar here: I just keep my mouth shut, although I seem to spend most of my time truly astonished at the extraordinary levels of cognitive dissonance and general mind f*ckery other people are willing to put themselves through in order to make the slide into a totalitarian dystopia seem perfectly normal and acceptable.
Same here. At home and with certain friends I’m the the ‘real’ me. That ‘real’ me is here too. At work and in general, I’m a heavily censored version of me, especially as I work in the media (low level, nothing anyone here would know!) But I’m surrounded by arrogant people sneering at Brexit and Trump supporters and just assuming I’ll agree with them!
When I watch material from Daily Wire and see people like Megyn Kelly on Rumble, or entertainment commentary by Geeks & Gamers and Nerdrotic, I envy the Americans having that freedom of speech. Watching Laurence Fox and Calvin Robinson on Megyn’s show the last couple of days, it was so nice seeing them really free just to talk. I find this so often with US media: I like the ‘polarisation’ that is so often condemned. We don’t have balance in the UK: everything has to fit Ofcom’s liberal world view, so the BBC can pump out liberal nonsense nonstop, but GB News has to undermine a conservative commentator by putting in a dissenting liberal view.
My biggest irritation in everyday society is that liberals can spout their bile and hatred towards things and people without any questions asked. A conservative or libertarian would be accused of ‘hate’ for the most innocuous remark!!
If I believed some of the crazy things you believe, huxleypiggles, I’d keep my mouth shut too. What was it Denis Thatcher said?
I am only joking, teasing you, I too feel the need to keep quiet about various things: Covid vaccines, trans ‘rights’, Northern Ireland politics, except with a few friends who agree.
I have two separate friends who support the crazy ’trans rights’ ideology, at least up to a point. One knows my views – but we now rarely talk about this toxic issue – the other (not such a close friend) doesn’t know my views. It would be awkward if he knew. Though it didn’t stop me attending the ‘Let Women Speak’ events in Belfast and Dublin.
I remember when I was younger, it was possible to have a good-natured argument without any resentment, that’s much rarer these days, even here on DS at times.
I’m not even myself in the family. I was the only one not to get vaccinated, which was seriously disapproved of and is not a topic of conversation. The younger generation seem comfortable with the alphabet soup group and the military members have their own beliefs.
I can do a good public persona but have no close friends now that I can talk to about current affairs. I spend a lot of time on my own as I don’t have to listen to people taking nonsense,
You seem to have accidentally started your own Me Too movement, HP!
But this dual persona, this article hit the nail on the head. #MeAlso !
I’m in a similar position, minus the rage. I am disillusioned; upset and at times astounded at the naivety of my acquaintances but I don’t suffer from rage – it is an emotion which will destroy you, not them.
I tend to be more like “father forgive them, for they know not what they do” and just patiently and gently try to open their eyes a bit.
The plight we are in is summed up: I can explain for you, but I cannot understand for you.
I wonders how easy it going to be to have two identities with digital ids, CBDC , and no doubt registry to use the internet to ‘protect the kids’.
We deliberately meet in pubs and talk about everything that’s happening. We do Yellow Boards (messages by the road 3 times a week), plus deliver Light Papers and leaflets.
We can’t let evil win
People become complacent about freedom. They seem to think it is the default. But the bigger the government the less the freedom, and in the EU and in the UK, government is getting to be like those giant award winning cucumbers you see on gardening programmes. The best government is the one that governs least, but we now have governments that govern the most. More and more clutter of regulations and mandates on top of even more clutter of regulations and mandates with government interfering in every single thing we do, all costing an arm and a leg. Pretty soon they will want to tell us how to cut our toenails and will provide a little wheelie bin for the clippings that needs put out on the street twice a year. ———–But make sure you don’t put it out on the wrong day, and please make sure it is put out according to the “regulations”. ——-All for the greater good don’t you know, and for our “children and grandchildren”. ————PS I remember the same kind of stuff from the former Czech president Vaclav Klaus who warned us about environmental hijacking for political purposes (particularly the climate change dogma) that reminded him of the old Soviet Union.
The UN and Globalists are building a Communitarian World. They believe that the only reason Communism didn’t work is because it wasn’t enforced worldwide. So that’s what they’re doing.
The UK is getting more like the former East Germany with State surveillance, propaganda and control. If you conform and keep your mouth shut, you’ll be OK; but the hammer will fall if you don’t.
East Germans had the possibility of “the west” saving them. We don’t have anyone. We have to do it ourselves or it will never happen ….. but most of the population don’t/won’t even acknowledge the Globalists’ intentions let alone summon up the cojones to say NO and fight back.
Why do you tink that we were disarned?
Notice before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 that people were always trying to jump over it. In one direction only. From East to West. From poverty to prosperity, and from tyranny to freedom. ——-But what are free people supposed to jump over when the technocrats take control of the whole globe? The pretend to save the planet people at the UN will leave us with nowhere to jump.
If you have to be careful what you say then free speech is dying.