To western readers it reads like sarcasm because we acknowledge the truth contained in it. There are tons of addiction problems we are sorting through with these services. But western readers also see clearly the draconian overtones of tyranny in this sort of approach. Hence it reads like sarcasm.
To russian and other readers living in dictatorships, this sort of thing has been repeated so often that I think the draconian aspects are totally missed.
The idea that Western readers can clearly see the draconian overtones of tyranny seems laughable after the last several years. And let's not even mention the fact that Marxism, fascism and Nazism have all originated in Europe...
> The idea that Western readers can clearly see the draconian overtones of tyranny seems laughable after the last several years.
This is a very confusing statement... Why is it laughable to have an education system that teaches us history and critical thinking to see tyranny, even in our societies? Or now you're also on the boat that Stalin was a nice guy after all?
> And let's not even mention the fact that Marxism, fascism and Nazism have all originated in Europe...
The question that you should be asking is: what originated in Russia? Right? Misery, genocide, poverty...
Ones learn from history to avoid it, while modern Russia seems to draw inspiration from Nazi Germany.
What does Stalin have to do with that? As far as I know, fascism is everywhere on the march. And it’s Trump who sets the pace, not Stalin. (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/20/fascis...) Also, it was Trudeau who froze protesters' banks accounts, not Stalin. It was Boris Johnson who partied during Covid lockdowns, not Stalin. It was Pedro Sánchez whose implementation of a state of alarm was deemed unconstitutional, not Stalin. It was three different US administrations that wanted to jail Snowden, Assange and Manning; not Stalin. It is the US police that supposedly targets people of color, not Stalin. It was the bipartisan American parliament that voted for the PATRIOT Act, not Stalin. It was David Cameron who pledged to ban encryption, not Stalin. Are you still wondering why it is laughable?
Ah, I thought you were speaking from a Historical perspective, not very recent events.
I will not dismiss some failures of character of some Western leaders, and questionable moments in modern democracies... but answering your question: in comparison to modern Russia, yes, those anecdotes are laughable.
None of the Western leaders has murdered or attempted to murder political opposition through several methods of assassination;
None of them has been on a rampage of oligarch executions to seize their assets and consolidate power;
None of the administrations arrests people for holding blank pieces of paper in front of their governance buildings;
In Western countries you don't have one, and only one press - the state press.
I mean I can go on with this list just to highlight the absurdity of thinking the sad anecdotes of the Western countries' governance remotely compares to the sht show of Russia. People live in misery there, by choice of governance.
In case you didn't realize, there's a genocide going on in Ukraine and it's being promoted in Russian state media.
