Sunday, August 7, 2005
Unexamination
Read the following quotation:
"...the citizens [who] had grown up since...took the new regime for granted and admired it. They learnt about the past only throught the official history; doubts were set aside by the material achievements visible...and by well orchestrated and incessant indoctrination. The result was a state whose subjects appeared more aware of the benefits given to them than of the handicaps they suffered and one in which politics effectively came to an end for the mass of the population. The party provided the elite where the only debate that mattered took place, and even there it was muted."
Question: Which country is being described here?
A) USSR circa 1935
B) Japan circa 2005
C) America circa 2025
D) All of the above
"...the citizens [who] had grown up since...took the new regime for granted and admired it. They learnt about the past only throught the official history; doubts were set aside by the material achievements visible...and by well orchestrated and incessant indoctrination. The result was a state whose subjects appeared more aware of the benefits given to them than of the handicaps they suffered and one in which politics effectively came to an end for the mass of the population. The party provided the elite where the only debate that mattered took place, and even there it was muted."
Question: Which country is being described here?
A) USSR circa 1935
B) Japan circa 2005
C) America circa 2025
D) All of the above
