Amerika - Red Dawn, But Really Slow

[@cj7caster33]

If I had to sum up the overall spirit of Red dawn vs Amerika it would've been this Red dawn: we lost the battle ,but can still fight the war to fix it. Amerika: we lost the war, now each day is a battle to live with it.

[@Sedgewise47]

😯… 🤔…

[@SusCalvin]

@@cj7caster33 I think of Red Dawn as a thought experiment. This scale of partisan combat would have played out in Europe. By placing these hypothetical events in a setting close to home, I think we can start to grasp the scale.

[@ecmorgan69]

Kind of funny that Sam Neill plays a Soviet officer more than once.

[@darrenrenna]

Never heard of this relic, the kind of thing I would have loved as a teenager

[@seanwoods5943]

Nor had I. Probably a good reason for that.

[@BaseDeltaZero1972]

Been following this channel for several months now, it is knocking out some really interesting content and deserves far more exposure and viewership that it currently has. I always look forward to finding a new upload here.👍

[@johnecoapollo7]

I was looking for this show for years and found it randomly on KZbin last December. A bit slow moving, yes but a worthwhile watch

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

"They knew it was bad, they were afraid it would get worse" - a perfect summary for the soviet/ruzzian history. Of course, long-term zombification had also resulted in a considerable share of the population (in my estimate, about 20% max) that truly believe that the existing regime is the best that has ever happened and that there are no better ways of life.

[@Svevsky]

That mindset infected most european nations. In germany we have the idea of the "best germany of all time", a semi ironic slogan coined by angela merkel, the absolutely democratically elected former stasi operative that ruled our nation for nearly 2 decades. Obviously, now that shes gone it only became worse. So im not hopeful about a post-putin russia.

[@SusCalvin]

One of my friends thought it was a fear of chaos. A lot of dictators and non-democratic states from Rhodesia to al-Assad try to impress that they are the only alternative to chaos. Usually because they have removed any other alternatives.

[@SusCalvin]

Right now it looks like Putin has that sort of balance. Enough people of their elite are unsure of their chances during a post-Putin power struggle that Putin remains.

[@modelermark172]

It's been a very long time since I watched this miniseries (and the OG "Red Dawn.") But a few years earlier, I read a book from our local library titled, "What To Do When The Russians Come: A Survivor's Guide," and it was fresh in my mind when I saw "Red Dawn" and "Amerika." Though the book could be interpreted as anything from a, "Right-Wing Paranoid Fantasy," to a, "But seriously, folks," satire; the underlying point was that the only way America in particular and the West in general could be defeated is if we let it happen. But it added that either way, the stakes are VERY high. Global Thermonuclear War is inconceivably horrible to most people. But the idea that an enemy or rival may be appeased has an unbroken track record. I've heard analysis along the lines of this video before. But I think yours is above average with the points it makes. Thank you for taking the time to do the research and make your presentation. 475th Like.

[@jnseney]

Thank you for this I feel like this miniseries should be redone for the current situation.

[@sarmajere2866]

I've read the novel but never watched the mini series, though I'm fascinated by it. I just haven't been able to devote the time and brainpower since it feels like a slog, but I'm excited to see commentary on it, and will get around to it some day! Interested to see a take on this while I randomly googled to see clips.

[@feralhistorian]

It's definitely a slog and its flaws are many and glaring, but it manages to take its time with a multi-faceted story in a way that no production today would attempt.

[@MarkAndrewEdwards]

I'm glad you brought this show up. I'd forgotten about it.

[@Monkechnology]

3:02 That interview was absolutely amazing

[@leesimmons5453]

The argument against secession - we're surrounded by enemies - was even more true at the time of American independence.

[@baneofbanes]

It’s also why Americas rivals have a long history of supporting these groups.

[@SusCalvin]

It's how any experiment in making a nation in Europe works like that. You might dream of a decentralized state with weak power but that does not make France next doors go away.

[@SusCalvin]

@@leesimmons5453 I think the change of speed with nuclear weapons changed the presidency. The people making decisions during the Cuba Crisis could fit into a conference room and make decisions hour by hour. The same on the Soviet side, Chrusjtjov is practically sleeping in his office.

[@djolds1]

LONG time since I thought of this show. This was a good critique of it. Kudos.

[@Sedgewise47]

“…the grass is not always greener over shallow graves…” 🤔I’ll have to remember that. (🤔…Y’know-translated into Mandarin, Russian, or Persian, that might look great as a tattoo, wouldn’t it? [Or on a shirt? Or a jacket?…])

[@robmclean4352]

The reason why nothing really gets resolved at the end of 'Amerika' is because they were planning to make it into a weekly series (which never happened).

[@johnwalsh4857]

yah watched this one back int he day it was touted as a main event TV mini series and I bleieve ABC spent mucho dinero on it, as it was the height of the cold war where you had bad tensions in Europe between NATO and Warsaw pact over provocative military excessive and posturing by both sides and tac nukes being deployed . I remember when this was shown on Philippine TV in 89, you had the entire military leadership of the Philippine army come out on TV and give a speech on teh evil of communism before the show aired.

[@kademcarthur5362]

Hi, just discovered your videos and already love it. They actually kinda remind me of Tom Scott.

[@MrGunlover12]

Sam Neil's character is probably the most interesting of the mini series. I dont it horrible but I feel like it needed another pass threw editing.

[@feralhistorian]

Yes, that series could have been cut down to half the runtime without losing much.

[@jens256]

holy shit, I never heard of this??? Feels like the mandela effect...

[@Churchmilitant67]

I agree with your sentiment about political larping, however I would argue larping extends to all aspects of most people's lives, including religion.

[@stolman2197]

You sir are a real revolutionary

[@johnwalsh4857]

yah this mini series is prophetic in a sense that the USSR broke up 3 years after this mini series debuted. and its caused a massive problem 32 years later with teh Ukraine war. if this movie is a reflection of events ini our timeline Im thinking USA breaks up into several independent states. 10 years after the end of the movie while broken up parts of the former USA begin forming up again with Peter Bradford as its leader(analogous to Putin in our timeline), while the USSR is distracted busy with a rival cold war with China. 30 years later. after the end of the war in this timeline's 2022, a resurgent USA invaded and is stuck in an attirtional war in the American west coast who are being supported by Mexico and the warsaw pact, and Presient Bradford(Robert Urich and this timeilines version of Putin) is adamant that it is just a special military operation.

[@KnightofRome01]

I will have to look this miniseries up, seems very interesting. Plus, I am a huge fan of Sam Neill, so him being a central character is a huve plus to me.

[@robertlehnert4148]

Hideously, mind numbingly slow, however prophetic. _Red Dawn_ was the fast, violent, sexy version. However, the "United Nations" occupation force in Amerika seemed to be the original for that bee in the bonnet of militia groups and the like.

[@bombfog1]

I feel an apology from me is in order. A few weeks ago, after watching my first video of yours, I wrote to make sure you weren’t a leftist. I was so pleased by that first video that I wanted to subscribe immediately. Well, twice in the past, I became invested in creators and was a touch crestfallen when later their leftist proclivities because manifest. So, while your first video threw up no red flags, I felt I had to ask. I really should have just watched one or two more videos to learn I had nothing to fear. It’s very heartening to watch content from an academic who doesn’t view the Constitution as a trammeling piece of paper fit only to wipe one’s dirty ass.

[@feralhistorian]

I'm not sure I qualify as an academic these days since I left grad school without the coveted Doctorate, but to this day I'm baffled that anyone can study history and still think that collectivism is a good idea.

[@SusCalvin]

I think your constitution weights a bit on state rights over the individual. The electoral college is an odd selection of middle men. Gerrymandering is a risk in any system with electoral boundaries. One of my friends thought that the less real change people can make, the more important the culture war gets.

[@SusCalvin]

​@@feralhistorianI think the greatest threat would be a libertarian or neoliberal or what have you screwing up so bad that the mess can't be unseen and then stand on it yelling "The ONLY alternative to me is the fringe!"

[@feralhistorian]

The Electoral College makes sense when you consider that the US was not founded as a nation-state, but as a federation. The Electoral College is the mechanism for the people of each member state to cast votes for President as member states. It's all broken down now of course, with government and the public generally forgetting that federation aspect and trying to run it as a single nation-state using institutions not designed for that purpose.

[@SusCalvin]

@@feralhistorian I think those systems squeeze out smaller parties. If I vote for a party with 30% supporters but get 0% senatorial seats, why should I bother. The impression of non-choice is something I fear. I'm always curious about how christian democracy or greens or social democracy would do in the USA.

[@notsostealthmission5184]

Sooo… this is a sequel to Red Dawn?

[@feralhistorian]

Not a sequel, just a contemporary take on similar themes. I think of Red Dawn as the Hollywood action version with a military invasion, and Amerika as the more believable crushing the people with bureaucracy version of essentially the same story.

[@bobkoroua]

All of this would be inspiring if you didn't charge people a life changing cost for a ambulance to the hospital.

[@yurimikhail6907]

"Listen to Yuri Bezmenov" might as well listen to Hitlers personal portrait painter. He might know the exact length of Hitler's mustache, but don't expect that he's aware of Generalplan Ost.

[@hellsonly8908]

A lot of what Bezmenov said was script that he recited for the purpose of Cold War propaganda. The Soviets did not proactively seek to promote social justice as away to subvert systems.

[@SusCalvin]

What did the guy work with? All I know is that the KGB included a huge amount of people, including the boring administrative elements and internal troops etc.

[@NefariousKoel]

@@SusCalvin Bezmenov was in a KGB psy-ops branch, according to him. The points of the exposed plan certainly sounds like the wording and structuring of just such a bureaucratic Intel psy-op's overall statement of methods & goals. The Soviets apparently underestimated the time scale, but long-term results seem to have appeared, and via the exact methods stated. Soviet infiltration of parts of US society have been attested since the end of the cold war, even including funding in some cases. Bezmenov's warning was no stretch at all.

[@SusCalvin]

@@NefariousKoel Current russian propaganda warfare we get today is less about communist ideals. They can still try to dunk on US imperialism, but you are as likely as get a cheap meme about islamist invasions of Eurpe, how pride parades are the real invasion, why the USA is a decadent weak mess or mistrust in vaccination programs. Like the goal is not some coherent victory in the culture war but to create a confusing mess. They don't give a shit what happens with cuture war nonsense as long as it draws attention from shell production. Soviet propaganda to its own population enlarged existing faults in the USA.If you read Pravda it might appear that KKK militias and race riots and heroin was everywhere. A lot of this is relatively open for discussion since the fall of the Block and the opening of their archives. You can go to the Stasi museum and look up what methods they used. So I would like to see some source other than this bloke, especialy as time have passed. There should be a lot more KGB folks sitting around. The typical intelligence asset was more likely to share ideology or have big money problems or be a dupe with no idea who they worked for.

[@fredlandry6170]

I remember this BORING miniseries when I was 17.

[@hellsonly8908]

Yuri Bezmenov did not give his speeches or interviews to nearly any outlets of repute or real reach; functionally, he was just shouting into the (mostly) Conservative circles like the John Birch Society and extremely anti-Soviet circles all the time. Or just writing personal books/memoirs. Other than a couple of articles for the Washington Post and a few times his work has been used by a more liberal institution as an example the very thing he was talking about. He didn't try to actually help anyone; he preached almost exclusively to the converted as the saying goes. Relating to the first three points from the list above, Yuri Beznemov's actions betray his words - he said he came to warn the United States and the West about the Soviets, but his actions are those of a man trying to sow conflict and division by speaking to one side to rile them up and set them against a group who should be their ally. Bezmenov's entire ideology is functionally (and at times literally if you read his other works) "Literally everything liberal/progressive is a Soviet plant and only red-blooded American conservatism and rejection of the things those other people stand for can save America!"

[@Samson16667]

I've noticed that too as well with Yuri. The guy is an intelligent and well spoken person who makes some great points about the failures and atrocities of the Soviet Union. But it kinda reminds me of McCarthyism when he states that "progressives and liberals are Soviet plants"

[@hellsonly8908]

@@Samson16667 I remember how after the war a lot of the Nazis s who found themselves in Western hands particularly American and wanting to save their own neck would lie about the Soviets wanting to push west. Now the Americans knew early on this was crap but the British led by Churchill wanted this shit to be true or believable so to justify operation unthinkable. The western allied invasion of the east and USSR. And because the Soviets did have at the time at least the best espionage service they knew shit was going on and of course this only ensure that old Russian paranoia of invasion was kept alive. And so they do what they did on eastern Europe cause they wanted a buffer. That's why they didn't annex or accept the desire of countries like Bulgaria to become member Republics of the USSR.

[@kingkommashow]

Yuri "the gays are a soviet psyop" besmenov

[@romanmanner]

So be was a Sebastian Gorka before there was a Sebastian Gorka?

[@theDinosorcerer]

You make it sound like the decision for more liberal/mainstream journalistic outlets to hear him out was in his hands.