[Cal]

I've been watching the HBO miniseries Chernobyl, which dramatically shows what really happened when and after the Soviet Union nuclear power plant exploded.

The top priority of the Soviets was to suppress and control information. Everything was about lying and threatening and punishing those who didn't go along with the white-washing. In time the disaster became so great that some could no longer pretend, but the Soviet machine still tried to spin things to their best benefit, even as the top leaders had to face the reality of the situation. But the striking thing was how the pecking order, information control and pretending was such an accepted part of daily life there.

Besides the party "true believers" most people realized the system was bad, but had no power to resist. Everyone just went along with it. Shortly after the plant explosion, an elderly party apparatchik gives a stirring but completely naive pep talk to an arguing group of leaders. He tells them that everything will be alright if they have faith in "the state." The inspired group stands and applauds him, ignorant of the radiation bombarding their bodies at that very moment.

I was struck at how it matched the LR culture. The fatal error is that the group, whether the "state" or the "recovery," is more important that anyone or anything, even the truth. It's all about threats and fear and intimidation and keeping people in their place. It's all about people being means to an end. It's all about a system based on lies. The KGB reminded me of the DCP. They too considered their job "a faithful word," when all they were was the intimidating muscle behind the lies.

The LR is Christianity's Soviet Union. So many grand ideas, all more important than the people they are supposed to bless--a relentless machine marching to its final meltdown, which will unfortunately take many with it.