There’s a post at Buzzfeed’s community-contributed section titled, get this, “29 Astounding Soviet Propaganda Images Promoting Racial Equality.” The subtitle is “Whoa. The Soviet Union got racial equality right before America?”
Here’s first paragraph:
Under its policy of internationalism, the Soviet Union tried to eliminate racism right from the beginning — aggressively instituting domestic and international policies of equality, humanism, and anti-colonialism.
What a great guy that Stalin was!
https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/426135764771287040
Climaco=Oliver Stone penname? RT @NoahCRothman: What a mortifyingly, offensively ignorant post, @buzzfeed. Shameless. http://t.co/a4as85McyU
— Prudence Paine (@PruPaine) January 22, 2014
@NoahCRothman @BuzzFeed I believe @MarcClimaco failed to review the treatment of 'Cosmopolitans' in Stalin's Academy of Science. #ignorant
— dotn (@dotn) January 22, 2014
@PruPaine @NoahCRothman @BuzzFeed To be clear. That's just a community post. Not by somebody who actually works at Buzzfeed.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) January 22, 2014
@PruPaine @NoahCRothman @BuzzFeed Though, it would be interesting to know if Buzzfeed promoted the piece or not.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) January 22, 2014
That old Soviet Union sure was way ahead of its time on human and civil rights, wasn’t it? And a Buzzfeed community contributor found the posters to prove it.
The Buzzfeed-style mockery brought about some hilarious ideas of what kinds of follow-up articles we may see while at the same time providing a valuable history lesson:
Recommended
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/426133119976996865
@BecketAdams These Six Apparatchiks Didn't Applaud Enough At The 18th All-Party Congress…And You Won't Believe The Gulug They're In Now
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 22, 2014
@TheRickWilson @BecketAdams 11 weird tricks to escape a gulag
— The Real Matt Finn (@mdrache) January 22, 2014
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/426136118690451457
@BecketAdams @mdrache The Secret Behind This Tireless Stakhanovite Labor Hero Project Will Surprise You!
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 22, 2014
@BecketAdams The 27 Oddest Pets in Siberia @TheRickWilson
— The Real Matt Finn (@mdrache) January 22, 2014
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/426138437448916992
@BecketAdams @mdrache Heartwarming Scenes from This Soviet Psychiatric Hospital for Political Dissidents Will Surprise You
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 22, 2014
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/426139747384561664
@TheRickWilson 13 Code Names that Would Get You Kicked Out Of Dissident Club @BecketAdams
— The Real Matt Finn (@mdrache) January 22, 2014
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/426139124710793216
@TheRickWilson 34 Sex Tips from Siberia That Might Surprise Florida Retirees @BecketAdams
— The Real Matt Finn (@mdrache) January 22, 2014
@mdrache @BecketAdams Take Our Kulak Quiz! Will You Be Forcibly Relocated, Shot, or Starved to Death? The Answer Could Be All Three!
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 22, 2014
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/426141157790584832
@BecketAdams Ezra Klein: Why Bullets Are Cheaper Than Reform @TheRickWilson
— The Real Matt Finn (@mdrache) January 22, 2014
RT @mdrache: @BecketAdams These 20 Million People Won't Need Obamacare. Click This Slideshow to See Why!
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 23, 2014
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/426142962376921088
@BecketAdams @mdrache Now Ice Axe? Use These Simple Home Tool Hacks To Crush The Skull of Political Apostates!
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 23, 2014
@BecketAdams @mdrache 16 Funny Ways Beria, Khrushchev, and Malenkov's Battle Over Succession Was Like The East Coast/West Coast Rap War.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 23, 2014
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/426144204780498944
Hilarious, but at the same time a shame the mockery was necessary.
(h/t Laura_PH)