I Like 'em All -- But I'm Raving About This Uncommon Knowledge Interview...
Move Peter Robinson's interview with Yuri Yarim-Agaev to the top of your list: this interview is fabulous. Peter's good -- but Yarim-Agaev is absolutely freakin' awesome!
I'm going to show this video in my classroom during our flex period on day 1 of the rapidly looming school year. I happen to teach in a community that is more in tune with history than most, and therefore more conservative -- but, as Yarim-Agaev says in segment 5, we should teach our children about the Soviet Union and the Cold War with the same passion we apply to delivering the lessons of Nazi Germany and World War II.
As informed and right-thinking as they and their parents may be, I doubt my kids have heard about Communism from an eyewitness. As Fred and George Weasley put it in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" in describing their first lesson with the man they believed was ex-auror Mad-Eye Moody: He knows. He's been there. He's done it -- and, like good teachers, Messrs. Robinson and Yarim-Agaev make essential connections between their topic and the challenges we face today.
If anyone challenges me about showing this video, I'm simply going to say that I thought the kids should see how History is done at the professional level. You don't read it in a textbook. You talk to people who were THERE. Are you going to tell me this guy got it wrong? REALLY?
Bravo Mr. Robinson!
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Jun '10
Re: I Like 'em All -- But I'm Raving About This Uncommon Knowledge Interview...
Yes, you are right -- this is an excellent interview. For cold warriors this is really important. And Peter is the perfect person to interview Mr. Yarim-Agaev because... well, because he's a cold warrior of the highest caliber. Peter had an eye-witness seat on the most significant presidency of the 20th Century.
We must never forget.
It's interesting how he insisted that for the dissidents it was important to only become one if you were absolutely sure that you were willing to give up your life -- that the KGB was sufficiently trained to be able to tell the ones who were serious from those who might want to dally in it. He makes a chilling case for how dangerous it was for him and all the dissidents of that time. Of course, during earlier times, they would have been all shot without us even knowing who were serious and who were not.
We live in such a wonderful country! Mr. Yarim-Agaev is able to confirm this for all us so well because he is able to give us some context on the realities of the rest of the world. This is the best country.
Dec '10
Re: I Like 'em All -- But I'm Raving About This Uncommon Knowledge Interview...
Thanks for posting this, Louie. And I hope you do get some push-back for showing it to your class, just because it will further reveal how indefensible the positions of the left are.
My only frustration is Peter and Yuri didn't spend much time discussing why the Reagan/Thatcher/John-Paul triad was so important. Perhaps they will in another interview.
Nov '10
Re: I Like 'em All -- But I'm Raving About This Uncommon Knowledge Interview...
Agreed, it was excellent. What Rob Long said on the podcast a few weeks ago is absolutely true: "You know you're conservative when you're still really mad about communism."
Jul '11
Re: I Like 'em All -- But I'm Raving About This Uncommon Knowledge Interview...
I would love to hear your thoughts on how the successes we faced against the Soviet Union can be transferred to our battles with other totalitarian manifestations such as the Iranians or the Muslim Brotherhood and their ilk. I am sure I am not the only one to see that most of the Cold war is getting white-washed by Left.
Jun '10
Re: I Like 'em All -- But I'm Raving About This Uncommon Knowledge Interview...
Agreed!
When I heard the bit about how the grad student didn't know what the cold war was, I threw up a little in my mouth...
Edited on Jul 16, 2011 at 9:32amJul '11
Re: I Like 'em All -- But I'm Raving About This Uncommon Knowledge Interview...
"Of course was evil empire." Best line in the whole episode. I really do love Uncommon Knowledge. I also found what Yuri said about social 'immunity' to communism very, very insightful. The idea that maybe we were partially resistant to it being what saved us initially, but lead to our present 'wear down' infection was ver interesting. (sorry for the grammar, i'm exhausted this morning)
Apr '11
Re: I Like 'em All -- But I'm Raving About This Uncommon Knowledge Interview...
Take Yarim-Agaev at his word that the triumvirate of Thatcher, Reagan, and John Paul II were crucial. I think we need three leaders who speak the unvarnished truth about either Islam itself or at least the kind of Islam that is totalitarian. Humza, that's your cue not to be silent.
I think we'd need Benedict XVI or his successor, the next President, and a close, influential, and allied statesman to stand up together, give our enemies a name, and stick to their guns.
After that, we need a field of vital but nonviolent competition. We competed economically with the Soviets. Is there an area where we could compete with Muslims nonviolently -- YES! EUREKA! I HAVE IT: LET'S UNLEASH OUR OIL-PRODUCING CAPACITY AND PUT THE ISLAMIC OIL-PRODUCERS UNDER SOME REAL ECONOMIC PRESSURE.
A neo-Reagan, a neo-Thatcher, a worthy successor to Peter and John Paul II, and unabated, unapologetic oil independence. That's my hypothesis.
Jun '10
Re: I Like 'em All -- But I'm Raving About This Uncommon Knowledge Interview...
Brilliant, Louie. It all either comes down to or is deeply affected by economics, doesn't it?
The technological competition we had with the Soviets isn't mirrored here, though. So, no problem there. Is there? I can't see it if there is.
Finally, ideological issues need to be addressed. Reagan was so effective at showing the immorality of the Soviets.
The moral cesspool that the Islamists live in is probably where we can slowly win over more Muslims.
Aug '10
Re: I Like 'em All -- But I'm Raving About This Uncommon Knowledge Interview...
Another key lesson has to be Western support for dissidents. Support for their ideas and ways of getting them out was crucial. Radio Free Europe, etc. But also support in the production and distribution of samizdat, support for underground seminars and lectures--all of the things that allowed dissidents to create an otherwise absent civil society. But the effect of Western leaders simply speaking the truth ("evil empire"), can be galvanizing. The evil empire line was once described by a Czech dissident as "a metaphysical blow to the heart of the system."