Ken WhiteMar 14, 2023
In reacting to the news that a publisher made politically correct language edits to the R.L. Stine Goosebumps books, please consider maintaining some self-respect and perspective.
Show threadRiley S. FaelanMar 14, 2023

@Popehat: Ironically, USSR did not have "cultural commissars". The concept is largely a talk radio / right-wing press invention.

USSR had "people's commissars", which were essentially government ministers. English-language texts sometimes translate into 'political commissars' the word политрук 'politruk' that would be best translated as 'political instructors", from Russian рука for hand, since the Russian word for 'instructor' means literally 'hand-walker', as in the metaphor of holding the hand of a little child while walking with them; those people were not supposed to make policy decisions but to implement them.

Show threadRiley S. Faelan

@Popehat: So, I reread what I wrote, and perhaps a point of clarification is in order:

USSR definitely had censors, and Glavlit, and all that totalitarian shit, but it was not structured anything like National Review pretended. In other words, it had plenty of stuff worthy of harsh criticism, but talking about "cultural commissars", the American right-wing press didn't criticise the real shitty stuff, they made up fictional shitty stuff and criticised that.

Mar 14, 2023 at 2:32amWeb