I don’t know about y’all, but if I grew up in a country that never has the news criticizing its leaders, I’d be very skepical and deduce that there is censorshop going on and the offical news could be exaggerated or entirely falsified. Do people in authoritarian countries actually just eat the propaganda? To what extent do they believe the propaganda?
I grew up in DDR. That act in itself is punishable. In mandatory state school, there was a lot “you live thanks to, and for others” propaganda. Teachers would get benefits if they succesfully got children to tell on their family, or their friends. The children who did so were lauded.
Would you trust your 8 year old kid to not tell his best friend what you talked about at home?
I think your imagination fails to understand the magnitute of surpressing a state can and will do. It’s not just the state, and bad guys in it. It’s everywhere. 1-in-3 people were informants to the stasi. Je stärker der Sozialismus, desto sicherer der Frieden.
I do think people without direct experience are unable to understand the depth or the totalitarian evil. It’s just too terrifying to accept that one can be trully powerless, that any kind of resistance can lead not just to the destruction of themselves, but also their families, that the degree of bullying and control can be so high and the regard for human life so low.
It’s too scary, so normal human minds just refuse it as a possibility and try to imagine more optimistic scenarios.
It’s healthy not to lose hope, but it’s also not good to underestimate the evil and unfair to look down on the people facing it.