[nixnixers]

I find it interesting that the parents in the generation shown by the Americans could have a real political philosophy that (for a believer) would justify warping their childrens lives as some kind of global freedom fighter.. This generation is being taken home by petty nationalists at best, to a nation they have no attachment to.

[aftbit]

I'm not sure why this was flagged but I vouched because it does seem like an interesting point. I didn't finish The Americans but as I remember, one of the key tensions was between the dad who was coming to care more about living a fulfilling life with his family, and the mom who was deeper into the mission and the whole Soviet officer philosophy.

I also don't have kids, but all of my friends who do seem to see them as the most important thing in their lives. It is interesting to see the strength of ideas that can rise above that.

I don't think it's a generational thing though. I think older and younger generations are equally "susceptible" to these sorts of ideas.

[nixnixers]

Sure, I don't really see generations of people as different.. But the extent that government relates to ideological ideas as priorities.

At any rate a modern Americans would be very interesting in terms of how the mother could be portrayed.

[jmyeet]

You touch on an interesting point. There's an acronym I can't recall (nor find) now but when it comes to people betraying their country, there are basically 4 reasons why. I found this from the DNI [1] that lists:

- Resentment towards one's employer

- Financial need

- Ego

- Ideology

You touch on ideology. It's a big one. It's a huge reason why the Manhattan Project leaked to the Soviets so quickly and completely.

So what you're saying is that ideology would largely explain why someone would dedicate their life to being a sleeper agent like this. I tend to agree. That's an easier case to make with the USSR than it is with the Russian Federation.

It's also private killers or assassins aren't really a thing. Like it can make for great fiction but hiring a stranger to kill someone? It doesn't really happen. There's a bit of a joke that if you go on the Web and try to do such a thing, there's a 90% chance you're talking to a Fed.

This comes up with the death of Jeffrey Epstein. Many consider it a murder. I'm in the Carl Sagan camp of "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". You can't really blackmail someone or pay someone to kill somebody else. So if someone did kill Epstein, it would really have to be a state actor or someone doing it for ideological reasons. If such a person worked at the MCC and had access, they'd likely expose themselves. Otherwise, getting in and out o fthe MCC pretty much requires the cooperation of people working there.

[1]: https://www.dni.gov/files/NCSC/documents/campaign/Espionage....

[AnimalMuppet]

Was the acronym MICE? (Money, Ideology, Compromise, and Excitement.)