[eschaton]

Sure. But there are also a significant number of people who are nostalgic for it and might be offended by this use for that reason, hence why I asked.

Given the existence of both groups I think just the claim that it’s offensive, without explaining why, is ambiguous and just reacting defensively doesn’t address that.

[tgv]

Given all we know about the USSR, I don't think anyone needs to explain why. This plus your other comment suggest you're replying in bad faith.

[Mikhail_Edoshin]

It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.

[eschaton]

Nope. I just evidently know people with more varied opinions on the USSR than you do. (Including people who grew up there.)

[tgv]

Opinions... There are people with varied opinions on Nazi Germany. That doesn't mean squat.

The USSR eradicated everyone with a deviating opinion about the regime. They perished in the dungeons of the KGB and in the Gulags. What remained were opportunists and followers. Opinions!

[jibal]

Indeed, that accusation of bad faith is such blatant projection ... essentially "It's bad faith to disagree with me, and there's no need for me to justify my claims."

This whole diversion is off topic and can be seen as a form of bad faith.

[eschaton]

I’m not even disagreeing, I’m saying that there are different (and somewhat opposed) ways in which someone could find an image offensive, so it’s worthwhile to provide further context.

[jibal]

Yes, I know you aren't, but they are taking it that way.

[kombine]

> Given the existence of both groups

This is a false equivalence between those who suffered from USSR and those who are ignorant of the suffering of others. I don't think we should care about feelings of a group who are for whatever reason nostalgic about a genocidal oppressive regime.

[eschaton]

Would you treat an image of the US House of Representatives the same way? The United States has caused an enormous amount of suffering in the world and has in the past had an explicit policy of genocide and oppression against a number of groups (including my wife’s ancestors), as well as a number of other horrific policies. If you would not treat an image of the US House of Representatives the same way as you treat an image of the Supreme Soviet, it’s worthwhile to interrogate why.

Peoples’ feelings about the nations they are born into and told to love from birth are complex and multifaceted. The people I know who grew up in the USSR have both good and bad things to say about it, just like the people I know who grew up in the USA (like me) at the same time (the 1970s-1990s) have both good and bad things to say about it. And that isn’t just about our own experiences growing up in these respective nations, but about learning our birth nations’ true histories, and how closely (or not) the ideals espoused by their founders and politicians and important figures in their histories were reflected in their actions.

Thus I really, truly do believe it’s ambiguous for someone to say, without any further context, that they find an image of a legislature with some screen shots of an IDE placed into it offensive. Is it offensive because it’s referencing a body they consider evil or is it offensive because it’s trivializing a body they consider good? Without context it’s impossible to know, and acting like everyone shares the same context about this is just refusal to engage with the world as it is rather than the world as you’d like it to be.

[jech]

> Would you treat an image of the US House of Representatives the same way?

No. The right analogy is an image of the Reichstag with Nazi banners.

[LeFantome]

If we asked people around the world which country should be most feared, I wonder what they would say?

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2026/06/07/study-world-usa-b...

[eschaton]

A lot of people will disagree with you on that.

A lot of people might also have coherent reasons to think that analogy applies equally to the US House of Representatives and the US Senate.