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Frame from KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov's warning to America Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov's warning to America

Persian Humanist
Interviews
YouTube
1 HN user recommended this interview1 month2017–2024 score 1.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Mostly cited as a source for the demoralization and subversion idea, though one commenter dismisses it as alt-right material.

A clip of a 1984 interview with KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov describing Soviet ideological subversion and demoralization of a target society, uploaded with a politically charged framing.

“Everybody should watch this video” (HN, 2017)

1 strong recommendations · 8 citations · 1 critical · Interviews · partly dated

10 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@cmahler7 Jul 2017 Strongly recommends
on HN thread The Decline of Marriage
People have been brainwashed to hate their own culture, demorilization is the first step of ideological subversion. Western Civilization might not be perfect but there's nothing else in human history that has come close to it. Everybody should watch this video [this video]
Bezmenov interview on ideological subversion

Citations, criticism and jokes

@asabjorn Jan 2019 Cites it
on HN thread Brexit Deal Fails in Parliament
Yes, the KGB defector Yuri [1] said as much. He describes a slow distruption they started of America by infiltrating the education system. This attacks the weakness of a democracy, which is the fact that it’s run by people for the behest of itself as a system and does not answer to an estate that would otherwise check its malfunctioning. However, that doesn’t mean the movements of dissent is caused by this. They could be, or they could be a symptom of the problems not solved by a long term malfunctioning Democratic system. [1] [this video]
Cited as source on Soviet subversion of education
@asabjorn Jan 2019 Cites it
on HN thread Brexit Deal Fails in Parliament
How do you know that other more major political stories is not the real product of manipulation [1] and these opposition movements are a symptom of problems not solved by a malfunctioning Democratic system? [1] [this video]
Cited as source on manipulation of political movements
@asabjorn Jan 2019 Cites it
on HN thread Brexit Deal Fails in Parliament
Read more
As I said elsewhere: Yes, the KGB defector Yuri [1] in 1984 said as much that there is manipulation. He describes a slow distruption they started of America by infiltrating the education system. This attacks the weakness of a democracy, which is the fact that it’s run by people for the behest of itself as a system and does not answer to an estate that would otherwise check its malfunctioning. However, that doesn’t mean the movements of dissent is caused by this. They could be, or they could be a symptom of the problems not solved by a long term malfunctioning Democratic system. And the malfunctioning could be some other more major political ideology. [1] [this video]
Cited as source of 1984 interview on subversion
@nix23 Mar 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Gab has been hacked and 70GB of data leaked
Isn't it beautiful how the American and western society's rips itself apart? Man vs Women, Woman vs Trans, Gay vs Lesbians, White vs Black..oh sorry i mean People of no Color vs People of Color, Democrats vs Republicans and so on...zero consensus on each side what our society should be. It's like the KGB wins the cold war after all...with a small delay. Yuri Bezmenov: [this video] [link]
Cited as source for the demoralization claim
@baybal2 Jul 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Media blackout after key witness against Assange admits lying
Read more
> I'm not sure you have to keep pointing to the boogie man of soviet infiltrators to explain power hungry bureaucrats. Those have existed in literally every society since at least the early bronze age. No, I'd say power hunger is one thing, but what you face now is unique to this poisonous "Soviet Culture." A very special, aggressive brand of social nihilism at the apex of civil society, characteristic of one party/social class governments. Putin put his own spin on the timeless demoralisation tactic ( [this video] ,) an even more aggressive targeting of both the new elites, and the establishment (see Biden Jr. adventures with in Ukraine.) Or plainly speaking playing both sides.
Cited for the demoralisation tactic
@recuter Mar 2023 Cites it
on HN thread Costs of the U.S.-Led War in Iraq Since 2003
I have noticed a trend of "America bad" on this website. There is certainly a lot to criticize about this particular boondoggle, or indeed, any war. But taking notes from obvious Sino and Russophiles is not productive. On false equivalency: [link] On demoralization: [this video] Dang, I suggest you close the thread, cheers.
Cited on demoralization as a tactic
@tenpies Mar 2023 Cites it
on HN thread The Teen Mental Illness Epidemic Is International, Part 1: The Anglosphere
Read more
Also falls perfectly within what Yuri Bezmenov (the KGB defector who explained the Soviet's plan to take down the West through ideological subversion) laid out. At around that time, you would have the first batch of fully indoctrinated (trained by Socialists from childhood to adulthood, with no oversight or counterbalance) graduating. That is also the group that sets the stage for the demoralisation phase of the plan and allows for the next phase: destabilisation. Good summary here: [link] And the original interview: [this video] I don't think this is purely a Soviet ploy working out, but you can't help but look at the Western education system and realise that's a big part of the problem.
Cited as original interview on ideological subversion
@ranger_danger Nov 2024 Cites it
on HN thread Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds
"As a rule, strong feelings about issues do not emerge from deep understanding." Mind = blown. Also relevant: [this video]
Offered as relevant to why facts do not change minds
@hackermailman Aug 2019 Pushes back
on HN thread The coming automation of propaganda
Read more
The right wing has their own version of this, a KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov, who has powerful (meme) videos about the coming destruction of America and how it would take 3 decades to fulfill, all recorded in the early 80s. 'To change the perception of reality of every American, despite their abundence of information, nobody is able to come to sensible conclusions,... it's a great brainwashing process that takes decades' [this video] Yuri also claims the Soviet Union never fell, it just reinvented itself. This is pretty standard 'alt-right' materials that people should pay attention to if they wish to understand that reactionary wing of politics

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