The Trap

Just watched Adam Curtis "The Trap: Whatever Happened to Our Dream of Freedom".

A few notes.

1. The Sartrean idea of freedom, as authenticity found in the revolutionary act, was dealt with ages before Sartre and answered extremely effectively by G.K. Chesterton in his short story "The Yellow Birds". I advise anyone who thinks Sartrean freedom with bombs etc is not mad to read this story.

2. What happened to the Asian financial crisis, which certainly came in the middle of the Russian move to free market economy, and must have had an impact? Not mentioned, which is a weakness. If you are going to present history, present a fuller picture and don't omit bits which don't fit.

3) What happened to the other Eastern former USSR countries, which did not go through the Russian experience despite moving towards a market economy? Not mentioned, which is a weakness in the presentation, and makes me wonder how selective it was in making its case rather than looking to test its hypothesis.

4) Berlin was mention as the only promoter of an idea of liberty. If Popper's ideas had been in place in the USSR transition (assuming Curtis depicts it right), it would probably not have happened. A sweeping change (no price controls, especially on foodstuffs and essentials, privatisation etc) is what Popper would have condemned as Utopian social engineering (e.g. The Poverty of Historicism), which he said invariably goes wrong. He also pointed out an asymmetry - we cannot legislate for happiness (because everyone has their own idea), but we can legislate to minimise suffering.