Thread by @kamilkazani

Two observations. In the recent years,

1. Silicon Valley has been turning red
2. MAGA discourse has been increasingly dominated by a few tech moguls

Now the thing with moguls is they are extreme outliers, who do not understand they are outliers.

Overall, you can expect tech moguls to have much, much higher level of reasoning abilities compared to the political/administrative class. But this comes at a cost. Their capacities for understanding the Other (masses count as the “Other”) are much poorer.

E.g. Putin is much, much less of an outlier in terms of intelligence compared to Thiel. He is much more average. At the same time, I am positively convinced that Putin understands the masses and works with masses much better.

Putin understands: when you go fishing you think of what the fish likes, not what you like. You may prefer blueberries, but fish likes worms. So you take worms, not the blueberries.

I am not sure Thiel (or others) understand that

E.g. Putin is highly critical of Lenin and the early Bolsheviks (who destroyed the unity of Russia), while holding much more positive view of Stalin (who restored it). But Lenin’s cult is so deeply woven into the culture (esp. for the elderly) that Putin chooses not to fight it

Time after time, at nearly every big meeting he makes negative remarks about Lenin (for federalizing and autonomizing Russia). At the same time, he does nothing to fight his cult. Actually, in Donbass Russian authorities restore Lenin’s monuments, rename streets after Lenin, etc

So, Putin strongly dislikes Lenin and his legacy. But the Russian state does nothing to fight his cult. It actually expands and buttresses it whenever convenient. Why? Because it goes well for the population. For them, Lenin is just an element of generic patriotism & nostalgia

To put it simply, Putin sees Lenin as “bad”, destructive and anti-patriotic. But Putin’s support base, the elderly, are used to see him as “good”, constructive and patriotic. And they are not going to change their opinion. They will hold their beliefs & prejudices till death.

So, if Putin started “Lenin bad” campaign (based on what he actually thinks), the only thing he would achieve is confusing and disorienting his own supporters. That’s why he is not doing that.

He doesn’t fight Lenin’s cult. He is actually doing the opposite. In his conquest in Ukraine, he is harnessing and exploiting said cult, rallying the people around it, appealing to the Lenin’s name and legitimacy. Why? Because it works.

For Putin, Stalin > Lenin

But for internal propaganda purposes, Lenin works better. He is much less divisive, more unobjectionable. There are relatively few genuine haters.

Putin is such a hater. But, when he goes fishing, he thinks of what the fish likes. So Lenin it is.

Thinking of what you like vs Thinking of what the fish likes