"We forget everything. What we remember is not what actually happened, not history, not merely that hackneyed dotted line they have chosen to drive into our memories by incessant hammering.
I do not know whether this is a trait common to all mankind, but it is certainly a trait of our people, And it is a vexing one. It may have its source in goodness, but it is vexing nonetheless. It makes us an easy prey for liars.
Therfore, if they demand that we forget even in the public trials, we forget them. The proceedings were open and were reported in our newspapers, but they didn't drill a hole in our brains to make us remember - and so we've forgotten them. Only things repeated on the radio day after day drill holes in the brain."
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The Gulag Archipelago.
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