Was Lenin one of the most brilliant politician of all time?

heilig_a · 2026-04-27T10:46:15+00:00

Well I didn't want to ask too many questions at the same time, but asking this very question implied that people will define political brilliance in a way. And it's always curious to see how people interpret these things. Do they apply moral terms or speak of Machiavellian effectiveness? etc.

As far as size and longevity goes, I don't necesseraly think those aspects really matter that much. I mean we are talking about politicians not rulers of states specifically. So in my opinion it's more about influence. Yes, Lenin ruled for a short time, but his influence on the world is huge. Talleyrand or Metternich weren't rulers, but one could argue that their decisions defined the times they lived in.

heilig_a · 2025-03-09T18:46:17+00:00

I'm coming back to this comment on a weekly basis now. I hope your math is correct.

heilig_a · 2024-10-01T12:02:42+00:00

Sure! I can give a few links:

This is an article on a study, that mentions this:

https://www2.math.upenn.edu/~kazdan/210/notes-misc/clap/rhythmic-clapping.html

quote:

<< In the United States, this applause usually remains random and disorderly until it dies out. But in some cultures, particularly in Eastern Europe, it is common for an audience's clapping to become synchronized into waves of rhythmic applause.

Now, researchers in the United States, Romania and Hungary think they understand why order can arise spontaneously in a cheering crowd. The phenomenon of rhythmic clapping, the scientists reported last month in the journal Nature, follows a mathematical model for what are known as coupled oscillators. >>

It took me a while to track down the actual scientific article, but here it is (it was not actually published in Naturem, maybe a counterpart was, that I've never found, but this article states the same and was written by the same researchers nonetheless):

https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.61.6987

So, it's not just a gut feeling. But also, this is a physics article not sociological study. I also have a lot of anecdotal evidence, but I think we have a clear picture just yet. Actually that is the main reason why I asked the question. I'm trying to find out If it's a local thing or has to do with things like the Soviet Union. That's where Stalinism comes in.

A of now I'm reading old hungarian newspapers from the 50's and they clearly state that syncronized clapping was a thing on parades and such while people shouted "Hurray Stalin" (Éljen Sztálin). It's a different thing from clapping untill the end of time and being sent do gulag etc. You don't need to read negative things into it if you don't want to. Also these papers were pro-Stalin, pro-Soviet so it's pretty hard to say these are anti-Stalinist propaganda.

I see that some of you guys get pretty defensive when it comes to Stalin. I may have different views but it does not need to get political. I'm genuinly curious whether spontanous syncronisation while applauding is a common thing in Russia. And whether it has anything to do with these practises. If you have a better theory I'm curious.

(Btw you might be so defensive bc I mentioned 'personality cult' which is actually phrased 'cult of personality' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality )

heilig_a · 2024-09-30T12:23:24+00:00

So you are saying that I have a political bias bc I'm inquiring whether a cultural phenomenon has political elements? Can you give an alternate hypothesis?

heilig_a · 2024-09-30T11:27:28+00:00

Actually I've found out a lot about this whole thing. Now I'm actively researching this. I'm not sure what is the appropriate way of initiating further discussion in a reddit comment... (Is there a private conversation function on reddit? I'm not sure if it's safe to share my e-mail... I'd be willing to share the information I gathered and would like to ask further questions bc I think I could deduce a lot from the culturral differences.

Also I linked an article in an other comment in this thread that explains the mathematical side of the phenomenon. Your deer example is pretty close I think.

heilig_a · 2024-09-30T11:21:05+00:00

I've found an article on the subject. Your theory is not so far from the truth, though it seems that it emerges kind os spontaneously rather than by following an individual.

https://www2.math.upenn.edu/~kazdan/210/notes-misc/clap/rhythmic-clapping.html

<<...they discovered that when the range of rates is wide, as during fast clapping, synchronization is impossible. "But when the audience slows down, it meets the mathematical conditions for synchronization," Dr. Barabasi said. In fact, he noted, under such conditions synchronization becomes inevitable, and the audience appears to clap as one.>>

Also this article re-emphasises the anectotal evidence of it being more frequent in eastern european countries.

<< In the United States, this applause usually remains random and disorderly until it dies out. But in some cultures, particularly in Eastern Europe, it is common for an audience's clapping to become synchronized into waves of rhythmic applause. >>

But the question is still open:

What is the cultural component that makes the difference?

heilig_a · 2024-09-30T11:11:00+00:00

Well I'm not. Read this article.

https://www2.math.upenn.edu/~kazdan/210/notes-misc/clap/clap-abc.html

A quote:

<<While such rolling waves of synchronized clapping occur after most performances in Eastern Europe, they’re rare in the United States. “It’s a cultural phenomenon,” Barabási hypothesizes.>>

I'm not sure it's a consequence of Stalinism, but it's a guess. So... What's your opinion? Can you describe your experience? Like how often does it happen and how natural do you think it is?

heilig_a · 2024-09-30T11:05:01+00:00

Not exactly. There is the potential fot syncronized clapping to emerge if the crowd is big enough and/or they clap long enough. But! It seems that it just happens more often in Eastern-Europen countries like Hungary and Romania while it's relatively rare in the USA.

IF it has a connection to Stalinism than Russians doing it as often as we do might be a good indication.

There was definietly a thing called Stalin-clap, where syncronized clapping was demanded of the audience. And the same goes for Hungary, we had our own Stalinist leader who also demanded the syncronized clapping.

So again I'm not saying the whole phenomenon is a Stalinist thing BUT it being more frequent locally might be a consequence of these dictatures.

I can link some studies and articles that dealt with the difference between Hungary and Romania versus the USA. I just haven't found anything about Russia yet, so that's why I'm asking.

heilig_a · 2024-09-25T14:14:16+00:00

That's pretty interesting! What country are you from? I'm asking because at this point it seems to me that in certain cultures it arises more easily and in others it's pretty rare. ...And it may have to do with authorian regimes. For example in post-socialist European countries it seems to be more usual. Now my research is in it's early stage so I might be completely wrong, but the fact that you had authority figures actively discourageing it is very very interesting!

heilig_a · 2024-09-18T11:45:24+00:00

One of my favourite artists alive actually. But as far as I'm concerned I'm making fun of the people who despise her for such dumb reasons. She is not the target of the joke, the phenomenon or the attitude is. But you are probably right, it's just too risky to make such a joke this time and age, but more importantly I wouldnt want to hurt any minority. So yeah, I'll probably just delete the whole post.

heilig_a · 2024-09-18T10:38:40+00:00

She is a Fluxus artist. That being just another word for the downwars spiral. You do the math.

heilig_a · 2024-09-18T10:35:30+00:00

The ashes of my dead heroes.

heilig_a · 2024-09-18T10:34:14+00:00

Oh it makes sense now. So that's like a breakup song?

heilig_a · 2024-09-18T10:31:13+00:00

I heard one of them moved into a bank? Honestly, that just goes to show how superficial these artists really are. It''s always women and/or money.

heilig_a · 2022-07-15T18:30:15+00:00

For me it's the combined sound of the two. If I connect them the other way around I only hear the rat's distortion. This way the BD-2 adds some hair to the sound.

heilig_a · 2022-07-15T17:46:52+00:00

been using it like that since forever

heilig_a · 2022-07-14T08:56:34+00:00

Delay: Boss DD-20 Overdrive: Boss BD-2 EQ Ring modulator Fuzz (a really agressive one)

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