Prime_Minister_Keyes

In authoritarian societies, restricting education serves a purpose as a sort of anesthesia for the minds of the people. Solzhenitsyn, describing the few years just before the Great Terror of 1937 started in the Soviet Union, mostly from the perspective of a political prisoner (from Volume II, Chapter 4 of the "Gulag Archipelago" which can be found in its entirety on the web, in The Archive):

And the clock of history was striking. [...] The Great Leader (having already in mind, no doubt, how many he would soon have to do away with) declared that the withering away of the state (which had been awaited virtually from 1920 on) would arrive via, believe it or not, the maximum intensification of state power! This was so unexpectedly brilliant that it was not given to every little mind to grasp it, but Vyshinsky, ever the loyal apprentice, immediately picked it up: "And this means the maximum strengthening of corrective-labor institutions." [...] And this was not some satirical magazine cracking a joke either, but was said by the Prosecutor General. [...] All this was printed in black on white, but we still didn't know how to read.¹ The year 1937 was publicly predicted and provided with a foundation.
And the hairy hand² tossed out all the frills and gewgaws too. Labor collectives? Prohibited! [...] Professional and technical courses for prisoners? Dissolve them! [...] Graphs, diagrams? Tear them off the wall and whitewash the walls.

1 My take: The author and his peers most definitely knew how to read, but they could not fully comprehend what was being published because of its, at that time, unparalleled egregiousness.
2 Certainly the one of Stalin.

Tangentially related, he once said: "I had a German tell me one time, he said, the two pillars for us are NATO and the EU. NATO is for life, EU is for quality of life." I wonder how that'll play out in the near future.
EDIT: corrected link.

From the depths of history, Vasily Grossman once again:

One of the most astonishing human traits that came to light at this time was obedience. There were cases of huge queues being formed by people awaiting execution – and it was the victims themselves who regulated the movement of these queues. [...] And it wasn't merely tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, but hundreds of millions of people who were the obedient witnesses of this slaughter of the innocent. Nor were they merely obedient witnesses: when ordered to, they gave their support to this slaughter, voting in favor of it amid a hubbub of voices. [...] What does this tell us? That a new trait has suddenly appeared in human nature? No, this obedience bears witness to a new force acting on human beings. The extreme violence of totalitarian social systems proved able to paralyze the human spirit throughout whole continents. A man who has placed his soul in the service of Fascism declares an evil and dangerous slavery to be the only true good. Rather than overtly renouncing human feelings, he declares the crimes committed by Fascism to be the highest form of humanitarianism; he agrees to divide people up into the pure and worthy and the impure and unworthy. The instinct for self-preservation is supported by the hypnotic power of world ideologies. These call people to carry out any sacrifice, to accept any means, in order to achieve the highest of ends: the future greatness of the motherland, world progress, the future happiness of mankind, of a nation, of a class. [...] The violence of a totalitarian State is so great as to be no longer a means to an end; it becomes an object of mystical worship and adoration. [...] Another fact that allowed Fascism to gain power over men was their blindness. A man cannot believe that he is about to be destroyed. The optimism of people standing on the edge of the grave is astounding.

No, I've been afraid before.

🎶 What's love but a second hand in motion. 🎶

Care to elaborate?

You'll completely float on mercury, and cesium does no good to your body. Like, at all.

At least early Christianity is in many ways socialism. Remember the feeding of the 5000 with "five loaves" and "two fish"?
The true meaning is that there will be plenty if everyone shares. That's the real miracle.

When the true king's murderers are allowed to roam free, a thousand magicians arise in the land.
Where are the feast we are promised?

(Jim Morrison, An American Prayer)

Brains should be worn on the inside of the skull.

I agree with everything you wrote, but I don't think they carved up only Ukraine in that phone call. At least all of Europe, possibly the entire world.

Vasily Grossman:

When people are to be slaughtered en masse, the local population is not immediately gripped by a bloodthirsty hatred of the old men, women and children who are to be destroyed. It is necessary to prepare the population by means of a special campaign. [...] It is necessary to stir up feelings of real hatred and revulsion. [...] Experience showed that such campaigns make the majority of the population obey every order of the authorities as though hypnotized. There is a particular minority which actively helps to create the atmosphere of these campaigns: ideological fanatics; people who take a bloodthirsty delight in the misfortunes of others; and people who want to settle personal scores, to steal a man's belongings or take over his flat or job.