Mikhail Iossel in The New Yorker brings us to the time of the late Soviet Union, when parents were very cautious about discussing politics with their children in fear that they would tell a teacher or another adult what their parents said. The same is taking place in Russia now, too—at least, in intelligentsia
families: What’s the point of discussing Putin? Putin is as Putin does.
En his article entitled, "Welcome to the World of Soviet Feelings," Iossel equates the Russian situation to the present United States, where parents in the face a choice whether or not to honestly discuss Trump.
"Trump is a distinctly ugly thread in the narrative of the
American Presidency, a human disaster
unto itself. What are responsible
American parents supposed to say to their children about Trump? 'Sorry,
kids, America has screwed up bigly this time around'? This sort of
national calamity wasn’t supposed to happen in America. This is the
Soviet kind of narrative, if you will: the rulership of the worst sort
of people—the reckless, the ignorant, the avaricious, the lethally
indifferent. That danger presented by Trump, the precariousness of U.S.
democracy—that’s something, possibly, to tell one’s children. And
to tell them, also, that it might be best not to talk about any of that
with strangers. This is the end of American-bound innocence for the new
generation of America’s children—and for their parents, too. Welcome to
the world of 'Soviet' feelings."
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/welcome-to-the-world-of-soviet-feelings?mbid=social_facebook_aud_dev_kw_paid-welcome-to-the-world-of-soviet-feelings&kwp_0=563002
