this post was submitted on 07 May 2025
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Rest In Power, Michael Brooks.
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Out of all the seasons, this one has been the hardest for me to understand the "blowback" part. All the consequences of US foreign policy seemed to fall on the Cambodian people, even after the bombing stopped.
The main critiques I recall (it's been a while since I finished it) are that the attempts to force untrained people into agricultural work failed and racist / nationalist elements within the revolution prevented international cooperation, both of which created a feedback loop of paranoia and human misery.
I also am learning more about the sino-soviet split, which seemed to play a large part in this too.
My takeaway so far, having not finished the final episode, is that this is definitely the blowback. No one except, maybe Vietnam, had any interest in the well-being of the Cambodian people, including China and the USSR.
I guess that doesn't exactly constitute blowback, since the instigators walked away pretty clean from the whole ordeal... Perhaps after 5 seasons, "Blowback" has become more of a title than a directive. This really feels more like an untold history than anything else.
I agree. It calls to mind that proverb "when elephants fight, the grass gets trampled." I think you're right that this is more an untold history.
Just processing out loud here: it's useful for getting rid of brainworms as well. Embarrassingly, I sat with the cognitive dissonance of the PRC supporting Pol Pot for a long time before resolving it with the obvious answer of it being wrong and bad, as others have mentioned in this thread. Getting out of that mindset of geopolitical "teams" is rough lol
Yeah, that really sums up my feelings here too. It's also a good reminder that geopolitical economy can still divide camps, even if they're supposed to be ideologically aligned.
The geopolitical team mindset is one of the things about Hexbear and more specifically the news mega that rub me the wrong way the most.
The arguments in this thread about the tradeoff between sticking to socialist ideals and sacrificing longevity vs capitulating to the existing order and staying alive are a pattern that plays out in almost any sectarian split.
I think they also mention this in season 1. Blowback is a mindset, a vibe. It's when the state takes the consequences of its actions to further it's goals (so Iraq 1 allowing for Iraq 2 is fine actually!).
One could say that the "blowback" part of S5 is basically how the USA under the belief of the Domino theory trying to recreate what they did in Korea and do regime change in the 3 countries in Indochina but then ended in catastrophe. Like they said in the podcast, Cambodia is inextricable from the Vietnam war. Had America acted normal towards Cambodia and the Sihanouk government, they could've avoided a lot of problems. It's the beginning of the decline of their prestige setting the stage for the failures of Iraq and Afghanistan.
That's a great point. It's probably worth my time to listen through the series again now that I have much better context for earlier seasons (at the time I listened to the first season I was still fighting a lot of conservative brainworms I grew up with). Thanks for the insight :)