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Dean Reed was an American who went Red and defected from the West to E. Germany. He made quite a career for himself becoming an American actor in E. German Westerns- yes they did have such an industry- and as a communist sympathizer in many L. American countries. He also became a famous singer in the USSR.

He lived in the pre-Internet days and I guess he tried to do the right thing the way he saw it. In the end, he died miserably. What lessons can we learn from his life?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0AL5U_s_q8

Great find. Noone in American media or academia ever told us this.

Jester wrote:Great find. Noone in American media or academia ever told us this.

I guess the lesson is - do not devote your life to a so-called cause- you will become slave to scum, be used and die a miserable death. Do not underestimate people's ability and tendency to remain a##h-les no matter what idealistic system you want to impose on them. They will simply utilize it for their selfish ends and use and abuse other people in its name.

However, it was easy for him to enjoy his fame for a while as he was lucky for a long time. Other defectors from the West ended up in Gulags.

Pay attention to his English- if you become a polyglot and live abroad, your English will become like his- kind of jerky and measured, almost robotic. Mine is kind of like this now because of 2.5 years of Tagalog speaking.

ladislav wrote:
Pay attention to his English- if you become a polyglot and live abroad, your English will become like his- kind of jerky and measured, almost robotic. Mine is kind of like this now because of 2.5 years of Tagalog speaking.

Funny.

You remind me of my actor son...

If he is playing a villain, he starts getting villainous in real life, and it takes him a while to get out of character afterward.

Probably you will snap out of your accent if you are stuck here long enough.

Small comfort!