I sincerely wish you were wrong, but it's easy for anyone living in any relatively developed and safe country and scoff at people risking their lives for amounts of money they'd never be able to earn otherwise.
Doubly so if their family gets a payout if they fall. People might wonder why all these russians seem to willfully subject themselves to this shit, and this is probably the answer more often than not. Likewise with the convicts in Wagner. From their point of view it was probably a decent deal, even if it is complete insanity in our reality.
Phil Ochs was absolutely amazing and had such a beautiful voice. It's a shame he's not more well-known.
Despite an unfortunate line about supporting Mao, "I'm Going to Say it Now" is still a terrific song about student protest. I wonder if someone could come up with a better line?