On communism
During the Cold War, I had relatives from two countries on the other side of the Iron Curtain. I felt bad for them and hoped we'd never have a nuclear war for I'd feel bad if we killed them. I knew in my heart they were wonderful people, even though I only knew them by last names.
I was greatly relieved when the Cold War ended. It was wonderful to read interviews with Russian musicians, artists, ballet dancers, and of course, Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov, one of my heroes. For the record, heavy metal bands were the first to play in the Iron Curtain, and good people from former communist countries to this day still like metal for they were thankful that metalheads were the first to accept and welcome them. Yet another reason to hate Tipper Gore.
I got plenty chances to meet good people from former communist nations, many of whom old enough to remember those days. I coax stories out of them every chance I get and they confirm what I've always known. Communism is evil.
For one, communism allows no sense of humor. It takes awhile to make a former Communist laugh. You have to first convince them that you won't hold it against them, for they knew that while you and I will lose our jobs for violations of political correctness (creeping communism), they'd end up in jail. So just add alcohol and the tensions disappear. You can see them loosen up a little bit more with each drink.
For another, when everyone's equal, and when everybody is somebody, then nobody is anybody. And of course some people are more equal than others, i.e., the more aligned you are with the Communist Party, the higher you go up. Everyone's the same, and there's no incentive to do anything. Why work hard when the guy who sits around and picks his nose all day gets the same amount of credit that you do.
So everything cool goes black market. They ration things (for your own good, remember, every Right we'll ever lose will either be for our own good or to "protect the children") so if you need more things, whatever they may be, you'll just have to find them black market. Just don't get caught.
And lastly, I am an environmentalist. If you want to see wanton environmental destruction, look no further than China or the former Soviet Union. In the U.S.S.R., entire rivers were diverted, taking one area and making it productive, while taking an other area and turning it into desert. Eastern Europe has some of the worst air quality in the world under Communism and is only now cleaning up its act.
Sure, we're not perfect, but here's the challenge. Would you rather go skinny dippin' in an American river or an Eastern European river back when the Iron Curtain was still up? I sure hope nobody chooses the latter.
I'll do the government murder stats later. That's an entirely different post, but Communists definitely have the worst numbers in that department. Communist dictators only care about human life when said human life agrees 100% with them.
posted by The Zombieslayer @ 9:03 AM
20 Comments:
You'll certainly get no argument from me. At first this post seems like saying what all Americans should feel inside, but I am beginning to wonder. I like how you call job losses due to violations of PC creeping communism. We need to take our country back.
That's a wonderful post, Zombie. I like how you're able to take as big a thing as communism and make it susinctly understandable. And I'd much rather go skinny-dipping in an American river. (I live in Northern California where it's practically the norm. But that's another subject.)
Levi - NoCal rivers rule, but they're so cold. We live not too far from the Feather River. Speaking of rivers, you ever been to
Feather Falls? It's the sixth largest waterfall in the U.S. and nobody knows about it. Not too far from us.
Scott - Yes, PC is the enemy of all things fun. I have faith that Americans will come around, but they need someone like us to remind them that communism is bad. Communism kills people and destroys all things good. Political correctness needs to be exposed as creeping communism.
I am very against dictatorships, whether they are Left or Right.
I remember my old neighbor from Latvia (he fled prior to WWII and met his wife, also from Latvia in the States). He would write to his brother back home who didn't believe him when he described things like the grocery stores here. When his brother finally did come and visit and realized he'd been lied to all those years, he actually cried. I think of that every time I go to the store now.
There are many things communist countries did wrong. However, I don't think that pure capitalism is the answer either. Too many people are left out in the cold when either ideology is applied in its purest forms...
Laura - No form is perfect. We had close to pure capitalism in the turn of the 20th century (late 1800s, early 1900s). You did have much more opportunity under capitalism, but it's true that pure capitalism is heartless.
What's the perfect system? The closest we could get to doing it right is probably lightly regulated capitalism. I'd like to see a safety net, but one that is temporary and shouldn't be relied on.
We need an end to corporate welfare too. If a company can't survive on its own business model, let it die.
There must also be a balance of power between the workers and the capitalists. If workers have too much power, nothing gets done (Europe). If capitalists have too much power, workers get exploited.
Right now in America, capitalists have too much power and what they're doing is importing cheap labor from other countries to cut costs and outsourcing middle-class jobs to cut costs. I'd put a stop to both, for they are not only a threat to national security, they're bad for the economy in the long-term.
You are right. Economists is too complex for quick soundbites and no idealogy is perfect. But I'd take capitalism any day over communism.
Good points, Zombie. Everyone should watch "On The Waterfront" to see what happens when capitalism gets out of whack. You do need a balance but I would've thought that we'd seen enough from communism/socialism to understand that it's just an awful idea. How many times do we need history to repeat before we reject an idea?
Oh and I love The Feather River. I'm not sure if I've ever seen the falls but for about fifteen years my family would hold their annual reunion at the feather river by the Caribou Powerhouse (I know it sounds like a weird location but it was awesome).
No sense of humor? Man, I sure wouldn't last long. I couldn't imagine life with out it. How horrid!
Wow, very intersting post.
Its a system that has never worked, anywhere at anytime. Some of the issues that lead to the philosophy that led to Marxist ideas are valid, but as a system it neve worked.
I met lots of post-Soviet Russians. One thing I did learn from them though was our negative propaganda about them was as wrong and laughable as what they were treated to in many instances.
Phoenix - Yeah, they were definitely not evil people, but rather victims of a bad gov't. It's like the current day Chinese. I don't hate the people, but I wish they'd overthrow their gov't. Their gov't is evil, and has killed millions of people. It still murders dissenters today and uses their body parts. Really disgusting.
Bsoholic - You and I will end up offending and end up in Siberia. :(
"Those guys are too happy. Let's send them to a Gulag."
Levi - Loved that movie. Saw it in film class and was surprised to see The Godfather used to be slim.
I could see you and yours loving the Feather River. never heard of the Caribou Powerhouse though.
***poof***well another well written blog post...it makes me wonder...i have found that the only three things i believe in are me, myself and i...i use to compile a mind full of what if's for the world and found that the only true thing i have to do in life is stay white and die...compared to the mountains of things that need to be realized and done in the world those two options seem to be the easiest to accomplish...the only true fear i have now in this world is the new race that is taking the world by suprise, so it seems, that new race is "stupid"...and believe me stupid is a race that is and has always been the true rulers of the world...later...***poof***
"Why work hard when the guy who sits around and picks his nose all day gets the same amount of credit that you do."
This is such a universal truth. It is essential, in the work place, to promote a sense of EARNING your wages.
This is why I loved working in sales. I knew that my wage didn't end at 9 dollars an hour--I could sell, sell, sell.
and if the guy next to me was picking his nose, I knew that just meant he was content with 9 dollars an hour and more for me!
Sadie - That's one reason I liked working at start-ups. You were partly responsible if the company tanked and if it succeeded, you got a fat wad of cash. It was thrilling. The problem I had was I got greedy and didn't cash it all out. :p
Dawner - Uh oh, hopefully you don't completely disappear again. Stupid or apathy? Or is stupid and apathy the same thing?
A common misperception with stupidity vs ignorance. Ignorance is not knowing. Everyone is ignorant about something. I'm ignorant about middle-east history and really wish someone would write a readable book.
Stupid is when you should know better and you still did something dumb. Which leads me back to is stupidity and apathy related.
No argument here about Communism. However, there are some things that I wish were socialized in America - such as health care. Yes, it would be expensive, but there is something wrong with a system where my grandmother cannot afford to get the medical attention and prescriptions she needs. There has to be some happy medium and I don't think that pure communism is a whole lot worse than pure capitalism.
Notta - Realistically, socialized medicine is possible if we cut costs elsewhere. We have to be willing to decide what to cut.
For one, I'd love to see corporate welfare cut entirely. For another, we'd save a lot of money if we actually enforced the borders. That's one of the things that's closing hospitals.
My mother's a med tech in Texas. She got laid off because the hospital had to cut costs. In America, it's illegal to turn people away from treatment, which is complete garbage because illegals are coming in, using our healthcare, and not paying a dime, which raises healthcare costs for all Americans.
In a perfect world, I'd be right up there wishing for socialized medicine, but we have to cut costs first, something I'm very disappointed with the supposebly conservative current administration. Spending now is much worse than it was under Clinton. At this rate, we'll never be able to have socialized medicine.
No arguement from me either. My grandparents were able to get out of Hungary in '36 and 39' respectively. However, they left their entire families behind and all their friends. In 1956 during the revolution it was horrible for the Hungarian communities.
I have some stories I was saving for December of this year to honor my dad and grandparents. Thanks for adding some more spark to what I want to write about.
zombie - i didn't know how to contact you,except this way. but i had a funny story i told my kids about zombies, i thought you would appreciate it
Thom - Sent you an email.
Jenbeauty - I already have you bookmarked, so I'll definitely look forward to those stories. I just found out this year we're part Hungarian. We don't know the names of them, just the Russians. Our family tree is full of question marks. We're not even sure on several ethnicities.
Bridget - I've heard the pros and cons of each system: the American system, the Single Payer system, and Socialized medicine. I've talked to doctors and asked them what they thought too. It's really a tough one. Socialized medicine would here would require cutting something.
The current American system is going bankrupt from two fronts - lawyers and insurance companies milking the hospitals for everything they're worth and illegals using the services and not paying a dime.
Right now, I'm leaning towards the Single Payer system, as long as it excludes non-Americans unless they pay up front, and there's serious tort reform.
I should do a separate write-up on fixing the American medical system.
It's NEVER a good thing when one person or group takes ALL the power! You must have checks and balances for ANY society to succeed.
You said it. People my age are in love with communism because they only look at the quasi-socialist aspects of it, the allegedly high literacy rates, and the scorching hotness of Che Guevera. They kinda forget (or don't even realize) that living under communism is like visiting your poorest, meanest, most miserable relatives FOREVER.
SME - They kinda forget (or don't even realize) that living under communism is like visiting your poorest, meanest, most miserable relatives FOREVER.
Wonderful line. Che is hot?
Chris - Each system has winners and losers. Winners will advocate while losers will demonize.
Very true. There seem to be a lot more winners under capitalism than communism, although I'll admit that good people do get left behind under capitalism.
Tshsmom - Very well said. Our Founding Fathers were ahead of their time to realize we needed checks and balances. A lot of people today don't realize they're part of the checks and balances. It's not just checks and balances within the gov't.
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