April 30, 2004

I guess I have been living in denial

because I can't comprehend the fact that there are still people out there, with all of the information we have at our disposal, with everything we know now, who would make such statements as:

"Communism isnt bad... the people who use communism are bad."

And that is just one of the idiotic statements made. Others have to do with Saddam having created a "free republic" and a "market economy".

Boggles the mind.

(via Val)

Posted by sheila
Comments

Are you tring to tell me that Alf was not a funny show?

Posted by: Dan at April 30, 2004 4:06 PM

Soemtimes, you just run into such stupidity that it boggles the mind, and you can't help but stare slack jawed at it.

This isn't to say I'm surprised to encounter it, but like some great landmark, there is a moment of awe each time you see it.

Posted by: Bill McCabe at April 30, 2004 4:16 PM

If I recall correctly, P.J.O'Rourke had this to say on the subject:

"Communists worship Satan. Socialists believe perdition is a good system run by bad people. Liberals think we should all go to hell because it's warm there in the winter."

Posted by: Robert the Llama Butcher at April 30, 2004 4:28 PM

Dan - that is exactly what I am trying to tell you.

Posted by: red at April 30, 2004 4:33 PM

Damn.

Bill - that comparison had me laughing out loud.

Posted by: Dan at April 30, 2004 4:47 PM

I don't know how Alf got into this, but I'll defend his ability to be crude, obnoxious and politically incorrect until something funnier comes along. And that funnier thing won't be communism. What is they body count, somewhere between fifty and a hundred million. Hitler for all the deserved bad press is probably only #3 in mass murderers of the previous century. That Stalin and Mao, such misunderstood sweethearts.

Posted by: Steve Wilson at April 30, 2004 4:49 PM

Well, the thinking is is that Stalin and Mao were "bad" people who corrupted the essentially "good" idea of communism. But it's actually the system ITSELF that is bad.

I read 1984 in high school - like most people - and that long long section where Orwell posts an excerpt from the "secret book" - where it is actually described how the system ACTUALLY works (as opposed to what the poor dumb people are told) - that opened my mind forever. Forever. The system of communism is actually NOT a "good idea corrupted by bad people". Communism was ALWAYS meant to concentrate power in the hands of the few.

The system itself sucks.

Posted by: red at April 30, 2004 5:06 PM