Forgetting Communism’s Evils
The non-appearance by the president of the United States to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall marks but one of many worldwide incidents of deliberate forgetting about the ravages of communism, an ideology that has killed over a hundred million people. We could have predicted during the campaign that President Obama would not think such an event important. The zeitgeist that rocked the vote ushered in a president who told a plumber that we should “spread the wealth”; in Stalinist fashion an Obama supporter / government official then used her powers to persecute him. A Rasmussen poll in April showed that only 37% of those under 30 favored capitalism over socialism; 33% favored socialism and the rest were undecided.
Voters have been educated for decades now on the standard of “social justice,” a Marxist concept but an oxymoron according to the founders of this republic. But our own president has taught such courses under the name of critical race theory. He did training and legal work for an organization that basically agitates the proletariat, ACORN. The year saw revelation after revelation about the socialist ties of his appointees.
So logically Chairman Mao graced the White House Christmas tree. This comes after the interim White House communications director was recorded as saying that Mao is one of her political heroes. The Chinese flag flew next to the American close to the White House, and the iconic Empire State Building lit up in China’s colors to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the communist regime. This all comes 20 years after the Tiananmen Square massacre.
The iconic Empire State Building is recognized by those around the world as a symbol of American freedom and prosperity. It, like the Statue of Liberty, has been recognized by immigrants, like my parents who escaped Marshal Tito’s communist regime with me in their arms as an infant. Such displays of tribute to communism are a slap in the face of those who lived through such murderous regimes.
The forgetting is happening in my native Slovenia, where it’s not even two decades since independence was won with the support of 95% of voters. Old peasant farmers still dare not speak of what they witnessed in 1945 when Slovenian refugees forced back home were shot and left to die in pits. Still a proposal came up to name a street in Ljubljana after Tito. Protests by those who remember Tito’s tyrannical rule may have led to a proposal to name instead a ramp connecting two highways after him. Pavle Borstnik, who follows politics in Slovenia, says that even the ramp name is an “abomination”; he is one of those who remember. In an article for a Slovenian-American newspaper, he writes about leaving Slovenia during his last visit:
Zbogom, Slovenia, I murmur to myself, farewell, you land of my youth. … I have spent only 20 years in your bosom and then people, who usurped the “powers,” slammed your door in my face. Forty-two years have passed before I saw you again and now, 65 years later, I am leaving you for the last time.
In the meantime, Slovenia grew up: it lived through a bloody catharsis and reached its independence, joined the circle of free nations, and then threw all of this to the wind, re-embracing the same criminals that disfigured its face.
Why is anyone surprised? With few exceptions our “educational” class has been left-wing since the FDR era. Most of the current college professors’ parents and grandparents believed that FDR was a great man and the Stalin was doing a great job of bringing the USSR into the economic mainstream. Sure, Uncle Joe killed a few people, but, after all, “you have to break eggs to make an omelet.”
The Nazis and fascists were “cleansed, rehabilitated, pardoned, and back at work” in Germany and Italy, all between 1950 and 1956. And that was mostly because the Soviet threat meant that Western Europe couldn’t afford to marginalize people because of their previous political associations. So, except for a relatively few high level party officials, Germans and Italians said they were “forced” to be Party members in order to keep jobs, and so forth. Basically, everyone was pardoned by 1956.
We must never loose sight of the fact that totalitarian government, whatever form it takes, has great appeal to people who believe that they “know what’s best” for the people and that these same ‘elites’ are uniquely qualified to define what is best and make sure the people get it. Of course, we called them the “nomenklatura” in the USSR and the Nazi party in Germany. You can draw your own conclusions as to what may be in store for the U.S. if we don’t change course quickly.
“using the schools”
YES the socialists/marxists have been at it “in the schools” for two generations.
they think that the previous communist just weren’t good enough and that they will be the ones to do it correctly. they fail time after time and yet each new generation thinks they can do it correctly.
it is religion for them, they never stop pushing their beliefs. ..A HUMAN DEFECT
With James Cameron announcing his future film about the Hiroshima bomb as “uncompromising”, and with Oliver Stone announcing that his “historical” pieces about Hitler and Stalin will place them in the proper, understanding context, why should we care about Mumia Jabal soon becoming a national hero?
And why still marvel at the fact that 57 million voters serenely ignored Obama’s past (and quite alarming promises) and voted him in office?
States, societies, nations seldom crash suddenly – it’s a long process, and in America’s case the left engulfing the education system is sure one of the causes of the present indifference towards past and of the “apres mois le deluge” mentality vis-a-vis the outcome of this process -
A Rasmussen poll in April showed that only 37% of those under 30 favored capitalism over socialism; 33% favored socialism and the rest were undecided.
However, 87% of young voters could identify which of the nine “gender identities” their favorite American Idol contestants belong to.
’nuff said.
Remind them every chance you get.
The Inquisition; Rome; The Peloponnesian Wars; Hiroshima; even islamist fascism (although it’s pushing hard to catch up) – all rank amateur efforts compared to the masses murdered by marxists in the 20th century alone.
In the meantime, if we can stop impotently criticizing the left’s every unabashedly socialist action and utterance (decorously feigning surprise and perplexity all the way) long enough to understand the psychology driving the attraction to leftist ideology, we might succeed in countering it. But not until.
Part of the problem may be that the people old enough to remember (or even better, to have lived their lives under socialist systems) don’t talk about it much. Maybe they think it’s self-evident that it is a losing proposition, or maybe they just want to forget about all that.
But try and tell some of these socialism “admirers” that they have it all wrong, and watch the reactions. It’s generally not pretty. I had someone go all psycho on me when he stated on a mutual friend’s Facebook wall about how great socialism is. When I pointed out that it never worked anywhere it had been tried, you’d think I insulted his family or something.
(Of course, I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about….even though I had traveled to the Soviet Union back in the Evil Empire days and can speak Russian, I heard the stories from both my Slovenian and Lithuanian relatives, and am married to a Russian citizen. Nah, he read a book or two about it and how great the theory is. Actual application of said theory in those cases was done by flawed individuals who tried to incorporate too many ideas incompatible with socialism. So THERE, capitalist pig!)
He finally calmed down when the mutual friend talked to him….and once he could post the “next time they’ll get it right” argument.
I’ve noticed more and more of the whole “capitalism is evil/we need to distribute society’s wealth more fairly” meme catching on lately, too. Some of it may be because of the economic downturn, but I can’t help but wonder how many of these “useful idiots” think that they will be the ones to come out on top somehow, or at least not have to look at successful people and be reminded of how (mostly) their own personal choices have held them back. They just don’t get that chances are, they aren’t gonna be any better off in that new, glorious utopia they seek.
5. goy
goy I went to your blog. most interesting and still digesting the content of the morality question(s).
I encounter more and more a disconnect with reality in young people today. granted youth is always a developmental stage, but I see attitudes that just have no basis in reality.
an indoctrination to entitlement. And a hypocrisy of thought (sorry Mary and all as I butcher the english language) 2plus2 does not equal 4 with these people.
as to the driving force to the left …I call it the human defect. a genetic disposition to community. a disposition that is ALWAYS hijacked be a “strong man”
while the individual in the community should be a goal (and the american constitution is a rare and endanger thing). the community is too easily compromised and the individual banished.
I hope this isn’t too convoluted.
regards
I grew up in the fifties and lived through the 60′s upheaval. Then there was clear understanding of fighting subversion. After demonstrations, peace marches, asassinations, and riots Americans elected anti communist Richard Nixon. He and J Edgar Hoover cracked down on subversives. They put Bill Ayers in jail and made the black Panthers leave the country. So, we got 40 years of peace and quiet.
By contrast, president Bush liked to comment on how great free speech is, and McCain refused to share what he knew about communists from being a POW. so we got one in the WH. Realize that the under thirties who gave him his margin of victory were not even born when the Berlin wall fell. During the Cold War we taught about the evils of communism. Now we have PC instead.
Islam is the answer.
Man-made laws and systems of government will always fail. Allah’s (swt) law (Sharia) is the perfect system.
Renounce your false religions. Embrace Islam now and live in peace in submission to the will of Almighty Allah (swt).
Your grandchildren will be Muslim.
Allahu akbar!
It makes perfect sense that Obama did not want to go to Europe to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Why should he celebrate what he probably thinks is the low-point in mankind’s history? He obviously has no love for our system of government and is doing everything in his power to transform this country into a European-style socialist nanny state. The American people were silly to ignore his past and even the things he said while running for president (such as “Spread the wealth,” to Joe the Plumber). Maybe that’s why they love him so much in Europe. He’s really one of them. He wants the American public to be totally dependent on the government for everything. In exchange, you can expect constant high taxes, no economic growth, high unemployment, and a military that’s going to be gutted and will probably be as effective as France’s military, which is mostly a joke. So if you’re comfortable with all that, just vote this bum in for another term. If you’re not, then vote him, and the rest of the liberal democrats, out of office. Because if you don’t and the liberals are able to cement their liberal agenda in our government, then we’ll be no better than Britain, a declining third-rate socialist power that has lots of social services and is about to go bankrupt. Is that what you really want for the future of this country? And to you liberal trolls out there, don’t even begin to go into your usual mantra that Bush was worse. If you do, you’ll just prove my point that they only way you can defend this bum is by blaming somebody else, which is what Obama keeps doing day in and day out. Little children do that, not leaders of nations.
We are now seeing the results of affirmitive action in our political system. Barack really thinks he has a right and a duty to redistribute the wealth of others to his previously enslaved brothers. Reading his books tells me he, not Beck, is the racist. His wife said it best when she stated she was proud of her country for the first time in her life. Black people are no different than any other group – they can rationalize any situation to make themselves the victims of evil white old men. Black people need to forget that hyphenated American crap and start living and acting like people who have been here for 400 years. I am way past putting up with attempted guilt trips by racists like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Diversity is just an excuse to lose- let’s get back to the melting pot theory. Those who refuse to adapt will realize the truth of the old Japanese saying” the nail that sticks up will get hammered down”. Not “acting white” is the root cause of most discrimination. I cannot be required to countenance “acting black”. I can accept being black and acting like other Americans. It’s about time, don’t you think?
The communists have infiltrated the schools, the universities and the media with the goal to brainwash the American People, and have succeeded.
The brainwashing continues as we speak: daily, all over the country.
The colossal omission on the part of those who should have defended Freedom is probably unforgivable in human terms, and I must take responsibility together with many many others.
BUT we don’t have the time to get stuck in this collective mea culpa, we must work daily to roll back AT LEAST the media control of the American hearts and minds.
We have elections to win in November.
We must absolutely stop the regime building.
AND this will train us again to fight the enemies of Freedom with the weapons of information and culture… and we must never stop.
The communists have been successful with their long march through the institutions, now it is our turn for our long march.
God certainly helps us, let us help ourselves !!!
@6. Lili von Shtupp: – I’ve noticed more and more of the whole “capitalism is evil/we need to distribute society’s wealth more fairly” meme catching on lately, too.
Of course. Authorizing the redistribution of others’ wealth is naturally much easier than taking responsibility for one’s own subsistence, isn’t it. It’s an adolescent’s dream.
Every time one looks at an attitude like this, it reflects a level of adolescent behavior, which is why I’ve come to understand that the attraction to leftist ideology in general is a function of failure to mature in critical ways. As this failure becomes more commonplace in a given society, the exploitation of leftist ideology – by populist manipulators like Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Che, Pol Pot, Stalin, Castro, Chavez and Obama – follows as a natural course.
I think it’s interesting that one rarely ever sees anyone pointing out that where capitalist systems are problematic, they are made so by corruption which, notably, is not inherent in the system itself. That corruption comes in two forms.
The first is genuine greed, which – and this is actually one of the best arguments for capitalism – in most ways is a problem that is its own solution. That is, a greedy capitalist in a truly free market economy sooner or later finds herself without customers and without others willing to do business with her. Only through corporatist and/or syndicalist manipulation of the economy – both of which are distinctly leftist ‘isms’ – is that self-correcting facet of capitalism defeated.
The second, far more common and divisive problem is corruption by socialist ideologues as they try to leverage the explosive economic power of capitalism to fund a socialist form of government. Here, capitalist-generated wealth is effectively seized and redistributed in various ways (e.g., Social Security, Medicare, federal welfare via “tax credits”, SSDI, myriad “affirmative action” programs, “universal” health insurance, etc.) to gain and hold political power. This is accomplished by breeding an entitlement mindset in the People and then promising to feed that mindset. If you look at the way the federal government has pushed America toward comprehensive group medical insurance, for instance – which is the cause of virtually all of our ‘health care crisis’ woes – you see an almost perfect example of this. Every attempt at this leftist chicanery ultimately ends in national bankruptcy of some form. But it’s always the Taxpayers – the People – left holding the bill. America is the most recent example of this process.
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@7. Supreme Allied Comander: – I encounter more and more a disconnect with reality in young people today. granted youth is always a developmental stage, …
Yes, and if you look at the behavior of leftists in the aggregate, what you see is a desire for endless youth – at least those aspects of youth that go with adolescent morality. One can be intellectually, physically and sexually mature and yet still harbor adolescent morals. Adolescents want control without responsibility, entitlement without work, freedom from guilt at others’ expense, etc. That’s pretty much the definition of someone attracted to leftist ideology. You’re correct, IMHO, they cling to “attitudes that just have no basis in reality”.
– I call it the human defect. a genetic disposition to community.
Or, perhaps even more simply, moral maturity is gained through a natural process that runs its course in some and becomes stunted in others. That points not so much to genetic predisposition as social circumstance (i.e., it’s “nurture”, not “nature”).
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@9. American Muslim: – Islam is the answer.
Only if the question is “what’s the best way to keep humans in 7th century stagnation and commit collective suicide.” Interestingly, socialism is the runner up answer to that question.
This article is simply another vile, racist attack on our new Leader.
The time of the racist white male oppressor is gone forever.
President Obama rules this country now and will us into a bright new world of peace and justice. As for all you racist white males, just shut up and pay the appropriate reparations to your erstwhile victims, both foreign and domestic.
Lili, I’ve had the same experience. But students are taught today that their teachers and elders are not any smarter than they are. They are taught to deny the reality around them. Really. I’ll go into that in another, longer work. I’d like to hear more about your experience.
To understand the general ignorance of history and to understand the sad lack of the ability to reason among students and teachers (at least here in Australia), you need only examine a set text in Australian schools and (horresco referens) even universities, Literacy Links Student Handbook, by Susan Gazis, Jane Slattery, William Simon & Marcia Shepherd (Addison Wesley Longman, 1998):
“Students will produce written and spoken texts; they will be arguing, explaining, discussing, debating, informing, entertaining and communicating in creative ways. In order to do so successfully, they need to know text type structures, the grammatical rules of language and understand audience and purpose. [...] Part 2—Grammar Chapters 9 to 20 provide students with information about grammar, including punctuation, spelling, reading, listening and speaking.” (from the Introduction, p. vii)
The incompetent level of English expression in the book’s introduction is typical of the text throughout the book. Nearly every page has syntactical infelicities, poor punctuation, inadequate explanations, and even outright grammatical howlers. The authors, clearly, never learned English grammar. Most teachers whom I have encountered (including the majority of the academic staff at the Faculty of Education here in Hobart, Tasmania) have a woefully inadequate knowledge of English grammar.
The children at schools are not learning how to write or reason well but they are learning correct dogma. In my son’s class late last year a lawyer (!) visited to explain how global warming is killing lovely polar bears and dooming us all. My son’s questions (asking, for instance, whether polar bears were not in fact thriving rather than declining) were either negligently dismissed or just ignored completely by the alleged expert (with the tacit support of the class teacher).
It is the “forgetting” that is at issue.
“The road to serfdom” is paved with forgotten
visions of freedom and liberty.
it all starts with responsibility …or in more and more cases the lack there of.
when I was going through school in the 60′s, responsibility for oneself was still a very important part of learning. I do not think this is the case now.
The Wall came down, and the records kept
by the Stasi (E. German Secret Police)
were made public; They had half of the
population acting as informants on the
other half; No one could trust anyone.
They also had briefcase Interrogation kits
stocked with IV needles, tubing, and bottles
of truth serum; Standard issue for home visits.
Perhaps the East Germans could earn some cash
by opening a Theme Park / Reality Show to give
the uninformed a hint of what Socialism is like.
I’d highly recommend this artical at Am Thinker on this topic:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/01/understanding_the_democrats_sc.html
Don’t get me started on what a contemptible, murderous thug was the Left’s iconic Che Guevara.
“Guevara was no more the brains of the Cuban Revolution than Cheka-head Felix Drezhinsky had been the brains of the Bolshevik Revolution, or Gestapo chief Himmler the brains of the National Socialist Revolution, or KGB head Beria the brains behind Stalinism. In fact Che performed the same role for Fidel Castro as Drezhinsky performed for Lenin, Himmler for Hitler and Beria for Stalin. Che Guevara was the Castro regime’s chief executioner.”
Read it and weep lefties: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualprofile.asp?indid=2054
20. Jonas Parker:
went to the link,
thanks for scaring the sh!t out of me !
The hideous and grotesque face of the hammer & sickle crowd, thanks
to that crowd exploring the depths of man’s inhumanity to man; that face is not as grotesque as the face of the Sons of Allah, for the Sons of Allah have gone further in exploring the depths of man’s inhumanity to man, than the hammer & sickle crowd.
Just because something cannot be labeled does not marginalize it. Indeed, what cannot be labeled is often times more powerful than what has been labeled, as well as what can be labeled.
American Muslim, try this on for size. Napoleon came across Jews mourning the destruction of the Second Temple. He said, in so many words, that the Jews will never be destroyed, because they remember their history.
Orthodox Christians have been put to death by the Sons of Allah. We
have long memories.
Plus, keep this in mind: We have accomplished more than your crowd since Constantinople was over-run by your crowd.
Whoops, the account of Napoleon was this: There is a story of Napoleon related to this idea of mourning. One day on the ninth of Av he was walking past a synagogue when he heard the crying from within. He inquired as to the reason for their wailing and was told that they were weeping over the destruction of the temple.
When was it destroyed, he asked. They told him 1,800 years ago.
Napoleon reportedly responded: “I vow that this people is destined for a future in their own homeland. For is there any other people who have kept alive similar mourning and hope for so many years?”
The coercive power of government versus everyman is the great battle of our time. It is the forces or Mordor against men, elves and hobbits. Our founders had it right and we are absolutely blowing it.
The answer is to demand severely curtailed government. Keep it limited to national defense, enforcement of fundamental laws and contracts, protecting property rights and preventing both labor and business from achieving monopolies that restrain trade. For everything else, require a super majority to enact new legislation with the Constitution as the guide to what is acceptable.
Beyond these things; demand to be free and trust that free market solutions will be superior to anything that “leaders” or special interest groups can devise. There is plenty of evidence that this is so and plenty of evidence that socialism and collectivism will lead to hell on earth. Like it or not, the fight has to be taken to both Conservatives and Liberals – although the liberals are proving far more dangerous at present.
American Muslim
The Koran is a load of crap. It’s so poorly written it doesn’t even qualify as literature let alone scripture. Your “prophet” was a known and admitted pedophile (he “fell in love” with his favorite wife Aisha at age 6, betrothed her at age 7 and married her at the ripe old age of 9) and transvestite, a thief, a murderer and a liar. He bragged about lying; he thought those that believed his “treaties” were idiots, not that he was immoral ….. I could go on but why? The MUSLIM writings are there for all to see. Tell me: what civilization can be built on such a foundation? The answer is none. Islamic civilization has built nothing on its own. They stole from the Persians, then the Byzantines, and have learned from the west, but basically they have advanced not at all since the seventh century. What God would have such a prophet or write such laws? Open your eyes.
The ironic thing is that when the Western leftists finally get their way and transform America into socialist Canada their own socialist economic systems will collapse. What’s allowed the illusion of successful socialism to thrive is America remaining steadfastly conservative and capitalist and our overly generous foreign policy. We’ve literally been carrying all of Western civilization for over 60 years now. Let’s see how long Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, etc, can thrive in peace without America subsidizing their national security, health care and economics. When they have to divert vast amounts of government funds from their national health care and welfare programs to their militaries you’ll see a widespread reality check of how successful socialism really is. The only way leftist socialist ideology makes sense is if they’re either extremely ignorant and brainwashed or are actively trying to destroy the West from within out of self-loathing. That’s the only way I can explain them wanting to destroy the unbelievably sweet deal that America provides them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_vsaPEajh0
for those who have not seen the video linked above. please take a look it goes a long way to explain what has and is still happening.
regards
I remember in the early ’60′s when when mother and father moved their growing brood into a big old house with a walk-up attic that had been finished into bedrooms- we needed quite a few. My sisters and I were exploring the little storage room off one of the bedrooms when we found a large rolled-up color chart. I can still see it to this day in my mind’s eye as can my sisters as well. It was a flow chart of the intentions of the Communist Party USA. It showed their plan for infiltrating ALL American institutions. I remember it so clearly because my young mind couldn’t comprehend why they would want to infiltrate churches and the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. They had everything covered and we now see the results all around us. My mother- the daughter of Polish immigrants and life-long soldier of Freedom- turned it over to the FBI and she was always sorry that she had.
Obama rules this country? Not according to the Constitution. Only in third world countries do their leaders rule. As you can see our educational system has failed in educating our children in civics, instead socialism was and is the word of the day.
“Life and Death in Shanghai” by Nien Cheng should be required reading for every single student in the United States. I am 52 years old, and it is the scariest book I have ever read, especially in this age of mao ornaments decorating the White House Christmas tree. Everyone please read this most pertinent account of life within the communist state.
Mary~
You speak the Truth.
Thank you.
#32 Beth in Texas:AMEN! I have read it,and would like to add Valladares’ book “Hope Against Hope” A memoir of survival in Castro’s gulags.Also excellent,is “Koba the Dread”,by Martin Amis,an account Stalin’s homicidal degeneracy.Anyone reading any of these books,will buy a rifle,join the NRA,and declare:”I will not allow this!”,because: IT CAN HAPPEN HERE!
Just as an aside, were the Minutemen the original ones to take on the forces of King George? It seems to me that the spirit of the Musketeers is
best displayed via deeds.
Deguello, thanks for the recommendations. All of us have to make a concerted effort to educate ourselves and our children in order to keep the state from taking over our entire lives.
“This article is simply another vile, racist attack on our new Leader.
The time of the racist white male oppressor is gone forever.
President Obama rules this country now and will us into a bright new world of peace and justice. As for all you racist white males, just shut up and pay the appropriate reparations to your erstwhile victims, both foreign and domestic.”
This rant, by Yes We Did, can be found on several recent threads. I just wanted to show Yes We Did that we can all lift our own quotes and paste them on new threads. He might first consider that ‘We The People’ rule this country. I hope Yes We Did will try new material soon. He is the definition of a troll.
My father and grandparents came from Ukraine during the murderous reign of Stalin. My father lost aunts, uncles anc cousins to starvation and suicide. Although we grew up in the United States my father ‘s anger about his homeland and what Stalin did was a part of our childhood. Many times we heard him talk about him only using one word, “murderer.” My mother(whose family had left Germany)at one point told him never to speak his native language in the house because she wanted him to get over the loss of his family and just think of himself as American. Although some of those who could not leave revered Stalin even at his funeral and glorified him they did so because like a tyrannical father he made them like little children, dependent on him for their very survival. This forms a powerful bond. What I see now in the U.S. would make my father sick, who has been gone 10 years. He always told us that freedom is not a given, they can snatch it away from you in an instant. I hope that Obama’s regime will soon be over and if not I hope we can keep fighting. My father ended up working for Voice of America in the 50′s throughout the 60′s and early 70′s. They broadcast into communist countries to bring them information and the truth – I think it’s ironic now that we must get the truth out in our own country.
Look, you know and I know that America elected a kind of socialistic/communistic troll to be our President.
Who, for starters, wants redistribution of wealth, government owned methods of production, socialized medicine, a neutered military, no military trials of terrorists and an end to free enterprise. It’s the old Saul Alinsky playbook that makes the U.S. a socialist shadow of its
former self. If you actually voted for the anointed one, I suggest you go into a dark closet with a loaded gun and threaten to shoot yourself
if you ever vote Democratic again.