Monday, May 31, 2010

It's time to remember a LOT of things today

Remember those who fought and die for our freedoms.

Also, Bob is right, you need to read this Chris Hedges essay which points out that all they fought for is being taken from us, and it's time to get radical again.  Don't freak out at the title, read it all and tell me if you don't think he's nailed it.

4 comments:

callmeishmael said...

Maybe you and Mr. Hedges ought to examine photos of Ukranian children who survived two to three years of enforced famine under Communism in the 1930s before you start lauding its ideological benefits. The Soviets threw people out of their homes by the millions in the name of "collective agriculture." They threw millions more into Siberia and the NKVD torture chambers for opposing or not supporting strenuously enough the policies of the Central Committee. They worshipped power for its own sake even if they did not worship money in our sense of the term.
You and Mr. Hedges ought also to know that there were indeed spies of the Soviet Union in upper levels of our government before, during and after World War II. Their names are in Soviet Archives opened after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Alger Hiss was a spy and a traitor; Julius Rosenberg was a spy and a traitor; Ethel's case seems less certain, but can you tell me that husbands and wives don't discuss matters of that importance from pillow to pillow?
These are not disputed facts; the names are there for everyone with eyes to see. The problem with Mr. Hedges and, if I may say again, with yourself and other liberals who shout "radicalism" is that you rigidly cling to a fantasy that such policies will not result in equally radical consequences. You somehow believe that left wing policies will somehow enable people to flower into some sort of centuries-long repressed beneficence and take society into a golden age. If, after initial efforts do not being about such an age of flowering, you resort to advocating in one form or another the right to force people under threat of torture, starvation and impisonment to do what you think is best for them. When you say that we need a few good Communists, those policies are EXACTLY what you are advocating. You, in fact and essence, claim the perogative to tell people what they should recognize as their own best interests and make them live accordingly if they--we--do not follow the dictates of your conclusions. For people who lustily howl for "justice" and "freedom," your methods in achieving these goals leave you with some explaining to do.

Steve Steffens said...

did you even read the article? From your comment, it looks like you shrieked at COMMUNIST and ran away like a little girl! (Imagine Mike Myers as Dieter here.)

Seriously, did you read this? Are you in FAVOR of corporate rule?

callmeishmael said...

Are you in favor of totalitarian rule? I read enough of it to know that in every sentence, when Mr. Hedges referred to the sins of capitalism, he needed to replace it with Communist or, more awkwardly, government-sponsored dictatorship? Once again, when someone does not agree with you and your viewpoint, you resort to dismissive "how could any rationbal person think otherwise" comments. Tell you what: you go to wikipedia (and since you have sent me a link from them previously in an effort to return me to the p[aths of righteousness, I can ask that you access their information as well) and look up Ukrainian famine" and I'll read the rest of Mr. Hedges article. Then you might want to look at pictures of skulls from museums in Phnom Phen and ask yourself is this the kind of regime that you, NOam Chomsky and "care to elaborate" Howard Zinn wish to defend? Tyranny is tyranny and to dehumanize under left wing totalitarianism is still to dehumanize: period.

callmeishmael said...

Article read: your turn.