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When he first got to China, the Dalai Lama studied the history of the Chinese Revolution. "I always describe myself as a Marxist, as far as social and economy is concerned," he explained. "In the meantime...I totally am very against, or disagree with, the totalitarian system."Frankly, I prefer "immense corruption" to Maoism. The Great Leap Forward alone resulted in the deaths of 30 million Chinese. I'm obligated to point this out because, as the Dalai Lama told Anita, "The media should be truthful, unbiased, honest." And the unbiased, honest truth is: Socialism sucks.
This is the modern principle. Don't think just about the profit, but rather, equal distribution: these are also modern principles. "I am a liberal democratic socialist idealist," he teased.
"My brain could be more red than Chinese leaders'. They only think about money -- economy, economy, economy -- and they don't care about the gap between the rich and the poor and the immense corruption."
There used to be a very sincere ideology in the Chinese government, even during Mao's reign. Of course it was very sad. But at that time, there were many good Communist Party members who dedicated their whole lives to service to the people, "not thinking about their own pockets....That kind of spirit is now lost. Difficult and very sad."
Starting Christmas with the Most Spectacular Gift of All
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Yesterday didn’t work out the way it was expected. I should say it started
out almost exactly as planned. DaWife had to work and there was an inch of
snow ...
3 hours ago
I think you can be a little more nuanced.
ReplyDeleteThe ideas of Karl Marx, themselves, are not so bad.
They even work in small ways. You can find some of the general ideas played out in, say, an Amish community.
The suction comes in when substantial numbers of people are involved.
People don't scale, unless you put them in uniforms and have a rather draconian system holding them together, e.g. the military and its Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Capitalism succeeds because it's a relatively better model of the human spirit.
fully agree with smitty. 'socialism sucks' is hardly insightful or thoughtful. have you ever read marx, lenin, guevara, luxemburg?
ReplyDeleteyes, 30 million people died as a result of the great leap forward. lets talk about the shithole that china is now in the gap between rich and poor. lets talk the decline of unemployment in venezuela. lets talk our own economy today.
what about the people that die in the name of capitalist agendas? the millions in iraq, the mass murders in chile after the deposal of salvador allende, the korean and vietnam wars, the abduction of black africans during the slave trade and the ensuing rape of africa by european imperialists, the continuing oppression the the third world, gentrification and displacement in our own cities here, the failure in new orleans after katrina
if you're going to make a political argument, and especially one that singles out the dalai lama, it would be helpful if you thought out what you were saying...
IMHO the Dalai Lama is the only leader on this whole planet that I would cast a vote for. He's the only one of the lot that practices what he preaches.
ReplyDeleteIf the Dalai Lama would have to run for office, he wouldn't. He would much rather be a watchmaker.
RE: kid che
ReplyDelete"what about the people that die in the name of capitalist agendas? the millions in iraq..."
You meant to say "Jihadi agenda" here, right?
"...the mass murders in chile after the deposal of salvador allende, the korean and vietnam wars..."
You meant to say "Communist agenda" here, right?
".......the failure in new orleans after katrina"
OK, now you’re trying to tag a natural disaster as part of a "capitalist agenda?"
Dear Kid Che: If you're going to make a political argument, particularly about "capitalist agendas," it would be helpful if your brain were capable of forming coherent thoughts.
"what about the people that die in the name of capitalist agendas? the millions in iraq..."
ReplyDeleteYou meant to say "Jihadi agenda" here, right?
"...the mass murders in chile after the deposal of salvador allende, the korean and vietnam wars..."
You meant to say "Communist agenda" here, right?
".......the failure in new orleans after katrina"
OK, now you’re trying to tag a natural disaster as part of a "capitalist agenda?"
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Dear Anon:
The innocent civilians that die in Iraq have nothing to do with a Jihad agenda, unless you're talking to fox news. This war is about American imperial presence in the Middle east, its about securing American access to a resource which Americans very much covet. Its about Halliburton and its about Capitalism.
Again, the deposal of Salvador Allende was about American interests in Chile. Though Pinoche did not represent the capitalist ideal, he furthered the US government's own interest in its dominance over the region on an idealistic level. This is not an isolated incident if you've ever followed this history of this nation. The interference of the government in central american to further the interest of large corporations (United Fruit) has come up time and time again.
Communism was the crux of the issue here, but let's not feign ignorance is that imperialism and capitalism are not closely associated.
My point in bringing up Katrina was not that capitalism failed, its that capitalism stratifies class in a way that its okay to look the other way when poor communities of color are underwater. But when Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are in crisis, 50 billion dollars were there immediately. This is not so much the furthering of the Capitalist agenda as much as an unfortunate outcome of Capitalism looking out for its own, ie financial institutions.
So in conclusion, all of these issues are tied together if you think through the what the root cause of the issue is. I'm not going to say a blanket statement like 'capitalism sucks'... but it has some serious pitfalls that need to be examined.
So Anonymous (i'll bet you're a middle class white guy in a suit) hit me up and we can continue this enlightening conversation whenever you want.
Socialism, particularly social democracy, does not suck. In fact, it has provided some of the highest standards of living in the world.
ReplyDeleteAs for kid che, only one thing to mention: Pinochet embraced laissez-faire capitalism. Ever heard of Milton Friedman and the "Chicago Boys" that he trained who wound up running the Chilean economy? A very capitalist economy indeed. Little regulations and restrictions on foreign companies while dissent is crushed by force.
I'm not arguing for any kind of false psuedo-socialism like the Soviet Union here because, frankly, they were not socialist. Remember, the Soviet Union considered itself to be socialist. IT ALSO CONSIDERED ITSELF TO BE A DEMOCRACY. Clearly, it wasn't a democracy. We know that. And, if you explore it in depth, it wasn't socialist because a new ruling class replaced the last and appropriated the lionshare of the wealth.
Furthermore, what about world poverty? What can be said when 1% of the population controls 90% of the wealth? What about all the starving people who make our clothes and products because of capitalist free trade agreements?