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May 06, 2018
The Arrogance Of The Ignorant: Socialism Is So Cool And Kind And Fair!
Last year I had a conversation with one of my nephews about market economies vs. socialism. He is an earnest, bright, serious kid. But he had not a clue about the evils perpetrated by socialism on humanity. I am convinced that the current historical revisionism is to disconnect the various socialist genocides from the progenitor political philosophy. They learn of the Holocaust and the Holodomor and the Cambodian atrocities without any connection to the underlying ideology. In fact, they learn of the underlying philosophy only in the gentlest and most academic terms, and the real-life translation of Marx's theories are carefully avoided.
Luckily there are people like Gary Kasparov who are unromantic in their opinions of socialism...
All of the information for an informed opinion of the relative merits of socialism and market economies and democratic government is readily available. Unfortunately our media and our education establishment is fanatical in its portrayal of market economies as some sort of ultimate evil. But a cursory reading of the many descriptions of the Soviet Union written by Refuseniks or critics of the government or even simple everyday Russians will reveal a starkly different perspective. And for the added flavor of a socialist boot on one's neck, read "One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich," by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. It's just like a day at summer camp!