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Nikki Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 12:23 AM |
damon wrote: megg_inc wrote: As a person who was born in a communist country I don't really recommend it.
where you were born ?
Megg is Polish. My boyfriend was also born in communist Poland and from the stories I've heard...yeah...not so good. |
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ricv64 Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 1:12 AM |
Nikki wrote: damon wrote: megg_inc wrote: As a person who was born in a communist country I don't really recommend it.
where you were born ?
Megg is Polish. My boyfriend was also born in communist Poland and from the stories I've heard...yeah...not so good.
yet he visits Ann Arbor , oh thats right his girlfriend is a hippie |
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dee Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 1:36 AM |
paul_c wrote: It depends what kind of communism you're talking about..
hippies in communes... i'm all for that-in fact, it was one of my life-long ambitions to live in a functioning commune.
as for proper politically structured communism it all seems fine and dandy on paper but screws the lives of many over because human beings are selfish and unpredictable.
don't even get me started on people who think they are working for the good of the people but actually doing more damage than good.
i started this cos teenagers back in the days before people got to see the true fruits of some forms of communism got caught up so easily in the perfect idealogy-i know somebody who taught in one upper-class school. he spent his time confiscating little red books that were being passed around during study hall.some of those kids are quite famous now in many walks of life-hence the "what would you think if your favourite celebrity was interested in communism" question. you'd be surprised who was passing them out.
it just amazes me how out of touch some people my age are with what's gone on in the world outside their little microbubble.i recently tired to explain to somebody who stalin was...i had to explain this to a girl who could be educating your kids in the future btw.
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ricv64 Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 1:39 AM |
here you go dee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Family
i've seen em in action , don't belive that there is no leader statement |
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dee Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 1:45 AM |
cheers ric. originally i was going to help start up a brand new one. it's why i thought of being a teacher so i could teach the kiddies of the commune.
i had it all mapped out with my friends at the time too.everybody had roles, unfortunately none of us were heading towards studying medicine so we had even decided who was going to seduce and marry a rich doctor to bring to the commune...i must see if i can dig up my sketchmap and plans...of course i'll have to reallocate commune roles since all of those friends ditched.
i even got in trouble when a visiting career guidance guy thought i was taking the piss out of his talk by not taking things seriously. |
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Erial Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 2:16 AM |
| Oh, I completely get how the idea doesn't sound appealing to the ones who've lived on their own skin how bad communism can get. But the theory isn't bad, at least. The theory of capitalism, on the other hand... |
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weirdmom Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 2:50 AM |
I lived in a women's co-op in college. It had similarities to a commune in that we shared the duties of running the house, had meetings, voted on things.
But I agree that communism as a form of government has not been shown to work. Interesting theory but...no. I'll take Megg's (and many other's) word for it! |
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I Came in Through the Bathroom Window Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 4:44 AM |
Ohh! I love this subject, I'm deeply interested in politics. But I'm afraid my English is not good enough to express what I think. I'll give it a try though.
I think communism in theory sounds great, but the experience showed that corruption and "narrow-minded-ness" (?!) are at the order of the day and it doesn't work as it should.
But I don't think that's a good argument to throw it all away. The values and principles are great, so I think it'd be interesting if people tried to learn from the mistakes of the past and tried to create a new model, based on justice and equalty.
Besides, capitalism hasn't done many wonders either, has it? Or half of the population of the world starving is a good achievement?
In the meantime, I don't think capitalism is going anywhere. Let alone this type of capitalism. Its values: individualism, selfishness, meritocracy, hypocrisy, the overrated value of private property, consumism, the "if it doesn't affect me, then I don't care" (just to name a few) are so deeply rooted in every person that I think it's unlikely to achieve a change of system any time soon (regardless of the dreadful consequences capitalism has on most part of the population of the world).
As you can see, I'm a lefty :oP. I'm all for equal redistribution of wealth. The way this world works, the way power is so unfairly distributed between countries and inside each country makes me sick. I don't consider myself a communist, I'm more of a socialist. I think there has to be a way to alleviate the injustice inside this vicious system.
Sorry if this post doesn't make sense! And sorry for every grammar and spelling mistakes I've made.
Edit: Living in a third world country and seeing how the measures of the IMF and the World Bank, the corruption of politicians and the pressure of economically powerful corporations led to Argentina to have half of its population under the poverty line in 2002 inspired my views :oP.
Edit #2: What do you mean by "red books", Dee? Which authors? |
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mili Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 9:10 AM |
| Communism or socialism sound pretty good on paper, but I don't think it's ever been done succesfully in practise anywhere. For some reason most communist countries end up looking like dictatorships. |
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ricv64 Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 1:40 PM |
I Came in Through the Bathroom Window wrote:
Edit #2: What do you mean by "red books", Dee? Which authors?
Mao . my uncle lived through the cultural revolution , he didn't think much of it |
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Scottish Dubliner Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 1:51 PM |
ricv64 wrote: I Came in Through the Bathroom Window wrote:
Edit #2: What do you mean by "red books", Dee? Which authors?
Mao . my uncle lived through the cultural revolution , he didn't think much of it
I have Jung Chang's Mao:the untold story it maybe a little biased but by accounts Mao seemed to be a Do as I say not as I do type leader. Not in keeping with the spirit of communism methinks ??
Dubz
Dubz |
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dee Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 1:51 PM |
ricv64 wrote: I Came in Through the Bathroom Window wrote:
Edit #2: What do you mean by "red books", Dee? Which authors?
Mao . my uncle lived through the cultural revolution , he didn't think much of it
yep, mao. cheers ric |
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I Came in Through the Bathroom Window Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 10:04 PM |
Never read anything by Mao. I should. There must be several books by/about him at home.
I find it disturbing that people confiscate books just because they embrace certain political leanings.
I don't think comunism has shown only failures. Human development reports from the United Nations show that Cuba has a very good position compared to many countries in Latin America, even though it's been having to deal with severe economic sanctions for decades. It ranks #51 and is considered as one of the 70 countries with High Human Development. The only Latin American countries with a better position than Cuba are: Barbados (#31), Argentina (#38), Chile (#40), Uruguay (#46), Costa Rica (#48) and Bahamas (#49).
The human deveolpment and equalty index considers many dimensions, such as life expectancy at birth (77.5 years in 2005), adult literacy rate (99.8% in the same year), combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary education (87.6%), gross domestic product per capita (PPP US$ 6.000), life expectancy index (87.9%), education index (87.9%), education index (95.2%), GDP index (68.3%), population using improved sanitation (98% in 2004), Population using an improved water source (91% in 2004). |
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Aletways Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 10:24 PM |
I think all the bad things mentioned about comunism exist in capitalism. Just take a look around! Dictatorships, terror, starvation, censorship, corruption, whatever you want, we have it today, in our capitalist countries.
I think that the way comunism has happend in practice is something that can and should be perfected. On the other hand, that's just not possible in capitalism, were inequality and individualism are the foundations. So I'd definitely think twice before ditching comunism as an option. |
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dee Posted Sat 09 Aug, 2008 10:36 PM |
I Came in Through the Bathroom Window wrote:
I find it disturbing that people confiscate books just because they embrace certain political leanings.
don't worry-the confiscating i was talking about involved teenagers who were supposed to be doing their homework, they could have been passing around the latest financial times and it would have been confiscated:p |
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