Do you really believe they would comprehend or understand any of it, let alone care?
Economics is not a consideration for these people. There is nothing emotional about economics for them to grasp on to. It's akin to trying to teach an infant algebra. It would be pointless. To them, economics is icky and nerdy. They are overgrown children who lack the mental capacity to understand the world around them. That's why they make shit up, and try to create a fairy-tale view of the world, much like a child would. They lack the ability to understand.
Perhaps you can show them photos of some of the millions of people murdered during the 20th Century in the name of Socialism/Communism. Then explain the connection to them. It still would likely be a futile effort because again, they lack the ability to understand. Much like economics, history is icky and nerdy to them. Trying to create a historical context for them is pointless because they don't like history. However, dead people may peak their interest more than economic statistics.
There is a reason they are referred to as useful idiots. There is no justice in this world, but at least the vast majority of morons who believe in socialism get hurt very quickly and very badly when socialism is fully enacted in their country. Then again, everyone suffers.
I remember a good while back sometime after the USSR collapsed, the Russian defector turned comedian Yakov Smirnof and his family was being followed on his return trip as part of a segment for some tv magazine. I would kill to find out if it's on youtube, because at some point they get to his childhood family home. It was some basement apartment, or possibly the basement itself and looked like it hadn't been lived in for years because the floors were layered in dust. At some point he gets to his childhood bedroom and steps on something familiar. He picks it up and brushes it off and is wide eyed with surprise to find it's one of his childhood toys. He shows it to his kids and the camera man and then it happened. For the first time in my life I'd saw a grown man cry.
Cap, I never saw Yakov or any of the other immigrant celebrities as bad guys, but seeing a grown man cry had me asking questions. As I got older and more pieces of the puzzle fell into place to elaborate on what the USSR was and did, I knew I could never endorse that sort of system, or anything similar to it. It also helped me to realize we don't have a capitalist system in the USA, but mercantilism. Which, from what I've learned since, is also a bad economic system to have as well.
Trying to explain to a socialist just how Socialism has NEVER worked anytime and anywhere it has been enacted is an exercise in futility. To them, Socialism is their equivalent of a religion which they cling to -- with all the fanatically intense enthusiasm and devotion that pales when compared with the fanatics of Christianity or Islam. Their mantra reply when confronted with how Socialism has NEVER worked is always along the lines of, "That's only because it hasn't been done RIGHT!"
" David Jravis said... Wheelbarrows full of money... kinda reminds me of Germany prior to WWII."
One story I remember being told about that is how the Deutsche-mark was so valueless, that only things had value. A story illustrating this was about how two German housewives were carrying a huge basket full of paper money to buy groceries; while outside the grocery shop, they set down the basket behind them to look into the shop windows. When they turned back around, the money was still there -- but the basket was gone!
Do you really believe they would comprehend or understand any of it, let alone care?
ReplyDeleteEconomics is not a consideration for these people. There is nothing emotional about economics for them to grasp on to. It's akin to trying to teach an infant algebra. It would be pointless. To them, economics is icky and nerdy. They are overgrown children who lack the mental capacity to understand the world around them. That's why they make shit up, and try to create a fairy-tale view of the world, much like a child would. They lack the ability to understand.
Perhaps you can show them photos of some of the millions of people murdered during the 20th Century in the name of Socialism/Communism. Then explain the connection to them. It still would likely be a futile effort because again, they lack the ability to understand. Much like economics, history is icky and nerdy to them. Trying to create a historical context for them is pointless because they don't like history. However, dead people may peak their interest more than economic statistics.
There is a reason they are referred to as useful idiots. There is no justice in this world, but at least the vast majority of morons who believe in socialism get hurt very quickly and very badly when socialism is fully enacted in their country. Then again, everyone suffers.
Wheelbarrows full of money... kinda reminds me of Germany prior to WWII.
ReplyDeleteI remember a good while back sometime after the USSR collapsed, the Russian defector turned comedian Yakov Smirnof and his family was being followed on his return trip as part of a segment for some tv magazine. I would kill to find out if it's on youtube, because at some point they get to his childhood family home. It was some basement apartment, or possibly the basement itself and looked like it hadn't been lived in for years because the floors were layered in dust. At some point he gets to his childhood bedroom and steps on something familiar. He picks it up and brushes it off and is wide eyed with surprise to find it's one of his childhood toys. He shows it to his kids and the camera man and then it happened. For the first time in my life I'd saw a grown man cry.
ReplyDeleteCap, I never saw Yakov or any of the other immigrant celebrities as bad guys, but seeing a grown man cry had me asking questions. As I got older and more pieces of the puzzle fell into place to elaborate on what the USSR was and did, I knew I could never endorse that sort of system, or anything similar to it. It also helped me to realize we don't have a capitalist system in the USA, but mercantilism. Which, from what I've learned since, is also a bad economic system to have as well.
Trying to explain to a socialist just how Socialism has NEVER worked anytime and anywhere it has been enacted is an exercise in futility. To them, Socialism is their equivalent of a religion which they cling to -- with all the fanatically intense enthusiasm and devotion that pales when compared with the fanatics of Christianity or Islam.
ReplyDeleteTheir mantra reply when confronted with how Socialism has NEVER worked is always along the lines of, "That's only because it hasn't been done RIGHT!"
" David Jravis said...
ReplyDeleteWheelbarrows full of money... kinda reminds me of Germany prior to WWII."
One story I remember being told about that is how the Deutsche-mark was so valueless, that only things had value. A story illustrating this was about how two German housewives were carrying a huge basket full of paper money to buy groceries; while outside the grocery shop, they set down the basket behind them to look into the shop windows. When they turned back around, the money was still there -- but the basket was gone!