Posted on 03/05/2016 12:34:37 PM PST by Kaslin
We all know the scary statistic by now: a recent YouGov survey shows that millennials have much more favorable views of socialism than of capitalism. For someone like me who survived one of the worst socialist regimes in human history (communist China), this result is beyond heart-breaking. There's no doubt that millennials do not understand what socialism is. They never learned about the atrocities and human sufferings socialism has caused. It's not the fault of the millennial generation, but the fault of our education system. For those of us who lived through socialism, we have a moral duty to reach out to young people and help them learn the truth of socialism. How should we approach this? Speak up and share your personal stories.
Yes, millions of people died under socialism. But very few people respond to statistics. Joseph Stalin, who was responsible for the death of 30-40 million Russians, once said (and this is only time I will ever quote him), "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." So when we talk to millennials about socialism, instead of citing statistics, let's share our personal stories; how we and people we loved suffered under socialism. I understand that it's excruciating to tell those stories and many of us would rather just forget about it. I remember when I was writing my autobiography, Confucius Never Said, some of my recollections were so painful, that I had to take some time out because I was overrun by emotions.
But we have to share our stories no matter how dreadful we feel because a good personal story makes a complex concept such as socialism easy to understand; it sparks people's emotions and keeps them engaged; it inspires empathy and action. Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
So if you are a survivor of socialism, whether from the former Soviet Union, China, Cuba or Venezuela, speak up and share your stories. Don't limit yourself to just your families and friends. Make yourself available to your community, especially neighborhood schools. Contact the local high schools and ask them if you can come to their social science or history class and speak to the kids directly. I've spoke at several high schools before. Rather than telling them that 20-30 million Chinese people died during the three famine caused by Mao's disastrous policy, I shared with them the story of an uncle I never met. He was born during the famine. My grandmother was too hungry to produce any milk to feed him, and there was no baby formula available. He died in my grandmother's arms. While I was sharing this story, those teenagers were spell bound. No one was checking their iPhones. Many of them came to shake my hand afterwards and said "thank you." It was a rewarding experience for me.
In addition to speaking, we also need to develop multimedia platforms to educate young people on socialism. Even though there are many wonderful books written about suffering under socialism, such as Ayn Rand's We the Living, or Yang Jisheng's Tombstone, we know young people nowadays don't read as much as previous generations and they respond better to other media platforms such as photos, films, podcast etc.
There is something we should learn from the Holocaust survivors: they have been relentlessly pushing for education on the Holocaust through books, movies, documentaries, talks and there are many Holocaust museums around the world to bring all these together. They use all the tools available to make sure people, especially the young, will never forget the Holocaust. We, the survivors of socialism/communism, haven't done nearly enough to ensure people know the truth of socialism/communism. When was the last time a movie was made about socialism/communism? Where is the museum of the suffering of socialism/communism?
We the survivors of socialism/communism have a lot of catching up to do. The YouGov survey is a wake up call. Time is running out. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "the time is always right to do the right thing." Let's get to work now!
Distance lends enchantment. It works physically and temporally.
High achieving students should be required to give part of their grade points to low achieving students. (I’ve found this argument to be eye-opening to some young skulls-full-of-mush.
One only need to look at any Bernie Sanders rally ; to see how utterly clueless , or in a state of willing suspension of disbelief . This is the fruit of allowing Leftists penetrate and dominate our academia , for decades . What do we expect ? This is the result of some crazy toleration of the intolerable here in America . We are hanging ourselves with our own petard
I liked the cookie sales with tiered prices (though that was more about affirmative action than socialism) - same concept.
The horror stories are effective, but our children are desensitized to horror. I think that’s probably why we have so many horror movies and books and TV shows.
You can tell them about large numbers of people dying, but they have already seen that on TV.....dozens of times.
Nobody likes to be cheated, and that is a story we should tell them about socialism/communism. Some people really believed it would work. But, in every instance, the leaders turned into crooks.
The Soviets had their dacha country estates.
Mao had his harem of young girls.
The Castros had their secret pleasure island.
People like Bernie and Hillary know that socialism doesn’t work. They just advocate it so that they can ride in the government limousines and live in the palace.
Young people have a strong sense of justice and they don’t like being lied to and cheated and that’s exactly what the Democrat leaders do.
Would not be a bit surprised if they think “socialism” is what you do on “social media”!
pass a law that says that every student gets a C.
Correction...$500/8 people is %62.50 a class or voter.
Make “The Black Book of Communism” cumpulsary reading in high school and college. Make the students all do reports on the entire collapse of Venezuela and it’s entire economy society and the massive destruction of personal civil rights and civil liberties and government persecution and prosecution of Venezuelan citizens under socialism.
Tell them that if they get an "A", and someone else who doesn't want to do homework gets a "D" (which just is NOT fair), then to make it FAIR, they will just get a "B minus" no matter how hard they study....THAT is socialism to a kid.
SOCIALISM = “ECONOMIC FASCISM”
What the left doesn’t understand is there is the IMPLIED USE OF FORCE behind their policies to FORCIBLY take from some people to “redistribute” to others.
They claim that “using force” on people (e.g. wars and other means), but there is implied use of force via taxation (e.g. if you don’t pay your taxes, someone will come with a gun and take you to jail).
Additionally, the 13 Amendment would seem to make “involuntary servitude” illegal. It’s clear the LEFT is not the party of the Constitution nor the party of Liberty!
When I was the same age as these millenials I had a, I HATE this smarmy phrase, teachable moment concerning the goodness and light of socialism. One summer I worked at a parts store as a go fer. One of our regular customers was the local go-to guy when it came to German cars. We nicknamed him Sputnick because years earlier he his wife and then newborn son escaped from E Berlin just before the wall went up. If socialism is such a wonderful utopia of sunshine lollipops and rainbows everywhere then why was that damn wall built in the first place? To keep the Mexicans out?
The sign on my car says it all.
Vote socialism, now get in line for toilet paper you @$$#0 (€
Horrors of communism are not taught instead its hip for millennials be in NYC KGB bar or live in Red Square with a Lenin statue on the roof.
https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/the-russian-dictator-waving-to-houston-street/
Send them to Cuba as “voluntar” labor..
Millenials have damn sure learned the dangers of Crony Capitalism. It’s all they’ve ever known, and are rebelling against it. Unfortunately, they don’t know that true Capitalism even exists.
I lived in communist China for seven months in my early 20s - arrived a couple weeks after Mao died. The experience convinced me every American should spend a year in a communist country in their late teens or early 20s. It is a life-changing experience and your attitude toward liberty and tyranny will never be the same again.
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