Posted on 10/18/2011 7:57:51 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
I’m familiar with Pol Pot and his horrors, I never knew he tried to abolish money, what did they pay the troops with ?
Food.
Cambodia and Pol Pot often get overlooked but the brutality of Cambodia needs far more attention than it gets.
I read that mothers gave birth right there in the fields and Pol Pot’s scum would stomp the newborn to death to prevent wasting a single round.
Most amazing is the fact that Pol Pot died peacefully at his home in 98 while under house arrest.
Robin, however, has gone completely over to the dark side ... she recently did a guest-host appearance on Joy Behar's HLN show.
Story time, if you can indulge me.
Was working in NYC on a short-term job some time ago. Bookstore right next to where I worked was a "Communist" Bookstore. All sorts of posters of Che, and Bush as Adolf Hitler, and T-shirts of "Bush Lied, People Died" in the windows. That sort of Garbage.
I didn't pay it too much attention, but one of my co-workers saw the bookstore and really blew a gasket. To the point of a 3rd co-worker and I needed to each grab an arm and haul him away before he either got hurt or arrested. He was violent and screaming, "You don't know what you're doing! You Don't Understand!" Which was quite a surprise, up until this point - I'd worked with him for a couple of years - he'd been a pretty mild mannered, quiet guy.
Anyway, we sat him down, got him calmed down, and learned his story.
I'd always thought that he was Thai, he wasn't. He was Cambodian. His father, a doctor, was one of the first killed in the purges. He and his mother were smuggled out in a shipping container from Cambodia to Hong Kong to London (if I understood correctly, his English deteriorated as he got more and more wound up...). He had no idea about the rest of his family, but suspected that they were all dead.
After a quick meeting with the project leader, we got this guy on a different part of the job, one at a completely different location.
IMHO, it's one thing to say "Communism is Bad". It's quite another to put a face on it.
If this were 1969 these kids would be known as “Manson family”
I suspect the problem is that she is/was taught a 'communism good/capitalism bad' theme in her union run government school.
Anyone with a whit of sense, would grasp from their historical legacy that Communism has not exactly led to healthy societies (Lenin and Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao's Red China, the Kim's North Korea, Pol Pot's Cambodia, Castro's Cuba, etc). Capitalism and Free Markets might provide for bumpy rides, but they trend towards healthy societies. Marxism just trends in one direction that ultimately leads to poverty and slavery.
However I suspect she was just taught that Capitalism is evil, and Communism is wonderful when 'done right'.
Yep. The right peple just haven't been in charge, that's all.
Scary, that people actually think this way.
I’d agree to that. Certainly not the Munsters. They were far too educated for these dolts.
His story should be taught in the schools.
My history classes never once mentioned Cambodia. They never mentioned Che or Pol Pot or any of the other communist butchers. Stalin and Lenin were just “Russian leaders”, mentioned as an aside to the cold war. Most of the history I’ve learned came from outside of school, I’m a voracious reader.
I sometimes wonder how many people think Pol Pot is a plant variety? Or a piece of cookware?
The only relevant comment I can make is to quote Einstein when he observed that the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits.
Truly, I'd always said the right things about disliking communism. Hearing about the end result first hand, really sharpened my opinion.
Making worse was the fact that this guy was only one story. How many 10's of millions of other stories like his are there? Every one of them can't be taught, but all of them have the same moral.
Or, the counterpoint, how many OWS protesters were beaten to death for their views? Or are trying to leave the country in an overcrowded shipping container? Or are desperate, starving, or persecuted for their opinions?
"Yeah, I took the J Bus downtown, then stood around eating Dunkin Donuts until I got cold. Then I went home. I did hear that one guy did something stupid and got arrested, though!", just doesn't have the same emotional drama, even if the MSM wishes it was so.
We should GIVE her a free one-way plane ticket to North Korea.
Probably cashing checks from Noam Chomsky.
I remember being back in high school and one of my teachers said, "Communism looks good on paper...." so I read the Communist Manifesto and came back and told her, "No it doesn't".
Someone needs to explain to her how, in her utopia, she will be expected to “pay” for what she needs, if there was no money.
I agree, send all these “occupy” hipsters to a communist controlled country & see how much they still like it!
As I once said to a non-American communist who gave me that same tired line, `NO political philosophy can be enacted perfectly—that`s impossible. So you have to judge it by how it can be enacted by real, imperfect humans, not in a classroom project. When capitalism isn`t `done right` you get unemployment. When communism isn`t `done right` you get dead bodies.`
As I once said to a non-American communist who gave me that same tired line, `NO political philosophy can be enacted perfectly—that`s impossible. So you have to judge it by how it can be enacted by real, imperfect humans, not in a classroom project. When capitalism isn`t `done right` you get unemployment. When communism isn`t `done right` you get dead bodies.`
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.