Freedom House: Democracy Discarded, Return to the Iron Fist

Canada Free Press ^ | 05/12/15 | Sierra Rayne

[Sean_Anthony]

Post-Cold War honeymoon is long over. It was a geopolitical honeymoon that the West should have never taken in the first place

After the Cold War ended, much promise was held out that the world would rapidly democratize—particularly states with notoriously poor human rights records such as China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba.

Alas, these were utopian dreams. We were told that transferring large amounts of wealth and technology to authoritarian regimes would make them richer and free—only the former took place. We educated their leaders, often at our taxpayers’ expense, with the promise that these Western educated leaders would usher in a new era of freedom in their home countries. This, too, failed to come to pass. What we often saw was our transferred knowledge being used against us, and to repress other peoples.

The latest Freedom House publication on Freedom in the World for 2015 confirms the pessimism:

[CharlesOConnell]

Three "Revolutions" that should have made the world a paradise:

1. The Agricultural Revolution - should have made sufficient food available for all people at reasonable cost, Malthus only arose after it occurred, the Acts of Enclosure destroyed the Manorial System with its equitable distribution of all grades of land to lord and peasant alike, the aftermath saw more calculated, deliberate famine that all previous history.
2. The Industrial Revolution - should have made hard goods available to all people at reasonable cost, stores of hard goods were burned on the docks to "keep the poor working", the Dickens' in the Details.
3. The Information Revolution - true, free education should have been available to all; newspapers served as the vector of contagion for calculated disinformation at the service of the ultra powerful.

The 20th Century and beyond have seen the greatest plague of organized murder in human history.

[ClearCase_guy]

I can say that penicillin and computers as good things. There are other good things. But, on the whole, I think humans handled themselves very poorly in the 20th century. Aside from the obvious penchant for mass murder, I would also point to academic issues. I happen to believe that the "soft sciences" can be useful and I believe that real advances are possible in these areas. But I look at pschology, sociology, political science, history, etc -- and all I see is ceaseless Marxist indoctrination which has prevented any significant advancement in these areas.

With only a few exceptions, I consider the 20th century to be a wasteland.