Posted on 12/13/2009 9:13:48 AM PST by My Favorite Headache
Some might recall my thread from a few months ago where my head was about to explode because my professor just pushes the concept that America = Bad and Communism = Good. It goes a lot deeper than that. So...this morning he poses this question to us (I feel like I am back in my first year here) but this is what I am dealing with.
QUOTE:
Colonialism and Imperialism
For many countries that experienced the benefits/brutal horrors of European/American colonialism/imperialism, a communist system is an attractive form of government. Many of these colonized people were stripped of their ancestral possessions and reduced to slave labor in some sort of agricultural or industrial 'farm'. To them, having an equal share of the country's resources while having an equal share of a political voice makes practical sense.
Class, can you, as a historian, have empathy for those countries that toiled under colonial oppression? Moreover, can you see why some of the people of these captive countries may have embraced communist ideology?
UN-QUOTE
Every week he asks us to sympathize with some commie ideology. What do you all make of this? Am I taking this the wrong way and he is a defender of the Communist Party through his teaching as I believe he is? Or...he is just honestly trying to get us to see both sides.
I don't want to be jaded here. I have 2 weeks left in the class and I am almost outta there. But sometimes for my own good I need to ask another clear head for their perspective.
What’s the course?
Does white Russia count? When the Russian Communists annexed the north of Poland and locked out Jews from all the trades effectively making them starve to death would that count? Many of my family escaped from a large community there called Lomza. Those that stayed, died.
What’s the school?
Source: "Little Black Book of Communism"
That said, play his little game for 2 more weeks. You won't achieve anything by doing otherwise, other than to give him a chance to screw over a conservative. Just play the game and consul yourself with the knowledge that you haven't been brainwashed by this idiot.
I would say that IN THEORY, Communism would be the pure Utopian government, similar in form to what is described in the Star Trek series and movies. Everybody equal, everybody works for their own and the worlds betterment. No war, strife, no problem. A perfect fantasy. But, in reality, it is and always will be a fantasy. Because of human nature and the inherent emotions that go along with it, such as greed, it never has and will never be achieved. Greed, sometimes a bad stressor, is most often the driving force behind one bettering himself. “I want XXX, therefore, I must work harder to achieve XXX” Make everyone equal, give them egual pay/benifits, then there would be no driving force to better ones self. The grand experiment has been tried many times in the past and failed each time. Just ask your professor this. How many Doctors do you know, who preform their job for humanity, would do so if they were only paid 50K a year (all expenses paid, of course)?
“Class, can you, as a historian, have empathy for those countries that toiled under colonial oppression?” Yes, when this was true. I can only think of one country that did this “Japan”.
“Moreover, can you see why some of the people of these captive countries may have embraced communist ideology?” Most of these countries have adopted democracy, and the countries that are communist are quasi Capitalist Communist states.
If he is trying to say the Spanish, well that is a rewrite of history. Most of the people in Spanish were already under a totalitarian government where they were hunted down and sacrificed if they were members of the right tribe. There was a lot of death when the Spanish came, but there was a lot of death before. Most Spanish believe that God Sent the Spanish to bring the good news to their land and save them.
It is only recent left wing presidents that don’t remember the horrors to try to whip up nationalist fevers.
Here, Quote me “Professor, haven’t you heard that Communism has Failed as an Experiment of Society? Human Nature is to become unproductive under these systems till the point of failure.”
Or try this one “Professor, you shouldn’t believe everything “Che” writes.”
Let him know that since the establishment of the United States across the width of the continent, for all the wars we have won, against all odds, that we have returned those lands to the former enemy populations and helped them build back and establish freedom in their lands where there was no freedom before.
Can he really call that colonialism or imperialism? As if though helping people find freedom after brutal totalitarianism is somehow establishing a colony? A colony of what? Freedom? Propserity?
Will he argue that the Germans, the Japanese, the South Koreans, the Iraqis, etc. were actually better off under their former regimes? If he does, then you can mark him either as an enemy to freedom, or a hopeless ideologue, ignorant to the benefits of his own freedom.
American History II - Honors
The problem is that there weren't "Rampant Free Markets" and that was what was causing the problems.
For example in a "Rampant Free Markets" you could not simply take land that belonged to another. You would not have laws saying who could buy and sell and what they would buy and sell and at what prices.
You would not have company towns with company housing and a company store.
What they had was Feudalism. There are no "Rampant Free Markets" in that kind of society.
It seems the professor mixed our republician form of government into the rest. Remember colonialism is why we rebelled against England and established our Republic. We were the first to ensure the voice of the people is heard. The people controll the house via their representative and the government can not sign on to treaties unless 3/4th of the senate approve.
There is no comparison between our republic and communism simply because we can throw the bastards out every two years.
Or you might ask him about Tibet. You know. That place where the Chinese militarily occupied it,colonize it, deny the locals their desired choice as spiritual leader, all based on the premise that Tibet is part of China because it was once part of the Ming Empire.
Jeff I swear your post is VERY similar to what I asked for clarity. Excellent stuff as usual.
Chalk him up as a communist. Play along to get a decent grade and then post your opinion on pickaprof.com
Knocked it out of the park.
One other thing you can bring up to your professor is the fact that communism was actually the principle government of the Americas before settlement by the Europeans. When looked at closely, the Native American had a small efficient form of government when everybody worked for the betterment of the community and in return, everybody enjoyed the same benefits as everyone else.
A fine, and self sustaining way of life except for one minor detail. Their entire civilization had stagnated for AT LEAST 30,000 years. For the most part, none had developed a written language (if anything some were using pictographs). Still living in the stone-age, few had developed agriculture and none had come even close to domesticating animals other than dogs.
This is a perfect example of what happens when you remove the desire to be “better” than your neighbor. Communism kills the will and drive to succeed.
Ask him to Identify this philosophy and who said it:
"Poverty is not socialism. To be rich is glorious."
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