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talkpoliticsDuring a sojourn behind the Iron Curtain before the collapse of the Soviet Union, I was surprised to see how similar East Germany was to the US. Why was this the case? Was it because the US was under Communist domination, or was it because the USSR was just another Capitalist overlord? An ignorant American would favor the former conclusion, while a scholar might tend to support the latter notion. In any case it is clear that Communism was a far cry from communism, just as Republicanism is anything but republicanism.
A Mormon John Bircher who has recently been brought forward as the intellectual puppet master behind the moronic Glenn Beck, W. Cleon Skousen, gives us a key to the capitalist lurking behind the facade of human progress. In his fascinating analysis of Communism, The Naked Communist, Skousen lists some of the agenda items to destroy America. Number 38 on the list is interesting:
Thomas Szasz remarked that American psychiatrists criticized Soviet psychiatrists for hospitalizing political dissidents while doing the same thing themselves. Szasz has thoroughly debunked the psychiatric profession as a pseudo-science just as left intellectuals have debunked the priestly aspects of Marxism-Leninism. This agenda item in favor of psychiatry also explains why a Leninist I met defended the profession.
Skousen makes some very good arguments for how Soviet Communism betrayed the original goal of human progress. It quickly degenerated into Czarism by another name. What he failed to see was how American Republicanism is British Imperialism by another name. Skousen belongs to Caesar because he sees himself as free despite the bondage of his deliberate ignorance. As he appears to promote popular sovereignty, his students favor despotism of the most vicious breed. Skousen was a liberal anti-Communist, but he was fodder for rabid anti-communism. The latter can be held responsible for much of what is wrong with America today because of its tendency to turn America into a thug nation.
How do you distinguish between ideas such as communism and republicanism vs. their supposed manifestations in the forms of Communism and Republicanism?
A Mormon John Bircher who has recently been brought forward as the intellectual puppet master behind the moronic Glenn Beck, W. Cleon Skousen, gives us a key to the capitalist lurking behind the facade of human progress. In his fascinating analysis of Communism, The Naked Communist, Skousen lists some of the agenda items to destroy America. Number 38 on the list is interesting:
Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand or treat.
Thomas Szasz remarked that American psychiatrists criticized Soviet psychiatrists for hospitalizing political dissidents while doing the same thing themselves. Szasz has thoroughly debunked the psychiatric profession as a pseudo-science just as left intellectuals have debunked the priestly aspects of Marxism-Leninism. This agenda item in favor of psychiatry also explains why a Leninist I met defended the profession.
Skousen makes some very good arguments for how Soviet Communism betrayed the original goal of human progress. It quickly degenerated into Czarism by another name. What he failed to see was how American Republicanism is British Imperialism by another name. Skousen belongs to Caesar because he sees himself as free despite the bondage of his deliberate ignorance. As he appears to promote popular sovereignty, his students favor despotism of the most vicious breed. Skousen was a liberal anti-Communist, but he was fodder for rabid anti-communism. The latter can be held responsible for much of what is wrong with America today because of its tendency to turn America into a thug nation.
How do you distinguish between ideas such as communism and republicanism vs. their supposed manifestations in the forms of Communism and Republicanism?
Re: not pure enough?
Date: 20/7/11 19:04 (UTC)what does "the more the two become entwined" mean? the more what two become entwined?
and sometimes, a persons politics, warrants a personal attack. sometimes it exhibits their unwillingness to think critically, and that is a personal flaw.
i dont believe that every viewpoint is worthy of respect. somehow, i get the feeling that you dont either. but maybe im just projecting.
Re: not pure enough?
Date: 20/7/11 19:32 (UTC)The more someone interperets thier Political Identity as thier Personal Identity and vice versa.
To me, this seems to be a trait common to both self-proclaimed Class Warriors and Fundimentalists.
dont believe that every viewpoint is worthy of respect. somehow, i get the feeling that you dont either. but maybe im just projecting.
That is a tricky one. I would say that whether or not I consider an idea to be worthy of respect has no real bearing on the sincerity or worth of the person espousing it. There are plenty of people who I respect, and who's company I enjoy, who if worse came to worse I would force me to face them from the opposite side of the barricade due to our politics.
Some people can make the distinction and others can not.