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In Reply to: Re: Well, OK posted by RGA on September 30, 2006 at 00:33:29:
More dogma. Yes, the plight of the working class is real everywhere, and it's all a matter of degree, BUT there are real differences between a country like the U.S., or Canada, or France, or England, and a dictatorship, whether a socialist, fascist or other form of dictatorship.I have read 1984 and Death of a Salesman, and more than once. I also have good friends who are salesman and whose parents were salesman. It can be a tough life.
I majored in Russian and Soviet Studies in college, which entailed reading history, government, literature and social studies extensively. I also lived in the Soviet Union during the 1980s as a student and, later, as part of my job after college. And I have travelled extensively in Europe and East Asia.
The U.S. system and the Canadian system are each flawed in many, many ways. No doubt. I have never argued otherwise. And there were aspects of the Soviet system that were quite enlightened, at least in the urban centers where foreigners were allowed to travel.
But freedom in the US and Candada and Europe, while something that must constantly be defended and protected, is very real compared to the former Soviet Union, and, for that matter, Cuba, the PRC, North Korea. Specifics? I knew people who were regularly interrogated and harassed at work for celebrating religious holidays and for meeting with foreigners. Those who would meet with me insisted that I call them from pay phones far away from the institute where I studied. Fellow students in my institute were arrested and interrogated for taking a picture of a church. I was frequently followed. After the Chernobyl accident (I was in Moscow when it happened), several weeks later when the media finally started to cover it bit by bit, the evening news program "Vremya" would start the news with pictures of little children playing in fields of flowers with the subtitles "Pripyat", "Kiev", "Chernobyl", etc. and soothing music, and suddenly the "blue laws" were lifted and vodka and wine were available everywhere. All just a few annectodal examples of stuff I observed everday. Whatever . . . every country has its problems, right?
OK, we've had problems here too, but to say "it's all relative" ignores the extent of the very real differences.
Nothing personal. I have very good friends who spout the same dogmatic things you do.
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Follow Ups
- Oh please . . . - JoshT 10:23:38 10/02/06 (2)
- Re: Oh please . . . - RGA 03:41:24 10/03/06 (1)
- Gated Communities - Yuck! - JoshT 08:24:12 10/03/06 (0)
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