Poll: My friend is a Communist

[DoPo]

-snip-

Let's get back on topic. Apparently, your definition of "Communism" is whatever gets called that - it is one, and whoever calls himself "communist", therefore, is one. So, your answer to OP's question is "yes". Was it so hard to say it?

 

[Micalas]

Communism works on paper. It can never truly work in the real world because of people. People are what makes it not work.

 

[JayBlanc]

I do wonder if the OP is confusing "Communism" and "Socialism"... It's quite quite possible to believe that there is a place for "Socialism", "Capitalism" and "Democracy" all in the same political system. In fact, most European countries have worked that way for a long time now.

 

[triggrhappy94]

The funny thing is (I'm pretty sure) a Communist take over of the US is polling just slightly above the US Congress in favorability. Still a very low percent though.

You know it's her life and if it makes her happy. I wouldn't call her naive (mostly because that's rhetoric Reagan used against his opponents when he wasn't blatantly lying about Panama or Grenada /political history).

 

[R Man]

The only problem is those numbers are bollocks. Stalin's death toll is between 3-5 million and Mao's is unknown.

Can you provide a source for this? Reading this made me have an "eerr..what?" moment.

It's actually harder than it sounds. The original figures come from Robert Conquest who gave the 20 million figure. But at this time the iron curtain was up so he basically pulled it out of his ass. Wikipedia does have an overview of this problem, but if you are interested in some heavy reading Richard Overy covers this issue in detail in 'The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia.'

 

[Karelwolfpup]

A Communist? as in a real "oppress the workers in the name of the workers, shove them in gulags and be slightly less racist than Adolf Hitler" Communist? or just a hipster Commie?

From the sound of it, your friend is a typical College Commie. All shirt and no knickers. Always going on about "revolution" and hanging Che Guevara posters up without realising what a mass murdering fascist fuckhead he was.

 

[FiveSpeedf150]

We can't all be winners in life, I suppose.

 

[frizzlebyte]

However I do think if she really supports Communism (or a planned economy), she should visit Vietnam for a few years. Not saying it's not a great place to live, but it's not for everyone. Or if she want's to live somewhere where individualism is not at important as it is in Western society, she should live in Japan for a few years.

Communism isn't that bad. West Europe and America just make Communism sound like the political party of Satan.

Though to be fair, North Korea and Cuba aren't exactly the best places to live these days. I hear Vietnam is only place where Communism is working well.

OP should ask his or her friend stuff like, "What is true Marxist Communism?" "How does it differ from a command economy?"

That's funny to hear knowing that I'm Vietnamese.

How is Vietnam as a place to live under communism?

 

[A Satanic Panda]

We can't all be winners in life, I suppose.

Nice avatar.

However I do think if she really supports Communism (or a planned economy), she should visit Vietnam for a few years. Not saying it's not a great place to live, but it's not for everyone. Or if she want's to live somewhere where individualism is not at important as it is in Western society, she should live in Japan for a few years.

Communism isn't that bad. West Europe and America just make Communism sound like the political party of Satan.

Though to be fair, North Korea and Cuba aren't exactly the best places to live these days. I hear Vietnam is only place where Communism is working well.

OP should ask his or her friend stuff like, "What is true Marxist Communism?" "How does it differ from a command economy?"

That's funny to hear knowing that I'm Vietnamese.

How is Vietnam as a place to live under communism?

It's not bad when you visit the tourist side. Everything else sucks though. Beggars are everywhere. Middle class is being middle classy. And the rich are getting richer. Just like always.

Hell, any Communist country has great tourism. Cuba's beaches are fantastic and the DPRK has wonderful food and great nature scenery.

It's also horribly depressing. I read a blog about a Chinese group taking a tour of the DPRK. On the train in they saw what were supposed to be crops, but it was just a pile dried dirt. And when they arrived, the guards at the train station were burning books and magazines right on the platform. What's even worse is when the blogger described a malnourished middle aged women picking weeds off the side walk. I'll let you piece together why. It's fucking horrible over there.

As for beggars, yeah they are everywhere. On my trip to Paris, I couldn't walk around a street corner with a beggar asking for Euros. It's the same in Washington DC as well.

snip

Nice hat.

 

[CaptainKarma]

yes,
I personally considered myself a communist to until I realized that in a communistic government some people consider themselves more equal then others.

And this is why i hate animal farm. What does this even mean? Its gibberish, just used as an excuse to dismiss the issue.

 

[Wintermoot]

yes,
I personally considered myself a communist to until I realized that in a communistic government some people consider themselves more equal then others.

And this is why i hate animal farm. What does this even mean? Its gibberish, just used as an excuse to dismiss the issue.

I never read Animal Farm, the only one of Orwell's works I ever read/saw is the movie adaptation of 1984.

 

[Moth_Monk]

Good. I hope the OP's friend is a Communist. Today's sick capitalist society needs more Communists. Here's to hoping she doesn't lapse into defending the status quo. Communism might not be the best political system but it's better than one based on the "free market."

Captcha: thinking cap

lol indeed.

 

[Evil Smurf]

Awwwwww, me too! I am a communist too!

 

[CaptainKarma]

yes,
I personally considered myself a communist to until I realized that in a communistic government some people consider themselves more equal then others.

And this is why i hate animal farm. What does this even mean? Its gibberish, just used as an excuse to dismiss the issue.

I never read Animal Farm, the only one of Orwell's works I ever read/saw is the movie adaptation of 1984.

Okay. So what does "more equal than others" mean? That was kinda the important bit of my post.

 

[Angie7F]

I dont think communism is any worse or better than democracy and capitalism.
Every idea looks great in theory.
It is not like our capitalist societies are working very well either.