I am listening to a presentation in my Latin American Cultures class right now. It is about "Liberation Theology". They are quoting Marx...aaaagh damn commies
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Communism won't work today, but who knows about the future? New technology has the potential to change the world in a lot of ways, and maybe some of those changes will create a society where some form of communism will work.
Will humanity rise up as one, throw off its oppressors (who are also part of humanity - funny how that works) and live happily ever after? Probably not. Will an economy based off something other than 'give something to take something' arise someday? Probably. And who knows if it'll work.
Also, the vast majority of societies in the history of the world have been something like no-poverty/no-wealth, and with little original thought and art. What art does exist is probably more communal. These societies have subsided as the population grew and technology became more available, but it is important to remember that the individualistic way is not the only way, and isn't necessarily correct. Cultural relativism, m'dear!
They're still silly, though. Marx and Engels were silly people too.
1a) Communism is NOT a hippie dippie ideology about peace and harmony... in the short-term, anyway. As Lenin (i think) said, "you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet". These guys aren't pacifist flower children.
1b) but yes Stalinist communism is indeed silly.
1c) I'm not sure that it will never work though... I haven't studied it intensively but isn't cuba pretty close to that model?
2) Are the guys in class really referring to orthodox communism, though? If it's *just* Allende-Marxist social democracy... well, is that really such a bad ideology for latin america? I certainly don't think so.
A lot of people in this country and other countries are committed to the ideal of social equality, believe in marx in principle and quote him but aren't total radical nuts about it. They are called "social democrats" not "damn commies". I feel like socialist thought is probably more complicated than you're making it out to be.
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Will humanity rise up as one, throw off its oppressors (who are also part of humanity - funny how that works) and live happily ever after? Probably not. Will an economy based off something other than 'give something to take something' arise someday? Probably. And who knows if it'll work.
Also, the vast majority of societies in the history of the world have been something like no-poverty/no-wealth, and with little original thought and art. What art does exist is probably more communal. These societies have subsided as the population grew and technology became more available, but it is important to remember that the individualistic way is not the only way, and isn't necessarily correct. Cultural relativism, m'dear!
They're still silly, though. Marx and Engels were silly people too.
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1b) but yes Stalinist communism is indeed silly.
1c) I'm not sure that it will never work though... I haven't studied it intensively but isn't cuba pretty close to that model?
2) Are the guys in class really referring to orthodox communism, though? If it's *just* Allende-Marxist social democracy... well, is that really such a bad ideology for latin america? I certainly don't think so.
A lot of people in this country and other countries are committed to the ideal of social equality, believe in marx in principle and quote him but aren't total radical nuts about it. They are called "social democrats" not "damn commies". I feel like socialist thought is probably more complicated than you're making it out to be.
:)
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