On Mon, 18 Mar 1996 jamesd@echeque.com wrote:

...

Those who defend totalitarianism, regardless of the brand name of totalitarianism, simply lie. It is as uncomplicated as that.

At 02:21 PM 3/18/96 -0800, Charles Bell wrote:

Not very good point.

Monsters come in many hues and `totalitarianism' is rarely total. Simplicity is in the mind of the beholder.

George Bernard Shaw, leader of the Fabian socialists, visited the Soviet Union during Stalin's artificial famine and said "Where do you see any food shortage", gesturing around. He was sitting in a restaurant reserved exclusively for foreigners at the time, and there was indeed excellent and abundant food in the restaurant. Monsters, plain enough. Very simple. The complications only exist in the clouded minds of those who employ doublethink. Shaw also visited the Gulag, as did many famous English leftists: Here is his report on it: "Whereas in Britain a man enters prison a human being, and leaves prison a criminal type, in Russia he entered prison a criminal type and would come out an ordinary man but for the difficulty of inducing him to come out at all. As far as I could make out they could all stay as long as they liked. "

From which I reasonably conclude that if people like him gained power, they would murder everybody like me.

I have heard many very similar tales from folk on Usenet concerning Cuba and the like. In addition to eradicating everyone like me, they would also eradicate their dupes, their useful fools, such as H.G. Wells, who wrote of Stalin: "[...] never met a man more candid, fair and honest, [...] no one is afraid of him and everybody trusts him. " Since they did not give H.G. Wells a tour of the Gulag, I guess they suspected that he might not have approved. Such a suspicion would doubtless have proved fatal had his pals amongst the Fabian socialists gained power. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd@echeque.com