Red Menace

[hsweet]

http://www.verydodgy.com/pics/computing/ms.htm

[slimdog360]

did you mean http://www.verydodgy.com/pics/computing/ms.htm

its a picture

[Tundro Walker]

LOL! That's brilliant!

The whole "red scare" in the 50's through 80's was amazing. Folks were utterly scared of Communism, but most didn't really know enough about it to know why they were scared of it.

"Those Soviets are Communists! So Communism is bad!"

Communism & Marxism aren't bad, it's just that their implementation in the past hasn't worked out so good, mostly because they're too idealistic. They focus too heavily on idealistic models of human nature, putting the greater good above yourself, rather than realistic models of human nature, where we put ourselves above the greater good.

People are not ants. We do not work for the greater good of the colony. We do not accept that we are born into certain roles in life, and we will only be able to perform that role. We do not accept that someone deserves more than us because they are of a different role/caste. Humans can be altruistic, but not as much as ants are.

In practice (EG: Soviet Union, China), Communism ends up with an elitist system, where the people in charge are waving around the doctrine to keep the masses in check. So, you end up with a power-corrupt minor elite (the haves), and an oppressed and annoyed major under-class (the have-nots).

In essence, Communism is akin to the society Thomas More wrote about in "Utopia". It sounds great, but doesn't take into account that all humans are analogue machines. We want to get the most with the least exertion...that's the way we're wired in order to survive. We are selfish first, and altruistic second. Communism, as well as a lot of Religious readings, goes against our human nature by trying to get us to reverse how we really are.

Socialism worked to rectify this, by working on a balance of both aspects...making some things communal or commodotized (depending on which nation you live in with Socialism, it can be health-care, cars, utilities like power/water, etc), but still gave people the freedom to pursue their own profession, business, etc. In other words, there are certain fundamental things that should be provided for the common good, but people should not be forced into doing things they don't want to do just because the society needs more of that labor category. Social evolution will take care of the details.

Anyways, I like the picture, because at it's heart Communism strives for people to be giving, but got demonized through American propaganda.

[M$LOL]

Ahahahaha very good.

[starcraft.man]

LOL, very good. Soon, if Gates ever sees that, Microsoft will use its billions of dollars to resurrect senator J. McCarthy from the dead and we can start the public inquisition all over again :D

[BWF89]

When you download music, your downloading communsim

[starcraft.man]

When you download music, your downloading communsim

You know what, I think the truth that most people fail to realize is that the Internet as a concept itself is a communal/communistic ideal. I mean at its foundation, its about connecting people all around the world, and enabling them to do many things they couldn't do alone and it is for the most part free, for the benefit of everyone connected, (for example, bit torrent is a community driven downloading/file sharing tool, linux is an OS that is mostly coded and written by a vast community, blogs and podcasts are a community created media). Maybe the world has failed to notice that the communists already won the cold war :p Just thinking out loud there... I could be wrong >.>.

[Tundro Walker]

You know what, I think the truth that most people fail to realize is that the Internet as a concept itself is a communal/communistic ideal. I mean at its foundation, its about connecting people all around the world, and enabling them to do many things they couldn't do alone and it is for the most part free, for the benefit of everyone connected

Yes, that's why China's trying to regulate and ban parts of it for their citizens so much. I have to laugh at the irony. If China really was Communistic, they'd give free access to internet without censorship. But they want to censor the hell out of it, lest their people find out they really live in a Dictatorship rather than a Communistic country.

[BWF89]

You know what, I think the truth that most people fail to realize is that the Internet as a concept itself is a communal/communistic ideal. I mean at its foundation, its about connecting people all around the world, and enabling them to do many things they couldn't do alone and it is for the most part free, for the benefit of everyone connected, (for example, bit torrent is a community driven downloading/file sharing tool, linux is an OS that is mostly coded and written by a vast community, blogs and podcasts are a community created media). Maybe the world has failed to notice that the communists already won the cold war :p Just thinking out loud there... I could be wrong >.>.
Actually I was referring to the fake RIAA poster: http://vorlon.case.edu/~jjg13/mp3.jpg

[M$LOL]

Yes, that's why China's trying to regulate and ban parts of it for their citizens so much. I have to laugh at the irony. If China really was Communistic, they'd give free access to internet without censorship. But they want to censor the hell out of it, lest their people find out they really live in a Dictatorship rather than a Communistic country.

And risking sparking a debate about Communism vs Marxism, I will just say that communism in China is not actual pure communism, kind of like the way Linux isn't pure Unix. Same with the USSR. It wasn't absolute communism, there were some differences.

[juxtaposed]

And risking sparking a debate about Communism vs Marxism, I will just say that communism in China is not actual pure communism, kind of like the way Linux isn't pure Unix. Same with the USSR. It wasn't absolute communism, there were some differences.

Linux is much closer to unix then the Soviet Union or China is to communism.

They're really really different; not like xmms - audacious, but like... Gentoo - Linspire different. Or actually much more then that :P

[M$LOL]

I was just trying to draw a parallel.