08-19-2005, 12:12 AM
gekko,Aug 18 2005, 03:47 PM Wrote:And capitalism keeps north american upper class white people rich by exploiting poor countries around the world. We (yes, I am including myself in this 'we') keep three quarters of the world living in poverty so they can keep stitching our nike sneakers and gap jeans, and all the while we bitch and complain because gas prices keep rising.
You're delibrately oversimplifying your points. My guess wouldn't be that you're a close minded a-hole, as you put it. My guess is that you're operating on the assumption that no one else at the lounge is as smart or well read as you believe yourself to be. Given the quality of many of the posters here, that's a pretty stupid assumption.
gekko
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To your 2nd paragraph: There are many issues about which I do not know squat. There are other issues about which I know enough, but not more than most and less than some. There are a couple of issues about which I know more than most, and definately more than people here. 2 reasons for that. 1) I was born there and have many relatives with whom I can talk about these things, who actually lived through them as adults... and 2) Since the age of about 15-16, my fascination with my former (thank god) homeland has led me to read more literature on the topic of the history of the USSR and world comminism in general than people who were not born there would care to do. Oh and works by Marx and Engels and Lenin were required reading in college, and my parents actually took some of their literature with them.
The combination of those 2 factors allows me to have such strong views on this topic. See, you guys think you know and understand. I, OTOH actually do know and understand. Oh, I suppose there are 1 or 2 people here who were born there also, but that does not mean that they care about this topic as much as I do and therefore do not know as much.
As far as your 1st paragraph.....I choose not to touch it, as this might get ugly, and I am in a very relaxed mood right now....
-A