OPINION:
I’ve been researching the appeal of socialism and communism to younger people (or anyone), and it’s actually pretty clear. All they read about or are being taught are the theoretical ideals of such systems, where everyone is equal, there is no poverty, no illiteracy, and it’s just one big happy kumbaya — sort of like an Israeli kibbutz.
What they don’t know is that such societies exist only on very small scales. Such a society would be impossible to accomplish here in the U.S.; it would collapse under the weight of its own costs (not to mention individual greed and corruption) within a couple of years.
Youths of today have not experienced the Soviet Union. They have not seen wealthy commissars walking alongside starving commoners or the food lines and rationing of resources. They have not visited Eastern European countries during the Cold War and seen everything in shades of gray. In short, they are a bunch of ignorant, naive, idealistic morons.
Case in point: My dad was an engineer on assignment from his aerospace company in Iran right before the revolution in 1978. His young Iranian secretary was big time against the Shah (capitalistic monarchy) and was one of the protesters demanding his ouster and replacement with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (Socialist Islamic Republic). Well, she and those who thought like her got what they wanted, and my dad and his corporation had to hightail it out.
A few months after they left the country (and after hundreds of thousands of dissenters had been either jailed or executed), my dad’s old secretary called him, begging him to find a way to get her out of the country. My dad was astonished. He asked her, “Weren’t you one of those who wanted this to happen? And now you want to get out?” She responded, “They lied to us. This isn’t what we were promised.”
Yes, that’s what happens, and it all starts with university students. The most “intelligent” bunch of ignorant, naive, idealistic dimwits to be found on the face of the earth.
ARTHUR SAGINIAN
Santa Clarita, California
Please read our comment policy before commenting.