The Christmas spirit has had me avoiding politics lately, but I can't let some remarks from Whoopi Goldberg regarding the death of Kim Jong Il go without comment.
Goldberg let loose with the following on ABC's "The View":
After mentioning the background of new leader Kim Jong Un and his education at a Swiss boarding school, Goldberg proclaimed, "...If you say that this is how our culture is and then you send your child to a Swiss boarding school. You know, this is what happens with communism. It's a great concept. On paper it makes perfect sense."
The comic added, "But once you put a human being in power, it shifts. We saw it in Russia, we've seen it all around the world."
I'm not a fan of Goldberg's politics, but I will give her credit for recognizing that communism doesn't work. Where she blows it then is with that "great concept" stuff, and I see that all the time.
Communism is not a great concept, it's a stupid concept. In fact, it's so stupid, so profoundly flawed, so devastating in its actual implementation, that I'm completely certain that it is also an evil concept. Why? Goldberg herself knows the answer:
"But once you put a human being in power..."
Well, who freakin' else is going to be in power? "You know, that communism thing would work if we just let the horses have all of the power." Good grief. A framework for governing humanity that would just work if humans didn't have to run it is a great concept?
The reasons I have nothing but scorn for communism go well beyond that. It denies or attempts to crush one of the basic truths of humanity among most other animals, and that is that behavior that is rewarded is repeated. The flip side to that is also true, that behavior that is punished, or results in pain, is discouraged. Communism degrades and eventually crushes the association between efforts and rewards. It is not exactly a shocker that eventually such a society falls into a desultory stagnation once people realize that they just need to do the minimum to get by.
Degrading and crushing the individual is also inherent to this "great concept." It has to be, since the collective good must take precedence over any individual wants or desires. You can't have people running around doing whatever they want or pretty soon some people will have more things than others and you're back to all sorts of chaos. No, things must be managed for the collective good and that means some things will be allowed and some things will be prohibited. Some people will object of course, but the police will just have to take them away. It's sad, but necessary. You know the rest.
No, communism does not make sense, in practice or on paper. The stupid, the ugly, the evil are all baked right in from the start. I think anyone who can't see that is ignorant, or a fool, or a sociopath.
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