We are in the midst of the 148th anniversary of Sherman's march to the sea.

[Kuciwalker]

We overestimated the threat of communism to the world, obviously.

Are you kidding? Imagine how much worse off the world would be today if even more countries had fallen?

[MichaeltheGreat]

Are you kidding? Imagine how much worse off the world would be today if even more countries had fallen?

It probably would be better off. The USSR and China would have overextended themselves faster with subsidies and trying to one-up each other for influence, leading to an earlier collapse.

[Hauldren Collider]

You could choose to tell them to knock it off.

I think it's pretty funny...

[Hauldren Collider]

It probably would be better off. The USSR and China would have overextended themselves faster with subsidies and trying to one-up each other for influence, leading to an earlier collapse.

The sattelite states are still around. Cuba. Belarus. North Korea. Zimbabwe. China is still largely communist outside of a few coastal cities.

Imagine if North Korea were as productive as South Korea. Imagine if Belarus were as productive as Poland. Now imagine the reverse, and tack on a number of South American countries.

Better yet: Imagine if China were as productive per person as Taiwan or Hong Kong. Its economy would dwarf the United States.

[MrFun]

Uh, yes, I do. They are evil. I recognize that some of them might not realize it. Think about their ideology for a minute. It's completely antithetical to freedom, democracy, and peace, all things which I value very highly.

I don't think communism is inherently evil.

[Hauldren Collider]

I don't think communism is inherently evil.

Then you haven't thought about it all that hard, or as we have previously established, are an idiot.

[Hauldren Collider]

Please excuse my harshness to MrFun. I'm just a little sick of him accusing me and everyone he disagrees with of secretly desiring other people to be miserable.

[MrFun]

Where in my statement about me thinking that communism is not inherently evil, did I indicate you desire others to be miserable?

In this instance, you're the one who has made a personal attack out of nowhere.

[Kuciwalker]

It probably would be better off. The USSR and China would have overextended themselves faster with subsidies and trying to one-up each other for influence, leading to an earlier collapse.

I doubt it would be worth it. You're trading all the damage done to a give country's economy and institutions for the expense incurred by the USSR or China to buy influence there - it sounds like a bad deal.

[kentonio]

Uh, yes, I do. They are evil. I recognize that some of them might not realize it. Think about their ideology for a minute. It's completely antithetical to freedom, democracy, and peace, all things which I value very highly.

Dear lord.. You do understand the principles of communism right? Why exactly do you think so many people in the west were drawn to it before the excesses of Mao and Stalin became so well known? Like everything else in life, there are no absolutes when it comes to ideologies like communism, and branding all communists as 'evil' is more than a little ridiculous.

Btw, do you think that the only reason America protested about human rights violations in the Soviet territories was because they wanted to make the Soviets look bad? You might want to bear in mind that at the time the US was treating blacks like scum, so it's difficult to see how you can imagine it was a pure fight of good vs evil.

[Imran Siddiqui]

And to be honest, free market capitalism can be called evil on the same level. Completely antithetical to community, democracy, and peace.

(the anthetical to democracy is when people can spend as much money as they can to sway the populace, what kind of democracy do you really have)

[MrFun]

And to be honest, free market capitalism can be called evil on the same level. Completely antithetical to community, democracy, and peace.

(the anthetical to democracy is when people can spend as much money as they can to sway the populace, what kind of democracy do you really have)

HC is going to call you an idiot.

[Kuciwalker]

And to be honest, free market capitalism can be called evil on the same level.

No. Some of the very best experiments ever conducted in sociology disprove this.

[Guynemer]

I can see this particular line of discussion going from 0 to "No True Scotsman" in about 3 more posts.

[giblets]

The sattelite states are still around. Cuba. Belarus. North Korea. Zimbabwe. China is still largely communist outside of a few coastal cities.

Imagine if North Korea were as productive as South Korea. Imagine if Belarus were as productive as Poland. Now imagine the reverse, and tack on a number of South American countries.

Better yet: Imagine if China were as productive per person as Taiwan or Hong Kong. Its economy would dwarf the United States.

That's very reasonable on North Korea, but claiming China would be as productive as Taiwan if the Communists lost is very speculative.