ttbn,

My father's brother was tortured and horribly mutilated
to death in a very famous massacre. There's
a Memorial built in Lithuania. My father's
grief lasted a lifetime. Communism is and never will be
part of our family.

There's also much more to our family's story which I
shall not have mocked
on a public forum such as this one by clueless people.

We all have different
life experiences and it's easy to brush things aside and
disrespect others but to do that is
not something to be proud of - when those experiences
are what some families had to live through.

Showing respect and some empathy does not cost much.
And if that can't be done - than perhaps not to comment
at all would be the decent thing to do.

Thanks for your question ttbn
"Did you mean communists (like Foxy)?"

Answer- When I said "Communists (and Foxy) seem to believe in racist multiculturalism".

I was saying that both Communists and Foxy believe in a particular concept. Comes from the old saying about the metaphorical "rose"- "a rose by any other name is still a rose". So if someone believes in many communist principles they may be effectively a communist- even if they don't know what a communist is- or don't identify as a communist. Obviously there is some subtlety here.

The same goes the other way- even if someone calls themselves a communist- but they don't believe in the principles of communism- they may not be a communist.

Some argue that woke-ism, crtical race theory, feminism (there are four generational ideologies of feminism), gay politics, multiculturalism, socialism, etc are communism by another name.

Question- "She is likely to snap back and say that she knows all about communism, and how her parents escaped it. She comes up with that one regularly. Escaped it, or did they come to spread it? Not knowing them, I will give them the benefit of the doubt. They were probably decent, hard working people typical of their generation and post-war immigrants."

Answer- In my view when I see the danger of Foxy's views I find it difficult to give her the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes tough love is appropriate. Sometimes a nation has to go to war.

Yes those with communist views seem to agree with me one day but reject it the next. I don't expect Foxy's view to change easily as she seems to repeat communist propaganda. Maybe it's not intentional but in a sense that doesn't matter

I don't know how she has come to her views- most women's views are influenced by their husband, family, work, church, friends, etc especially in modern times. To go against her social group (especially woke-ist social groups) is very difficult especially for women because they tend to be higher in agreeableness, in the modern age rejecting or even questioning the views of the social group often results in physical exclusion from the group.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number

Question- "But you know what they say about immigrants: they are OK, but it's the children born here (first generation Australians) that you have to watch."

Answer- This could be a bias due to Foxy identifying as an immigrant. It seems similar to the communist view of ownership. I see ownership as a hierarchy- ownership acts at all levels of society- based on traditional social structures and cultural hierarchy- Foxy's view seems very individualistic and atomised- this seems to be similar to the communist view.

It's important to label these concepts or groups of concepts because that way normal people are able to encapsulate the concept in their mind. This is what politicians do in sound bites. Sometimes sound bites can be inaccurate but hopefully the message is simplified enough for most people to understand for them to act in the best interest of themselves- and they can do further research if required.

There's much more here I suppose.

Thanks for the question ttbn. Kudos.

You "shall not have mocked"? Very pompous, particularly as I didn't mock anyone. I'll leave my 'mockery' for those deserving it; not your unknown family who might have been models of virtue for all I know, just like the Eastern Europeans who came to live in my town after WW11.

I can't 'respect' people I don't know. And, as for 'empathy, far from helping us to improve the lives of others, empathy is a "capricious and irrational emotion that appeals to our narrow prejudices. It muddles our judgement and, ironically, often leads to cruelty. We are at our best when we are smart enough not to rely on it but to draw instead upon a more distanced compassion".

Sticking your nose into conversations between other people is like listening at keyholes: you might hear something you don't like. I was addressing Canem Malum, not you.

You are always telling me, and others, that we don't have to read your posts; take your own advice.

Canem Malum and ttbn,

Reading your comments has made me realize the
reality of your thinking.

I appreciate your candor and wish you continued
success in sharing your views on this discussion
forum with each other.

Enjoy your week-end.

CM

We've had a crossover.

I gave Foxy's family the benefit of the doubt, not her. She has too much form, and she is here. The stuff she comes out with, her obvious ideology, is quite shocking if her family did suffer as she claims they did . I say "if" because we can never really know if truth is always delivered anonymously, online.