Aidan,

Your obvious ignorance of Marxism/Socialism/Communism is what “ … brings (me) to that conclusion”.

You claim that “They also seem to fail to comprehend that economic and political philosophies don't have to be completely accepted or rejected, but are collections of features we can pick and choose” is utter nonsense.

You cannot 'pick and choose' when elites and the political class decide on any course. You, we, just do as we are told. You are a prime example of a useful idiot – or you would be if you were a person of any consequence and not just any anonymous nobody rabbiting on in social media.

Some people cannot face the truth. They are looking for reassurance that something bad is not going to happen (hence the origin of this thread). But there is no reassurance. Something bad is already with us. People just don't want to admit it. They still believe that the Emperor is not stark, bollock naked.

Incidentally, for those who think people like me are living in the past. The 1950's were not all that bad. None of the whizbank technology and free hand outs, of course; but we knew who we were, and who the enemy was.

The 1950's taught us all about Marxism and how to recognise it. A skill that not many people have today.

Firstly to Everyone Here - HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019!

I am so pleased with the high standard this
discussion is setting. So many interesting and
thoroughly engaging points of view being
presented. Thank You!
You've given us all so much to think about.

I grew up with a family that had lived
through and experienced a
communist regime and had lost a great deal both
in family, country, possessions, social standing.
They fled from the Soviet Regime. And growing up
I was taught that the price of security was indeed,
constant vigilance.

This concept translated easily into the Cold War period
of world-ending dread, the spectre of nuclear
annihilation being held in the cold hands of Godless
communists. It's hardly surprising in that context that
McCarthyism took such rapid and deep hold on the
American consciousness. And here in Australia as Displaced
People were invited by the then Government to come and settle
they brought their fears with them.

The world today is a similarly uncertain place, but in
much less black and white tones. From what I'm reading
and hearing - it would appear that we can expect as
it dawns Marxism will continue to be a powerful totem of
evil in 2019. Cultural relativism, ideological warfare,
demonisation of traditional values, these all are the
true concerns still - of many people - and will continue to
be for quite some time.

Many of the posters on this thread seem to have the notion, "We're good. They're bad." Possibly we are a mixture of good and bad, and they are a mixture of good and bad. No philosophy or ideology appeals to masses of people unless it speaks to their interests and prejudices. To study the effect of Marxism and communism which are not the same thing it would be useful to ask, "What interests and prejudices do they appeal to?"

Dear David F.,

An excellent question.

Understandably trends - like Safe Schools, Same-Sex
Marriage, Homosexuality, Feminism, et al, are seen by some
as a threat to orthodoxy, "normality" and "decency," by
which they mean that "normality" and "decency" is -
white, Christian, patriarchal, and heterosexual. Anything
else is suggested as a heresy. And anyone who thinks differently
or disagrees is a Marxist or worse - evil.

The Inquisition and historical witch-hunts arose from
exactly that sense that the world was under attack by Satan -
who was never seen - but whose presence was very much felt in
a superstitious world. People felt they were fighting the
forces of darkness for mankind's soul - even though these
forces were indistinct in shape and form.

Possibly we are a mixture of good and bad, and they are a mixture of good and bad
david f,
Definitely rather than possibly in my book. The dilemma is to differentiate between good & bad.
What's good for one is not good for the other. Particularly in ideology.
I think good is when those who use our Tax Dollars give something of equivalent value in return.
Bad is what's happening with our tax Dollars now i.e. we get nothing in return.
Like bureaucracy fleecing revenue-creating industry & squander it on the unemployables & themselves whilst asking for more from us.

Dearest Foxy,

Maybe the goals which many people, especially those doing it tough, are much more as Abraham Maslow would have described - a job, security, a bit of comfort, a better future for their kids, not to be ripped off. Communist parties appeal to the 'people' on those issues. And so does Trump. So did Hitler. All at the cost of complicated truths.

So Friedrich Hayek's Triangle is not a bad way to look at politics. OTOH, I still have just a little affection for Marx, with all his dodgy analyses and predictions, even with his illegitimate son, who Engels passed off as his own. I think he would have been appalled, perhaps after a time to 'reconsider' (as the Russian proverb puts it), at how his Monster turned out.

And Maslow himself may have been very much influenced by Marxism: his brother-in-law, Oscar Lewis, was a lifelong communist, finishing up in Cuba where he tried to test his theories about a 'culture of poverty' and whether socialism would eliminate or at least counter it. No, it didn't, he learnt. Maybe that's what killed him in 1970.

[Yeah, it's called the 'bowerbird syndrome' ]

Love,

Joe