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I think if you want to take part in discussions like this you should either inform yourself a bit beforehand, or enter them with an open mind. Otherwise you’re

by smcl 4y ago

I think if you want to take part in discussions like this you should either inform yourself a bit beforehand, or enter them with an open mind. Otherwise you’re going to blunder in with clown shoes on and make yourself look like a conservative talk radio show caller

npc54321 4y ago
- smcl 4y ago
  (you forgot to switch to your alt for the second comment btw) No you're missing the point. You don't have to choose a side and go to bat for it. You don't have to defend Batista and reject Castro and what he originally wanted for the Cuban people (or vice versa!). You can understand what each side wanted during the conflict, read into what they did and who they were supported by (note: the Cuban population supported Castro). It's not binary - Castro wasn't a universally good person to be worshipped, far from it. That kind of flawless person never exists. Take George Washington (yes yes, whataboutism I don't care). He stood up to the Brits, and kicked the fuck out of them. That's good! As a Brit I can say that's a fucking good thing to have done. And yet we can acknowledge he was a slaver who likely did a lot of shitty things in his life. That doesn't mean the USA is bad - it just shows you can't draw a nice clean good/bad line, it's messier than that.
- dang 4y ago
  We've banned this account for posting flamewar comments. That's not allowed here, and you've unfortunately been doing a lot of it. Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
npc54321 4y ago
You win man. In the Soviet Union the intellectuals supporting communism revolution were the first sent to gulags.
- smcl 4y ago
  It's very adult of you to concede defeat. And if I was promoting the Soviet Union then it would be a pretty harsh own on me ... if it was true. But the "kulaks" (the land-owning peasants) were the first sent to the gulags - not exactly a nice thing worth celebrating, but hey there we go. Good news though, I wasn't promoting the Soviet Union! I was simply saying that you don't understand what Cuba was like before, during and after the revolution. And that you don't fully understand either side, where their allegiances lay (note: the Soviet Union had given up on Latin America and the Caribbean by that point... hmm), what their intentions were and how they intended to implement them. It's actually really easy to learn about it, and basically everyone is in agreement as to how it all went down. It's nuanced, as is all of history, but you can definitely read about it and find out. You just can't be bothered - you've heard that it's a binary situation: that Cuba are the bad guys and the USA are the good guys and that's it.

by smcl 4y ago

npc54321 4y ago

smcl 4y ago
(you forgot to switch to your alt for the second comment btw) No you're missing the point. You don't have to choose a side and go to bat for it. You don't have to defend Batista and reject Castro and what he originally wanted for the Cuban people (or vice versa!). You can understand what each side wanted during the conflict, read into what they did and who they were supported by (note: the Cuban population supported Castro). It's not binary - Castro wasn't a universally good person to be worshipped, far from it. That kind of flawless person never exists. Take George Washington (yes yes, whataboutism I don't care). He stood up to the Brits, and kicked the fuck out of them. That's good! As a Brit I can say that's a fucking good thing to have done. And yet we can acknowledge he was a slaver who likely did a lot of shitty things in his life. That doesn't mean the USA is bad - it just shows you can't draw a nice clean good/bad line, it's messier than that.
dang 4y ago
We've banned this account for posting flamewar comments. That's not allowed here, and you've unfortunately been doing a lot of it. Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

npc54321 4y ago

You win man. In the Soviet Union the intellectuals supporting communism revolution were the first sent to gulags.

smcl 4y ago
It's very adult of you to concede defeat. And if I was promoting the Soviet Union then it would be a pretty harsh own on me ... if it was true. But the "kulaks" (the land-owning peasants) were the first sent to the gulags - not exactly a nice thing worth celebrating, but hey there we go. Good news though, I wasn't promoting the Soviet Union! I was simply saying that you don't understand what Cuba was like before, during and after the revolution. And that you don't fully understand either side, where their allegiances lay (note: the Soviet Union had given up on Latin America and the Caribbean by that point... hmm), what their intentions were and how they intended to implement them. It's actually really easy to learn about it, and basically everyone is in agreement as to how it all went down. It's nuanced, as is all of history, but you can definitely read about it and find out. You just can't be bothered - you've heard that it's a binary situation: that Cuba are the bad guys and the USA are the good guys and that's it.