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> If you are at all familiar with censorship you would not treat this subject so lightly. Quick question for you - I just need a simple "yes" or "no" answer.

> If you are at all familiar with censorship you would not treat this subject so lightly. Quick question for you - I just need a simple "yes" or "no" answer. Would you be happy to display a book on your shelf with the title containing the word "N\x49\x47\x47\x45R" in two-inch letters on your library shelves?

the_third_wave 4y ago
Yes. I'm not from the US so I do not have the inhibition against the 'N-word'. Such a book would be on a shelf with other books of similar vintage, one which represents a certain time in history when that word was in common use. I do not have to agree with the contents of such books or with the titles chosen by their authors just like I do not have to a agree with many books written now and books yet to be written. I also have no problems with having 'Mein Kampf' or Mao's 'Little Red Book' (红宝书) on a shelf even though I do not agree with their contents and do not hold the authors in high regard. In short, I know the difference between what was and what is. I do not know what will be but I try to do my best to keep it from going in the wrong direction, i.e. I try to keep from making the same mistakes as have been made in the past. One of those mistakes is censorship. I will not tire you with the well-known quotation from Orwell's 1984 about every book having been rewritten since I assume you have read the book.
ClapperHeid 4y ago
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the_third_wave 4y ago
By the way, now that I answered your yes/no question I'd like to ask one in return. As far as I can see the "far-left" ideologies of socialism/communism [1] have been proven to be incompatible with human nature as shown by the multitude of communist and socialist revolutions which ended up as autocratic dictatorial regimes with a clear distinction between the haves and have-nots. From the Soviet Union to Mao's China, from North Korea to Cambodia, from Cuba to Venezuela the story looks the same. Quick question for you - I just need a simple "yes" or "no" answer. Have communism and socialism been tried in real life at a large enough scale to show whether these ideologies can be made to work? A "yes" would need some examples of where this has been made to work at a large (i.e. nation state) scale. A "no" needs an explanation what all communist and socialist revolutions were if not examples of such. I'm asking this because to me it is incomprehensible that these ideologies somehow have remained acceptable in the public discourse where e.g. national socialism and fascism have been relegated to the dustbin of history while the death toll of communism and socialism outstrips that of national socialism and fascism combined. You do not hear anyone claiming that 'true fascism has never been tried' or 'the 3d Reich did not practice true national socialism', why then is it perfectly acceptable for supposedly intellectual people to claim that 'true communism' or 'real socialism' have never been tried? [1] do mind that "social democracy" is not the same as "socialism" and is not what I'm referring to here, I mean "socialism" as being the ideology which strives after communal ownership of the means of production and the abolishment of private property and the "dictatorship of the proletariat" which is supposed to lead to a classless society where government structures are no longer needed and will dissolve by themselves, i.e. a communist society

the_third_wave 4y ago

Yes. I'm not from the US so I do not have the inhibition against the 'N-word'. Such a book would be on a shelf with other books of similar vintage, one which represents a certain time in history when that word was in common use. I do not have to agree with the contents of such books or with the titles chosen by their authors just like I do not have to a agree with many books written now and books yet to be written. I also have no problems with having 'Mein Kampf' or Mao's 'Little Red Book' (红宝书) on a shelf even though I do not agree with their contents and do not hold the authors in high regard. In short, I know the difference between what was and what is. I do not know what will be but I try to do my best to keep it from going in the wrong direction, i.e. I try to keep from making the same mistakes as have been made in the past. One of those mistakes is censorship. I will not tire you with the well-known quotation from Orwell's 1984 about every book having been rewritten since I assume you have read the book.

ClapperHeid 4y ago

[dead]

the_third_wave 4y ago

By the way, now that I answered your yes/no question I'd like to ask one in return. As far as I can see the "far-left" ideologies of socialism/communism [1] have been proven to be incompatible with human nature as shown by the multitude of communist and socialist revolutions which ended up as autocratic dictatorial regimes with a clear distinction between the haves and have-nots. From the Soviet Union to Mao's China, from North Korea to Cambodia, from Cuba to Venezuela the story looks the same. Quick question for you - I just need a simple "yes" or "no" answer. Have communism and socialism been tried in real life at a large enough scale to show whether these ideologies can be made to work? A "yes" would need some examples of where this has been made to work at a large (i.e. nation state) scale. A "no" needs an explanation what all communist and socialist revolutions were if not examples of such. I'm asking this because to me it is incomprehensible that these ideologies somehow have remained acceptable in the public discourse where e.g. national socialism and fascism have been relegated to the dustbin of history while the death toll of communism and socialism outstrips that of national socialism and fascism combined. You do not hear anyone claiming that 'true fascism has never been tried' or 'the 3d Reich did not practice true national socialism', why then is it perfectly acceptable for supposedly intellectual people to claim that 'true communism' or 'real socialism' have never been tried? [1] do mind that "social democracy" is not the same as "socialism" and is not what I'm referring to here, I mean "socialism" as being the ideology which strives after communal ownership of the means of production and the abolishment of private property and the "dictatorship of the proletariat" which is supposed to lead to a classless society where government structures are no longer needed and will dissolve by themselves, i.e. a communist society