Jeff Fullmer’s recent article defending Marxism, though I strongly disagreed with it, at least gave a few valid reasons and made arguments for his position. Andrew Kirk’s follow-up article (Oct. 22), however, was an attempt to avoid argument by simply mocking opposing views.
Kirk claims that anti-Communism is motivated by an irrational fear of something that, to hear him tell it, is ancient history, totally inapplicable in today’s world. Because of this, he feels justified in calling people idiots and laughing at them.
However, there are some of us who oppose Communism not because we blindly fear it, but because we choose not to ignore the ugly facts about one of the most brutal, oppressive governments in history just because it collapsed on itself over a whole ten years ago. I do not fear Communism, because I know it will not happen in this country in my lifetime. But I do feel contempt for Communist apologists, because they are the kind of people who would repeat the mistakes of history, just because they are removed from us by (gasp!) a decade or so.
In the meantime, a large segment of the world’s population still suffer under Communism in China and other countries (though it is collapsing in those places as well), and we should continue to oppose those governments which continually violate the rights of their citizens.
Andrew “Ash” VidrineObjectivist Club presidentPhilosophy, [email protected]