1983 Parade. Photo Source.
For certain reasons, today I was remembering an old joke from the 80s of the last century. For young people to understand a little, I will first give the context. We speak of a world divided between two groups of superpowers, on the one hand NATO, grouping mostly Western countries and capitalist tendencies, and on the other hand the Warsaw Pact, of communist or socialist countries or some political left form.
Well, at that time of the Cold War, the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was the great Mecca of leftist thinking, but its internal situation was not very good, whether we consider the open or covert repression of opponents, the Disappearance of annoying people, the existence of rude privileges of those who are supposed to be the "most equal among equals" among other things.
Well, the joke told:
Why is the platoon of economists headed by the USSR military parade?
Because they are the greatest mass destruction force they have!
At that time this made me laugh, because the centrally planned economy had shown to bring misery and pain to the people who were subjected to this regime, but at present it doesn't make me laugh so much ... Especially when I'm telling it from Venezuela and I find the news that this country that is abundant of resources is with poverty levels that place it among the first places on the list in the world, in addition to receiving (again and in consecutive years) the qualification as the economy more Miserable of the world.
Well played! I understand why your mind connects Venezuela with failed economic policies!
If there was ever a fertile bed for communism to breed in, it would be in Venezuela!
People need to understand that communism binds the hands of its citizens, and it just does not work.
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It has been my turn to see in my own flesh the disastrous results that these stupid public policy decisions, meaningless economic measures and arrogant attitudes of high-political leaders have brought to Venezuela.
Achieving in just two decades to devastate a country of abundant resources and make it a disaster full of misery, corruption, influence peddling, sale of consciences and open prostitution of the republican institutions is something that still fills me with astonishment.
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Although I laugh at the astonishment of some people that can not understand how such a foolish policy such as socialism/comunism could ever fail, however I take no pleasure in seeing the suffering of people that have been sucked into the monstrous void that is referred to as the economy of Venezuela.
If it is any consultation to you, there are people that are learning from the mistakes that your country is experencing.
Assuming that your #1 problem that you face is securing food, then what prevents citizens from growing produce. Also since there is an abundance of fuel, why don't neighboring countries cart in food and exchange it with you guys for gasoline? I am sure that there are many 'catch 22's' but please briefly explain a typical day in the life of an advantage Venezuelan. Also I assume that you have thought about the answer to the question that I am about to ask...If you knew 10 years ago what you know today then what would you do diffrently (and in this thought excercise you can not move out of the country) Would you stockpile toilet paper, move to a less populated area (like move out of the city and into the country)?
What do you see as being the biggest road block for the advrage person?
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I once heard that there is always a sincere laugh when we see someone slipping and falling ridiculously ... even though by basic human empathy we should worry that the person will get hurt by falling. That is a contradiction that I know exists, but I cannot understand why we are like that.
Well, that of learning ... well, I have to say that according to some surveys there is still 12% who are fervent believers that the problems caused by socialist policies are fixed with MORE Socialism ... yes, although you do not believe it .
The self-subsistence farming activities are not as fast as needed, the yield is not as good as I would like and there are people like me who have a peculiar condition of being "bad hand" to sow, because the plants die ... until those of the laboratory for which I have to put water under schedule control and every semna was added nutrient to maintain the experiment ... I simply discovered that according to a colleague, the bioelectric charge of my body "causes the death" of the plants that we were using ... that explains why my aunt forbade me to help her transplant her roses as a child, I only did it once and she realized there was a problem.
The proposal to exchange food for fuel or oil is something that the European Union and UN representatives proposed, but factors within the Central Government did not accept, demanded that they be totally released from restrictions ... by the way, from European restrictions What I remember is that they were forbidden to buy weapons and tools of urban repression, such as tear gas pumps and stuff, they were not forbidden to buy food or medicine.
I think that a decade ago I had to change everything I had in $ or even better in some cryptocurrency, than with everything and the Great Fall after that fateful price peak, it is worth much more than 10 years ago. I might have left if I listened to one of my relatives ... but, I don't know if I did.
Maybe I will have tried to write more about the mistakes that were being made, to publish more about the negative path that was taken, although I remember that some colleagues who did it today are in exile for having done that ... I am not sure that I support that. They were much braver than I can be.
By the way, I don't quite understand the last question, can you please rephrase it?
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You are correct when you say that it is shocking that 12% of Venezuelans think that more socialism is the answer.
One of the thing that I am trying to figure out is 'Why' socialism is such a bad idea. From the outside (surface) socialism appears to be about everybody sharing and getting along. I understand that socialism does not work because human beings are fundamently selfish. I would like to hear your thoughts please!
hahahaha...you have a bioelectric charge within your body that kills plants
I guess the last question (that was in a previous post) was asking how the advrage person precieved the entire collapse. Was everything alright one day, and then the next day things were bad...or was it like slideing down a hill (where things just continue to become worse and worse) What is the biggest challenge that the avrage person currently faces. (The news media in the U.S. does not really talk about Venezuela, and I know that in Amercia some stoges think that socialism is a good idea. And I know that its a matter of time before some parts of the U.S. look like your country.) So I am trying to pick your brain with the thought of 'what can I do' because I see a tsunami (big wave) coming and I think that I would like to learn from the pain to hopefully make it easier on myself in the future.
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It may not be a good idea to ask myself if I believe in "human kindness and solidarity", because I am more inclined to Hobbes-like positions than those of the Rousseau type.
It is not really that I kill them, it seems that it is not good for sowing or transplanting, I should not touch the roots if I want them to survive, so the most I can do is water them and put fertilizer while wearing insulating gloves. Something like this:
In the beginning things did not seem to be in a bad way, but everything was declining until we plummeted. It was like a hyperbolic decline curve:
Source
If you ask me what I recommend, then the first thing is to try to make people remember the historical cases of failures, death, famine (some of them premeditated as the case of Holodomor in Ukraine), social-political discrimination and persecution for purposes of annihilation of all dissent.
Some people may believe that being socialist is like being "Primitive Christians," please be reminded that these political currents are not only atheistic at the source, but also extreme atheists, that is, they not only deny divinity (that even I can do) but prohibit society from being religious and punish those who believe in some divinity (religious persecution or, at best, government control over religion)
It may be useful to disseminate works such as the 1984 novel, it is not easy, but it also has a film version that can carry the message. Another would be the reading of the Rebellion in the Farm, its reading is simple, but if we want something more audiovisual I think there is an animated version of years ago that was acceptable in its adaptation.
If you can actively spread the word before it is too late and keep alert that believing that everything that has the qualifier of "social" is a good thing, then I recommend you do it for your own good. I failed in that and to a large extent I regret it, although I know it is of no use.
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It is a terribly dirty concept, but socialism says that the state (goverment) is god. It is intresting to me that JESUS would be wildly popular if people could be selfish and except JESUS. What I am saying is that the main item that people do not like about GOD is that they cannot be god. I do not know how much you know about the formation of Amercia, but we left Brittian because our founding fathers said 'no king God personaly grants people some rights so you can not do whatever you want.' I will just come out and say it...some form of conflict is instore for Amercia https://steemit.com/evolvedrights/@captaintj/triators-amoung-us https://steemit.com/thanks/@captaintj/an-open-leter-please-read#@plemmons/plemmons-re-captaintj-an-open-leter-please-read-20191017t144155071z
Alot of patriots have the breaks almost shoved through the floorboards (but I think that we are staring down the barrel of a gun and the gun is proably going to go off, I respect your advice about 'waking people up' (the open letter that I wrote with a thank you) I think that the situation will not be as bad as it would have been if it happened 10 years ago but something is comming and I want to be as ready as I can be, so I am asking for your advice
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I'm going to read your post.
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Hi @pedrobrito2004
I've never heard this joke before. Good one. And sad at the same time.
Upvote on the way :)
Yours, Piotr
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:)
I don't remember what an American comedian he was, but he was a joke of that time. I think I saw it also in a copy of the magazine Selections of Reader's Digest
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