Why did the US fear Communism so much?

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
I am now officially and confirmed terrified for the future of the democratic Western World. What the hell has our educational system come to?

That's right! We should only teach ONE side of the story!
Then we will be the most edumakated!

 

[esun]

Three things you should discuss:

The Cold War (reasons for it, the differing ideologies idea)
McCarthyism
Domino Theory (I didn't see anyone else mention this, but it ties in closely with the Cold War)

 

[badmouse]

i will ahve to agree, i did a paper on McCarthyism for my AP History class, and he was by far the biggest factor in the "red scare" and all the anti-communist sentiment in the country

The "red scare" dates back to WWI and post-WWI times, when the success of the revolution in Russia made US communists more agressive and the US government quite frightened. And the upheaval from the war made a lot of things questionable.

McCarthy is a whole different story.

EDIT: forgot to throw in that J. Edgar Hoover got his start working for the government in (?) 1920 helping to put together the legal stuff that got John Reed, Emma Goldman, etc thrown out of the country for advocating the overthrow of the US Government. J. Edgar Hoover is as much a part of the hearings in the 50's as McCarthy.

 

[Schadenfroh]

the rich run this country, the communists dont like the rich, nuff said

 

[tec699]

America has a lot of gays. Look at the gay marriages cropping up everywh3r3!! It's going to ruin this great country.

I wish we were communist!

 

[RobCur]

everyone hates communism even the people of republic of china and russia, but what can you do to change it if all your rights had been taken away? once the government becomes too powerful, people are nothing more then tools to do as they pleases. In america, we have more freedom then any other country then you realize. let's say in china, someone hear you say "the government is rotten" you can be sure that you be taken away very soon to be shot at.

 

[TitanDiddly]

Because they're almost inevitably run by dictators, and dictators become corrupt almost instantly, because as we know; power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Having a lot of power usually leads to an intense desire for more, especially in corrupted pplz. Corrupt dictators will do many things to try and get even more power, few of which have been found to be benefical to living things by the state of California. Corrupt dictators are dangerous.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: SampSon

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
I am now officially and confirmed terrified for the future of the democratic Western World. What the hell has our educational system come to?

That's right! We should only teach ONE side of the story!
Then we will be the most edumakated!

Please enlighten us with the other side of the story. When has communism favored it's citizens?

 

[ElFenix]

do your own goddamn homework!

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox
Because they're almost inevitably run by dictators, and dictators become corrupt almost instantly, because as we know; power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Having a lot of power usually leads to an intense desire for more, especially in corrupted pplz. Corrupt dictators will do many things to try and get even more power, few of which have been found to be benefical to living things by the state of California. Corrupt dictators are dangerous.

Probably an equal number of dictators in Fascist countries as in Socialist countries.

It's intereting seeing the US school system's education, or lack there of, in action in this thread. Keep up the good work guys.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Thera

Probably an equal number of dictators in Fascist countries as in Socialist countries.

fascism was basically destroyed in wwii, no threat from them. the remaining countries with fascists governments were non-factors. the sovs had just beat down germany

 

[CubicZirconia]

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox
Because they're almost inevitably run by dictators, and dictators become corrupt almost instantly, because as we know; power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Having a lot of power usually leads to an intense desire for more, especially in corrupted pplz. Corrupt dictators will do many things to try and get even more power, few of which have been found to be benefical to living things by the state of California. Corrupt dictators are dangerous.

Probably an equal number of dictators in Fascist countries as in Socialist countries.

It's intereting seeing the US school system's education, or lack there of, in action in this thread. Keep up the good work guys.

1. Learn to spell
2. Make fun of education systems

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Well, if someone actually took the time to figure out what Communism was supposed to be, and what it in fact became, you would have half of it.

Psst... Google under Stalin, Mao and purges. That's a clue too.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Gnote
Aye, wouldn't you consider the collective knowledge of ATOT a valued resource... sans the sarcasm, ATOT is akin to an effective Ask Jeeves

With some of the egos here it's more akin to Ask Jesus.

 

[DWW]

Of course the Cold War and McCarthyism played a part but I think there was something else. Americans didn't and still don't like the idea of pure equality. Sure it is nice to think that everyone is equal in a fairy tale dream kind of way but in reality we aren't equal. An individual with an IQ of 90 and another with an IQ of 160 are -not- equal and they should not be treated as such. Do you really want to be treated the same as someone "less" than you ?

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: WinstonSmith
Well, if someone actually took the time to figure out what Communism was supposed to be, and what it in fact became, you would have half of it.

Psst... Google under Stalin, Mao and purges. That's a clue too.

Communism might work if from the start it had a builtin system of checks and balances - like perhaps it was split into a dozen communes, each commune with it's own government officials, and then those officials would elect a President over the whole system. But then again that would be a Communism/Republic hybrid, and the end result would still be a society of people with very little rights over their own property or will.

 

[Sid59]

lol .. basically ..the McCarthism and labeling people communistist is the same as ..
George Bush calling everyone a terrorist these days.

all it does it play on the American People's emotions and instills fear that the US will protect them from harm.

hasn't been 1 person in leadership who has sustained that position by not instilling fear.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: DWW
Of course the Cold War and McCarthyism played a part but I think there was something else. Americans didn't and still don't like the idea of pure equality. Sure it is nice to think that everyone is equal in a fairy tale dream kind of way but in reality we aren't equal. An individual with an IQ of 90 and another with an IQ of 160 are -not- equal and they should not be treated as such. Do you really want to be treated the same as someone "less" than you ?

It depends on what kind of equality you're talking about. As Americans we like our property, we like our liberties. If we were all given the exact same amount of property, I think after a few generations we may be happy with that. But in communisms it is just about property, it is about liberty. Religion, the right to persue a career/education you want, etc. is also taken away in the name of "equality".

 

[Apathetic]

In a communist / socialist society, the first thing that goes is freedom of speech. We Americans love to shoot our mouths off and complain bitterly about the government (it's a national pastime). Now all of a sudden, you say something "inappropriate" and you get shot or sent to a gulag. We don't like it when our own elected goventment tells us what to do. How do you think we'd react to a non democratic government?

Dave

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Sid59
lol .. basically ..the McCarthism and labeling people communistist is the same as ..
George Bush calling everyone a terrorist these days.

all it does it play on the American People's emotions and instills fear that the US will protect them from harm.

hasn't been 1 person in leadership who has sustained that position by not instilling fear.

If by defintion of terrorist you mean by strapping dynamite around your waist and blowing up women and children - or funding those who do - then I'm not sure what your point is.

McCarthy is before my time, I don't know much about him other than what has already been started here. I do get the impression that he was on a witch-hunt though.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Sid59
lol .. basically ..the McCarthism and labeling people communistist is the same as ..
George Bush calling everyone a terrorist these days.

all it does it play on the American People's emotions and instills fear that the US will protect them from harm.

hasn't been 1 person in leadership who has sustained that position by not instilling fear.

Bill Clinton?

 

[AcidicFury]

It was mostly because of fear of an actual competitor to US status.

 

[spidey07]

I thought one of the main doctrines of Marx's book was to "destroy all capitalism"?

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Sid59
lol .. basically ..the McCarthism and labeling people communistist is the same as ..
George Bush calling everyone a terrorist these days.

all it does it play on the American People's emotions and instills fear that the US will protect them from harm.

hasn't been 1 person in leadership who has sustained that position by not instilling fear.

If by defintion of terrorist you mean by strapping dynamite around your waist and blowing up women and children - or funding those you do - then I'm not sure what your point is.

McCarthy is before my time, I don't know much about him other than what has already been started here. I do get the impression that he was on a witch-hunt though.

no definition of terrorist is anyone who doesn't play along with the US.

example.


pretend you have a country rich in natural resources. Rubber and even a gas pocket on your country. Then the country defends it rights to NOT have US forces come in and take the country over and let them leech your land of resources.

Are you terrorist because you don't want the US to invade your land because they KNOW there are valuable resources?

 

[MovingTarget]

I've seen some excellent responses here about communism and why it was/is feared by many Americans. Then again, there are a few in"duh"viduals here that apparently have not studied up on communism's effect on the 20th century. First, go read the communist manifesto by marx/engals (sp?). Its a good place to start as per what communism was supposed to be. It all looks good on paper, doesn't it? Then go look at the history of Russia after 1918. Communism in its practiced form has proven to be not only unsustainable as an economic system, but a system that severely restricts the freedoms and liberties that this nation was built upon. (see declaration of independence/constitution, writings of Thomas Paine, John Locke, etc for these) It is a brutal system that does not respect people as individuals, only as workers, which are expendable as evidenced by Stalin's purges.

It is not also just a matter of rich vs poor in terms of rejection of communism. The "lower classes" tend to reject communism in the west because of the things I mentioned above. If it were just a matter of economic class struggle (the rich being in control of this nation and therefore using propaganda to thwart a threat to their wealth and power), then why didn't we eventually fall to it as per the inevitability of worker's revolutions as stated by this "scientific socialsim" advocated by Marx? Take a good look at the Weimar republic as well. (germany, post ww1/pre nazi era) With the economic conditions there of hyperinflation, unemployment, etc that had never been seen even in the heart of the depression here, why didn't they fall to and embrace communism as a form of government to feed teh people? Furthermore, why were teh nazis able to use anti-communism as a major tool of their campaigns (political campaigns, not the military kind of which we are all familiar with. The nazis were a party that did have to compete with the spd, kpd, z, etc. in parlementiary style government before Hitler became chancellor)?

There are a lot of reasons why communism is unpalatable to the vast majority of Americans. It may take some research, but it is definitely an interesting subject. Communism (as practiced) and Capitalism/democracy are almost exact polar opposites.