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On Pinochet, castro, and Other Dictators
I don't have a strong reaction to Pinochet's death, other than I will not try to defend a person who was responsible for the deaths of thousands. What's the use in comparing Pinochet to castro to Hitler to Stalin? A murdering dictator is a murdering dictator is a murdering dictator.
What I DID find interesting was the reaction by A Grand Illusion to this piece by fellow Babalu collaborator Ziva, which Rick picked up on in what appears to be a failed attempt to cause a blog-ruckus.
Rick stir the pot? NAAAAH!.
Andy's case is that Ziva should feel heartbroken for Pinochet's victims, and not use the occasion to blame the MSM for an unbalanced treatment of castro vs Pinochet. That's fine, I can see his point.
But what exactly did Ziva say that can be construed as insensitive, or even totally wrong, for that matter? We can argue about this until the cows come home, but there is validity to Ziva's lament that castro gets off relatively easy quite often in the MSM. It's not hard to find examples of this
"Free education, free healthcare", anyone?.
I say, how about "Free Political Prisoners".
What I DID find interesting was the reaction by A Grand Illusion to this piece by fellow Babalu collaborator Ziva, which Rick picked up on in what appears to be a failed attempt to cause a blog-ruckus.
Rick stir the pot? NAAAAH!.
Andy's case is that Ziva should feel heartbroken for Pinochet's victims, and not use the occasion to blame the MSM for an unbalanced treatment of castro vs Pinochet. That's fine, I can see his point.
But what exactly did Ziva say that can be construed as insensitive, or even totally wrong, for that matter? We can argue about this until the cows come home, but there is validity to Ziva's lament that castro gets off relatively easy quite often in the MSM. It's not hard to find examples of this
"Free education, free healthcare", anyone?.
I say, how about "Free Political Prisoners".
posted by Robert at 5:04 PM
8 Comments:
Robert, thanks for a common sense post. I agree w/you 100%
Who is this Rick person you keep talking about?
rick sanchez maybe?
Pinochet was mild as dictators go. I think he was much less destructive than Allende would have been if the latter had remained in power. And Pinochet eventually relinquished power. He didn't have to do that. Compared to the alternative, Pinochet looked pretty good. Compared to the alternatives, Castro looks terrible. The comparison between Pinochet and Castro is helpful because it makes it easier to maintain perspective on how much damage a real tyrant like Castro can do. Compare today's Chile and today's Cuba. How can anyone say that Pinochet was comparable to Castro?
b/c of the repression, persecution and lack of freedom. As far as your comment on that he didn't have to relinquish power - yes he did. One of his changes to the constitution approved in 1980 was that in 8 years chile woulsd vote on whether he stayed or not. If he was voted out elections had to follow within a year.
Ah yes, the "mild" dicator who is not "real". Unless you are the one shot and dumped in a common grave. Good point about Allende would have been much more destructive. Is it tarot or a crystal ball that lets you divine the future?
Why not just take your mask off and just say right-wing dictators are ok in your book? Killing innocent people in cold blood is fine as long as it's under the flag of anticommunism? Show some freakin' honesty for once.
Poodle, let me put that whole link whore crap to rest, not that many people came over from Babalu. The extra traffic was negligible, for those who worry about stats and such.
There are degrees of badness. Castro is much worse than Pinochet was, because Castro killed many more people and destroyed his country's economy and civil society. Chile after Pinochet is a prosperous and decent place; Cuba after Castro is a wreck.
Oh, wait. I didn't say that Pinochet was as bad as Hitler. Therefore, according to the rules of logic, of which you are an eleventh-level-kung-fu-triple-black-belt master, I must be a fan of right-wing dictators. And, of course, I am also dishonest, because I deny this truth about myself which you have cleverly detected using your advanced mind-reading powers. I bow down in admiration of the sheer tin-foil brilliance of your ad hominem arguments. I'm just a bit disappointed that you haven't started calling me cute names like "poodle" yet.
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