[OFB Cafe] Chris's Politics...

[Donald R Spoon]

Saki, Derek,

Here is an even-handed round-up of all the murdering done by various 
states during the 20th century.  Scroll down to #3 to get a discussion 
of Stalin's reign of terror.  The numbers are hard for me to grasp...

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm

There were a couple of factors here in the US beyond isolationism that 
have influenced our attitudes.  Elanor Roosevelt, the wife of President 
Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat, hero, led us out of the depression and 
through most of WWII) was an avid Socialist, who openly admired 
Communism and the Russian example.  She was a very influential person, 
and quite an "activist" for social causes.  Only the "good" of communism 
was reported and there was absolutely nothing reported or know about the 
mass executions.  Inadequate Media even then... 

Second, most of the US didn't really know about the Jewish extermination 
program of the Nazis until late in the war with Germany.  There were 
"rumors" that again were ignored by the media.  The discovery of the 
German concentration camps was quite a shock to the US troops. 

I had an uncle that was involved in the breeching of the Siegfried Line 
for the final push across Germany  in WWII.  I have recently been 
researching his "story" and have run across several accounts of his 
unit.  In all of these accounts they were NOT expecting what they found 
in the German concentration camps, and were totally unprepared to deal 
with the survivors!  My uncle ended the war in Austria and his unit had  
been involved in the liberation of two different camps along the way.  
Something I didn't realize is that a number of these "camps" were not 
located in Germany per-se, but in Austria, Poland, and other bordering 
countries. and were "liberated" by the Soviet Army.  The logistics of 
just supporting those "liberated" was overwhelming!

The bottom line for me is that the US citizens prefer "not to know" and 
the media eagerly supports this perspective unless the information 
supports their adgendas.  The harshness of the Communist or Totalitarian 
regimes doesn't get  much press over here.  The "horror" over Nazi 
Germany and the Holocaust was pretty much a reflex AFTER the American 
public had their noses rubbed in it.  The "head in the sand" approach 
still happens... Cambodia's killing fields,  Rowanda, Darfur,  etc.  The 
historians, educators and pundits are air-brushing all this out of our  
knowledge base.  A large number of my community have their heads back in 
the sand again...   

-Don Spoon-