HUMOUR: "We've All Felt This Way..." (2 November 2007)
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TOP: Office Joke #1A Physical Fitness Program very similar to the one in my office...
Hi All,
A short, sweet post today about office humor and Communist icons (That's funny, right?) since I spent yesterday sick and that was compounded by the joys of dealing with a not-so-fun person who's going after me for not being a Communist and embracing that ideology and worldview.. Go figure!
Maybe I should change my name from Maksim to Carlos Marighela? For those of you who have never heard of Carlos Marighela, and most people haven't and wouldn't ever care, old Carlos was a Communist revolutionary AKA terrorist in Brazil back in the 1960's. He advocated a program of kidnappings, arson, theft, and murders that shook the nation of Brazil back then... he really aspired to the levels that Che Guevara reached, but he never made it because during one of his murder attempts, he was caught and killed in the process... after having been turned in by one of his Communist comrades. And that was that.
He's best known today for writing a terrorism manual that some "revolutionaries" AKA terrorists still idolize... sort of like all those Che t-shirts that capitalists use today to make a quick buck off of that old Communist icon, Che. I first read about him when I started studying terrorism in the 1980s.
And, for the record, I've lived in a Communist country before (...actually more than one) and I have zero sympathy for Communism and its adherents. I've simply known too many people who've lost family members to purges, party loyalty sessions, party indoctrination sessions, or who've simply disappeared among the other really bad aspects of the Communism idea. In practice, Communism has been pretty darn bad for people. I have a whole lot of Russian, Ukrainian, and Cuban friends among others who can attest to that.
And that's one of the many reasons I prefer office jokes.
Link here:
Pretty depressing stuff, huh?
TOP: Office Joke #2
I always get flashback to this cartoon at office meetings...
Have a great Friday!
Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.
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Labels: Humour, Office jokes
posted by MaksimSmelchak @ 5:23 AM
5 Comments:
At 7:36 AM, November 02, 2007,
Black Cavalier said…
>I've simply known too many people [...] who've simply disappeared
Sounds like that "extreme rendition" thing that's so popular in our country today.
-Black Cavalier
At 11:33 AM, November 02, 2007,
MaksimSmelchak said…
Hi BC,
Thanks for writing.
I think you make a decent point, but not much of a valid one as a comparison.
In places like Russia and Cuba, "disappearences" don't even warrant the legal process that rendition does.
And in the USA, rendition, even by some of the most exagerated counts, never even covers 1% of 1% of 1% of the population and that's still high. 1% of 1% of 1% is hardly popular. And the possiblity of protesting the process and speaking your conscience exists here. It doesn't in Russia or Cuba. The "culture of law" doesn't exist in those places.
At that, reported cases overwhelmingly have involved non-citizens and foreign workers... like the 9/11 bombers. For folks like the 9/11 bombers, had any of them lived, I would support rendition policies, especially if the USA expects other countries to allow the USA to prosecute US citizens here instead of being tried by foreign governments. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
In places like Russia and Cuba, it affects a much higher number of people, something like 10% to 40% of the population if you follow some of the many reports from the former USSR during the times of Lenin & Stalin and from the escapees from Castro's Cuba. Even today, Putin has a very bad reputation for knocking off his detractors and reporters investigating him. Castro's Cuba has the highest ratio of prisoners to population in the world.
So, I find the two to be apples and oranges.
That's not to say that I approve of the rendition process.
Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.
At 12:16 PM, November 02, 2007,
Black Cavalier said…
The problem is that between court cases decided against a variety of the government's practices to to the whole warrentless wiretapping thing, the "culture of law" here seems to be ignored at the highest level of government.
& while we definately have more freedom to protest & dissent than many other places around the word, with the Plame Blame Game & firing of US Attorneys, it's looking like dissention isn't what it used to be.
At 1:56 PM, November 02, 2007,
MaksimSmelchak said…
Hi BC,
Thanks for writing.
[[[BC: The problem is that between court cases decided against a variety of the government's practices to to the whole warrentless wiretapping thing, the "culture of law" here seems to be ignored at the highest level of government. ]]]
I see this differently. The fact that we're even having court cases discussing the issue that have gone both ways, for and against, is a sign that the system is working and that we do have a "culture of law" here in the USA.
And I've always felt that the real test of a "culture of law" is what happens when one government transfers power to the next... when it's peaceable, we've got something good going on, no matter the squack over how it's done. There are a whole lot of places in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East that really wish for this halmark of a good Democracy and a "culture of law."
[[[BC: & while we definately have more freedom to protest & dissent than many other places around the word, with the Plame Blame Game & firing of US Attorneys, it's looking like dissention isn't what it used to be. ]]]
The Plame Blame Game baffles me since it wasn't someone who was connected with the Government who first leaked despite the Libby case. It was one of her coworkers / competitors who likely leaked while Libby became a fall guy. Not that it really matters. Just as the previous adminstration handed out pardons, this one will too. I have faith in the shortcomings of government. Human behavior can be very predictable, talking points or not.
And I also see dissent as being as effective as it has ever been. The big difference is that counter culture ideas don't have the traction they once did. As the media opens up and becomes more accountable thanks largely to citizen journalism, counter culture can be rapidly, well... countered (...meaning fact-checked). This means that the next logical step no longer becomes to start a factual argument but to go straight to emotional pleas or conspiracy theories. It happens.
And the attourney thing didn't really bother me since every administration since the beginning of time cleans house and puts its own people in positions of power. The adminsitration before this one did. And so did the one before that. That's pork barrel politics... the world wide.
It's not right and the system should be reformed here in the USA and elsewhere, but it happens every administration. I am not excusing it, just understanding it.
Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.
At 6:22 PM, November 02, 2007,
Paul O'G said…
yeah, a little depressing. But then again, reflect that Communism lost, Capitalism won, and market economy and free speech is the most valued export the West has. Huzzah for us!
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