There has been a bit of bully gang culture on here for the last couple of years against anyone without a leftwing bias or not being one of the longstanding established chums. Surprisingly, it has been much better recently. Asimov, as a newbie please stick with it as we often have some decent debates without insults. Canary Dave has a habit of winding people up, he was nearly thrown off his own board recently.
I've got no views on Castro one way or the other, but found this interview quite interesting - if only because it turned out to be an epic fail by the BBC interviewer to manipulate the interview...
Balls. You were rude to people, provocative. "Can't you read?" "...Read some." I have no problem with people with differing views, none at all. Of course yours were absurd, but that's your prerogative. You attacked me for my personal experience, but not aberdeen for recounting his relatives' experience. I differ hugely from aberdeen and others on this, but he wasn't rude like you. Yes, I have a short fuse with someone who is rude. You, sir, are the 'keyboard warrior'. I welcome new people to the board - I welcomed you! Don't make out this is some sort of clique, clearly it isn't, as many you would assume to be in it disagree with me. This "anyone to the right of Corbyn..." is a load of ****. You're not the first to say that, and perhaps you won't be the last. There's only a couple of posters from the left of left, most are centrist, and a couple are on the right. Mostly, but not all, well-informed, if different. But you come on, spout ****, insult others and then go crying when you're called on it. Now you're calling Dave a coward. You're a dick. You're 19 posts in and I've hit ignore - is that a record? Fool.
Thus spake the truth. And if people can't see this is an exact example of what I said about our "tinpot", 'banana republic' media, then what's the point in carrying on the conversation?
Eloquent. If he is typical of this board I wont get much further than 19 posts in. That guy is pretty vile - did I read in one of his posts he was in trouble at work? If so I think I can understand why. Perhaps someone who is not as unbalanced as him can tell me if I fell foul of the rules here. Cologne perhaps - it was him I disagreed with most but he has not slagged me off. So Cologne - if you agree with Andy say so and I will cease. Simple choice as I am not interested in personal abuse and if Andy IS typical of this board I can do without it.
I've had worse abuse but would say his response is not typical. Please don't be bullied we need a balanced debate not a lefty love-in all the time.
From what I read on a couple of other threads the Tories are probably worse than Genghis Khan and hate all people who do not belong to the silver spoon club and every law they make and action they take is because they hate ordinary people - well that is how they seem to see it. No point me posting there. If I get into trouble saying a mass murderer and potential nuclear war starter is not my kind of hero I dread to think what would happen if I happened to mention I think Maggie Thatcher is possibly one of the best politicians since the Second World War. As for austerity or brexit I would be annihilated. I had better order a taxi for one. I don't want to upset Mr Precious again (it's OK for me to say that as he is ignoring me after becoming OFFICIALLY bored with me. For the record Cologne - I enjoyed crossing swords with you.
Actually, you're not far wrong. Genghis Khan was estimated to have been responsible for around 40 million deaths during his reign. Trace the history of the Tory Party in terms of British colonialism and you'll find that estimates of the number of deaths around the world due solely to their 'starvation policy' are between 50 and 60 million. I suppose you could say that a redeeming feature may be that at least it took them 250 years. Less than redeeming though is the fact that they are still at it - on their own citizens now that the empire has gone.
Yes - it's as easy as ABC - Andy, Bolton, Canary - not that any of them are left wing of course and certainly not communist as that does not apparently exist. But they are great muckers - attack one it seems and you attack them all - or was that the 3 musketeers Still as Mark Twain said "never let the truth get in the way of a good story"
It might make sense to research a little into the crimes of the British Empire before dismissing this entirely. Unfortunately a large percentage of British people think that the empire was something positive, something benign, but it wasn't. Check up on the Boer War - how 10% of the Boer population died, not in open warfare but in concentration camps. Check up on the concentration camps and torture used in Malaysia or in Aden or Britain's role in the potato famine in Ireland. Unfortunately this isn't nonsense and most (though not all) of it was engineered by governments which called themselves Tory.
When this thread was opened I must admit to taking a big breath, because Fidel Castro was a controversial figure. Even the left are divided on this - whatever good he may have achieved in raising the standards of living for many of the people in Cuba, his role in helping to bring Apartheid to an end in S.Africa, does this justify the use of concentration camps, restrictions on freedom of speech, summary executions, imprisonment of political opponents etc. I think not, no matter what the original aim may have been. There are 'other' ways to achieve the benefits of an egalitarian society and I am interested in those ways. When you come onto a board like this then a little 'rough and tumble' is to be expected, particularly when the theme is so controversial. But we should remember that we are opposed to each others ideas, not to the people themselves. The medium which we are using doesn't help - you write something and 'click' it's gone, and I think all of us have written things on here which we maybe regretted later. Maybe if we all met in a pub the whole debate would be different, even with different 'alliances' building. There is also the danger of anonymity on here which makes it all that much more difficult.
Most countries can rightly be accused of atrocities but the UK 's misdemeanours pail into insignificance compared to your chosen country, Germany and the past communist regimes in China, Cambodia, USSR etc. I suggest a sense of proportion is applied.
You don't really believe that do you BB? You are just being provocative here surely (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt). British coloniolism, it can be argued is what has saved more lives than it destroyed. We bought civilization to the world and in most cases replaced worse systems than we implemented.
As more and more European countries reject left wing politics and ideas can we safely say they are finished for good or is it just a massive temporary setback?
What goes around comes around..... Castro in his time did some great things... and some not so great... name me one world leader who did not... left or right.. ( excluding Gandhi and Vaclav Havel of course ) Mandela was vilfied by the British establishment and later courted by them. I say to each and every one of you.... each time you buy a product made in China you are supporting the murder, rape and torture of minority groups including monks and nuns in that region...
No I did not see it as an attack. I saw it as a tongue in cheek riposte to my comment on how this board is not very Tory loving. To be honest you Cologne and Dave all argue "nicely" in general as far as I have seen. Only one person has attacked me for having honest opinions which question his approach. Frankly my dear I don't give a damn. If he is a prima donna then good for him. You others seem to be Tory haters and that is fine, takes all sorts to make the world tick. Personally I try to judge each situation on its merit. I don't applaud murderous dictators just because they have died. I recognise the British Empire had good and bad as you and Aberdeen have discussed. But as Cologne said yesterday about the Americans helping post war Germany - that was another age and another time. He seems not to love them quite as much now
