Let's stop this carousel before it starts again.
I wasn't comparing Stalinism to anything. I was asked my opinion about killing people just because they have negative views about government policy. Or might be suspected of having such views. Or might be related to such people. Or belong to a group, whether real or imaginary, that is imputed interests opposed to government policies. I reacted to the idea that any decent person might support any of this with horror. There was no implicit or explicit comparison that suggested that unlike the evil Stalinists, capitalist governments are paragons of freedom and justice.
They're not, in case anyone cares to hear my view of the matter. Not even the capitalist democracies, much less facist dictatorships. But the reason I object to the Nazis, or for taht matter the US, killing people who had negative views about the government, etc., is that it is wrong to do those things. Repression and tyranny don't become OK when they are carried out by so-called self-styled socialist or Communist governments. The maazing thing to me is that this still apparently needs to be said at all.
jks
--- Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu> wrote:
>
> I think comparing Stalinism to capitalism is
> comparing apples to oranges.
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