Twenty-Fifth Year Anniversary

Coming into the New Year of 2025, I am reminded that we are celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of Y2k.

Remember that year?  2000 was the start of a new millennium (which actually began in 2001 to be precise) and one of the big concerns was that our new found friend (or enemy), the computer, was going to crash and wreak world-wide havoc.  Oh the concern!  Oh the horror!

But through foresight, or sheer luck, the year 2000 rolled in rather uneventfully for most of us and we carried on, marveling at the first year ever that didn't start with a "1" but instead a "2."

So now that we're about a quarter way through the first century of the next millennium, we can look back and say, boy did this world ever get screwed up.  So much for ending wars, poverty, and decaf coffee.  Instead, all are still with us in full force.

Will we do better in the next 25 years?  I'm guessing there will be advances in technology that will astound us.  Maybe we'll end up on Mars, who knows?  But I'll bet you we'll still have the same problems, same worries, and same type of troublemakers that we have now.

And I'll bet decaf coffee will still be around.  

Happy New Year!

Nuremberg 2.0

One of the very few disadvantages of the fall of Communism in Europe in 1989 is that the true extent of the heinousness of this system was never fully revealed.  The enslavement and annihilation of people, the gulags, and the evilness of the regimes of the past were relegated to secondary status over the elation of the actual fall.

And that's too bad.

After World War II, the Nazis were put on public trial at Nuremberg to answer for their behavior.  They had to account for the suffering, killing, and destruction of Europe and take responsibility for upsetting world peace.  Many of these leaders were hanged, and aside from the acquittals of three minor participants, the rest were given prison sentences, some of them substantial.

After its collapse, Communism was never given such an airing out.

Instead of being held accountable for conditions and actions that often matched or even surpassed that of the Nazis, some communist leaders around 1989 suffered few consequences.  For example, East Germany's Erich Honegger was never arraigned, in spite of his role in the secret police, the "Stasi."  His successor, Egon Krenz, got only four years.  (Granted, some exceptions did occur, like Nicholai Ceausescu's execution in Romania.)

So what should have happened?

Nuremberg 2.0.  Communist leaders should have been forced to stand trial in front of an international tribunal.  The ruthlessness of their actions should have been on display for all the whole world to see.

So... how bad was communism?

The current estimate is that 125 million people perished under that system.  This number does not include those who survived but whose lives were shattered by poverty, abuse and the gulags.  With China, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos still involved with this system, the numbers are still going up.

The lack of an international trial had another side effect. Today, Communists are still blatantly active, even in democratic countries (think of "Antifa" in the U.S.).  Somehow, being a Communist has never carried the stigma that the Nazis so rightfully have had to endure.  

Anyone who pretends that communism isn't as bad is a liar and deceiver.  

And they need to held to account for their beliefs.

The Unwelcome Shadow

The times of freely consorting with your fellow human being seems so far in the past now.  Gone are the days, for many of us, of dropping in on family and friends without the special accommodation of wearing a mask and keeping about six feet apart.

The shadow of COVID-19 is now a part of life.

Governments have, in varying degrees, tried to cope with this menace.  In addition to social distancing and masks, many businesses have either voluntarily or been mandated to restrict access to their premises.  And in some cases, the result has not been a pretty one.  Small businesses, large businesses, and even iconic businesses who we all thought would be around forever have shuttered their doors for good.

Locally, it was August 1st, 2020 when the government decided to make masks and social distancing mandatory in public spaces.  A bit inconvenient perhaps but for the greater good.  And this seemed fine to many provided we could stamp this pestilence into a manageable part of our lives.

But what has happened?  As of this date, October 23, there are still over 3500 active cases with 427 new cases reported.  And there will be more to come.

How can this be?

Even with the minority failing to adhere to any regulation, it was thought the masks and social distancing would help.  Yet the numbers seem to suggest that very little has changed pre-mask to present day.  Are these two measures actually doing any good?

Don't get me wrong.  I have no problem with the government-imposed regulations (in this case!) and I am happy to follow them provided they really do make a difference.  But are they?  Are we going about this the wrong way and if so, what is the right way?

We have turned our economy on its head with record unemployment; we have also accepted self-isolation as our new religion.  There is depression, loneliness and even hopelessness.  

If we have to do these unpleasant things to our society, at least let the measures taken show that they are making a difference.

Because right now, the numbers don't bear this out.

The Stupidity of the Stupid

Well, I'm off to a cranky New Years post for 2020.

So what has me ranting already?

A recent poll shows that 36% of Millenials have a favourable view of....Unicorns?  Mr. Clean?  Decaffeinated coffee?  Noooo....COMMUNISM!

I don't understand these people.  A system that has brutally suppressed or KILLED millions of people has curried favour with the younger folk.  What are they thinking?  Are a third of young people really that stupid?  (Yes, "stupid;" I've said it!)

Squalor, hunger, angst, persecution, spying, fear, knocks on your door in the middle of the night...all hallmarks of an evil system that should have died along with the Berlin Wall in 1989.  Instead, there are hooded young people out there who wreak havoc in marches, sometimes engaging in brutal behaviour on the spot and harming anyone who disagrees with them.

So what caused this?  I think a lot of things.  The breakdown of family, the rejection of God, teachers in the schools and Universities who preach from the socialist pulpit.  Kids who are looking for something to embrace, gravitate towards the loud brashness and carefully-crafted slogans of the extreme left, like they have for almost 100 years.

More than ever, it's time for those who have suffered under Communism to speak out; it's time to hold teachers and their leftist agendas responsible to the young minds they are training; those in the know also need to lend a voice to add rationality to the discussion.  And it's important that the hooligans in these marches who engage in violent activity, be held accountable and exposed for who they are. 

There is enough historical precedent to show how disastrous this philosophy has become.  George Santayana's famous phrase needs to be imparted to these misguided people now, before its too late.