Justin’s
note: Communism is better than capitalism.
At least,
that’s what a growing number of young people in the U.S. think.
I wish I
were joking. But a recent study from the Victims of Communism Memorial
Foundation, a D.C.-based nonprofit, found that half of the millennials it
surveyed would rather live in a socialist or communist country than a
capitalist society.
And 22%
of those surveyed had favorable views of Karl Marx… while 13% viewed Joseph
Stalin and Kim Jong-un as “heroes.”
To figure
out what’s behind this disturbing trend, I called Doug Casey…
Justin: So Doug,
about half of U.S. millennials would rather live in a socialist or communist
country… What’s gotten into the youth?
Doug: The youth
are being corrupted, and it’s more serious than ever.
I say
that a bit tongue-in-cheek, however.
That’s
because one of the two charges against Socrates when he was executed in Ancient
Greece was corrupting the youth. Older people always think the youth are
foolish, ignorant, lazy, crazy, and generally taking the world to hell in a
handbasket. And of course many of their charges are, and always have been,
true.
But as
kids get older, they generally get wiser, more knowledgeable, harder-working,
and more prudent. Nothing new here. The world has survived roughly 250 new
generations since civilization began in Sumer 5,000 years ago. And it will
likely survive this one too.
That’s
the bright side. And, as you know, I always look on the bright side. But, on
the other hand, the American university system has been totally captured by
Cultural Marxists, socialists, statists, collectivists, promoters of identity
politics, and people of that ilk. These people hate Western Civilization and
its values, and are actively trying to destroy them.
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Justin: How’d
that happen? Don’t young people go to college to learn how to think critically?
Doug: When the
average 18-year-old goes to college, he knows very little about how the world
works in general. He’s got vague ideas he picked up mostly from TV, movies, and
people who got a job teaching high school. They know roughly nothing about
economics, government, or history. Worse, what they think they know is mostly
wrong.
That
makes them easy prey for professors with totally bent views to indoctrinate
them.
It’s not
so much that they’re taught inaccurate facts. There are plenty of “factoids”
(artificial facts), of course—like the War Between the States (which shouldn’t
be called the Civil War) was mainly fought to free the slaves. Or that
Keynesian economics is correct. And many, many more. But that’s just part of
the problem.
It’s not
the factoids they’re taught. It’s the way the schools interpret actual facts.
The meaning they infuse into events. The way they twist the “why?” of events,
and pervert concepts of good and evil.
The real
problem, however, is that, contrary to what you suggested a moment ago, they’re
not taught critical thinking. Rather just the opposite—they’re taught blind
acceptance of what’s currently considered politically correct.
Instead
of questioning authority in a polite and rational manner—which is what Socrates
did—the current idea is to prevent any divergent views from even being
discussed. The profs are basically all socialists, and the kids tend to believe
what they’re taught. Those views are buttressed by the other sources of
information available to them—Hollywood, mass media, and government.
These bad
ideas usually start with “intellectuals.” Intellectuals typically despise
business and production, even though they envy the money the capitalists have.
Intellectuals feel they’re not only smarter, but much more moral. That gives them
the right, in their own eyes, to dictate to everyone else. That’s one reason
why they’re usually socialists, and approve of a “cadre,” like themselves,
ordering everyone else. Intellectuals naturally gravitate to the university
system, where they’re paid to hang out with each other, be lionized by kids,
hatch goofy ideas.
This has
always been the case. But it’s becoming a much bigger problem than in the past.
Justin: How come?
Doug: A much,
much higher percentage of kids go to college now than have ever gone to college
in the past.
In the
recent past, maybe five or a max of ten percent of kids went to college. These
days, almost everybody goes. So a much higher proportion of the youth are being
infected with memes that the leftists have put in there.
So yeah,
some kids will grow out of it, and will realize that most of what they’ve paid
an exorbitant amount of money to learn is nonsense. But most will reflexively
believe and defend what they were taught in the cocoon. And I’m afraid those
people now make up a big chunk of the U.S. population.
So yeah,
I think the numbers that are quoted in that article, about how many kids think
socialism is good, are probably accurate. And if they don’t think it, almost
all of them feel it. Few know the difference between thinking and feeling…
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Justin: Today’s
universities aren’t just teaching bent ideas about politics and economics.
They’re also dispelling insane notions on race.
For
example, an anonymous student at Tulane University in New Orleans recently
posted a sign that read “It’s okay to be white.”
Nothing
wrong with that, right? Well, apparently the Tulane administration wasn’t
pleased. Here’s an official response from Tulane’s public relations department.
We have
no idea who posted these signs, but that person is obviously not speaking for
Tulane University.
I got a
chuckle reading that. But it’s a disturbing sign of the times. Wouldn’t you
agree?
Doug: Yeah, it
borders on the unbelievable. The insane, actually.
Most
whites have been indoctrinated, both indirectly and directly, subtly and
overtly, over the years. They’ve bought the propaganda that being white is bad.
They believe Western Civilization is a bad thing…that white people have
destroyed the world.
Even if
they don’t want to believe it, because the concept is so stupid and so utterly
contrafactual, they end up believing it just because they’ve heard it over and
over. It’s very bad news across the board.
Justin: The
mainstream media seems to be peddling these bad ideas, too. Wouldn’t you agree?
Doug: Absolutely.
The memes that originated with intellectuals in universities have thoroughly
infiltrated the mass media and the entertainment industry—places “thought
leaders” gravitate towards.
And
you’re getting no defense at all from so-called capitalists and business
leaders. All they’re interested in is making money. And—absolutely if they’re
wired with the Deep State—they don’t really care how they do it. They’re happy
to work with and for the government. They self-righteously make charitable
contributions to universities and NGOs, subsidizing the source of the poison.
So,
there’s almost nobody to defend the ideas that have brought us Western
Civilization. And—with the exception of a few anomalies like Taoism, yoga, and
Oriental cooking—it’s responsible for about everything that’s good in the
world. Without it the whole world would resemble Africa, or Cambodia, or
Mongolia—not even today, but 200 years ago. Western ideas are things like
individualism, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, science, rationality and
capitalism. These concepts no longer have any defenders anywhere. They’re under
attack everywhere.
Justin: This
can’t be good for the economy in the long run.
Doug: No. It’s
one of the reasons I’m generally bearish.
I mean,
how can the markets be healthy when what’s left of the ruling class in the
country actually hate themselves? When the middle class is collapsing? When
political entrepreneurship is valued more than making money through production?
In fact,
the economy and the markets are the least of our problems. The very foundation
of civilization itself is under attack. The acceptance of destructive ideas is
getting to be as serious as what we saw in Russia under the Soviets, in Germany
under the Nazis, or China under Mao. More serious, since civilization is under
serious attack in the U.S., which has been the bulwark for the last century.
So,
excuse me for my bearishness, but I think it’s warranted.
Justin: Thanks as
always, Doug.
Doug: You’re
welcome.
Justin’s
note: As Doug says, civilization is under attack in the U.S. And
this crisis is only getting worse by the day.
That’s
why Doug and his team recently released an urgent video that explains exactly
what’s going on…and why it’s so important that you take action today. You can learn more right here.
