By Brian Carnell

Wednesday, February 9, 2000

Wednesday, February 9, 2000

"Fidel must be laughing his ass off..." by Michael Moore

       While reading up on the Elian Gonzalez case I came across this ridiculous article by Michael Moore extolling the virtues of Fidel Castro, Fidel must be laughing his ass off... Moore repeats a cliche about Castro that deserves a little debunking:

Once he [Fidel] took over and nationalized all the American businesses and booted the Mob out of Havana, he might as well have taken a seat on the San Andreas fault, because the wrath of Uncle Sam came down on him hard, and it hasn't let up for over thirty-seven years. Yet Castro has survived. For that accomplishment alone, despite all his flaws (political repression, four hour speeches, and a literacy rate of 100 percent), you gotta admire the guy.

       It shouldn't come as any surprise that Castro has outlasted numerous U.S. presidents. That's what dictators due -- hold on to power at all costs. Moore's casual linking of Castro's political repression with Cuba's claimed 100 percent literacy rate is extremely disturbing. A right wing politician who extolled the virtues of Pinochet's regime for resisting Leftist pressures, despite all of Pinochet's flaws (political repression, a restoration of democracy and a vibrant economy) would surely come in for well deserved censure by the likes of Moore.

       Are dictators okay provided they make the trains run on time?

       This represents a common, widespread flaw among too many Leftist thinkers which merely imitates the fundamental flaw in US foreign policy. The US rule is that it can overlook the flaws of any petty dictator so long as his interests are aligned with US interests. Too many Leftists, on the other hand, are willing to step in to apologize for and rationalize any petty dictator so long as his interests are aligned against the United States. It is this credo which leads folks like Michael Parenti to extol the virtues of Iraq and Libya or the long history of many on the Left ignoring or downplaying the massive human rights violations in Communist states.

       A dictator is a dictator is a dictator. Unprincipled opposition only to some dictators and some human rights violations, whether on the Left or the Right, is hypocrisy of the highest order.

 

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