Ah, a thinking man, and an honest reply (I am indeed blessed today!)
"If it is not likely to happen, you cannot count on it. If you can count on it, it is likely to happen."
>>> Yes, a tautology.
"I am old enough to remember, and you are incorrect about the Domino Theory. No one supposed that the whole world would go communist in Vietnam did, only that it would lead to the spread of communism in south Asia........"
>>> <G> No one but the idiots in the news media, and the politicians who signed on for their own reasons.
>>> (Well, we have never been known for our deep knowledge of history and local conditions... but rather for the boldness of our national vision, and the 'shining example' we offered the world, of a successful Democracy, and a forward-looking, optimistic people.)
>>> I remember the newspaper columnists still (all while we were caught up in the all-encompassing dynamic of the us vs. them duality of the Cold War): "first Vietnam, then Cambodia, then Thailand, then Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Commie hot spots erupting throughout Latin America and Africa in sympathetic reaction to the successful Red Tide, and throughout old Europe as the frightened old Social Welfare states of Europe seek to 'Chamberlain' their way out of the direct path of the oncoming Marxist popular hordes...."
>>> Well... it had a certain ring to it, and I guess - as theories go - it had just enough plausibility to it to serve a purpose.
>>> Unfortunately few considered that relative economics mattered... and that freedom has a strong appeal... and that one needn't siddle-up to Marx to be a bully. The World has a very long experience with Authoritarianism, and expansionist nation states. |
