Hi Yorick.
quote:
Originally posted by Yorick:
Actually, there are ex-communists in East Germany who do admit the policy failed. This is why I don't quite understand how one could be a commited communist in the face of such admissions. The East German was quite candid, and somewhat deflated about it. An ideological void had filled his life.
Yeah, I was probably a little too general. But in a sense what I said was still true. While this communist was able admit he was wrong, the admission did have a major impact on him, as you stated. I tend to think that more people than not would not be able to accept making such an admission. Admitting that your world view is wrong, seems to be too emotionally crippling an admission to be made by most. It's probably easier to stand your ground and refuse to accept "defeat", even when all the evidence is screaming at you. I would imagine that this is a problem for many in russia, eastern germany, and other old warsaw pact countries and soviet republics since the fall of the Soviet Union.