[refurb]

The Khmer Rouge weren’t dumb. Pol Pot came from a wealthy family and was educated at the top French-Cambodian schools.

Similar to the North Vietnamese massacre of 3,000 civilians during the Battle of Hue, it’s the doctors, teachers, professors and other elite who have the power to oppose you. The rural folks have little power or money to resist.

[chinhodado]

A bit off topic, but I was curious about the 3000 number and went to read about the Hue massacre on Wikipedia. Then I switched to the Vietnamese version of the article and the event was portrayed in a completely different light. Both versions are well sourced and well cited, yet they offer two completely different versions of the events as well as the overall conclusions of who was responsible and what happened.

It's interesting to say the least to see how a supposedly neutral source like Wikipedia can be manipulated to drive different view points.

[refurb]

Interesting! I actually found the article (about the battle) pretty balanced all things considering.

The massacre is where things go sideways: The so-called "massacre" was just a psychological blow.that the US erected, in fact American bombs caused many civilians to die mixed with soldiers on both sides. The Liberation Army buried the civilians who died from American fire, so the United States discovered civilian corpses in mass graves.

Considering many of the bodies had their hands bound behind their back and gunshot wounds to their heads, this is a pretty fantastical explanation.

[chinhodado]

I have read both versions. My personal interpretation is the killings definitely happened, however there are a lot of grey areas and unknowns around what exactly happened there: who did it (the VCs/the armed civilians/the South Vietnam army/the US), who died in those graves (militants/civilians), the circumstances of the killings (military executions/mob justice/lynching/casualty from fighting/bombing), etc. Perhaps the truth is a bit of everything.

This will unfortunately remain as one of the tragedies of war that we will never know the full picture of.

[cpursley]

Maybe I'm not so paranoid after all about the hints of a sort of cultural revolution going on in the US.

[pnw_hazor]

Similar, to some of the stuff in the late 60's, America is being subjected to a textbook Marxist action. However, instead of using economic class stratification to sow societal collapse, Marxists are using race and identity.

However, I don't think they will succeed. If Trump loses the election, the media narrative will flip and things will settle down fairly quickly. If Trump wins the election, I think the weak-bonded BLM/Antifa/Black-bloc coalition will breakdown too.

[mirkules]

It’s no coincidence this is happening now. The seeds of Marxism were planted long before the Soviet Union died.

One of the most fascinating lectures by Yuri Bezmenov, a KGB defector, described 30+ years ago exactly what the long-term plans of the USSR were. It is eerie how much of it applies today: https://youtube.com/watch?v=1FElIhOh_KI

[blaser-waffle]

Race and Identity are being flogged hard because any actual economic changes aren't happening -- real Marxist revolution in the US died in the 70s, and utterly vanished after the USSR crumbled and the Chinese embraced capitalism (aka "Communism with Chinese Characteristics" a la Deng).

Many hot button SJW issues are driven by conservatives, such as how Blacktivist was getting paid by conservative groups (and probably Russian intelligence) before Trump's election. This isn't new -- anyone remember how the W Bush era GOP was just hammering gay marriage? This creates instability and empowers extreme POV's, and changes the discussion from "let's implement Basic Income" and "let's not invade Iraq" to "gays and immigrants are ruining America!" and "which statues should go down?!".

Thus, all we get from the left are symbolic changes but not systemic changes. We're more 'woke' than ever but wealth is even more consolidated than it's been in a century: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/02/08/wealth-c...

[kls]

I don't think it is paranoia and they are not hinting, when one of the founder, of one of the prominent moments proclaims proudly that "We are Marxist". That is just paying attention to what people are saying.

[flyinglizard]

Which one of them?

[WillPostForFood]

Pol Pot came from a wealthy family and was educated at the top French-Cambodian schools.

And actually went to Paris for schooling.

[andrenth]

And studied under Sartre.

[refurb]

The more you dig the more amazing history gets.

[pnw_hazor]

Lots of the South Vietnam Viet Cong leaders/organizers were upper class and educated in Paris as well.

Most them were kept out of power after the Communists took over. Many believed they were fighting for some kind of socialist democratic state -- they were duped by the northern Communists.

[kikokikokiko]

It's just the same that is happening today. If you want to create a socialist, send your son to Paris/London/Seattle. Send him to Cuba or Venezuela and you'll create the founder of the Next UBER.