STOP DEFENDING CUBA

Post Reply New Topic

I am fiscally far-left but I am sick of fiscally far-left people defending Cuba. Cuba is a sh**hole. In Cuba you can go to jail if your house burns down.

This YouTube user defends Cuba. Laugh at him.
VVV
http://www.youtube.com/user/SovietTrall

How many can there seriously be at this point in this century?

The last one I am personally aware of [and this is immersed in the university community] wasa person I worked with early 70s who had done the go cut cane in Cuba trip.

I occasionally trade them American dollars in exchange for fine tobacco, but I consider this less supporting Cuba and more giving my own government the proverbial finger. That, and good Habanos cost less than similar quality Dominican or Nicaraguan smokes, so it's win/win for me.

I've never "supported" Cuba, either through words or with money, but I do know quite a few people who've travelled to that country to escape a Winnipeg Winter.

Wait, who is defending Cuba? I remember reading about the Cuban missile crisis in a textbook, but until now I've not heard anything spoken about Cuba since the time that Castro became ill.

There is a right-wing meme that American liberals are infatuated with Communist Cuba. Utter bullocks, of course, but why let facts get in the way of a good political smear job?

Maybe if you narrow the focus to the Cuban healthcare system? I know I've seen progressive types fawning over that.

I have seen lefties pointing to the fact that the US and Cuban healthcare systems are ranked similarly by the WHO, and deploring the fact that such a poverty-stricken country is (allegedly) performing similarly to us on healthcare. The impression I've always gotten from that is that it's a shame America isn't doing better, since we have the resources to do so. Sort of an objection, "We should be doing much better than a third-world country," rather than singing the praises of Cuba itself. The only person I've really seen outright praising Cuba is a certain fat idiot, and even most leftists ignore that guy nowadays.

I think I am mostly thinking of Moore and Sicko when I rack my brain for the last time I really heard someone singing the praises of Cuba. Man, that guy's just been floundering for relevancy since 2004 or so, hasn't he? Last I saw him he was trying to attach himself to the Wisconsin labor protests, with mixed success.

As a side note, you really know when your movement has "arrived" when you've got your own loud fat guy to inflame the other side. It really does seem a necessary component, even Libertarians have Penn Gillette to enrage our adversaries, though he's more plain big than fat... He sure is loud and obnoxious though. I like to think this gives us an edge, I mean who else's fat guy can hurl profanity with quite the same artistry?

YOU STOP DEFENDING CUBA.

How can any country that produces good cigars be all bad?

ruveyn

Certainly their legal system could use some work but keep in mind that their health system makes ours look like a joke as does their educational system.

Stop Defending Cuba?

Well Cuba may be flawed, however where would I prefer to be poor the USA or Cuba? well in Cuba they have lower rates of imprisonment and the highest doctor/patient ratio in the world, so there is a good start, add that the chances of dying as a result of my neighbour nutting out and shooting up the place are reduced and it's a no brainer - Cuba!

Cuba a sh#*hole? that is a matter of opinion not a statement of fact, if you are one of Americas priveleged then it may well seem bad but if you are one of Columbias poor it may well seem a very desirable place to be. Surely Cubas affairs are for Cubans to worry about and everyone else should butt out unless invited as say for example Venezuela has been.

I can't help but wonder how well informed citizens of the uSA are in regards life on the ground in Cuba, I have met no-one who has actually been there who had much by way of harsh criticism. So they kicked out a corrupt regime and the US has sour grapes - get over it, it is their country and their affairs and certainly none of yours.

peace j

We should drop the embargo against Cuba. It's ridiculous we do so much trade with China, Vietnam, even Laos but won't with Cuba. Our economic isolation of Cuba is what has kept the Castro brothers in power so long. Their people would revolt against their communist system with in 5-10 years if we normalized relations.

I don't know that anyone exactly defends Cuba. I certainly feel that it is the closest any of the Communist regimes have come to proper socialism (although it's still a long ways off). And, considering how poor it is, it has excellent health and educational systems (as seen in life expectancy and literacy rates). It is not democratic and has numerous human rights issues, so I do criticise it for that. (Interestingly though, it is the least undemocratic of the 5 remaining Communist states--kind of like saying it's the thinnest kid in fat camp). But RedHanrahan makes a good point that there are a lot of worse places to live. So overall I am cautiously hopeful that Cuba will end up a proper socialist country (aka: a democratic one which respects human rights).

PS: I doubt that dropping the embargo would lead to a revolution. There hasn't been a revolution in the other communist states we trade with. At least, not a successful one. And honestly, I'm not sure if the anarchy that would result would be any better for your average Cuban. If you look at your history, revolutions rarely work out well.

Okay, I'm going to stop you right there. In the OP, the poster clearly says that some people on the fiscal "far-left" defend Cuba, and while being "fiscally far-left" himself, he opposes this. Now, I know America's political discourse is pretty frickin absurd, and the centre in America is where the far-right would be in most developed countries* but I still think it's reasonable to assume that he's refering to Communists/Socialists when he talks about the fiscal far-left. He even links explicitly to a youtuber nostalgic about the USSR who defends Cuba (from the basis of the link's words, I haven't actually wasted the time to view videos by what's probably some very, very small and rigidly ideological youtube channel).