Is The Dominican Republic headed for a dictatorship?

[nepenthe9]

Here is an article for you to read. With a little bit of back reading and research you will find that many of the people on this site are Libertarians or classic Liberals, not conservatives, although there are those as well. There are middle of the road moderates, slightly left of center thinkers, and rabid progressives as well. Most intellectuals you refer to are academics, there are many intellectuals that are not in academia. https://mises.org/library/why-intellectuals-still-support-socialism

I do not identify with any of the above categories. Some of my views are quite liberal, others quite conservative. A little libertarian, a little socialist, a little some other stuff I won't get into here. But I am ferociously anti fascist, in part due to the fact that I am a member of a group that fascists love to abuse.

Not all academics are intellectuals. Many hide in academia in hopes of being deemed "intellectual", but have little in the way of academic inclination. A masters degree is a lot easier to get than a bachelors in many cases.


Intellectuals, as I view them, explore, and question the cognitive dissonance with permeates the various cultures around the world. Intellectuals introduce other ways of thinking, question the old as well as the new, and try to find better ways of thinking and doing things.

As for socialism... so few of us actually know what it means. The USSR was not socialist; it was authoritarian. China is not communist. Socialism and communism are names used to hide the true nature of what end up being authoritarian forms of government. Right wing individuals often attach the word "freedom" to things that actually impede the freedom of others. It is the same thing, with different labels, differing politics, but the same control freaks at the center.

 

[windeguy]

Hopefully you don't want a dictatorship. I'm not sure of where they have ever worked out. Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, and others are pretty good examples. So is the RD of Trujillo.

I am not fond of dictatorships and I live in the DR. So no, I don't want to see a dictatorship. I would like to see far less corruption, but I realize how unlikely that is to change. And reducing corruption would indeed reduce the personal freedom aspect of living here. Trade offs.

 

[nepenthe9]

Socialism and communism are used to describe things that are actually quite different than what many think.

Neither socialism nor communism entail dictatorship, unless one considers the masses to be doing the dictating.

Capitalism requires a hierarchy; those with capital make the rules. Those without follow them.

 

[nepenthe9]

None of these systems exist in a pure form. Socialist regimes usually come about as a reaction to some great wrong by a dictator or the like.

Castro was perhaps a dictator, but those who lament his existence tend not to mention the racially based hierarchy existing in that part of the world before his rise to power.

Mandela, if possessed of a different set of values, could have become a dictator, as a direct result of apartheid, capitalist hierarchical oppression.

 

[La Profe_1]

Because you are new, you have fallen into error due to an unwarranted assumption.

As it happens, the poster rfp is Dominican. I doubt strongly that his comments represent the racism you deplore. I am certain that he has his own reasons for holding such opinions, but bigotry against Dominicans is hardly likely unless he suffers from an unimaginable level of self-hatred.

 

[Fulano2]

Because you are new, you have fallen into error due to an unwarranted assumption.

As it happens, the poster rfp is Dominican. I doubt strongly that his comments represent the racism you deplore. I am certain that he has his own reasons for holding such opinions, but bigotry against Dominicans is hardly likely unless he suffers from an unimaginable level of self-hatred.

Racism is from all times and will never disappear. Look what happens now with the white Afrikaansers in SA. Stolen from their land and some murdered. Just because they are white and get things organised.

 

[bob saunders]

None of these systems exist in a pure form. Socialist regimes usually come about as a reaction to some great wrong by a dictator or the like.

Castro was perhaps a dictator, but those who lament his existence tend not to mention the racially based hierarchy existing in that part of the world before his rise to power.

Mandela, if possessed of a different set of values, could have become a dictator, as a direct result of apartheid, capitalist hierarchical oppression.

Castro and all his generals...etc were all white, and he took over from a Mulatto Cuban. Castro continued and made the racist system worse, as most Cubans will tell you.

 

[Fulano2]

You can hardly call Castro white.

 

[bob saunders]

You can hardly call Castro white.

why not, he was. Are you one of those one drop means you are black people? Both his mother and father were white. It is quite possible that his mother being from the Canary islands had some north African blood, of the berber variety.

 

[Fulano2]

So he is a mixed race. Not white. Andy García is a white Cuban. Would you consider Leonel white? And no, I am not one of those, I hate that expression.

 

[NanSanPedro]

I am not fond of dictatorships and I live in the DR. So no, I don't want to see a dictatorship. I would like to see far less corruption, but I realize how unlikely that is to change. And reducing corruption would indeed reduce the personal freedom aspect of living here. Trade offs.

The topic of corruption is very interesting to me. The corruption in Haiti is just as bad as it is here, maybe even worse. Yet RD has at least a semblance of respectability. Haiti does not and may never in my lifetime.

I lived there thru the earthquake and the $4B the Red Cross gave to help out that never made it to its intended purpose. That is about the worst you could imagine.

 

[USA DOC]

Castro and all his generals...etc were all white, and he took over from a Mulatto Cuban. Castro continued and made the racist system worse, as most Cubans will tell you.

Castro, call him what you want was communist..he always said he lived like the average Cuban but he lived like a king while other Cubans starved and he died a billionaire ..the Cubans I know who escaped cuba to the USA all call him a total pigfucyer...

 

[nepenthe9]

Castro and all his generals...etc were all white, and he took over from a Mulatto Cuban. Castro continued and made the racist system worse, as most Cubans will tell you.

I will not dispute this.
However, be he white, mestizo, mulatto, black, indigenous, or what have you, he represented, to some, the possibility of relief from their oppression. I am hoping a particular white man is successful in an upcoming election. I am not white. I recognize his philosophy as one that includes people of my ilk, and others. That is enough for me.

Unfortunately, it seems a particularly human problem that messiahs often become demons.

 

[nepenthe9]

Castro, call him what you want was communist..he always said he lived like the average Cuban but he lived like a king while other Cubans starved and he died a billionaire ..the Cubans I know who escaped cuba to the USA all call him a total pigfucyer...

Calling oneself a communist and actually being one are two different things. The first is common, the second rare.

Just sayin'.

 

[nepenthe9]

Because you are new, you have fallen into error due to an unwarranted assumption.

As it happens, the poster rfp is Dominican. I doubt strongly that his comments represent the racism you deplore. I am certain that he has his own reasons for holding such opinions, but bigotry against Dominicans is hardly likely unless he suffers from an unimaginable level of self-hatred.

I grew up in a community comprised of people primarily of African descent. Self hate exists. It is taught by the majority population, and practiced by the minority population.

It is part of a program which explains why all the Egyptians in the movie "the Ten Commandments" were white.

 

[bob saunders]

So he is a mixed race. Not white. Andy García is a white Cuban. Would you consider Leonel white? And no, I am not one of those, I hate that expression.

I said his mother was canarian, she could well be 100% Spanish, as much of the island population is, just that many have north African DNA as well.

 

[sepahunt22]

As for socialism... so few of us actually know what it means..

But YOU do, right?


"Right wing individuals often attach the word "freedom" to things that actually impede the freedom of others...".

But NOT the Leftists, right, or at least not as much?


"The USSR was not socialist; it was authoritarian...".

RIIIGHT, and of course Socialism/Communism WILL work the next time it's tried despite NEVER working....EVER....anywhere before.

 

[Fulano2]

I said his mother was canarian, she could well be 100% Spanish, as much of the island population is, just that many have north African DNA as well.

You see him white or Caucasian ok? No problem.

 

[bob saunders]

You see him white or Caucasian ok? No problem.

So do most Cubans. My brothers Cuban wife has European grandparents on both sides. There was large immigration of Europeans, mainly from France and Spain to Cuban after WW1.

 

[AlterEgo]

Well this thread disintegrated quickly. Not discussing DR, which is a requirement, and discussing race, which is prohibited.

Closed