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Eric Englund

Eric Englund has spent 18 years, in the Northwest, as a surety bond underwriter. He has an MBA from Boise State University and holds an undergrad degree from Washington State University. Currently, he lives in the Seattle area.

THE BLACK BOOK OF COMMUNISM


cover
An 800 page compendeum of the crimes of Communist regimes worldwide, recorded and analyzed in ghastly detail by a team of scholars. The facts and figures, some of them well known, others newly confirmed in hitherto inaccessible archives, are irrefutable. The myth of the well-intentioned founders - the good czar Lenin betrayed by his evil heirs - has been laid to rest for good. No one will any longer be able to claim ignorance or uncertainty about the criminal nature of Communism, and those who had begun to forget will be forced to remember anew." - Tony Judt, New York Times

BUY THIS BOOK



    Here in the Pacific Northwest, Castro and Stalin Can Help Promote Your Products and Serivces
    by Eric Englund


    March 1, 2003

    On a recent airline flight (Horizon Air) from Spokane to Seattle, I was reminded of how utterly lowbrow and despicable political correctness is. In order to pass some time, I was thumbing through Horizon Air's complimentary January 2003 magazine when I stumbled upon a tasteless and disturbing advertisement for the Hotel Lucia (of Portland, OR). This ad (shown in sidebar) sheds a favorable light on two despotic communist dictators (Fidel Castro and Josef Stalin). Instantly, I wondered why an upscale hotel would place an ad that favorably invokes the names of Castro and Stalin? Immediately, an answer came to mind: I live in a region (served quite well by Horizon Air) where the left-wing induced infection of political correctness runs wide and deep. Thus, it is in vogue to be anti-capitalist and pro-socialist (it is no wonder why Boeing moved its headquarters from Seattle to Chicago). Indeed, the Hotel Lucia's ad is targeting limousine liberals who so commonly fly this regional air carrier. Nevertheless, this well-targeted ad doesn't change the fact that it is disgraceful.

    To give you a quick example of how deeply engrained political correctness is, here in the Pacific Northwest, I must pass on to you an experience I had at an upscale restaurant in Bellevue, WA. A broker, with whom I have business dealings, ordered an "Oriental" salad for lunch. Our waiter had the audacity to "correct" this gentleman and stated "Sir it is called an 'Asian' salad" (which is what was stated on the newly updated menu). Apparently, saying the word Oriental is now just as dangerous as the using the word niggardly in everyday conversation. This "alert" waiter admirably displayed his moral superiority by playing the "thought policeman" vigilantly working to expunge dangerous and hateful thoughts from society.

    This vacuous waiter, and his PC ilk, are taking us down a dangerously slippery slope. Today, the politically-correct crowd embraces the foolish idea of having judges and legislators redefine the criminal code to include "hate crimes." This recent phenomenon literally gives the state arbitrary power to "police" a criminal's thoughts and to mete out (a harsher) punishment accordingly.

    Perhaps this is why the anti-capitalists/pro-statists so much admire Castro and his ongoing "revolution." For Castro may be the ultimate thought policeman in the world today. According to the wonderful book The Black Book of Communism, "In 1978 a law was adopted to prevent criminality before it actually happened. What this meant in practice was that any Cuban could be arrested on any pretext if the authorities believed that he presented a danger to state security, even if he had not committed any illegal act. In effect the law criminalized any thought that did not accord with the ideas of the regime, turning every Cuban into a potential suspect." I think the aforementioned waiter could have a promising career ahead of him in the newly formed U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

    Now back to the despicable ad. Clearly, the Hotel Lucia wants all customers to enjoy their stays. Thus, you are figuratively implored to join a pampered and blissful Fidel Castro at this elegant hotel. Of course, one must ignore the fact that Castro is the head of a criminal regime that has committed mass murder, has operated concentration camps, and uses torture to "reform" political prisoners and common criminals. To give you a taste of what may happen to you if you don't think in a politically correct manner in Cuba (which is a crime), here is some disturbing information as to what transpires in Cuban prisons (as conveyed by The Black Book of Communism):

    The violence of the prison regime affected both political prisoners and common criminals. Violence began with the interrogations conducted by the Departmento Tecnico de Investigaciones (DTI). The DTI used solitary confinement and played on the phobias of the detainees: one woman who was afraid of insects was locked in a cell infested with cockroaches. The DTI also used physical violence. Prisoners were forced to climb a staircase wearing shoes filled with lead and were then thrown back down the stairs. Psychological torture was also used, often observed by a medical team. The guards used sodium pentothol and other drugs to keep prisoners awake. In the Mazzora hospital, electric shock treatment was routinely used as a punishment without any form of medical observation. The guards also used attack dogs and mock executions; disciplinary cells had neither water nor electricity; and some detainees were kept in total isolation.

    And the Hotel Lucia wants to pamper Castro? Perhaps the pro-statist limousine liberals are comfortable with Castro because he is willing to "crack a few eggs" in order to bring about a socialist utopia. These "eggs" are real people and between 15,000 and 17,000 have been executed in Castro's penal system. This megalomaniac does not belong at the Hotel Lucia, he belongs in prison.

    Undoubtedly, the Hotel Lucia's patrons are impressed with the spare elegance of the hotel's "post-Stalinist design." However, would the PC limousine-liberal crowd recoil in horror if the ad bragged about the hotel having an elegant post-Hitlerian design? Of course they would. Hitler was responsible for the murders of 6,000,000 Jews. How could anybody invoke the name of Hitler in a positive fashion? He was a despotic, genocidal maniac. At the very least, the hotel would be accused of displaying gross insensitivity towards the Jewish community.

    My retort to the Hotel Lucia's ad is that it is not only tasteless (to those of us who understand the criminal enterprise that communism was and still is) but that the ad is highly offensive to Ukrainians whose history is marred by what is called "The Unknown Holocaust." I don't think the Hotel Lucia's management team would positively invoke Josef Stalin's name if they took the time to watch International Historic Films' masterful film titled "Harvest of Despair: The Unknown Holocaust" (co-produced by the Ukrainian Famine Research Committee). As stated by this film's producers:

    This film documents the Ukrainian "terror famine" of 1932-33, which caused the deaths of 7,000,000 people. Using interviews with survivors and scholars to supplement rare photographic evidence, it establishes that the "terror famine" was deliberately created by the Soviet Government as part of Stalin's decades-long effort to destroy the Ukrainian peasantry who resisted the forced collectivization of their lands.

    I must warn you, this film should not be viewed by the faint of heart. It certainly shows that Stalin was every bit as evil as Hitler.

    The Black Book of Communism, which acts as an excellent supplement to the aforementioned film, explains that Stalin ordered the creation of a hunger zone that covered ""the whole of Ukraine, part of the Black Earth territories, the fertile plains of the Don, the Kuban, and the Northern Caucasus, and much of Kazakhstan." In order to create this hunger zone (as explained in the film), Stalin ordered the Soviet Secret Police to seal the borders of this vast territory. Therefore, no food was allowed to be brought into the hunger zone, whilst livestock, grain, and produce were sent out of this vast area. Any grain that remained was "protected" by armed guards. In this two-year period, as stated in "Harvest of Despair," 10,000,000 people died of which 7,000,000 were Ukrainians. And just imagine, the Hotel Lucia invokes Stalin's name in a positive manner! Utterly contemptible.

    With the Hotel Lucia bragging about its "post-Stalinist design," let's hope that the Hotel Lucia's restaurant's menu is post-Stalinist as well. For if it is not, you may open the restaurant's menu and be shocked to see pictures of your children (as they are today's entrées). Let me explain. During Stalin's terror famine, as explained by The Black Book of Communism, Ukrainian ""peasants became indifferent to the daily phenomenon of death. Cannibalism was so widespread that the government printed posters that said: 'Eating your children is an act of barbarism.,'' Additionally, you may want to avoid ordering a meat pie at the Hotel Lucia. As the same book explains, in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv: "Every night the bodies of more than 250 people who have died from hunger or typhus are collected. Many of these bodies have had the liver removed, through a slit in the abdomen. The police finally picked up some of these mysterious "amputators" who confessed that they were using the meat as a filling for meat pies that they were selling in the market." It is almost unimaginable to think that one human being had the power to engineer such a terrible famine. Josef Stalin did so and reduced Ukrainians to the point that many practiced cannibalism in order to survive. Now you can see why I truly hope that the Hotel Lucia's restaurant's menu is post-Stalinist as well.

    A key purpose behind advertising is to evoke a positive response from your target market. Thus, the Hotel Lucia is wise to promote its upscale amenities and excellent service in its magazine ad. However, it is most disturbing that the hotel's management is comfortable in invoking the names of Stalin and Castro in order to create a positive image for the hotel. It is irrelevant that the hotel has a permanent collection of photos from the Pulitzer Prize winning photographer David Hume Kennerly (which includes the above-shown photo of Fidel Castro). What is relevant is that a leftist/pro-statist political climate has infected the Pacific Northwest (for reasons too numerous to list here; however, the list would begin with lousy public schools). From this infection has emerged intellectually vapid people who profess to have moral and mental superiority (as can be detected by their political correctness). In my opinion, this infection has caused an enfeeblement of the mind so severe that even murderous Marxists, such as Castro and Stalin, can help an upscale Northwest hotel create a positive image for itself. How saddening and sickening.

    This article first appeared on LewRockwell.com and is re-printed on The Tocquevillian by permission of the author

    © 2003 Tocqevillian Magazine