lizzybennet | (no subject)

Sorry there has been no update lately. Not much to tell, life is just trudging on without excitement.

In class, I'm studying the USSR's involvement/responsibility for World War 2. Every now and then, I learn something new in my history classes that I was previously completely clueless about. Such is the case this week. I never knew Stalin was so responsible for "letting" Hitler get such a foothold in Europe. Of course, I've always heard what a horrible person Stalin was but until I started reading about him in depth the past couple weeks, I was ignorant about what an impact his reign actually had on the world. Not only was he responsible for assisting Hitler, but he also killed millions of his own countrymen and aided Mao in coming to power. Is it any coincidence that Stalin, Hitler and Mao are all linked with the blood of millions on their hands? No. It seems that Stalin played a part in all of it.

Growing up on Army bases in the 1980's, my teachers often lectured about the evils of Communism. At the time, I didn't quite get it. I didn't understand what the threat was, why we (in the US) were so worried about something that seemed so distant.

I get it now. It wasn't about Communism just in the USSR. Stalin, and communism, was about world revolution. Yeah, that's something I never realized until now. I need to go back and read some Ayn Rand again. I think I'd see it in a totally different light now.

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I could never get into Ayn Rand. To me, her style was so... plodding, I think is the word I'm looking for. I suffered through Atlas Shrugged and gave up ;)

I haven't read Atlas Shrugged. I really like Anthem and her autobiographical novel (can't remember the name...) Try Anthem. It's very short, you'd read it in less than an hour.

I remember Communism being a huge deal when I lived in Germany. All us kids would discuss what the commies were doing, how the communist government would kill their Olympic hopefuls if they didn't win a medal. Really childish stuff, but we were ingrained with it. We lived through numerous bomb threats and one teacher actually let her students view that movie "The Day After" about what happen after an atomic bomb is dropped on the US. When we played soldiers, it was always the GIs against the KGB.

When my mom and dad took me to then East Berlin, the East Berlin soldiers followed us around town. It was kind of scary. My dad had to wear his dress greens and my mom and I were dressed to match. We were polite and even bought things in the department stores - scratchy wool clothing, bland, and not quite stylish. But it was how it was. Everything was gray and drab and dirty. We left the bustling cheerful noise of West Berlin and entered the almost dead quiet streets of East Berlin. Same city, just with a ginormous wall separating Us from Them.

Stalin, like Hitler, Mao and the Italian guy, was a psycho. They all had to be but they were worshipped. Which I don't understand. I've never been caught up in a political fever like the people were for Hitler, especially Hitler. I think people were more terrified of Stalin to disagree, but Hitler was supposedly charming and charasmatic.

You know, I'm gonna stop here, I've taken half a clonopin and I'm starting to sound delirious and lose track of myself *lol*. Share more of what you are learning, I'm beginning to enjoy the history that you share with us.

Whoa...sleepy time!

You're beginning to enjoy it? What? You mean all this time it's been unenjoyable? Lol, just teasing you :) I know not everyone gets the thrill from history that I do.

I didn't realize you went to East Berlin. I remember how villinazed East Germany was and what a huge deal it was when the wall came down. Wow. strange to think of what a hold Communism had on the world compared to how it is now.

*lol* Oh no! That was so not how I meant it *lol*. I think what I was trying to say was before it was interesting but it seems more personal now. You're living in a communist country, you're connected to it and I'm connected to you. So your history posts are on a personal level now, this isn't just something that happens half a world away but it's happening where you live! My best friend lives in a communist country how bizarre is that?

*lol* Also, remember I did say I was on my meds so I could have said anything crazy. I take no responsibility for what comes out of my mouth or gets typed on my keyboard when I take a clonopin. (Okay, that was a lame excuse *lol*. I really do enjoy reading your history posts. I really do.)

We were in Germany from 83 to 87 and it really was West against East. My girl scout troop got to go to Berlin once. We took a train, which was fun enough to begin with because we got to sleep on the train in bunks. It was cool! But we were told before hand that the train would stop outside of the border and be boarded by soldiers. Once we crossed over into East Germany we were not to open the blinds on our cabin windows and we were not to peek outside. Luckily, we slept through that part but I was so tempted, I wanted to see. I think I thought it would be like Suess land or something. Just outside of Berlin we were able to look out the window and it looked like farmland. I was a bit disappointed. I thought we'd see the wall or massive fences or soldiers with guns. Ah the mind of an over-active imagination'ed child.