ANOTHER VIEW
Since the fall of communism in the Former Soviet Union, its long shadow cast on the West has seemed to fad away like a bad memory. Millions of people in Eastern Europe and the former fifteen Soviet republics welcome the change to Democracy, no matter how much some may miss the strict law and order of Totalitarian states. No system of government functions perfectly all the time. In America the foibles of local, regional, and national political leaders give newspapers an endless supply of stories. Still, individuals and families have streamed to the New World for the past two hundred years because they preferred democracy to oppression.
Living in Turkey, I am learning to accept the unpredictable. The latest thing is a little cartoon guy I see on posters plastered on the side of buildings, under bridges, and on empty storefronts. His gray clothes just hang loosely (picture Dopey from the movie Snow White) his head is overly large and round with a few spikes of hair sticking out, and he wears an expression on his face that looks to me like the village idiot. His appearance in no way betrays his intended identity-the hero of the Turkish Communist Party.
Pictured on a new anti-US poster, a missile streaks left to right but the little communist guy stops it dead in its flight by simply lifting up his right hand like a traffic policeman. In another poster the little gray guy of obviously low IQ holds a baby while its parents stand by, supposedly feeling that the Communist Party will keep them safe from all the bad Capitalists.
When I see these posters I have to suppress my laughter and my desire to say, “Hello, has anybody bothered to notice Marxist-Leninist ideology is defunct? For that matter does anybody notice that your little Communist icon with his baggy gray clothes looks like an idiot?” One thing they seem to have right on their posters, the color of the little guy’s clothes.
With regional and national election campaigns moving into high gear, slick promoters will no doubt attempt to subject us to any manner of persuasion so their man or woman gets our votes. Our media is far too sophisticated to conjure up something like the little Turkish communist cartoon.
Nevertheless, I hope the American people keep their eyes open for idiots, even though they might dress a whole lot better.
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