What prompts certain American college students to be so <span title="pro-communism/pro-socialism?">pro-communism/pro-sociali...</span>

Question

I'm the son of a Cuban expatriate AND I'm a student at UCB (University of California at Berkeley). Not only is the city of Berkeley (and the entire San Francisco Bay Area) *extremely* far-left liberal, but the students at UCB are exceptionally such.

I've noticed that many Anglo students (with generations of ancestry from America) who come from upper-class families are very sympathetic to socialism (and more importantly tyrannical socialist governments such as Castro's Cuba). These students are clad in Che Guevara t-shirts, burn American flags, and sling the words "proletariat", and "bourgeois" every chance they get.

My question is, what predisposes them to such?

I, having heard the horror stories of what its like to live under a socialist government that rules with an iron fist, having never met my grandfather due to him dying in a Cuban prison as a political "criminal", and actually witnessing the blessings bestowed upon me as a citizen of the US that prides itself in the freedoms endowed to its citizenry by virtue of its constitution, I honestly CANNOT UNDERSTAND SUCH SOCIALIST COLLEGE STUDENTS!

How on earth can children of the UPPER-CLASS, who have NEVER ACTUALLY EXPERIENCED THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT OF WHICH THEY SPEAK SO HIGHLY keep pushing communism with a straight face?

Answer 1

it&#039;s a question of ignorance tainted with smug arrogance.

the belief that what happens to &#039;the little people&#039; won&#039;t affect them.  this is what is wrong with present day liberals.

ask any rich liberal to give up 99% their earnings to be shared amongst the less fortunate or the lazy so everyone has an equal amount of $$ to live on.      

Answer 2

1. Because they see some of the injustices, not most of them, of presently-existing capitalism, and they seek an alternative to these injustices.

2. Because any alternative WILL be considered socialist. Remember that in the 19th century, free-market critics of capitalism, e.g. Proudhon, were considered socialists.

3. The Che-obsession puzzles me.

Answer 3

Very good question! The answer is not straight forward, but can be summed in the words of Winston Churchill:

&quot;If you are not a liberal when you are young, you don&#039;t have a heart. If you are not a Conservative when you are mature, you don&#039;t have a brain&quot;. (that is the gist of the quote :-)

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

The american school system is shot through with unrepentant liberals as well as the major media networks. This is the only world view they recieve as they grow up.

Answer 5

They are young....first time away from Mommy and Daddy.  Its a two fold thing.  

1)Rebelling.  Sorry but these kids haven&#039;t done their rebelling yet and this is it.

2)experimentation to determine what they are all about.  They have been with Mom and Dad for such a long time, these kids have no self awareness.  This time away is the time that these kids look for themselves.