User: Nefeli

Hi, sorry that I didn't respond for such a long time, but suddenly I remembered that we still had a discussion going on. I also have family who lived in the Soviet Union. Their memories are almost exclusively positive. And this is not only because of the disaster that ocurred to Russia after 1989/90. People were living much better back then, there was much more economic development, especially about between 1930 and 1960 (so much for your growth argument), people were behaving differently: more humane, more solidarian, more helping each other. Additionally at least most of the time they had the feeling of being governed by a people's government. Nowadays government of Russia and the other ex-socialist countries only seek to enrich a tiny (mostly criminal and corrupt) minority. So yes, there was corruption in the USSR, but much less than after. Anyways, all those problems that the USSR had were not results of socialism in my opinion, but results of the economic backwardness of Russia since several centuries, the two World Wars and the hostility of the capitalist world towards socialism. Of course the SU could not compete economically with the US, but they were stupid enough to try and this was one of the reasons for their failure. I am still not completely sure what to think of communism, because at school, on tv etc. they only say bad things about it. However, when I study history and use my own mind to think about it, I find that the vast majority of "arguments" against communism or the real existing socialism is just bull$%!@. And, as I already said, the communist party in my country is the only party representing the interests of the people. I dont know what experiences your uncle made in East Germany, but I also know some people from there and their opinions about the GDR are fairly positive - at least much more positive than about contemporary Germany. And, based on my knowledge about it, I totally agree with them. After all, in all societies there are some people who disagree with the state of affairs, and often just because they dont understand what is going on. For example the economic problems of the GDR also were not the fault of socialism but of many reasons, especially the extremely unequal starting position of both German states. So, it is quite probable that a lot of people in the GDR, not understanding history, wrongly attributed the relative economic backwardness of their country to socialism - at the same time, people living in capitalist backward countries think that their backwardness is their own fault (because they are too lazy, too traditional etc) and not the fault of the capitalist world economy. So, I guess it is always wrong to blindly trust the experience that individuals made, but you always have to use your own mind. And of course it would be stupid just to have the Soviet Union or GDR back, because it obviously wasnt perfect either. But I think there has to be a new wave of revolutions and socialist constructions in this century that will take on the good experience from past socialist societies and learn from their mistakes.

And I think you are totally wrong saying that Keynesianism is between capitalism and socialism. Keynesianism is about administrating the capitalist system and alleviating some of its worst consequences. It has nothing to do with socialism which is the direct opposite of capitalism. Besides, in my opinion keynesianism is completely wrong in creating illusions about a capitalism with humane face, something which simply cannot exist. So, socialism and capitalism cannot be combined, because they are opposed systems: capitalism is the production only for profits (regardless of the needs of the people) and socialism is the production for the needs of the people. You cannot have both.

There are situations sometimes where you have to be in bare feet: PE lessons, private house rules that don't allow socks and so on. My parents have also used bare feet as a punishment for me. In those situations I always feel quite embarrassed. On the other side I also would like to be "able" to dress like my female friends and other girls. Now, I never wear flip-flops or sandals. At school, one of the guys that seem to be some sort of into me asked me once why I never wear flip-flops and said that they would look good on me. So, obviously people already noticed my habit. And he is right, too: Flip-flops definitely look better on a girl than trainers.

Do you have any suggestions for me?

@mister tom I also have thought of that, but she hasn't come to our house so far. Yeah, well, probably she is a little nuts concerning this, but when you talk to her about other issues, she is a perfectly normal and well educated woman.

@aquamermaid That wouldn't work, I guess, because she sees my feet all the time and knows that they are perfectly ok. I could give it a try, of course. Maybe next time.

Yes, exactly. When I go to a friend's house where I have to be in bare feet I also try to hide my feet. My friend and her mum sometimes make jokes about it because they know that the reason I do this is that I am shy. I don't know why they do this. After all it doesn't make it easier for me.

I know what you mean, I also "have this thing with socks". A friend of mine also has a "no shoes, no socks" rule in her house. I go to her house quite often because she is a good friend and also lives close to my place. At the beginning, when I had removed my shoes (as I always do when I enter a house) her mum told me to remove my socks, too. I asked her if she couldn't make an exception for me because I feel shy about my feet. She answered that there were no exceptions to this rule. At first I didn't know what to do, but then I complied. After all, I didn't have a choice. I also thought that this was because of dirty socks. I considered it a little weird though, because my socks were clean. And, people who wore flip-flops or sandals or so would have dirty bare feet, too, so there wouldn't really be a difference. Anyway, the next time I did the same thing as you and brought clean socks. My friend's mum looked at me as if I had sweared her or something when I proposed to put on those socks. She said that obviously I misunderstood something and that she already told me that there were no exceptions. She also said that the rule was not only because of dirty socks. I never dared to asked her what were the reasons until recently. We had a quite long conversation then. She said that it was because of many different things. I remember something like: She liked the look of bare feet, she thinks that girls should be barefoot as much as possible, she wants to educate her daughter in a way that forces her to be in bare feet as often as possible, she grew up in bare feet and wants her daughter to do the same, she thinks it's healthy, she doesn't want dirty shoes or socks in her house, she doesn't want to wash all the time. She also said that her floors were slippery (which is true) and that once a child wearing socks slipped in her house and hurt himself. I asked her why her husband and son were usually wearing socks because I considered that very weird. Why does the rule only apply for girls? She said that they were old enough to decide for themselves but we are not. We are both 19 by now so I would say, we are old enough, too. Anyway, I think that she just has some strange way of thinking that bare feet are a female feature and all girls have to have bare feet. I don't think I can change her mind so I just try to get used to being barefoot over there.