So I added, "I know Soviet chic is hip right now, particularly on college campuses. But you really ought to think about the message you send by wearing that shirt. It has all the charm of a swastika."Right on. I’ve written before on why people give a moral pass to communism that they don’t give to Nazism, despite both systems having been responsible for the death of tens of millions of people. My assessment is about the same as Radley’s: anyone who still advocates communism in the modern era is at best monstrously ignorant.
And yet I, like Radley and some of his commenters, am willing to tolerate ironic expressions of communism, like the very pricey Red Square vodka bar in Mandalay Bay. I wouldn’t feel the same about a Nazi-themed establishment. What makes the difference? Perhaps it’s my sense that I can trust the communist irony more, given the obvious capitalist context.
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