well, so much for girls getting laid part!
Ah yes, I remember when I was 12-15ish…
Then I shifted and became a good left-leaning Libertarian. What a nice kid I am.
I even have enough time left over to read Catcher in the Rye, “realize” the world truely is shitty, withdraw from it all, and reach Apathy. It’s the new Nirvana. Not many kids get there; it was smart of me to start early.
PS. Ever notice how the ONLY red smiley is… ANGRY? A plot, I’ll bet.
Futile Gesture, that was priceless. God, that takes me back. When I think of some of the unbelievably dull lectures and study groups my Spartacist college roommate used to drag me to… Talk about people with one-track minds! It was revolution this, oppression that, subscription-to-our-newsletter the other… and FTR I personally would never even bother applying for any kind of security clearance as a result of having lived with this dude.
And let’s be fair here, people. Not all casual communists are nuts or idiots, and some even do a lot of good for their communities. Montezuma, take anything you hear from us Americans about the horrors of Communism and decrease it by a factor of about one third, some of us are still not able to put aside our prejudices. (On the other hand, in the case of a Hungarian, Pole, Afghan, etc. you should probably take their word for it). I’m generous enough to admit that all political ideology, not just Communism, is about ideals rather than reality, and all have their good and bad points. Except the Maoists, those people are freakin’ crazy. 
Montezuma, the only thing to do is for you to join the Communist Party too. Then read up on all his literature; insist during dinner conservation to analyze fine points of Marxist-Leninist ideology; nag him to get dressed and out the door for his weekly meetings, and tell him you’re going without him if he doesn’t shake a leg; join him at all his street protests with your “Proud Mum of a Communist” t-shirt on; quiz his dates about their proletariat sympathies before admitting them to your house;write letters to your favorite red rag and quote your son’s wisdom on the subjects of the day …
Within any short period of time, you will wake up and find your son is now a Tory.
What could be more fun! I can only pray that my child becomes a communist so we can go at it hammer and tong over Sunday coffees. Intelligent argument strengthens the mind and emboldens the will. The main risk is that your child will become a intellectually lazy, slogan spouting, apparatchik who wears poorly fitting suits and stays up into the wee hours of the morning drinking cheap vodka and smoking unfiltered cigarettes.
Ha, you guys are lucky. I’m as centrist as they come (at 24), but to my parents I’m a “rebelling leftist youth” because I take offense to their xenophobic rants about “lazy black people”.
:rolleyes:
Back in the early 80s at the University of Toronto, the Communists and Marxist Leninists routinely set up tables across from each other, often resulting in brawls with each other.
Not to worry. Your son is apparently wrestling with some of the great questions of our day. We’d be better off if more did likewise. Let him find his own way and make his own mistakes. He’s safe. Respect him.
Now if he had run off and joined the Trotskyites…well, then I’d be worried. These people are provocateurs par excellance. Ask anyone who has been around the labor movement.
why what do trotskyists do?
I think that question has already been asked and answered.
Actually, the only thing that you have to worry about is that your son may start to like the idea of someone handing him money regardless of how productive he is and he’ll decide to live in your house until he’s 30.
Generally, most kids fall out of their communism phase once they realize that all the hot chicks like the well dressed guys in the nice cars and all the smelly unshaven cargo pants wearing feminazis dig the goatee wearing communist guys.
He will grow out of it, but he’s going to subject you to a great deal of idealistic nonsense and criticism first.
I flirted with far-left politics when at university, but the nearest I came to joining was because this hot chick stopped me on the street when I was at university, so I gave her the name of my college name immediately, before realising (after a 30 minute monologue) that she was the most boring human being I’d ever met. Thus, when she asked me for my name, I gave a friend’s name. Unfortunately, she turned up at my college the next day looking for me, and I hid in the stationery cupboard while she found my friend, then harangued him on my behalf.
Which was a good thing really, because when I applied for my first US (tourist) visa, there was a single box to check that covered the following: “Convicted gun runner”, “Convicted drug smuggler”, and “Communist”. This might be a problem for him in the future.
Nonsense! Ayn Rand’s characters get laid way too often to be Republicans. 
Dang it, where were all these generous young women when I was going to college?! I think I got cheated.
See…you should have gone to school in Minnesota. Let’s face it, when the biggest musical act to come out of your area is Prince, it’s indicative of a relatively promiscuous and perverted mindset.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…there’s something not quite right about those folks from Minnesota.
Nothing you need lose sleep over. This is by far the best advice you’ve had in this thread:
Much else has been paranoia. The most worrying thing about all this is the fact that you’re relying on the opinions of foreigners who have no understanding of your son’s circumstances instead of asking him about them yourself.
I used to belong to the local International Socialists groups cos they planned good demos, but I quit because they were kind of ideologically incoherent (“NATO out of Kosovo! That’s the UN’s job! … UN out of East Timor!” Um, OK) and pretty dogmatic.
Nevertheless, I remain a proud New Democrat, which in some people’s eyes is just as bad. And I haven’t recanted what I had to say then - just left the group.
I hate to say “he’ll grow out of it,” especially given the number of times it’s been applied to me, so let’s just say if the Commies are anything like the IS (and they probably are, only more so), he’ll probably get fed up and quit, and end up a nice Greenie or something.
In the meantime, don’t try to quash his political activity, even if you don’t agree with it. (If my kid - well, my niece or nephew - turned out to be a Canadian Alliance member, I’d do my damnedest to talk him or her out of it, but I wouldn’t try to actually stop them doing what they wanted.) Too many kids are completely apathetic and ignorant politically that you can’t afford to waste one who isn’t.
Take extended spring holidays in Cancun, I’d imagine.
Oddly enough, I used to be a Libertarian. I guess I grew out of that.
But, I was never an idealist and I’m not now.