Talk:Contras

It is well-known that this site has been the target of liberal-left vandalism, at several levels.

One method is to write up false, but superficially-plausible entries. If this sort of thing is done right, and sparingly, then we can salute the skill of the prankster, and have a laugh at ourselves. (And, of course, correct the entry.) Such was the case with the entry on cacti.

The send-up has an honorable history, and we are then given license to practice it on the Left. (The classic case of this, of course, is the delicious "Sokol Hoax", which should have destroyed the credibility of the post-modernists forever. And all the better that the authors of the hoax were themselves liberals -- hats off to them.)

However, crude attempts at this sort of thing only reveal the intellectual poverty of the perpetrators, and the entry on the Contras, obviously a fake, is one such. Of course Leftists are angry at Ronald Reagan, the destroyer of so many of their dreams.

And his great crime in the subject under discussion was in forcing the Nicaraguan government to hold free elections, with the usual results.

Maybe something needs to be put in about the Boland Amendment? That funding the Contras ledIran-Contra scandal didn't come about just because people were opposed to funding the Contras, but because the funding of the Contras was in violation of US law.--Epicurius 13:44, 2 April 2007 (EDT)

I tried to incorporate your suggestion. Please carry on. --Ed Poor 10:52, 3 April 2007 (EDT)

Death squads

Who killed more innocent people: leftist, Marxist groups trying to "build socialism"? Or "counter-revolutionary" groups who fought back against Communist murderers? This matter should be examined at great length. We need an article on Communist mass murder or Communist genocide. (And no quibbles about genocide vs. democide.) --Ed Poor 09:14, 21 May 2007 (EDT)

Genocide is ok when the Contras do it

Why do you people lie about the facts. The Contras were a brutal, totalitarian, right wing, terrorist organization who committed gross violations of human rights. No one says the Sandinistas were perfect but you try to cover up the crimes of the Contras. I have no problem with people criticizing left wing monsters like Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao. But when people criticize right wing monsters like Pinochet, Somoza, and the Contras, it is chalked up to being "leftist propaganda". You people call yourself Christian but excuse the crimes of these monsters. What would Jesus do? --NimChimpsky 11:48, 11 June 2007 (EDT)

The article doesn't seem to be a glowing review of the Contras, and, in fact, is quite harsh in some areas. You'll find on a whole that the use of the word genocide in these situations isn't going to help your cause. What happened in Germany during World War II was genocide. What happened in Armenia during World War I was genocide. In modern usage, the term is thrown around so much in such a watered down form that it is insulting to those who were true victims of systematic extermination. In the U.S. Civil war, both the north and the south had cases of atrocities. But no one would say that the north was committing genocide on the south or the south was committing genocide on the north. War is brutal and change often comes with elements of cruelty attached, but it is not genocide. Learn together 12:26, 11 June 2007 (EDT)

Changes

Incorporate References section. In the second line of the second paragraph, the word 'finding' should be 'funding' Learn together 03:06, 24 July 2007 (EDT)

Communist Propaganda?

The Contras have been blasted by mainstream human rights organizations such as Amnesty International. To say that their abuses were merely communist propaganda is terribly biased. Perhaps one should have went and lived in the Nicaraguan countryside in the 80s before having such a biased view --ChristianDemocracy 16:20, 24 September 2007 (EDT)