Anti-Communist Resentment in the 21rst Century

When analyzing what is not in the media, we see a fear of societal transition away from profit-oriented Capitalism towards people-oriented Socialism

A lack of media coverage of my topic indicates that it is not in the best interest of Western media outlets to lend attention (and thereby legitimacy) to achievements of states operating under an economic system differing from that which they operate under.  Only because Kerala is a predominately Socialist state does praising its health care system indirectly become praise for the state’s economic system. I maintain that the U.S. media have not given or drawn public attention to Kerala’s flourishing health care system because it is the brainchild of a Neo-Socialist government operating under a Socialist economic system.

Many people in the United States closely associate Socialism with Communism, and have a long history of anti-Communist resentment culminating in the Second Red Scare that came after WWII in the late 1940’s- late 1950’s[1]. While anti-communist feeling has lessened since then it is still engrained in the American mindset and shapes our opinions and the amount of legitimacy we give to things. At their most basic definitions, Socialism is an economic system based on the idea that the working class should take over and run things collectively, democratically and for the benefit of the majority and Communism is both an economic and political system based on the idea that that society should not have classes[2]. Still many Americans fail to understand the differences between the two and consciously or not apply anti-Communist sentiment to Socialist states like Kerala.

To share with others and promote the success of Kerala’s anti-malaria campaign is, through a filter of long-entrenched anti-communist feeling, to endorse the idea that in this case Socialism is working, and it’s working better than our economic system. Western bias against Kerala’s economic system stems from a rejection of its non-Capitalist mantra, which is that development can be reached and defined by growth in the provision of public goods and social services and not in monetary accumulation. When analyzing what is not in the media, we see a fear of societal transition away from profit-oriented Capitalism towards more people-oriented Socialism. We see that to acknowledge a low-income state of the developing world with high levels of human development and health statistics mirroring our own in the U.S. is to question the very character of our Capitalist economic system.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-communism

[2] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_socialism_and_communism#ixzz1f3SgifZD