I am amazed by the ability some people have to deny the obvious when it conflicts with cherished political theories. Anyone who thinks 'religion' is the opiate of the masses hasn't studied what leftism can do to its sufferers.

This guy does a wonderful job (h/t John Ray) at documenting, photographically, the extended slum that Havana -- and undoubtedly most of Cuba -- has become under the wise, caring leadership of Fidel Castro.

So what lesson does he draw from all this? The obvious lesson -- that communism doesn't work? No, he concludes instead that Castro isn't a communist! Gosh, this is bad. He can't possibly be one of ours!

So we must call Castro a "fascist" -- using another one of those oh-so-flexible definitions of fascism. Yet what he fails to notice is that most "communist" countries are or were also "facist" under the definition he employs. For example, Castro is a fascist because his government "controls ALL means of production?" Well, lah-de-dah -- nevermind that the dictionary definition of socialism is...

any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods... a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

But we can't possibly behold the abject poverty and suffering that is Cuba and that "socialism" plays a role in it, can we now?

And never mind that Mussolini, who coined the word "fascism", was himself a leftist.

In another specious move, he argues Castro can't possibly be a leftist because he talks about being in a war with capitalism:

Glorification of war? When he came to power, Castro declared war on the 'Yankee imperialists.' He promised not one, not two, but 20 Vietnams all over Central and South America!

In saying so, Castro is just echoing Che Guevara, who also promised "twenty new Vietnams" in South America. So is Che now also no longer a leftist? Puhlease.

He closes by complaining:

In my opinion, Castro is more fascist than Pinochet, Batista, Franco, Trujillo, Stroessner, Pérez Jiménez and Mussolini, combined! But somehow, he has been able to fool many leftists, liberals and the Hollywood crowd, who still believe that they are supporting a 'socialist' that is championing the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

No, these people aren't merely "fooled" by Castro. They are also unwilling to look at evidence. In the case of the glitterati, they can't bring themselves to admit that Castro isn't a good guy -- he's so much like them! (And that's probably true in many cases.) In this guy's case, he apparently can't bring himself to admit that communism is a system which invariably puts guys like Castro in charge.