Longtime
Singaporean autocrat Lee Kuan Yew is finally dead at age 91. (Some
years ago, he passed on his official positions of power to his son.)
This capitalist oppressor, who created a regime in the city-state he
ruled where people get caned for chewing gum or spitting, is seen as
an exemplar of a Good and Wise ruler.
The
BBC's “World Service” broadcast this line around the world. The
U.S. media never met a capitalist dictator it didn't love. (To be
sure, the New York Times, in an editorial, gave him a mixed
review- an A for economic policy, and a Needs Improvement for civil
rights. They even called him an “autocrat.” Fancy that.)
Unmentioned
in the paeans to Lee's alleged economic fabulousness is the fact that
for MOST Singaporeans, life is a struggle. Most of the wealth and
economic “growth” has gone and goes to a tiny elite.
Which
is why Forbes magazine functioned as a fanzine for Lee. (One
of the magazine's branding slogans: “Forbes: Capitalist Tool.”
That's a snarky, “ironic” appropriation of Bolshevik invective,
of course. “Hell YES we're Capitalist Tools, and Proud OF it too!”)
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