Post by Daniel on Sept 11, 2018 17:25:10 GMT -5
Estonian American author: Walmart making light of Soviet atrocities
Chris Woodward (OneNewsNow.com)
September 10, 2018
Baltic countries, where citizens once lived under the iron first of the Soviet Union, are asking a major retailer to remove Soviet-themed merchandise being sold online.
Walmart.com is selling T-shirts and keychains (see image) featuring the infamous hammer and sickle, a throwback to the nostalgic times of gulags, bread lines, and a lack of basic individual rights to own a home, choose your job, or even complain to your neighbor about the government. According to The Associated Press, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania "have lashed out" and demanded the products be removed.
One of the loudest protests originating from the U.S. is coming from the Acton Institute, a Michigan-based think tank that promotes individual liberty and religious freedom. Acton senior editor Rev. Ben Johnson warns of the products' potential unintended consequences.
"As a matter of fact, one of the keychains not only has the hammer and sickle communist symbol, but it also has the letters KGB on it," says Johnson. "It's supposed to be an attempt to sort of make humor of the KGB – but there are, as we know, a large number of young people who are enthralled by democratic socialism or even full-blown Communism."
Walmart.com is selling T-shirts and keychains (see image) featuring the infamous hammer and sickle, a throwback to the nostalgic times of gulags, bread lines, and a lack of basic individual rights to own a home, choose your job, or even complain to your neighbor about the government. According to The Associated Press, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania "have lashed out" and demanded the products be removed.
One of the loudest protests originating from the U.S. is coming from the Acton Institute, a Michigan-based think tank that promotes individual liberty and religious freedom. Acton senior editor Rev. Ben Johnson warns of the products' potential unintended consequences.
"As a matter of fact, one of the keychains not only has the hammer and sickle communist symbol, but it also has the letters KGB on it," says Johnson. "It's supposed to be an attempt to sort of make humor of the KGB – but there are, as we know, a large number of young people who are enthralled by democratic socialism or even full-blown Communism."
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