Here's what I would have said to Hugo Chavez, had I seen him at the last

[Flatulo]

78. I'm afraid if you can't see it it's because of your own dissonance.

I really don't mean to offend you or any other posters, but it's quite clear to me that many here have lost their objectivity when it comes to Hugo. Their instinctive reaction is to rush to his defense in every single instance of even the slightest criticism of his regime. Every media organization on the planet except for venezuelaanalysis.com has been branded as an utterly unreliable, right-wing source for any critical reporting on the regime. Every Venezuelan ex-pat is a traitor and agent provocateur. This happens without fail and with the reliability one expects from a Swiss watch. I daresay a few posters are actually in love with the man.

I believe this worship comes from a deep desire to transform our own society into a model of Venezuelan governance, where a heroic leader-figure defeats the evil capitalists and distributes their wealth to the have-nots. It's sort of an anti-Randian utopian fantasy that only Hugo has brought off.

Find any post that criticizes the Chavez regime, and I can show you the usual suspects rushing to defend and discredit the critics. Without fail. They recycle the same talking points over and over, endlessly, as though they had just copy/pasted them from any of hundreds of other threads.

I've never seen this kind of reflexive zeal for any other world leader, even our own POTUS. In fact, the more committed leftists on this board seem, frankly, quite disappointed that Obama has governed from the center-left.

If there is any criticism of the Chavez regime, or the man himself, that has not been strongly countered by the usual Hugo-worshiping suspects, I'd love to see it.

Of course this is all just my own opinion. I'm just some random ass on the Internet and I certainly wouldn't get very worked up over what I think.