一位朋友最近在距离一座纪念碑仅一个街区的农贸市场上，惊讶地发现显眼地摆放着一面苏联风格的镰刀斧头旗。那座纪念碑是为了纪念那些为反抗极权主义而献出生命的人。对于来自前共产主义国家的移民来说，看到这些充满仇恨的标志与新鲜蔬菜、有机蜂蜜和自制馅饼一起欢快地摆放在一起，格外刺眼。
A friend was recently startled to find a Soviet-style hammer and sickle prominently displayed at a farmers market just a block from a monument to those who sacrificed their lives fighting totalitarianism. It's particularly jarring for immigrants from former communist countries to see these hateful symbols cheerfully displayed alongside fresh greens, organic honey and homemade pies. When my friend engaged the affable twentysomething about her advocacy for communism in America, the conversation quickly became absurd.
当我的朋友就这位和蔼可亲的二十多岁年轻女子在美国宣扬共产主义一事与她交谈时，对话很快变得荒诞起来。“你难道不知道古拉格、酷刑室、天安门广场大屠杀、一亿男女老少被杀害吗？”对此她回答：“我不确定你在说什么……”这位年轻女子随即反驳道：“我只知道美国有着不光彩的过去，我们应该试图为资本主义的罪行赎罪。”
"Don't you know about the Gulag, the torture chambers, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the murder of 100 million men, women and children?" to which she replied, "I'm not sure what you're talking about…" The young woman then parried, "All I know is that America has a shameful past and we should try to atone for the crimes of capitalism." "What ‘crimes of capitalism?’"
“‘资本主义的罪行’是什么？”“我不确定具体细节……”随后她发表了一番简短的言论，宣称共产主义将通过重新分配富人的巨额财富，带来高水平的生活。
"I’m not sure about the specifics …" She then went on to deliver a short address on how communism will deliver a high standard of living by redistributing the obscene wealth of the rich. When pressed about the historical record, either of communism’s brutality or specifics about so-called American imperialism, the young woman’s friendly smile never faltered.
当被追问关于共产主义残暴的历史记录，或关于所谓美国帝国主义的具体细节时，这位年轻女子脸上的友善笑容从未消失。她确实说不出任何“资本主义的罪行”。
She really couldn't name any of the crimes of capitalism. Calling for the overthrow of the system that allows for a peaceful Saturday at a farmer's market made the entire conversation seem absurd.
在一个允许人们在周六安逸逛农贸市场的体制下，呼吁推翻这个体制，让整场对话显得荒诞不已。
Conversations like this one, between average Americans and self-styled communists and socialists, break down due to differences of content and perspective.
像这样在普通美国人与自诩为共产主义者和社会主义者的人之间进行的对话，因内容和视角的差异而破裂。
When it comes to perspective, many of the 62% of young Americans, aged 18-29, that think that socialism or communism is a good idea have been educated with a simplistic neo-Marxist lens: U.S. history is a story of oppressor versus oppressed (i.e., patriarchy, race, religious bigotry).
在观点方面，许多认为社会主义或共产主义是个好主意的美国年轻人——占18至29岁年龄段的62%——接受过一种简化的新马克思主义视角教育：美国历史是压迫者与被压迫者（即父权制、种族、宗教偏见）的故事。这种马克思主义模式可见于从“1619项目”到美国民主社会党纲领的方方面面。新马克思主义批判理论攻击曾为大多数美国人所广泛持有的关于美国梦和美国为人类作出卓越贡献的观点。
The Marxist model can be found in everything from "The 1619 Project" to the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America. Neo-Marxist critical theories attack the perspectives once widely held by most Americans regarding the American Dream and America’s exceptional service to humanity. The part of these conversations that's the most flummoxing, however, is not ideological.
然而，这些对话中最令人费解的部分并非意识形态层面，而是内容层面：冰冷、坚硬的事实。各派反共人士通常指向过去和现在共产主义罪行的压倒性证据。在1亿男女老少被杀害的情况下，人们本以为这些证据“证明”这不仅是一个低效的制度，更是一个邪恶的制度。
It is the part of the conversation that is about content: cold, hard facts. Anti-communists of all stripes typically point to the overwhelming evidence of the past and present crimes of communism. At 100 million men, women and children murdered, one would think that the evidence ‘proves’ that this is not just an inefficient system, but a diabolical one.
我们有幸存者证词、政府档案，以及一些集中营（如苏联古拉格、中国劳改营）、酷刑、少数族裔灭绝、驱逐和强制饥饿的照片证据。暴力在今天的共产主义和共产主义遗留政权中持续存在，从白俄罗斯到古巴、厄立特里亚再到朝鲜。
We have survivor testimony, government records, and some photographic evidence of the concentration camps (e.g., Soviet Gulag, China's Laogai), torture, extermination of minorities, deportations and forced starvation. The violence continues in today’s communist and communist-legacy regimes, from Belarus to Cuba and Eritrea to North Korea.
当你在农贸市场向那位年轻人背诵共产主义罪行时，她会茫然地盯着你。她没有任何参照系。共产主义罪行鲜为人知；在当今的大学和高中环境中，它们未被教授、未被质疑。她从未听说过这些事，也不确定是否可信。事实上，她会反驳说，这些暴行很可能被夸大了，无疑是针对资本主义帝国主义的正当自卫措施。
The young person at the farmers market will blankly stare when you recite the crimes of communism. She has no point of reference. The crimes of communism are largely unknown; they are untaught and unchallenged in today’s university and high school settings. She has never heard of these things and she is not sure they are believable. Indeed, she will counter, these atrocities have likely been exaggerated and were undoubtedly justified self-defensive measures against capitalist imperialism.
当一个人不觉得（从视角上）共产主义罪行的证据要求作出判决，甚至无视存在不法行为的证据（从内容上）时，他所处的现实就不同于大多数出生于二十世纪的美国人。该怎么办？
When one does not feel (perspective) that the evidence of communism's crimes demands a verdict, and even disregards that there is evidence of wrongdoing (content), one is living in a different reality than that of most Americans born in the twentieth century. What is to be done?
首先，我们需要努力让我们公民生活的所有机构——媒体、学校、礼拜场所、商业部门、K-12和高等教育，尤其是家庭——回归基础。那是我们用事实和价值观教育新生代我们支持什么、反对什么的地方。我们坚持《独立宣言》中的原则、代议制政府、自由市场经济、个人和地方责任以及民主制度。
First, we need to work hard to return all of the institutions of our civic life – media, schools, houses of worship, the business sector, K-12 and higher ed and especially the family – to the basics. That is where we educate the rising generation with the facts and values of what we are for and what we are against. We adhere to the principles found in the Declaration of Independence, representative government, free-market economics, personal and local responsibility and democratic institutions.
其次，我们需要传递事实：共产主义罪行的个人故事和更宏大的历史叙事，以及美国为自卫和全球自由所做的英勇、牺牲的努力：柏林空运、北约和联合国的成立、保卫韩国人、越南人和许多其他受压迫民族、冷战胜利和后冷战友谊（即东欧）以及美国惊人的慈善捐赠。
Second, we need to transmit the facts: the personal stories and larger historical narratives of communism’s crimes and America’s valiant, sacrificial efforts at self-defense and global freedom: the Berlin Airlift, the creation of NATO and the United Nations, the defense of Koreans, Vietnamese and many other oppressed peoples, Cold War victory and post-Cold War friendship (i.e., Eastern Europe) and America’s stunning philanthropic giving.
准确的内容和正确的视角还应强化我们反对什么：一切反人类、反自由、反家庭的意识形态和政权。任何形式的共产主义都是植根于嫉妒的政治幻想，是植根于残暴的政治纲领。我们需要让新生代公民清楚地认识到，任何形式的共产主义对别人没有好处，对他们自己也不会有好处。
Accurate content and right perspective should also reinforce what we are against: all ideologies and regimes that are anti-human, anti-freedom and anti-family. Communism in any form is a political fantasy rooted in envy and a political program rooted in brutality. We need to make it clear to the rising generation of citizens that communism in any form has not been good for others and will not be good for them.
如何与共产主义者交谈？我们最大的希望在于，从最幼小的年龄就用正确的视角和准确的内容，为我们的青少年接种反共产主义的“疫苗”。
How does one talk to a communist? Our best hope lies in inoculating our young against communism at the very youngest age with right perspective and accurate content.