The Colbert videos are not accessible in the UK, but there's a funny interchange between Colbert and Obama on Youtube.

qwertz:As a former DDR citizen..

I wouldn't have wanted to live under Communism, but I enjoyed the film Goodbye Lenin!

Miland:The Colbert videos are not accessible in the UK, but there's a funny interchange between Colbert and Obama on Youtube.

Hey, that's cool. They also did some sing along - okay speak along - karaoke. (0:39 min) Apart that, looks very relaxed. That really changed my opinion about The Colbert Show. The video also has English subtitles so I can get it quite good (Press the button below CC or CC itself) Okay, not the jokes. Btw. Obama looks very tired. That gives some personal closeness. Very interesting video.

We Germans should recommend that kind of show to Harald Schmidt and Angee, too.

Miland:

qwertz:As a former DDR citizen..

I wouldn't have wanted to live under Communism, but I enjoyed the film Goodbye Lenin!

Yes I know that movie. It's a very maudlin/sentosingarda/respectfull(?) movie regarding what happened at this time not that "The DDR was a big Party" b#####it.

qwertz:Ha, ha, communism! Does there excist Volkseigenes Gut in Australia? *grrr* As an former DDR citizen I can tell you that this idea doesn't work economically. I don't wanna drive the car of my neighbour. It's unpolite, you know? But it also had positive things. for excample 1:00min (nobody would had do that at this time with a car someones has to wait 15 years.) Ha, ha! *grrr*

No, no Volkseigenes Gut in Australia, but it's considered rude not to share your beer at barbeques.

I think that any communist, or more correctly socialist tendencies of Australia are more like the structure of Nordic countries than like that of the USSR, so it's more based around common sense I guess. Well, for the most part. The government *can* get a little bit too "nanny state"-ish at times, but that's what parliament/democracy is for!

I guess this is also a major problem for EO too - in general, EO members seem to be "practical socialists" to an extent - that is, they can be a bit socialist (world peace, helping each other out, etc), but only when it's really practical. For people who are used to a staunch capitalist point of view, this may make EO culture look a little bit too "communist" for them. Just how to communicate that Esperanto isn't a communist conspiracy and that some of the traits of the Esperanto community are their due to the international nature and due to goodness in peoples' hearts, now that's a bit of a hard one!
(yeah, that was a lame attempt of getting the conversation back on track-ish)