austin-murphy-the-triumph-of-evil

12 THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL
PRELUDE
'�BETTER RICH AND HEALTHY ... "
Previous to experiencing the revolutionary events surrounding the
opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989-90, I must also admit to having
largely believed in the great USA propaganda story about how wonderful
capitalism is compared to communist societies. However, one ofthe
first things I learned in my visits to East Germany was that it was different
from the roboticized, repressed, cold, and stoical stereotyping of
communist East Germany which I had been led to believe by Western
media to be the truth.
An early clue to the actual facts of the East German people and culture
occurred during my first visit there on May 1, 1988. In particular,
on that festive holiday in East Berlin, I found a kiosk which sold an
assortment of interesting items, including stickers with the printed statement
"Lieber reich und gesund als arm und krank," which translated
to "Better rich and healthy than poor and sick." Astounded at such a
sign that seemed to advocate striving for riches in the relatively poor
(compared to the West) and reputedly repressive communist country, I
asked the kiosk saleswoman if such statements were permitted in East
Germany. After some discussion with her colleagues, she explained
that the sticker had been designed as a counter to the Western slogan
that one had to choose between being either rich and sick, or poor and
healthy. After all, why not have the best of all possible worlds, which
was what East Germany was trying to develop. Little did I realize at
the time that East Germans would soon be achieving access to Western
riches far faster than they had ever believed possible, albeit at the price
of having to endure the sickness ofWestern capitalism.