Annoying Lie #1: Cuban vs. American Literacy

During my many debates, and I'm sure that many of you have had these such debates on the failures of Communism/Socialism, a liberal may parrot the talking point that "Cuba has a higher literacy rate than the United States" or that "Cuba has an 100% literacy rate, which even the US can't compete" and so on. Obviously, such statements are bogus. In fact, literacy is generally the same. According to the CIA World Factbook, the total literacy rate of Cuba is at 97%. To illustrate the data, I have copied and pasted the information from the CIA World Factbook on Cuban Literacy:

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97%
male: 97.2%
female: 96.9% (2003 est.)

Source: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
geos/cu.html

As you can tell, Cuba's literacy is not terrible, but it refutes the "100%"
myth. Now let us look at the United States:

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97%
male: 97%
female: 97% (1999 est.)

Source: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
geos/us.html

Thus, if the CIA Factbook is accurate, then men in the US have a -.2% literacy rate difference in comparison to Cuba. Meanwhile, what's this? Women in the US have a .1% literacy rate difference compared to Cuba. But ultimately, this means nothing, as the Cuban and American literacy rates for all of both countries is at 97%, giving an even percentage in total comparison. This means that in all truth, Cuba has the same literacy rate as the US.

Ultimately, though, this lie is merely a tactic of distraction used from uninformed Castro apologists who have heard this parrotted somewhere and assumed it to be true. This statement is a conscious or unconscious method to distract Castro regime opponents in debate to make people believe that because there is a higher rate of literacy in Cuba, then it must not be all that bad under the Castro regime and that all the stories of political and religious oppression, as well as rampant poverty under a state-run system are all leftover Cold War lies from paranoid Conservatives trying to hide the wonderful state that Cuba is really in. Next time you debate with a person spouting this lie, make sure to note that Cuba's literacy rate is actually the same percentage as that of the United States and that there has yet to be a large influx of Americans going to Cuba from Hollywood or anywhere for that matter. I think it is pretty obvious that in Cuba, or anywhere else for that matter, literacy is good for the person and their mind for both practical and intellectual reasons. But it cannot feed you, and it is next to useless if you are in a totalitarian regime in which you are restricted to government-approved publications and writings. I believe that the influx of Cuban migrants to the US floating to Florida's coast for a better life, often dying in the process is testament to this truth. It is also interesting to note that most of the Westerners living in more Capitalism-oriented countries have been reluctant to move to Cuba, especially the pampered pundits who sing the praises of the Castro regime.