From Right-Thinking from the Left Coast comes this interesting insight into Karl Marx:
Mr. Skin
Who knew that Karl Marx was literally a butthead?Karl Marx suffered from a skin disease that can cause severe psychological effects such as self-loathing and alienation, according to a British dermatologist.
The father of communism's life and attitudes were shaped by hidradenitis suppurativa, said Sam Shuster in the British Journal of Dermatology. One of its symptoms is alienation - a concept that Marx, a martyr to boils and carbuncles, put into words as he wrote Das Kapital.
The condition was described as early as 1839 by a French physician, Alfred Velpeau. But, Professor Shuster says, ideas crossed the Channel less readily than wine and Marx's true condition was never diagnosed.
Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. A classic case for retroactive birth control - Communism killed, what, about 100 million people? What are 100 million lives worth when you are advancing the idea...