I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I have a hard time feeling sympathy for anyone who has the means to blow 6k/mo on a luxury rental. At his level of wealth and privilege he's not really a class traitor is he? A bourgeois parasite on other bourgeois parasites maybe, but not a class traitor.

Semi tangent warning. Being a socialist doesn't mean taking a vow of poverty. If you're in a position that affords you a certain level of wealth, that's not an inherently bad thing and you're not "less socialist" for it. There are obviously systemic pressures that act on wealthy people that encourage certain behaviors and that's something to be aware of and mitigated as much as possible. Living in a capitalist economy means we have money, and people with a lot of money can put it to good use in supporting struggles. Until we can rid ourselves of market economies there will always be some people who have more wealth than others, it's a function of currency no matter how it's structured.

I obviously can't say this is the case for serj, I don't know much about his finances or what he does with it outside of supporting left wing movements and the liberation of Armenian people. He may do other things with his wealth that would be unbecoming of a socialist, can't say. But the fact that he's wealthy doesn't immediately mean he's a fraud, the fact that he's a landlord definitely raises some eyebrows. But the elements of violence and coercion that are normally present in housing rentals aren't really present here. If you can afford a 6k rental, you can afford to buy a house basically anywhere. With that kind of budget you're not really in a "fork over most of your money or be homeless" situation. Yes, private property is bad, but that's just an aspect of our current social structure that can't feasibly be eliminated yet. He's playing the game a bit and that can be fairly criticized given his stated political positions, but it's not necessarily an affront to the concept of socialism itself

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

No, when millions of homes are owned but left empty because they’re unafforable for people to live in, anyone involved in keeping housing off the market for only themselves is a class traitor.

When millions are in the streets who have jobs but housing is unaffordable it’s a fucking indictment of our entire system and all the people who own more than one piece of property.

If he is renting it, he has a place to live.

What, you’re fine with paying this pricks mortgage for him?

In my city there’s a guy who owns some of housing, but he tries to bring down property values with them, so people can afford to live in the neighborhood. He rents them well under market value and paints them entirely black, out of character for their neighborhoods. That’s class solidarity.

[–] BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee 1 points 9 months ago

I agree with you generally, but narrowing the scope to serj specifically I'm not 100% on the same page. You say he's a class traitor, but that's assuming he's in the same class as you and I. His net worth is apparently ~$20 million. Are you a multi-millionaire? I know I'm not. He's simply not in the same social class as you and I. As I said earlier, the relationship of violence and coercion (which is only part of the issue) that makes renting problematic. He's taking money from people in the same class as himself. If anything, the idea that he's taking money from other wealthy people and (presumably) and funneling it to progressive causes should be a point of reassurance. I don't personally view it that way and I definitely see the red flags but I'm being hypothetical-ish here.

Serj isn't personally responsible for homelessness and poverty and he could (I would argue has an obligation to) be doing more. It is an indictment of our system, you're absolutely right. But is it an indictment of him specifically?

If other rich people are paying for another rich person's mortgage, I don't personally have a big issue with it. It's money changing hends between two people in a similar position. Again, the rent is 6,000 dollars a month. That's 3x what I make in month working 60 hours a week in public service. I don't feel bad that a rich person is fleecing another rich person. It happens all the time and it's either inconsiquential or very, very mildly helpful to the left in general.

To your last section, that looks like beneficial virtue signaling to me. That landlord has a direct impact on the livelihoods of people like you and I, serj doesn't. If he were serious about expressing solidarity he would do something akin to rent to own for his tenants or give them equity in his business.

Land lords are shitty. You're right. Serj is doing a shitty thing by renting his house. Considering the context in which this shitty thing is taking place, who it's affecting, I don't think it's as shitty as you think it is. We could extrapolate and put all of our problems on serj tankian but that doesn't do much. It's the system we're within and the selective pressures at play to blame, not this specific individual. If we were talking about someone like Larry fink (CEO of blackrock) I'd be with you, but we're not