this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
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[–] Darkard@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The vague idea of getting the same as everyone else, while not having to actually make the effort, appeals to sheltered and unappreciative western kids who feel oppressed because they have to put down thier entertainment device and do thier maths homework.

Borderline champagne socialists

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[–] CthulhuOnIce@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

comment section frustratingly filled with McCarthy-brained liberals who have never critically examined their preconceptions about communism

[–] OceanSoap@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I guess I just really don't understand the draw. Communism is a nice thought, until actual people are involved. People are corruptible, which is why communism is seen as utopian. It's an ideal that only works under perfect circumstances.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I guess I just really don’t understand the draw. ~~Communism~~Capitalism is a nice thought, until actual people are involved. People are corruptible, which is why ~~communism~~capitalism is seen as utopian. It’s an ideal that only works under perfect circumstances.

[–] OceanSoap@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Yes, I don't disagree, except far more people benefit from our form of capitalism, and you don't see the death numbers you do from the absolute rule that communism demands.

This isn't to say there isn't any death due to capitalism. Or any strife, just certainly not on the same scale. I would say out biggest death toll comes at the hands of our military-industrial-complex being capitolistic.

The problem is, there's nothing better yet.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Add up chattel slavery, Trail of Tears, proxy wars, not-so-proxy wars, the general condition of the M-I-C you've mentioned, the general plight of the Global South, etc etc etc, and get back to me. I'm not sure the advantage is so definitive as you assert. "Externalities", the economists call them.

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[–] RidcullyTheBrown@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Bullshit take. Show me one instance of communism implemented in a democracy and I'll agree to your point, but you can't because there isn't one.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Pretty sure I explicitly struck out all references to communism so I don't know what you're talking about. My comment was about the fanciful idealism required to justify capitalism. Show me one instance of capitalism implemented in democracy (which didn't devolve into cronyism).

[–] RidcullyTheBrown@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Switzerland? Netherlands? Hell, even France, Germany?

Invoking cronyism as a downside in itself is silly. It's not what matters, what matters is the quality of life. And just because US and a few other capitalist countries have drank from the neoliberal fountain and are unable to stop, it doesn't mean that that is the only way. In fact social democracies, of which there are quite a few examples around the world, are pretty much still capitalist democracies whit none of the crap neoliberal ideas lead to.

[–] varzaman@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago

Lol half the comments are “idk what you’re talking about”. A good chunk are proving OP right, and the rest is America hate.

Exactly like on Reddit. Literally isn’t any different here.

[–] tim1996@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I wish we could look at what the ussr did right and how it worked around its restrictions without rose tinted glasses. Some central planning of efficient railways and large industrial machinery might not be a bad idea. Lezz a fair doesn't always produce great results. Walkable neighborhoods and commie blocks aren't such a bad idea but fascist dictators are.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 years ago

Say what you will about the USSR, but it took a bunch of peasant farmers under exploitative monarchy and literally rocketed them into a global superpower in, what, 2 generations? While weathering the immediate tangible effects of two world wars, and staying competitive against the capitalistic world power that remained virtually untouched in both wars and casually claimed industrial supremacy by virtue of that fact.

How great can capitalism be if the capitalists had a multi-century head start, better natural resources, advantageous geography, a bigger population, and it was still close?

[–] Azzu@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Because the single only way to do communism is how the UdSSR did it, there's no other way.

And of course it's only possible to either agree with the whole of a specific ideology, or none of it. There's no "good parts of communism" or "bad parts of capitalism" it's only ever all good or all bad.

Politics is the mind-killer.

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[–] nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 years ago

Communism isn't the issue the same way Capitalism isn't the issue, the issue is rich people abusing working class and poor people. Removing democracy from these systems just make them absolutely horrid in the long run. Also China isn't communist it's state capitalist dictatorship.

[–] samokosik@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago

As a someone whose country belonged to the western bloc, I can relate xD

[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I mean there is, but all of the major nations fall somewhere in the middle of the capitalism / socialism spectrum.

China, a communist nation, has private businesses. The US, a capitalist nation, has public infrastructure and social safety nets.

It’s a gradient, and very few nations are 100% on the edge of the spectrum.

[–] robinn@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago

China is socialist under Primary Stage Socialism with development emphasized. Social safety nets and public infrastructure are not automatically steps towards socialism (in the first place because the U.S. is imperialist and finances these gains with the wealth of other nations with the aim of pacifying conflict rather than ushering in genuine positive change). This spectrum approach ignores political and developmental realities, in the first place with China being a dictatorship of the proletariat and the US being a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, and with private businesses subordinated at every step to the popular mass party (and with the final goal of expelling them when socialism is fully developed (1949/1950), since China is a backward nation that did not undergo a capitalist period before developing the DOTP. The “more state or more private” dichotomy is imo an incorrect way of looking at things.

[–] Astroturfed@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

A lot of eastern Europeans actually miss/look back fondly on the USSR days.... I'm not exactly a fan of them or other "communist" regimes, as they were all basically thinly veiled dictatorships, but standard of living was higher for most of the former block countries.

I really don't get all the china dick riding going on. I gotta think it's driven by bots and Chinese netizens. The west is a little unfair on their views of China, but they grab descenters with secret police and quash any form of opposition to their one party system. People who praise them and act like that's a better system are crazy. Really wish we could build some decent highspeed rail network in America though...

[–] Vitaly@feddit.uk -1 points 2 years ago

Thats exactly what i feel when i hear anything good about communism, it killed so many people in Ukraine... NEVER AGAIN!

[–] hare_ware@pawb.social -1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (5 children)

Didn't the USSR just do state capitalism, and not actual communism or socialism? And weren't they also totalitarian & also not a democracy? Are people actually asking for what was happening in astern Europe or something else?

[–] FluffyPotato@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago

Yup. Also shot the anarchists, that worked with them and wanted democracy, in the back of the head during a meeting, The USSR then also did imperialism in their neighboring countries, deported a ton of people from those countries to death camps in siberia and allied with the nazies dividing Europe in their treaty

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