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xi0

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And then there's Hasan Piker, who's essentially grifting as a socialist on Twitch...
Grifting or not aside, it doesn't seem like the majority of his fans are demented like what's described IMO. He has mostly the same kind of criticisms of the younger socialist movement that you do.

I think he generally has good things to say when it comes to most issues despite being a himbo and being too sensitive to criticism sometimes.
 

kkck

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All memes aside, it describes the vast majority of a lot of the younger people in the socialist movement right now . AOC and Bernie are tame as warm milk compared to folks like Vaush or Keffals who are more like a cocktail of battery acid and rusty nails. And then there's Hasan Piker, who's essentially grifting as a socialist on Twitch...

And this is coming from somebody who generally likes Vaush's content :(

NEVERMIND, back on topic: Republicans are destroying democracy.
Holy crap. I don't generally regard the positions bernie or AOC are known for as socialist, as far as i am concerned they are social democrats. Within that my impression is that they are left of center social democrats. Maybe AOC less so than bernie. I don't recall any specific position they've taken that specifically requires the state to take control of means of production (which as far as i am concerned is the actual threshold for socialism). Maybe bernie talked about cooperative type business at some point? Though my criticism there is that it's with very few exceptions a failed business model. It's a pain that socialist can mean whatever depending on who you are talking two.

I believe I've seen piker a few times on youtube though it's been a while. I didn't have the impression he was any sort of socialist. no idea about the other two.
 

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Grifting or not aside, it doesn't seem like the majority of his fans are demented like what's described IMO. He has mostly the same kind of criticisms of the younger socialist movement that you do.

I think he generally has good things to say when it comes to most issues despite being a himbo and being too sensitive to criticism sometimes.
Right, but I don't know if that's because his fans are based, or if they just don't give a shit about his actual message and are just political hobbyists. If it's the latter, that means they fit the tweet's claim about not knowing anything about the real world outside of what they learn in uni. I only lumped in Hasan's fanbase with the likes of people like Vaush, Demon Mama, or Keffals because there's overlap because of the socialist title and lack of actual socialist-like behavior amongst them all.

I tell you, if I were a millionaire socialist I'd front the money to start up worker co ops all along the country. Millionaire socialist feels like it should be an oxymoron anyway.

kkck said:
Holy crap. I don't generally regard the positions bernie or AOC are known for as socialist, as far as i am concerned they are social democrats. Within that my impression is that they are left of center social democrats. Maybe AOC less so than bernie. I don't recall any specific position they've taken that specifically requires the state to take control of means of production (which as far as i am concerned is the actual threshold for socialism). Maybe bernie talked about cooperative type business at some point? Though my criticism there is that it's with very few exceptions a failed business model. It's a pain that socialist can mean whatever depending on who you are talking two.
Bernie's a Democratic Socialist. Which isn't the same as a Social Democrat. AOC was and I think still is.
 

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I am surprised contempt of congress is basically a misdemeanor tbh. And up to 30 days each seems pretty tame. Not that any amount of time is jail is passable but you;d think full blown contempt of congress would weight more.
tbh I think it's because of white privilege and Bannon being a right winger that he gets off lightly.
 

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Bernie's a Democratic Socialist. Which isn't the same as a Social Democrat. AOC was and I think still is.
I know that, but I've never really heard them take a position aligning with democratic socialist. That's easily the terrain of folk who want the government to take ownership and planning of production means. Essentially, the most generic piece of shit socialist with a beyond failed ideology that in a fair world would have gone violently extinct 50 years ago. Bernie and AoC are usually known more for taxing the wealthy, universal healthcare or getting money out of politics. Which in a fair world wouldn't even be left wing positions, it'd be common sense. Now, if they actually are democratic socialists then yeah, fuck em. I'll take a thousand fascists' over 0.000001 of their nonsense. I am not pro fascism of course but given the choice fascism >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> communism.
 

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I know that, but I've never really heard them take a position aligning with democratic socialist. That's easily the terrain of folk who want the government to take ownership and planning of production means. Essentially, the most generic piece of shit socialist with a beyond failed ideology that in a fair world would have gone violently extinct 50 years ago. Bernie and AoC are usually known more for taxing the wealthy, universal healthcare or getting money out of politics. Which in a fair world wouldn't even be left wing positions, it'd be common sense. Now, if they actually are democratic socialists then yeah, fuck em. I'll take a thousand fascists' over 0.000001 of their nonsense. I am not pro fascism of course but given the choice fascism >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> communism.
Don't wanna equate communism and socialism though. You're falling for the same shit conservatives do.
 

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Don't wanna equate communism and socialism though. You're falling for the same shit conservatives do.
Once you get to the point where you are for the government taking charge and planning of means of production the line gets pretty thin socialism and communism. And that line is by no means the difference between between success and catastrophic failure, they've all failed equally hard and they are all equally catastrophic. Societ union, venezuela, cuba, nowadays argentina with their peronism... Vaguely different formula, vaguely different misery...
--- Double Post Merged, , Original Post Date: ---

Going a bit further, can't say I've ever met a socialist that didn't have communism wet dreams.
 

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I know that, but I've never really heard them take a position aligning with democratic socialist. That's easily the terrain of folk who want the government to take ownership and planning of production means. Essentially, the most generic piece of shit socialist with a beyond failed ideology that in a fair world would have gone violently extinct 50 years ago. Bernie and AoC are usually known more for taxing the wealthy, universal healthcare or getting money out of politics. Which in a fair world wouldn't even be left wing positions, it'd be common sense. Now, if they actually are democratic socialists then yeah, fuck em. I'll take a thousand fascists' over 0.000001 of their nonsense. I am not pro fascism of course but given the choice fascism >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> communism.
tbh, most of the time whenever people criticize communism, I see that they actually have no idea what communism is, and they often get it mixed up with capitalism.

I also fail to see what makes fascism any better, especially given what direction USA is heading into.
 

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I also fail to see what makes fascism any better
In "that" scenario where you can decide how do you want to be killed, the options are two:

1) Killed by bullets
2) Killed by starvation

Which one would you choose?

With fascism, you will only have one option; with the other, both can apply... and for sure you have no chance to even decide
 

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With fascism you have both options. Again, it seems people who prefer fascism over communism know very little about either.
 

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tbh, most of the time whenever people criticize communism, I see that they actually have no idea what communism is, and they often get it mixed up with capitalism.

I also fail to see what makes fascism any better, especially given what direction USA is heading into.
what's an example of people confusing capitalism with communism?

its a cancer or aids scenario. cancer just cuts you loses a bit (depending on the cancer of course)
--- Double Post Merged, , Original Post Date: ---

tbh, most of the time whenever people criticize communism, I see that they actually have no idea what communism is, and they often get it mixed up with capitalism.

I also fail to see what makes fascism any better, especially given what direction USA is heading into.
what's an example of people confusing capitalism with communism?

its a cancer or aids scenario. cancer just cuts you loses a bit (depending on the cancer of course)
 

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look up the right getting it mixed up.

tbh I don't know enough about communism to really talk about it, the only thing I care about is everyone being able to eat.
 

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kkck said:
Once you get to the point where you are for the government taking charge and planning of means of production the line gets pretty thin socialism and communism.
Well you won't find that much in the states. Modern socialists (that is to say, lefty white college kids) are majorly market socialists.

Market socialism is a type of economic system involving the public, cooperative, or social ownership of the means of production in the framework of a market economy, or one that contains a mix of worker-owned, nationalized, and privately owned enterprises.

They want a kind of mixed economy so that they can still get things like PS5's and all the other cool shit capitalism gets us without the soul crushing work life that comes with it.

And that line is by no means the difference between between success and catastrophic failure, they've all failed equally hard and they are all equally catastrophic. Societ union, venezuela, cuba, nowadays argentina with their peronism... Vaguely different formula, vaguely different misery...
*shrugs* I dunno what to tell you then, other than these aren't the kinds of socialist economies that current American socialists are pushing for because all of these had heavy government interference.

Going a bit further, can't say I've ever met a socialist that didn't have communism wet dreams.
Then I'm assuming you touch more grass than most of us do. Or you don't frequent twitter... or you've never heard of the Gravel Institute... or you don't watch twitch politics... or you don't know many white zoomer college kids. I know you're not from the states so it probably looks different wherever you're from, but you absolutely will not hear anyone but the most terminally online folks pushing for straight up communism here.
 

xi0

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Communism by default has heavy government interference, because they control everything. Citizens own nothing. In practice it has only ever been a means of revolution, and it has no realistic chance at being a successful mode of governance, especially not one that people CHOOSE.

The Socialism most sane people argue for involves a democratically elected government making decisions, but the public having a stake in what is produced. When people use Communism and Socialism interchangeably, it's like saying Fascism and Free Market Capitalism are the same thing.
 

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In these kinds of "ideology games", it all depends on which definition is used anyway.
It would make much more sense to concretely outline your vision for a system and then giving it a name than to just fight people over definitions.

Obviously, people calling themselves socialists in the US (usually) are fighting for a nordic model much rather than the UDSSR. The same really goes for Europe.

I have a personal definition of socialism and capitalism that i find very, very good (if i say so myself), even tho it is vague enough to have nothing to do with the actual definitions.

Capitalism: You want as little regulations as possible because you think that strong men should be able to accomplish everything within their limits, because that drives society forward.

Socialism: You reject the distinction between little and big men and instead push for a system that at least works towards fulfilling everybody's basic needs, which you outline very generously (not just food, also social needs, creative needs, so on).

In my experience, when talking to people, it makes much more sense to find out where they end up between those poles than fighting about definitions. Elseways you are in these "CHECK MATE, SOCIALIST! NORWAY HAS A FREE MARKET" kinds of discussions.
 

xi0

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There's already enough institutional distrust and the media has to go and pull this kind of shit as well... nice
--- Double Post Merged, , Original Post Date: ---

In these kinds of "ideology games", it all depends on which definition is used anyway.
It would make much more sense to concretely outline your vision for a system and then giving it a name than to just fight people over definitions.

Obviously, people calling themselves socialists in the US (usually) are fighting for a nordic model much rather than the UDSSR. The same really goes for Europe.

I have a personal definition of socialism and capitalism that i find very, very good (if i say so myself), even tho it is vague enough to have nothing to do with the actual definitions.

Capitalism: You want as little regulations as possible because you think that strong men should be able to accomplish everything within their limits, because that drives society forward.

Socialism: You reject the distinction between little and big men and instead push for a system that at least works towards fulfilling everybody's basic needs, which you outline very generously (not just food, also social needs, creative needs, so on).

In my experience, when talking to people, it makes much more sense to find out where they end up between those poles than fighting about definitions. Elseways you are in these "CHECK MATE, SOCIALIST! NORWAY HAS A FREE MARKET" kinds of discussions.
I mean, sure that seems logical. The issue is the people ACTUALLY critiquing socialism (and not just calling it communism) are usually only cherry-picking things they dislike and ignoring the things they'd be fine with, and it inevitably devolves into slippery slope arguments.
--- Double Post Merged, ---




Well, that doesn't really sound like how this whole thing should work, does it?
 

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Well you won't find that much in the states. Modern socialists (that is to say, lefty white college kids) are majorly market socialists.

Market socialism is a type of economic system involving the public, cooperative, or social ownership of the means of production in the framework of a market economy, or one that contains a mix of worker-owned, nationalized, and privately owned enterprises.

They want a kind of mixed economy so that they can still get things like PS5's and all the other cool shit capitalism gets us without the soul crushing work life that comes with it.


*shrugs* I dunno what to tell you then, other than these aren't the kinds of socialist economies that current American socialists are pushing for because all of these had heavy government interference.

Then I'm assuming you touch more grass than most of us do. Or you don't frequent twitter... or you've never heard of the Gravel Institute... or you don't watch twitch politics... or you don't know many white zoomer college kids. I know you're not from the states so it probably looks different wherever you're from, but you absolutely will not hear anyone but the most terminally online folks pushing for straight up communism here.
I mean, I know the definition. Nothing I've said is contrary is against that definition there. While short of communism, it's still pretty much what every failed socialist state (which is to say every socialist state) has attempted and failed catastrophically at. It's failed ideological mumbo jumbo which is basically incompatible with the real world. I've seen in my lifetime businesses that have been handed to workers. Basically using some three bit government excuses to give most company shares to said workers... They were tanked immediately. The workers ended up being regular corrupt morons who wanted to squeeze as much money out of the company. If there even was someone there trying to do things right, he was simply too dumb to manage the business. They had zero notion of them owning that shit and that taking money from it was basically stealing from themselves. I don't see anything wrong with cooperatives but their failure rates are ridiculous. Successful cases exists of course but for the most part they just aren't efficient. Nationalized industries are just endless pits of corruption. You can get a good sense of what this looks like by nationalized oil across central and south america. I wouldn't really support south or central american countries privatizing oil largely because the immediate result would be a substantial portion of the population setting the country both literally and figuratively on fire but the best thing that will happen to them is invariably that either oil runs out or technology makes oil worthless so that the endless pits of corruption that arise from this nationalized industry disappears. While that would also set the region on fire there's at least a chance of something decent coming out of the ashes. On a slightly different I would also argue that socialism is insane from the "take money out of politics" angle. That usually refers to donations and such but if merely donations can corrupt a government then imagine a system where the government has direct control over all the capital that socialism would require for it to be socialism. It's entirely unworkable. It makes donation based corruption basically into childsplay.

To me the primary issue with this socialist mumbo jumbo is it's "worker" approach. Which sounds romantic and all but it's just not good for business. I understand the appeal of the worker approach socialism has but economies are not in fact about workers. Economies aren't about who makes the shit (in that sense also businesses of course) but rather the folk who consume it. Economies are about consumers. And government policy should be aimed at preserving and improving consumer power. This of course also applies to modern US politics in the sense that government policy essentially takes wealth and power away from consumers and gives to businesses (and their shareholders). Capitalism as an economic system and therefore government policy should be about consumers. The alternatives are plain and simple corruption.
 

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look up the right getting it mixed up.

tbh I don't know enough about communism to really talk about it, the only thing I care about is everyone being able to eat.
The right is pretty consistent with what they mean by "socialism". It's a dog whistle for taxation, which they equate with theft. It's similar to what they mean by "welfare". Usually voters are referring to gov't programs like Medicaid and food stamps, but the higher up the income ladder you go it also stands for unions, voting, wages, Social Security, etc. Essentially anything that helps "poor" people instead of entrenching them in strict hierarchies.
 

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I mean, I know the definition. Nothing I've said is contrary is against that definition there. While short of communism, it's still pretty much what every failed socialist state (which is to say every socialist state) has attempted and failed catastrophically at. It's failed ideological mumbo jumbo which is basically incompatible with the real world. I've seen in my lifetime businesses that have been handed to workers. Basically using some three bit government excuses to give most company shares to said workers... They were tanked immediately. The workers ended up being regular corrupt morons who wanted to squeeze as much money out of the company. If there even was someone there trying to do things right, he was simply too dumb to manage the business. They had zero notion of them owning that shit and that taking money from it was basically stealing from themselves. I don't see anything wrong with cooperatives but their failure rates are ridiculous. Successful cases exists of course but for the most part they just aren't efficient. Nationalized industries are just endless pits of corruption. You can get a good sense of what this looks like by nationalized oil across central and south america. I wouldn't really support south or central american countries privatizing oil largely because the immediate result would be a substantial portion of the population setting the country both literally and figuratively on fire but the best thing that will happen to them is invariably that either oil runs out or technology makes oil worthless so that the endless pits of corruption that arise from this nationalized industry disappears. While that would also set the region on fire there's at least a chance of something decent coming out of the ashes. On a slightly different I would also argue that socialism is insane from the "take money out of politics" angle. That usually refers to donations and such but if merely donations can corrupt a government then imagine a system where the government has direct control over all the capital that socialism would require for it to be socialism. It's entirely unworkable. It makes donation based corruption basically into childsplay.

To me the primary issue with this socialist mumbo jumbo is it's "worker" approach. Which sounds romantic and all but it's just not good for business. I understand the appeal of the worker approach socialism has but economies are not in fact about workers. Economies aren't about who makes the shit (in that sense also businesses of course) but rather the folk who consume it. Economies are about consumers. And government policy should be aimed at preserving and improving consumer power. This of course also applies to modern US politics in the sense that government policy essentially takes wealth and power away from consumers and gives to businesses (and their shareholders). Capitalism as an economic system and therefore government policy should be about consumers. The alternatives are plain and simple corruption.
Something about this story smells fishy.
The right is pretty consistent with what they mean by "socialism". It's a dog whistle for taxation, which they equate with theft. It's similar to what they mean by "welfare". Usually voters are referring to gov't programs like Medicaid and food stamps, but the higher up the income ladder you go it also stands for unions, voting, wages, Social Security, etc. Essentially anything that helps "poor" people instead of entrenching them in strict hierarchies.
But also, anything they disagree with that doesn't fit any of those that you mentioned.
 
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