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@ScumbagDog I would imagine people who are pro-socialism might not. Would that describe you?
@freemo
I'm a social liberal, but it's beside the point.
Broad generalisations cannot replace actual criticism. It is no better than when your local vegan feminist collective blames capitalism for shutting off their power after they refused to pay their bills because of the patriarchy
@ScumbagDog Thats why its a joke and not intended as serious commentary. The similarity is close enough to be worth a laugh for most. Thats its only purpose.
@freemo
That's fair. Maybe it's just not my type of humor.
@ScumbagDog Could be. I wouldnt think too hard about it personally.
@aerith Memes hating on facebook is half the reason the fediverse exists :)
@aerith I am an only child.. or the sorrow of being an only-child sisterfucker... I shall never be happy ever again.
@freemo My stepfather, he is a communist, and he believesโI'm probably oversimplifying thisโthat workers should be paid a fair share at their jobs and that they should be treated with respect.
He believes there is an owning class and a working class. The owning class makes money from what the working class does and seeks to oppress the working class unfairly so they do not get the full benefit from their work.
The owning class could not get the benefit of what the working class does without the working class.
Workers at McDonald's run the McDonald's but are only paid a small amount from the money that is made. They are treated as expendable and are fired at a moment's notice when it is convenient, regardless of whether it is deserved. This is immoral.
From the small amount I know of communism, it seeks to stop injustices from happening in the workplace by giving workers more say in how the business they work at is run. It stops corporate greedโwhich is destroying the world and creating unhappiness.
The picture doesn't reflect what I know of #communism or #socialism.
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@bespectacled239 The big difference here is between what socialism intends to do and what it actually accomplishes. What you described I'd say, while incomplete, is fairly accurate for what communists claim their goals and outlook to be.
On the other hand this meme isnt about what communists/socialists intend, but rather what they get when they try to apply their principles, which doesnt resemble much what they intend.
@freemo I don't really have anything else to say.
It's interesting to me how opinions on communism range from "Communism seems sensible and I have experienced the problems it seeks to fix" to "Communism doesn't work. You all just want free stuff."
In most arguments, neither of the people arguing are entirely wrong. I find that interesting. There's usually a middle ground that's more accurate. โบ๏ธ
I'm off to bed. It's 12 AM.
@bespectacled239
To me the issue isnt about what either side speculates. Communism has been tried countless times and each time everyone starves to death and demands an end to it.
We can argue what principles sound good all day but in the end i think the examples stand as their own proof
@freemo
No, that person has a poor understanding of socialism. In true socialism you: (a) don't get things for free, you work for them. Ah, you are unexploited in your work, that's different; (b) there are no rich as opposed to poor; (c) you have privacy but not at the cost of others' basic needs; (d) you are encouraged to express well-reasoned opinions, since they can only contribute to everyone's benefit.
...
I would appreciate if you make my mini-list known. I will also do that. Good luck!
@cosas
I disagree, that is what pro communist/socialists think it will cause, but in reality that does not describe it at all.
@freemo
What reality? The fake socialist regimes of history did not carry genuine socialism. Who else tried to really implement a system where EVERY person is not only given all chances to contribute, but is also properly rewarded for her/his efforts? Properly rewarded, not paid with junk, while the bosses profit/steal.
On what grounds are the rich rich? Can you truly enjoy your comforts knowing that the majority of humans lack the basic necessities? They aren't all lazy, right?...
@cosas
Ahh the good old "no true scotsman" fallacy. You will never have true communism how you idealize it to be because it simply can not exist. All you will ever get is the horrible human rights disaster we get everytime a nation attempts communism.
The rich are rich because they created their wealth through expiernce, knowledge, and hard work. There is a reason the majority of billionaires in the world started as middle class and lower and are self made. As for everyone else, no mot everyone is lazy, some make bad decisions, some dont even want to be rich, there are many reasons.
@freemo
At least we remain in civil terms. I've had worse experiences :)
I could also say you rush to conclusions based on failed social experiments with so-called socialism.
Maybe I prefer idealism to a "reality" that ignores so much suffering in the world, very little of which is due to bad decisions or "not wanting" to be rich. Maybe many of the poor just want a minimalist decent life and they are not allowed even that because others are too greedy.
I realize I cannot convince you, oh well..
@cosas
You have been nothing but respectful, i would have no reason to be uncivil just because we disagree on something.
Its not so much that its idealism, its more about it fundamental not working because it is naive to how money and wealth works as well as human nature. Usually i find communists fail to understand that wealth is not some fixed quantity of money where someone being rich and having alot means others have less. In reality wealth is constantly being generated and destroyed and much of the wealth rich people have is wealth they created in the first place. Eliminate the rich and you eliminate wealth for the whole of society. This why every time you attempt communism the result is the same, an extremely poor nation with everyone starving to death and very little progress.
@freemo
The planet resources are limited, therefore some having more (even if they truly deserved, which is highly unlikely) means others have less.
Let's not forget that the majority of the rich come from affluent backgrounds which in their turn based their accumulation on human exploitation.
If wealth is that easily generated, why don't the highest rich eradicate world poverty??
Fake socialist regimes did not eliminate the rich; the new leaders became rich themselves...
@cosas
Everything about this post is factually incorrect.
For starters wealth is not equivelant to planetary resources nor is the quantity of all resources fixed. For example if i buy a farm and breed cows im increasing the number of cows and therefore creating wealth/resources that didnt exist before. Further i might be a seller of farm tech and invented and sold some technology that enables a person to support more cows on less land. Wealth creation is not and has never been directly dictated by the quantity of resources as if it were a fixed value
Second the idea that most of the rich come from affluent backgrounds is factually false. The majority of the rich, in fact, come from poor and middle class homes, ive cited several sources on my page proving this in the past.
The reason the rich dont destroy world poverty is several reasons, one is that wealth can be destroyed just as it can be created. So if they truly dumped all their monry into the poor, since these people are for the most part people with bad monry habits, it would destroy most of the worlds wealth and put us all in poverty. Second, there wouldnt be even close to enough money to solve the problem long term anyway, at best it would fix the problem for a short time. The only way to fix the problem is to get the poor to have good money habits so thry become wealth generators rather than wealth destroyers, this is a complex problem to fix.
@freemo
You claim to create things out of nothing then? How logical is that? The cows need space and food. These are resources that you take away from other uses.
Having parents as directors, businesspersons, or prominent lawyers hardly counts as "middle class" or "poor".
So the fault lies with the poor having "bad money habits", not with them lacking the following proper: environment, housing, education, medication etc. Billions of "bad money habits"?! I find that insulting.
@cosas
I already explained how inventions that increase effiency essentially create out of "nothing" by creating more with less. That said yes there are also plenty of creations out of nothing, stories for example, yoga instructors, math equations, etc
@freemo
There is a law of conservation of energy and this universe is subject to it.
Stories, sports, equations--all these require investments of time, energy, research... standing on the shoulders of giants...
Creating a product or service means mobilizing all sorts of resources in that final product/service. One such resource is human labor. In capitalism, if that labor is correctly rewarded it is up the boss. Therefore, in capitalism, personal achievement is very much a matter of luck.
@cosas
Not really, human labour has some level of skill and availability to it. Some labour is low skill and has little value, other labour is high skill and can make you a millionaire in no time. Skill pays, yes you can get rich with luck, but its hardly the only route in capitalism
@freemo
The skill of that labor is also largely dependent on social, cultural, historical, economical etc. contexts!
When a person is born, he/she has no say in those contexts.
I wouldn't want a world where people are either left to die, or live in insufficient material conditions, just because some person of influence (who, by the way, has wealth that can feed entire countries) decides the former have low skill, therefore "low" value. Who would accept such a world? The answer is clear.
@cosas
Yup, thats true. You can be born i to poverty and have a shit deal in life. Nice thing about capitalism is it doesnt exclude social welfare and aid. So no reason you cant bave a capitalism that doesnt provide assistance to educate or train the poor. Europe is a prime example of that, virtually all countries in europe are some variation on capitalism and many of them provide free college or assistance to get people who cant afford it into college.
@freemo
Capitalism doesn't exclude social welfare and aid--that happens not due to inherent merits of capitalism! If it were completely up to the rich, the poor would only get as much as they "deserve" to be able to survive in order to bring profits to the former! All welfare and aids and improvements in work conditions happened because the oppressed organized themselves against the oppressors, not because of so-called kindness from the latter.
@cosas
Beleive it or not unlike communists who demand purity or else it cant "work" capitalists generally dont have that mentality. I, like most capitalists, are aware that idealistically pure governments dont abd cant exist. There is no pure capitalism, never had been, just as there is no pire communism and never has been and never will be.
What you do have are countries, like most of europe and america, that adopt capitalism but know that their governemnt is and should be far more nuanced and for a healthy government you have components in addition to a free market. Most understand capitalism is absolutely a requirement for a healthy government, but that isnt where things end its only where it begins. Having good welfare and social programs are part of a good capitalistic government as well.
@cosas
Also to be clear "if it were completely up to the rich"... That statement has nothing to do with capitalism. Capitalism by definition is free markets, a free market is one where all parties, regardless of wealth, have equal opportunities in the market.
@freemo@qoto.org @cosas@mastodon.lol
The US does suck right now though.
Common people aren't treated well. Profit is put before people's well-beings. Rich people are building rocket ships. The planet is dying because corporations won't stop burning fossil fuels. People are stuck in low-wage jobs that don't support them, and it takes up all of their time and energy.
That's all I've got to say. โบ๏ธ
There are plenty of problems with all governments around the world and the usa is no exception to that. But thankfully it is at least far better than the state of affairs in most communistic countries past and present. But yes plenty worth addressing.
@freemo
We probably use different definitions of "capitalism" at this point. Mine has its roots in the animal world, where an individual's instinct and egotism attempt to prevail over the needs of others. And if we watch human history, we see that in action, the same vicious cycle of oppressors and oppressed, hunters and hunted...
The question is--are we in agreement that this inequality has to end, that we need a new type of economic and social relations?
If yes, then we can tackle free market
@freemo
We can tackle the free market as a concept, for its pros and cons, I mean.
@cosas
I use the accepted definition of capitalism, the one youll find in the dictionary. If you made up some other personal definition of capitalism then yes, no wonder you disagree.
@cosas
As for where the fault lies, no its a combination of many things, poor money habits are a huge part, but that is passed down and is closely connected with education.
I am a very vocal supporter of free education for effectively this reason and others.
@freemo
I don't see it