So, it's pretty easy to go on endlessly about the evils of feminism. And it's pretty easy to describe feminism as a special case of Marxism. And it's pretty easy to describe Marxism as a special case of socialism.

But what exactly is socialism? What causes it? And why does it always go wrong, screw everything up, and hurt people? After all, if we can explain how feminism causes all sorts of bad shit, but can't explain what causes feminism, then we really haven't explained anything, have we?

So, for the purposes of understanding, we will sort human interactions, and, in a larger sense, relationships, into four basic categories:

  • Forcible: One human being uses force or fear to coerce another into providing X. There is no reciprocal benefit.

  • Feudal: One human being subordinates himself to another in exchange for X. His subordinate status allows the other to obtain Y from him.

  • Transactional: Two human beings arrange an exchange of X for Y.

  • Communal: One human being does X, without arranging any sort of repayment. The other human being does Y, without arranging repayment.

Obviously, these interactions exist on a continual scale. A relationship with an employer is partially feudal and partially transactional (to varying degrees). Splitting a restaurant cheque with friends is partially transactional and partially communal (to varying degrees).

So, if we regard this as a continuum, what determines where an interaction falls? Clearly, expectations do, but that's not an answer, because what determines those expectations?

The answer is that the direction of this continuum is the direction of trust.

Near the bottom of the scale, resource transfers are very inefficient (violence is hard work), but the system requires very little trust. Near the top, resources are very easily distributed, but great trust is required.

But why is trust required? Because the higher you go on this scale, the more vulnerable the system is to bad actors. On the bottom, safeguards are built-in (you are not vulnerable to betrayal by the guy you are beating in order to steal his wallet), but there is a great waste of effort. At the top, there is no wasted energy on violence, systems of currency, or encryption schemes, but one bad actor can destroy the whole system.

Trust is determined by our assessment of the likelihood of a bad actor, and of the damage a bad actor could do. We will happily buy a backpack over the internet, sight unseen, but not a house.

This, in turn, means that the nature of an interaction is determined by the balance of trust and efficiency.

So what is socialism, and where does it come from?

Socialism is an attempt to force a move up the trust scale. It uses a forcible interaction to make others' actions more communal.

  • "You must buy into the collective retirement plan, rather doing your investing."
  • "You must buy into the school-funding pool, rather than teaching your children yourself, or choosing someone to do it for you, and paying them."
  • "You must pay tax dollar into women's programs, rather than choosing a wife, and supporting only her."

So now can we answer the question, "Where does socialism come from?" ? Yes, we can.

Socialism comes from the misconception that communalism can be established merely by having the political will to do so.

The wealth of societies is, by large, a matter of how much internal trust they have. Societies who have a high degree of internal trust, and very few bad actors, can cooperate very efficiently. They are strong, productive societies. They are pleasant to live in. They take care of their own. They look like what socialists think they are working towards.

But where socialists go wrong is in thinking that having trust is a matter of just making people act trusting, by force if necessary. They are wrong. Trust is built by eliminating bad actors.

Socialism assumes that no member of society will be a bad actor, so all we need to do is trust each other and work together, and no one will ever game the system.

Feminism assumes that no woman will be a bad actor, so all we need to do is give women freedom and resources without any oversight. We must, for example, believe all rape allegations made by women, because no woman is a bad actor. Due process is inefficent... all we need is more trust.

The Red Pill, then, is a dose of cynicism. The first painful truth we realize upon awakening is that bad actors are all around us. We must learn to spot them. We must learn to protect against them by limiting trust. Often this means moving our interactions down the trust scale, making our relationships more transactional and less communal.

This is the basis of /u/HumanSockPuppet 's Bitch Management Hierarchy. A bitch moves up the hierarchy by amassing evidence of trustworthiness, and is permanently demoted if she demonstrates the capacity for betrayal.

What's the moral, here?

  • Trust cannot be gained by demanding it at the point of a gun.
  • Trust cannot be gained by demanding it at the point of a idealistic moral argument.
  • Trust cannot even be earned, because what can be earned can be owed.
  • Trust must inspired.

Communal relationships are the most desirable. They are a society's greatest asset, and the real measure of a person's wealth. But they cannot be gotten just by deciding to have them. They must be slowly and painstakingly built, both by people and by society, and no amount of idealism will speed this process.

In other words, a functioning communist society is the most desirable end state. But when the size of your society exceeds Dunbar's Number, trust must be created through social mores, shared cultural values, and weeding out bad actors, a process taking many generations. Trying to jumpstart this process with ideologies or government force actually results in less efficiency than ever, as more and more effort is consumed in the creation and maintenance of the coercive mechanisms that force people to act as if they trusted each other when they do not.

On a personal level, you must behave very differently with different groups if you wish to prosper. You need a communal group. But you must be very careful who you let into it, the admission process must be gradual, and demotions down the trust scale should usually be permanent.