Clarification on Communism/Socialism

pine_tree_flag · 2020-06-27T07:08:48+00:00

communists and socialists are the kind of people who are unconfident in their ability to defend themselves and their property, so they feel the need to abolish the concept of the individual and the concept of property.

most of the people i know irl who support these kinds of economic systems tend to be physically, mentally, and emotionally weak.

PCM97 · 2020-06-27T10:46:52+00:00

Sub mediocre people who have grown to hate individual prosperity with no purpose tend to lean communist/socialist because they want to bring everyone else down with them

Blue-Raft · 2020-06-27T07:18:50+00:00

Typically whiny people that can’t handle life stressors very well

Plazmatron44 · 2020-07-01T15:53:40+00:00

People that lean to socialism and communism these days tend to be sheltered middle class students or old fart still stuck in the seventies, Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party was the epitome of this. They lost the last general election by a landslide because they were so out of touch with their own voter base, the working class, turns out calling the majority of people you are looking to get a vote from xenophobic racist gammon doesn't endear them to you.

W_O_M_B_A_T · 2020-06-27T23:12:16+00:00

There a huge amount of disagreement on what the definition of either of those things is.

Most people who use the terms aren't using them in a well defined and we'll agreed upon way. They tend to use them as pejorative terms and not as an explanation. So it tends to be just a straw-man for whatever political philosophy they feel they don't agree with.

EDIT: Notice you'll see a lot of people equating this with laziness, weakness or bitterness in the responses to the post, basically using it like a shit test.

I wouldn't take such terms too seriously when people use them. Treat like a shit test.

Communism generally refers to the sociopolitical philosophy and ideologies of Karl Marx.

Various countries have tried to implement some, but never most of his philosophies, with generally failed results. None have really succeeded in making his philosophy into a reality on the whole, or even attempted it. For economic reasons that are complex it was never economically feasible. Demand just tends to shift to black-market organizations.

But again, most people who use the term aren't making a specific reference to any of Marx's philosophy.

Socialism has more of a generalized definition. It's the philosophy that some industries and services should be nationalized and/or controlled by government authorities, rather than private businesses and corporations. It refers to government control over the means of production of some goods and services.

Almost all governments do this for some services such as military, licensing, elections, currency, primary education, law enforcement, and regulating wild lands. Most also mandate government, public control over certain basic utilities. Many also nationalize services such as medicine, retirement pensions, and certain kinds of insurance, either exclusively or alongside private businesses.

These are usually services which are considered essential for society and a country's economic stability but there's either no profit incentive, or else there are strong perverse incentives for a private corporation to act in bad faith. So the government has no choice but to step in.

Again Most people who use the term "socialist" fail to acknowledge the fact that nearly all governments apply this philosophy to some services in a pragmatic way.

Snoo31234 · 2020-06-27T17:50:04+00:00

People who care about the politics of a country are generally losers.

Pacoisalive · 2020-06-27T08:34:09+00:00

I would not consider myself a socialist. And most definitely not a communist. But, as a person of Europe, I often look at Scandinavian countries like Sweden who have adopted socialist like approaches to their economy. I believe they pay around 60% tax. (Dont quote me on this, I met a guy from Sweden in the flix bus once). He said it sounded more horrible than it is. Since he says the benefits the country provide them make up for it and create a very cheap cost of living. His education was free for example while I'm here with a 50k student debt. He did not sound negative, but one citizen might not give a accurate perspective on the matter either. However, I dont think socialism has truly ever manifested itself in the form it was intended. An often used argument is that nobody can be trusted with such high amount of power and will therefore lead to communism. I tend to agree, although I also feel that democracy in your average western country leads to corruption as well.

I do not dismiss socialism, so maybe you would consider me weak minded ;)

I think the true problem is that those who critic present day democracy tend to lean towards socialism because it is an already thought out concept of society. Reimagining a society from scratch is reserved for the economic philosophers who are often not the governing the society itself and therefore are left to subject their concept to somebody's interpretation of it. As I believe happened to Karl Marx to an extend.

Socialism, when read, seems as a way to ensure the lower class of a certain level of safety, which makes it attracted. So I ask you, do you reject the concept of socialism because of its ideals of because it has not effectively realized?

RedWolf4711 · 2020-06-27T16:25:34+00:00

[deleted]

Title	Clarification on Communism/Socialism
Author	RedWolf4711
Upvotes	2
Comments	13
Date	June 27, 2020 6:34 AM UTC (6 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/hgokpa/clarification_on_communismsocialism/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/clarification-on-communismsocialism.699636 https://theredarchive.com/post/699636

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