If I had been born in the nineteenth century I probably would have been a passionate communist. My God, the effrontery of the upper classes back then. There are still strong arguments to be made in favor of socialism, but it seems to me like capitalism is what provides the best quality of life. It’s the damnedest thing …
2 Likes
a healthy and vibrant society is one where the basic needs of the people are taken care of… 
irrespective of how wealthy or not… someone is… or the colour of their skin… or which god they believe in or not.
the mark of a society is how we care for the sick…the weak…the young…and the mentally ill. 
neither a marxist or a capitalist society or any other society on this earth are a good representation of a ’ caring ’ society.
there are organisations that care…but are they free of human greed ? 
…in any form…no.
fundamentally human beings are flawed…
genetically predisposed to be lesser beings.
the only way to improve society and therefore the earth…is education for all .
an educated human being…is better than an ignorant one.
but even then… humans 
are flawed because even with the overwhelming evidence of climate change !?! …humans act like children stubbornly not wanting to help the very earth you were born on…the very earth that sustains you…the very earth that gives you life !?! 
.
therefore no society would be better no matter what the construct.
for those playing in the sand pit are not worthy of saving.
take care 
7 Likes
Human being defy labeling - good or bad. We are a mass of contradictions.
1 Like
Wholesale idealist that I was most of my life, I’d have been in the tank somewhere for making unacceptable noises. Now, however, I have seen and heard too much to think any form of ideal ism is going anywhere for long. (Unless there’s a lot of money it. Which is probably why capitalism has lasted for about 7,000 years.)
2 Likes
Very well said, darksith.
2 Likes
Have you read The Communist Manifesto? I started reading it and wore out and didn’t finish it. It’s pretty heavy stuff and my sz didn’t help any. I’ll get it out of the library again - maybe when I get snowed in this winter.
3 Likes
I found a book called “The Basic Writings of Communism” and it had the communist manifesto in it. I think that book gives the best insight into the thinking of modern communists. Most of us now regard the experiment of communism as having failed, but there sure were some awful crimes committed in its name.
1 Like
How many times has egalitarian idealism (in religious, political or other social organizing forms) been expropriated by those who use it as bait for their own power-seeking agendas? Hint: We know it goes at least as far back as ancient Egypt about 3500 years ago.
1 Like
People need little excuse to commit atrocities. I was watching a program about Mao’s “great leap forward”, and it said that while the workers starved to death the communist cadre lived comfortably. People can be pretty rotten.
What would be kind of funny is a marxist closetist.
It’s a marxist who reorganizes closets for people.
1 Like
The cow example says it all…
As for communism…uh…a longterm tumor…take it from someone that still lives with its awful metastasis
6 Likes
■■■■-ing great.
I thought you liked Tito… (or maybe you said the locals liked Tito). I don’t think anybody in America (including me) knows what the ■■■■ went on in “Yugoslavia.” (Save for some tweedy college prof at Berkeley, Santa Cruz or Santa Barbara you’d probably get on with.)
The American corporation makes me weep.
3 Likes
After the crisis in 2008 I’ve been kind of interested in Democratic Socialism, but I guess there are a lot of places where that has failed too. In 1978 the German economy was the envy of the world, and it was a social democracy. That system was in use all over Europe. In the next election almost every country in Europe repudiated social democracy. I think Denmark and the Netherlands kept it. One program on TV said that the people of Denmark were the happiest in the world. I think any system can be corrupted. The system of checks and balances is our only hope. I liked your graph. It was awesome.
God save us from the saviours of humanity.
A very foggy notion in my own head until I read Krishnamurti. Boy, did that little guy clarify why.
The dominant theory says it all happened because of national separatism movements, starting with the project of Republica Serbia.
Some claim that the real background is that the whole system was economically unsustainable.
As for conspiracy theories… Many still profit from that.
As for the mentality… Many never really transitioned to the idea of free market ( the generation of libertarians here are all postwar…)
I was kidding about Tito.
1 Like
Makes sense. Do you see the (politically manipulated?) diversity of authoritarian, we-are-right-and-are-SO-wrong religiosity in there, as well?
Because areas like coastal Croatia were so relatively well off and other areas (I don’t presume to really know which) weren’t?
Cheese, it’s the Balkans, fer crissake.
By “postwar,” which war are you talking about? The one in the '40s or the one in the '90s? (I’m guessing the latter, but…)
I get it now.
1 Like
communism is a very different thing for those who see it form a far and read about to those of us that have and do live with it and is effects, i love to be able to take you or who ever wants to come on a tour of some the areas here. some days i wake up and so ashamed to be a Russian and my countries past and the HUGE! effect we have on all the countys around us! Rants blindly in Russian Have a friend that claims to be a Marxist but would never give up all the plus of living in the USA, so yea i have a some anger at the claims
Dare you to be a female lesbian sza teenager in Russia trys to get on the point and fails
Yes i put my oblast’s flag up coz i can and why not
5 Likes
Are you on the ground in the RF? Do many (most?) of the millennials there share your point of view? VERY curious.
1 Like