This town, in fact, has more than enough room for the two of us

  • 0 Posts
  • 184 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: November 8th, 2023

help-circle



  • Isn’t it funny how when you add context, “maybe Canada is taking in too many immigrants at once” turns into “yea, I’m probably better described as an ecofascist even if I don’t like the way that sounds, and I am intolerant and believe in overpopulation?”

    All I’m saying is that my suspicion was a lot closer to being correct. Ecofascism is far closer to Nazism than mere “immigration too quick” ploys, and it makes sense to call you a fascist in that context.

    Maybe reconsider your positions if they even put you in the vicinity of fascism? Just a hint.







  • Cowbee@lemm.eetoMemes@lemmy.mlIt's a simple world view
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    11 months ago

    I’m pretty sure they just operate on reflex. I say I think democratization of production is a good thing, they say that I’m suddenly a hardcore USSR Stan and want to Purge everyone who disagrees with a Supreme leader. I truly don’t think someone thinking coherently and logically can make these leaps, they must be purely operating on anti-socialist reflex.

    They wouldn’t even answer straight when I asked which is better, a factory that is democratically controlled, or a factory that is owned solely by a Capitalist, then said I’m as dangerous as a fascist.



  • I certainly believe it! Colonization and Imperialism in particular have an absolutely brutal history. Japanese soldiers occupying China and Korea used to catch babies on bayonets, and had quotas for how many ears they cut off. Dutch occupiers of the Congo would cut off the hands of underperforming workers, including children, and give the hands to their parents.

    The thing is, generally, humans are guided and shaped by material conditions, and material conditions improve with democratization and industrialization.


  • Yes, I agree with that crux, never disagreed with it. I still think it was functionally democratic, it’s not like the top controlled every aspect of society. Often times the elections with the most impact on your personal lives are the local elections, and that’s where Workers did in fact have control.

    Again, though, I’ve never argued for repeating the USSR. I just think that we can learn from what worked and what didn’t to create a better system of leftist organization, and the fact that so much went right and so much went wrong is exceptionally useful data. We know what not to replicate democratically, and we know that guaranteeing Healthcare and education, and investing heavily in building residential plots and urbanization at the public level, does tremendous work in reducing poverty and homelessness.

    At the end of the day, I’m NOT an ML, nor am I a USSR Stan. I’m a leftist, and more importantly I’m anti-tendency, and think each country will have a different path to worker liberation. As such, we should learn as much as possible from previous Socialist attempts and structures to create a better future.

    Do you disagree with that notion?


  • Yep, I have found that just accepting one person’s words alone, especially in a field as politically charged as economics, is a terrible way to gain knowledge and understanding, just more misunderstanding. Pinker does a great job of being technically correct, but like the other commenters have pointed out, he is very careful of showing only some numbers and ignoring others, in order to massage a narrative that the status quo is flawed but ultimately not to be challenged.


  • Cowbee@lemm.eetoMemes@lemmy.mlOfficial history of the world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    15
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    11 months ago

    There’s little that’s legitimately out of your control. Of course, I don’t mean 1 person can topple Capitalism or anything, but 1 person can set up a union, join a protest, or set up a co-operative farm, educate others, or make meaningful grassroots change.

    1 person can make a big difference in the lives of the people around them.


  • Economic systems absolutely affect development, but again, you’re comparing a country that was a backwater nation completely undeveloped come the start of the 20th century with a country that has always been at or near the top of the list of industrialized nations. The starting points aren’t even in the slightest.

    Secondly, the banning of alternative political parties was indeed antidemocratic, but the party didn’t select who you could vote for. Factions were banned by Lenin, supposed to be temporary, but this continued until 1989.

    Historical accounts actually disagree with you saying candidates were preselected. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_democracy Pat Sloan in particular mentions that anyone could be elected, at the local level. Perhaps what you’re referring to is that those above the local Soviets were made up of those elected at local Soviets, and thus people couldn’t directly run for higher Soviets? Either way, definitely flawed, but not the same as what you’re saying.

    Democracy is a sliding scale, I would say the Soviet Democratic model was still democratic, but less than many other countries. The US is technically more democratic, but many absolute positions cannot be voted on, such as the Supreme Court. There isn’t a currently existing country with fantastic democracy, unfortunately.