Before we begin, let me preface by saying that I am in favor of capitalism. Always been. Used to be 100% and want to push everything to the extreme, like a 100% market-driven capitalist economy, but now more towards the middle but still capitalism-leaning.
What prompts me to start this thread though is how misunderstood "socialism" is. I've heard a lot of people demonizing "socialism" as if it is some kind of monster, like Nazism (although, to be fair, there is a part of socialism in Nazism, since Nazi really means Nationalsozialistische, or National Socialist, which is the strange brainchild and take the worst elements of far-right and far-left). But the truth is, socialism covers a very wide range of ideas, for example:
Obviously it is impossible to know all of those, so if we simplify it to just the most famous ones, we can largely divide it based on level of political freedom and how much the economy is market-based:
I suppose very few people in the US would want to live in the authoritarian state, so we can put aside the bottom for now and just focus on the top right. Now, we can further discuss the pros and cons of it:
Again, let me be clear that I am not advocating to turn American into a socialistic country. But I find it hilarious that people would b!tch how much a threat socialism is in an echo chamber without even knowing what socialism really is about. They are just attacking their straw man idea of socialism and feel they are beating up a monster. If you think socialism is so harmful to the country, the way to get rid of it is not to b!tch about it, but rather, to understand what it is promoting that appeals to the masses (e.g., look at the "pros" in the table above), and see if you can address those issues under the current capitalist framework. Coz once those concerns are addressed, there is no more incentive for people to choose socialism.
I say the same thing with Trumpism too. One can b!tch about it, esp. in an echo chamber, and feel righteous. More productive is to understand why an arrogant, narcissistic, boastful person (basically the opposite of everything that Jesus preached for) won so many votes, esp. among Evangelical Christians. What is his appeal, and what is the issue that people thought he was addressing?
And ultimately, b!tching about an idea is not helpful. What we really want is to build the kind of society that we want. We probably want to take the best elements from various ideas, for example, capitalism is great at achieving efficiency and incentivizing people to work hard and create, while socialism can help reduce externalities, promote protection of the environment, and increase social cohesion. Try to see how we can achieve the best of both worlds. That will be a much healthier and productive dialogue than just beating up on a word. Just like "Muslim." Some people have a negative opinion of it and they don't even understand what the religion is about. I know that very well because I used to be one of those people.
What prompts me to start this thread though is how misunderstood "socialism" is. I've heard a lot of people demonizing "socialism" as if it is some kind of monster, like Nazism (although, to be fair, there is a part of socialism in Nazism, since Nazi really means Nationalsozialistische, or National Socialist, which is the strange brainchild and take the worst elements of far-right and far-left). But the truth is, socialism covers a very wide range of ideas, for example:
Obviously it is impossible to know all of those, so if we simplify it to just the most famous ones, we can largely divide it based on level of political freedom and how much the economy is market-based:
I suppose very few people in the US would want to live in the authoritarian state, so we can put aside the bottom for now and just focus on the top right. Now, we can further discuss the pros and cons of it:
Again, let me be clear that I am not advocating to turn American into a socialistic country. But I find it hilarious that people would b!tch how much a threat socialism is in an echo chamber without even knowing what socialism really is about. They are just attacking their straw man idea of socialism and feel they are beating up a monster. If you think socialism is so harmful to the country, the way to get rid of it is not to b!tch about it, but rather, to understand what it is promoting that appeals to the masses (e.g., look at the "pros" in the table above), and see if you can address those issues under the current capitalist framework. Coz once those concerns are addressed, there is no more incentive for people to choose socialism.
I say the same thing with Trumpism too. One can b!tch about it, esp. in an echo chamber, and feel righteous. More productive is to understand why an arrogant, narcissistic, boastful person (basically the opposite of everything that Jesus preached for) won so many votes, esp. among Evangelical Christians. What is his appeal, and what is the issue that people thought he was addressing?
And ultimately, b!tching about an idea is not helpful. What we really want is to build the kind of society that we want. We probably want to take the best elements from various ideas, for example, capitalism is great at achieving efficiency and incentivizing people to work hard and create, while socialism can help reduce externalities, promote protection of the environment, and increase social cohesion. Try to see how we can achieve the best of both worlds. That will be a much healthier and productive dialogue than just beating up on a word. Just like "Muslim." Some people have a negative opinion of it and they don't even understand what the religion is about. I know that very well because I used to be one of those people.
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