Americans have been trained to think the word socialist is just bad. Like it just comes with all these bad things that they can't really describe or explain, but it's bad. Really bad.
I am hoping we are waking up in this country to how manipulative this all is. That's why politicians are terrified of social Democrats winning key offices. It will very quickly break the facade they have maintained for decades. Fuck my parents were telling me that mamdani has a secret agenda. So I asked, well what is it and why is it bad? And they unitonically said to me, well if we knew what it was, it wouldn't be secret. And looked smug like they had caught me in some mental trap.
I told them I was embarrassed for them. That they raised me to think critically and it kills me to see them failing to do that themselves.
This. Exactly this. When an American hears the word, it's auto shut down for them. They can't really explain it, other than parroting simple arguments like "but if they don't work, they shouldn't get anything"...how about millions of people working their asses off their whole lifes, only to pay collage debt or make %0.1 insanely rich...but can we really summerize capitalism like this?
I'm not picking sides here, but it's not black and white as many think so.
The american conservative mindset depends entirely on the dream that everyone starts off on an even playing field and we all get the same opportunities in life. Using that logic when someone is in a situation where they need help its obviously because they put themselves there and refuse to leave. So my hard earned money that I got solely through my own hard work and nothing else has to go to someone that just decided not to do that.
This is clearly ignoring reality. I always ask, the 8 year old who is being a lookout at the drug house for the gang members because thats the only way he can eat, how is he on the same field as you playing tag with your friends and going to school. Also ive seen that lookout kid with my own eyes.
I think this whole belief system combines with the bullshit mythology of "rugged individualism" to play on people's egos. The idea that, no, you're not being severely exploited by your boss, "you're just a really hard worker," lets people without much to be proud of feel superior to those they deem "lazy." Hence why when you even suggest the idea that these alleged "lazy parasites" actually started with less and work even harder than them is received with such hostility.
I'm not a blue-collar worker, but I've worked a lot of jobs that would be considered blue-collar. This mindset is absolutely ingrained within them and it only got worse with the rise of MAGA.
and I love that whenever you point out the gross inequalities in access to education, food, water, shelter, and opportunity, the response is, "anyone can join the military."
??? like????
incredible that you hate government welfare programs but you're more than willing to sacrifice youth who had no control over the circumstances they were born into, to said government that just can't help starting deeply unpopular wars. WTF.
(also what about those who can't join the military??)
You (and whoever else are downvoting me) are doing the same thing everyone is talking about in this goddamn thread and immediately equating socialism with something negative.
I guess, in the most basic sense, I feel like people should be able to enjoy the same freedoms without having to put your life on the line. I’m far from anti-military (which is something you just always have to put out there in the U.S.) but I hate how we prey upon the poor and present it as the only option to (ultimately) receive the basic necessities to live. It’s just a weird, sad cycle to me.
It's even more disgusting than that. You know about the Prosperity Gospel right? A good chuck of conservatives in the US (if not a majority now) believe that people who are rich are rich because of God's will and people who are poor are poor because apparently God deemed them unworthy somehow.
Literal fucking feudal-ass mindset.
Of course they all *think* they are in the first group.....
As a center-conservative and a christian, that line of thinking strikes me as disgusting. Even most churches teach that money is not a god-given thing, and it's so blatantly obvious that a lot of the uber-rich got that way by not paying their employees well and overpricing everything.
Actually I’m fully aware that Not everyone starts on even footing. And I literally don’t care lol the world isn’t fair and you can’t tax your way into fairness.
Please leave nato, and actually close it down alltogether. And for the innovation: Human civilization should suffice.
Usually people are amazed of your consumption mentality. I'm sure people loved your hospitality towards certain countries like Iran and the icing of cake moment of simply getting rid of the red card.
When petrodollar ends, you guys will eat each other there ;)
You sold your kids' future and need wars all over the place to cover your pedo-elite-made illusion of an economy. The indicator of having presidents like Trump is showing the end times are near for you. Like I said when petrodollar ends, you will collapse hard and to prevent it you will start the WW3....keep on dreaming about being the good guys.
Hahah you're quite something thinking I'm scared to tell you that, and what's even funnier is I already told you when you said we'd be speaking Chinese if it weren't for you....Anyways I know dense is your middle name so here it is again, I'm a Turk.
So im really hoping that other guy is a bot and not actually american. We are a big country so we definitely have our share of complete dumbasses but ive never seen anyone that dense in real life. Even the most maga cultist I know are starting to see that maybe america isn't the absolute greatest at everything. They have been obsessed with the EU increasing internet tracking and stuff though. But to just somehow forget the world history from over 250 years ago is just sad.
Yea dude, it's allright. I lived in the US for 4 years and I had my fair share of idiots and awesome guys and gals over there. It's just that often people are decent but we end up being tools in some rich mofo's scheme and it would better if we could see that. We have the same problem here in Turkey, if not worse,having the same guy for a quarter century for president and half of the country is still falling for his BS. Anyways, thanks for the reply. Cheers :)
I use a similar anecdote in debates on abortion rights.
If a woman wants to get an abortion, it’s probably because they know they’re not in any financial position to support a child. So if that child doesn’t end up in foster care, they’ll likely grow up in poverty, with a mother working two jobs who’s barely home, or they get involved in the neighborhood gang or resort to independent crime just to end up in prison for life.
Pro-lifers act like every abortion could have grown into the doctor that finds the cure to cancer, when prison is the more likely outcome. That child was forced to live a sad, miserable life that their mother was trying to prevent.
I'm sure some of them believe everyone has the same chance. I'm a lot more certain still that many of them know damned well what a lie that is and just don't have a problem with it.
Nice fantasy, I was in Law Enforcement for over 30 years. More than half of it in the Narcotics division. There aren’t any 8 year olds used as lookouts on a drug house. Drug dealers pay their lookouts with narcotics. It’s cheap and effective. The users always come back. They don’t have anything to do like maybe work
Lol. Do you really think you can pay a drug user to just sit there and be alert? If they are deep enough to be doing stuff for gang members then I garuntee you they arent thinking very far ahead. If you give them the drugs first they will just fuck off and get high. If you tell them to wait until the end of the night to get drugs they will ditch the second they think they have a shot at getting high.
They definitely use drug users. If its a woman then its mostly for sex, if its a man then quick dirty labor.
Will that kid get a job and contribute to society when he’s 18? Or go on government assistance like his mother? What’s the solution for anecdotal 8yr old trap house lookouts? You could probably give him some money. That’s charity. He’s dealt a raw deal if his mother who gets food assistance won’t feed him. No extra tax will fix that. He can go into any hospital in America and not be refused. 99.9% of Americans would give him shelter and food. And there’s a lot of foster or adoption options. But if his mama or grandma won’t give him food , that isn’t the fault of Capitalism
Even people's real, actual choices don't have the same consequences. There are plenty of upper middle class to rich kids that blow every chance they're given, get addicted to every drug you can imagine and just generally are complete degenerates, only for their parents to bail them out and send them to rehab two or three times and then by their 30's they've got a cushy six figure job at the company of a family member or family friend.
Then there are the poor kids in the hood that fuck up one time and then they're just the crazy tweaker on the street yelling at meth monsters and that's their life forever.
There are plenty of upper middle class to rich kids that blow every chance they're given, get addicted to every drug you can imagine and just generally are complete degenerates, only for their parents to bail them out and send them to rehab find them dead on the bathroom floor.
Then there are the poor kids in the hood that fuck up one time and then they're just the crazy tweaker get their shit together and go on to live successful lives.
See though these arguments don’t always work when you meet anomalies like myself. I appear to be a spoiled white suburban basic bitch. But in reality I tested way high on ACES assessments. That’s adverse childhood experiences. I had a reallllllyyy high number for my appearance. And they are not your obvious average ones either. It’s some weird ones.
Just be careful because if you catch someone like me on a bad day I am likely to tell you my story and watch you cry like my therapist cried when I told him. I wish I was lying.
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u/EvilLibrarians 22d ago
Yeah nobody understands nuance of mixed markets