• b3nsn0w@pricefield.org
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    1 year ago

    no, i’m trying to create an equivalence between fascism and socialism, or whatever you call that transitional dictatorship that’s hopefully benevolent. because that’s the notion by which fascism works too, it just doesn’t make an impossible promise about a system it will transform into.

    your hilarious “if you are not with me you are my enemy (and also a nazi)” bullshit probably works on someone who also drunk the kool-aid on “this system will totally lead us to communism, we know that was a lie the previous 40 times but we totally fixed it now, trust me bro”, but the errors in it and the sweaty attacks on character to mask them should be obvious to anyone not already indoctrinated into your particular idea of a “good” dictator.

      • b3nsn0w@pricefield.org
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        1 year ago

        not everyone is on an instance ran by tankies though, like you are. so yeah, that’s probably a good idea. just know your audience.

    • archomrade [he/him]@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      I’m lightly amused by the interpretation that socialism necessarily means dictatorship, as if other democratic forms of government are somehow incompatible with socialist economic structures and policies.

      • b3nsn0w@pricefield.org
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        1 year ago

        well, i can actually support democratic socialist governments, and i actually have voted for a party trying to build that out on every single occasion so far while i had a vote. i’m also all for integrating socialist principles into a capitalist society – i do actually believe capitalism is a great tool for the luxuries in life, but the necessities must be provided to all for it to actually work. like supply and demand both need to be variable for it to work, if everyone needs a home you can’t have the market “just figure it out” on the pricing of hosing, it’s going to result in rampant exploitation, but a market for upgraded housing compared to a baseline would very much work.

        mostly i was just directly responding to the notion communicated to me in this conversation, which is that the path to communism is a state that takes power away from people for their own good, builds a society for them, and then gives back that power, or at the very least allows the people to take back that power with force. that promise is bogus and has been the previous 40 times a nation has been sold on it. as someone who has to live in the aftermath of one of those attempts, i’m not going to not blame it for its lies and its oppression. especially when the system it’s trying to reach, as described in this very thread, has been technologically impossible to reach on the scale of even just hungary, let alone the whole soviet bloc

        • archomrade [he/him]@midwest.social
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          1 year ago

          well, i can actually support democratic socialist governments, and i actually have voted for a party trying to build that out on every single occasion so far while i had a vote.

          Congratulations on your contribution to the communist cause!

          • b3nsn0w@pricefield.org
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            1 year ago

            assuming you’re being honest here, you’re welcome. but if that is indeed the passive-aggressive mockery it sounds like then that might explain why people can’t take you seriously outside of echo chambers.

              • b3nsn0w@pricefield.org
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                1 year ago

                i don’t see anything contradictory in there, i’m just not an extremist. not a centrist either, but the world doesn’t just consist of commies and fascists and people who haven’t picked a side yet. in fact, those aren’t even the two ends of the spectrum, and it’s actually rather insulting to most people to suggest so.

                fascists can burn in hell as far as i’m concerned, but so can most of the authleft part of the spectrum. in general, it’s authies i’m the most opposed to. the economic right is stupid but a failing libright system tends to suck less than a failing authleft one. although neither suck as much as a failing authright one, that one i do agree with

                (and imo even the two-axis political compass is super reductive but at least it gets the point across that i stand with neither fascists not communists)

                • archomrade [he/him]@midwest.social
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                  1 year ago

                  i’m trying to create an equivalence between fascism and socialism, or whatever you call that transitional dictatorship that’s hopefully benevolent

                  i can actually support democratic socialist governments, and i actually have voted for a party trying to build that out on every single occasion so far while i had a vote

                  “Socialism is a transitional dictatorship” -> “I oppose dictatorships” -> “I vote for socialist politics”

                  i don’t see anything contradictory in there

                  If you’re relying on political compass memes to understand politics, then that might explain your misunderstanding.

                  • b3nsn0w@pricefield.org
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                    1 year ago

                    i have no problem with socialist economic policies but i do have a problem with using authoritarianism and the facade of a “benevolent dictatorship” to achieve them.

                    the misunderstanding stems from the constant twisting of terms. like is communism what happened in the soviet bloc, or is it an as yet unachieved (and still probably technologically unachievable) dreamland that has never been tried? is socialism what the soviets had? or is that just a specific set of economic policies that the soviets did in fact have but completely divorced from its oppressive system? what did the soviets and its colonized countries actually have?

                    there is a certain system that the soviets have tried and it failed miserably. i would never support that system after seeing what it does to a country. but the way it comes off to me through this discussion is that socialism both is and isn’t that system, until observed, where the waveform collapses to whatever is more beneficial for the socialist’s argument here.

                    and yeah, i do think the political compass is also extremely reductive, but at some point we gotta figure out how to communicate whatever the hell we’re talking about.