4 ms·

sigh do we really need to have this discussion and dou you actually think communism would ever work? The problem is that pesky human nature gets in the way.

mentando 11y ago
Yeah, in theory it is awesome, but it just does not work in real life...
- mruniverse 11y ago
  I think even in theory it's not awesome. What is awesome is a system where everyone benefits when everyone is self-interested.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    It's not awesome, it's poison. Cooperation > competition, and artificially forcing everything to be expressed in terms of the latter is cancerous to society. Ignoring conscience and empathy is wasting the in-born qualities that allow us to be more efficient in groups.
fucking_tragedy 11y ago
The same problems that plague capitalism plague communist implementations. In power structures, things are great if you're part of the class that receives political favors and not so great if you're not. In capitalist societies, capital owning classes have the time and resources to be the political class. In previous communist societies, party and administrative members were the political class.
- pink_dinner 11y ago
  "In capitalist societies, capital owning classes have the time and resources to be the political class. In previous communist societies, party and administrative members were the political class" This sounds like theory. In practice, capitalism beats communism in pretty much every way. Of course there are people that own capital. Private ownership is one of the main tenets of capitalism. Capitalism works because it is on the correct side of human nature. It pushes people to earn more capital, which in turn, helps the rest of us. Do you think our technology would have advanced this far if we didn't have capitalism? The only reason computers, phones, the Internet are getting better and better is because of competition. The more competition in a market, the cheaper the price is to us, the consumer. Communism, on the other hand, makes everyone a slave to the state. Why would you want to compete and earn more when it will just be taken away from you by the government? There were many experiments in the 1970s with communism. People created their own small communities and shared everything. Everyone was equal. The end result was always a disaster: jealousy always fueled the collapse of the group. Would you want the person in school that never studied for his tests and partied every day to earn the same amount as you, who studied for every test and did well? I sure wouldn't. Communism, in any form, is a failure. I don't know how much death, poverty, and famine we need to go through for some people to learn this.

mentando 11y ago

Yeah, in theory it is awesome, but it just does not work in real life...

mruniverse 11y ago
I think even in theory it's not awesome. What is awesome is a system where everyone benefits when everyone is self-interested.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  It's not awesome, it's poison. Cooperation > competition, and artificially forcing everything to be expressed in terms of the latter is cancerous to society. Ignoring conscience and empathy is wasting the in-born qualities that allow us to be more efficient in groups.

fucking_tragedy 11y ago

The same problems that plague capitalism plague communist implementations. In power structures, things are great if you're part of the class that receives political favors and not so great if you're not. In capitalist societies, capital owning classes have the time and resources to be the political class. In previous communist societies, party and administrative members were the political class.

pink_dinner 11y ago
"In capitalist societies, capital owning classes have the time and resources to be the political class. In previous communist societies, party and administrative members were the political class" This sounds like theory. In practice, capitalism beats communism in pretty much every way. Of course there are people that own capital. Private ownership is one of the main tenets of capitalism. Capitalism works because it is on the correct side of human nature. It pushes people to earn more capital, which in turn, helps the rest of us. Do you think our technology would have advanced this far if we didn't have capitalism? The only reason computers, phones, the Internet are getting better and better is because of competition. The more competition in a market, the cheaper the price is to us, the consumer. Communism, on the other hand, makes everyone a slave to the state. Why would you want to compete and earn more when it will just be taken away from you by the government? There were many experiments in the 1970s with communism. People created their own small communities and shared everything. Everyone was equal. The end result was always a disaster: jealousy always fueled the collapse of the group. Would you want the person in school that never studied for his tests and partied every day to earn the same amount as you, who studied for every test and did well? I sure wouldn't. Communism, in any form, is a failure. I don't know how much death, poverty, and famine we need to go through for some people to learn this.