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This is a really sophomoric opinion. Do you really want to throw down, I.E sum total of worker suffering introduced by capitalistic states vs socialistic vs com
by xnyan 7y ago
This is a really sophomoric opinion. Do you really want to throw down, I.E sum total of worker suffering introduced by capitalistic states vs socialistic vs communistic?
If I can prove with mutually agreed facts that capitalism has a higher body count that any other political system, will you agree to change your position.
- tanzbaer 7y agoI'd love to see that proof.
- Matticus_Rex 7y agoI've seen it before -- it involves blaming basically all war and all deaths under market economies on capitalism and doing serious gymnastics on deaths under non-market economies of the "it wasn't real socialism!" sort.
- pbhjpbhj 7y ago>"it wasn't real socialism!" sort // Usually it's Western Capitalism vs Communist [Dictatorship] Regimes and the argument is entirely valid. If you're forced in to it it's not communism -- people won't in general follow an ideology that contradicts their natural propensity to greed and winning above others (pride), so it generally is not communism when you're talking about groups above a small town size. I spend quite a bit of time thinking about how to transition from our widely oppressive capitalistic system to a more communistic one in a way to accommodates people's propensity towards greed and still maintain democratic freedoms to the greatest extent. It's something that in the long term might solve a lot of our overuse of resources.
- dev_dull 7y ago> I spend quite a bit of time thinking about how to transition from our widely oppressive capitalistic system to a more communistic one The problem, of course, is that without force they’re short lived, like volatile molecules exposed to air. All matter eventually retreats to its most stable form. Of course, nothing stops like minded individuals from forming communist societies (communes), and they do sometimes. Even a small one doesn’t stay together long without force or a very strong binding identity, such as religion or family.
- Matticus_Rex 7y agoIf you're going to play "it isn't real socialism," then you have to play "it isn't real capitalism." I'm pro-free market with an econ background, and I'll be the first to tell you that virtually nothing in Western "capitalism" is all that recognizable as something promoted by free market economists.
- influx 7y agoEven if you can prove that, it doesn’t follow that communism is the alternative.
- DFHippie 7y agoI think this is acknowledged by the opening "This is a really sophomoric opinion." Even so, if you agree upon the metric and then use it to rank systems, if one system ranks better then you have "proven", by the agreed upon terms of comparison, that this system is superior. There may be other systems outside the ranking, but your proposal was to rank certain specific systems, not to discover the optimal system.
- EGreg 7y agoJust go ahead and do it here, with links. Looking to learn and see evidence.