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Talk to anyone who claims to support 'communism' and you get liberalism. In the majority of cases where people tell me they self identify as communists it just

Talk to anyone who claims to support 'communism' and you get liberalism. In the majority of cases where people tell me they self identify as communists it just means "super extra not republican" instead of any concrete ideology. I hear a lot about minorities, I don't hear much about the abolishment of private property. LGBT rights are orthogonal to communism, you can have a state that murders anyone who is gay and one that enforces universal gender reassignment and both could be equally communist. Nationalizing the electricity grid and ISPs isn't orthogonal, but the 'far leftists' in the US either don't mention it at all, or mention it so far in their list of demands there will be no political capital left for it even if world revolution happened tomorrow.

twic 7y ago
Right - i believe "communist" is mostly a fashion statement among US millennials. Stick a hammer and sickle emoji in your Twitter name and retweet AOC memes, bam, now you're a communist.
- newen 7y ago
  Seems more like you are expecting too much from normal people who are just trying to get by in life. Supporting communism doesn't mean you are going to join the local communist party and actively try to establish a dictatorship of the proletariat. That is orthogonal and depends on how politically active a person is. What supporting communism means is when a communist shows up on the ballot box, you are likely to vote for them. That in itself is a huge shift from the older generations.
  - icebraining 7y ago
    Sure, but even voting for a communist candidate doesn't mean you're a communist or even far-left.
    - newen 7y ago
      Okay, then 90% of Americans aren't moderate, centrist, neoliberal, socialist, socdem, demsoc, neonazi, fascist, far right, far left, etc.
rayiner 7y ago
Even if that’s true, it says something horrific about our society that it’s socially acceptable to wear that label: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/20/nicolae-one-hundred-million https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/20/nicolae-one-hu.... It’s like self-identifying as a Nazi because you’re “super extra not Democrat.” And I question whether your premise is true. About 22% of millennials surveyed stated that “it would be better if all private property was abolished.” https://www.victimsofcommunism.org/2019-annual-poll https://www.victimsofcommunism.org/2019-annual-poll
- buzzkillington 7y ago
  More people died when communism collapsed in Russia than from WWII [0]. It seems communism kills much fewer people prematurely than does capitalism for any given society it has been tried in. I can only imagine the utopia it would be when tried in a country that isn't a third world hell hole. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Russia
  - rayiner 7y ago
    That only follows if you factor out the negative effect of the government collapsing, which tends to impair prosperity indicators regardless of how bad the government previously was. (E.g. Iraq or Syria.)

twic 7y ago

Right - i believe "communist" is mostly a fashion statement among US millennials. Stick a hammer and sickle emoji in your Twitter name and retweet AOC memes, bam, now you're a communist.

newen 7y ago
Seems more like you are expecting too much from normal people who are just trying to get by in life. Supporting communism doesn't mean you are going to join the local communist party and actively try to establish a dictatorship of the proletariat. That is orthogonal and depends on how politically active a person is. What supporting communism means is when a communist shows up on the ballot box, you are likely to vote for them. That in itself is a huge shift from the older generations.
- icebraining 7y ago
  Sure, but even voting for a communist candidate doesn't mean you're a communist or even far-left.
  - newen 7y ago
    Okay, then 90% of Americans aren't moderate, centrist, neoliberal, socialist, socdem, demsoc, neonazi, fascist, far right, far left, etc.

rayiner 7y ago

Even if that’s true, it says something horrific about our society that it’s socially acceptable to wear that label: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/20/nicolae-one-hundred-million https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/20/nicolae-one-hu.... It’s like self-identifying as a Nazi because you’re “super extra not Democrat.” And I question whether your premise is true. About 22% of millennials surveyed stated that “it would be better if all private property was abolished.” https://www.victimsofcommunism.org/2019-annual-poll https://www.victimsofcommunism.org/2019-annual-poll

buzzkillington 7y ago
More people died when communism collapsed in Russia than from WWII [0]. It seems communism kills much fewer people prematurely than does capitalism for any given society it has been tried in. I can only imagine the utopia it would be when tried in a country that isn't a third world hell hole. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Russia
- rayiner 7y ago
  That only follows if you factor out the negative effect of the government collapsing, which tends to impair prosperity indicators regardless of how bad the government previously was. (E.g. Iraq or Syria.)