politics

It's, to a large degree, who you're responding to. You have to understand that many people on this platform are from the US and the US has enough issues that any alternative looks pretty good.

I'd disagree on the premise that contrarian views are somehow more feasible in the US (in other liberal democracies, sure: see the Quebec referendum in Canada). Through a system of backdoors in social media platforms and control over American media's sources, the US is able to make sure that dissent is basically unable to grow into a problem. While it's a different approach than forbidding it entirely, it achieves the same goal because dissenters will always be considered fringe groups, thus defeating the point of it being a liberal democracy. A liberal democracy is not somehow part liberal and part democracy: it describes how the two halves are combined. A liberal democracy should not only allow for these fringe groups to exist, but for them to be heard and to have a chance to influence government policy. Otherwise, it's no different than having a thought in your head that you can't share.

To a large degree, socialism has evolved within the confines of economic growth in a capitalist world. Agricultural collectivization isn't as big of an issue because the rural population is shrinking rapidly and food is no longer the core concern of the population. At its core, socialism is the principle that the economic output of a country should benefit the citizens of that country as a whole, rather than specific subgroups within it. Socialism as it was described by Marx misses the realities of a globalized world and increasingly rapid technological progress.