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[-] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 1 points 35 minutes ago

well, "capitalism" is to blame for both, if communism is so bad why the need for endless retaliation against Cuba?, let them be and see how it plays out.

[-] thericofactor@sh.itjust.works 62 points 1 day ago

The average American doesn't even know the difference between communism and socialism.

[-] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 21 hours ago

To the average American, communism and socialism are slurs.

According to Heather Cox Richardson, socialism has been a thought-terminating cliché since the 1870s, if not before, only then, it referred to all sorts of public-serving government projects such as paved roads, libraries, schools, etc.

At the time, the assumption was that only wealthy landowners should get representation at all, and that working class folk, for having not contributed to revenues¹ should not get any benefits from government.

¹ Working class folks very much contributed to the labor that produced wealth, but this wasn't acknowledged.

[-] lemmyseikai@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

To be fair some days I am not sure communists and socialist know the difference between the two.

[-] SinAdjetivos@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

Much less the difference between those and other ideas such as syndicalism, anarchism, georgism, municipalism, etc. much less that there's different 'flavors' of communism, socialism, etc.

[-] FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago

The average 'Murican doesn't know the difference between their arsehole and a hole in the ground

[-] diaphragmwp@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 20 hours ago

So .ml is full of Americans, got it

[-] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I agree with the point, but I'm not sure I'd call that THE great American pretense. I'd argue #1 might be racist manifest destiny bullshit. Maybe there's something even more fundamental? I'm sure they're probably directly connected in ways I've not fully considered, what with colonialism and all.

Yeah, the great American pretense is believing the country, originally a genocidal settler colony, ever changed their ethos. At least the reds are about it in earnest, ten toes down as they say, they just believe somehow their attitude and ideology are righteous or at least normal.

[-] Setiyeti93@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 day ago

Which given the ongoing sanctioning of Cuba... It looks like capitalism is the cause of poverty in both

[-] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 2 points 21 hours ago

Yeah, at least their government was handing out bread... I don't think the US government would do even that much if the roles were reversed.

[-] chefdano3@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

The greatest threat to our country isn't a system, it's greedy humans with too much power.

Under communism it was the wealth hoarding heads of government. Under capitalism it's the billionaire heads of corporations who then weasel their way into government.

[-] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Tell me about the multiple CEOs attending meetings with heads of state from around the world under capitalism

[-] RockBottom@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago

If you attribute it to individual personality traits, what are you going to do about it? No, it's a wrong system. Break your apathy.

[-] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today -1 points 1 day ago

Individual personality traits != human personality traits. Targeting the specific traits in question is not an indictment of humanity in general, nor does it violate the human or civil rights of the individuals displaying these traits.

Any system that tolerates these "individual personality traits" to the detriment of the general public is a "wrong system", regardless of the merits of the remainder of the system's philosophical model. Even a totalitarian dictatorship can (theoretically) operate benevolently under certain circumstances, provided that model prevents these "individual personality traits" from public harm. Meanwhile, fundamentally egalitarian systems are irreparably sabotaged by individuals displaying these traits.

Correcting the "wrong systems" requires targeting these "individual personality traits". Classify an abundance of greed and a deficiency of empathy as mental health conditions and public threats. Restrict the harmful behaviors of the afflicted to protect the public.

This has been done before, in a wide variety of ways, since time immemorial. We've threatened immortal souls. We've tried the cross, and the guillotine. We've praised philanthropists. We've established punitively progressive income taxes and wealth taxes. Some have worked; some have been atrocities. We've achieved effects ranging from wildly successful to catastrophically counterproductive. And too many of the good ones have been rolled back by carriers of these traits.

No "system" that ignores these traits has any chance of success. Any "system" that would succeed needs to successfully target these individual traits.

[-] RockBottom@feddit.org 0 points 20 hours ago

They are not afraid about us seeing how they roll. They are afraid of a revolution.

[-] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

They don't need to be afraid. They need their greed held in check. We need punitive top-tier income tax rates. We need a punitive securities tax, applicable to all corporate-held securities, and all individual portfolios values at more than $10 million.

It needs to be cheap and easy for the poor and middle classes to own and/or benefit from shares in the various means of production. It needs to be costly for the rich, and punitively expensive for the ultra-rich to hold those same shares.

We don't need a generalized wealth tax. It's not a problem for the wealthiest to hoard personal property, such as expensive cars, yachts, private jets. These assets are manufactured by workers. Acquiring such assets transfers wealth from owners to workers.

The greediest among us need to be limited from hoarding wealth-generating financial assets: securities. They need to be heavily restricted from purchasing assets that facilitate the transfer of wealth from workers to owners.

Corruption is possible and prevalent in any market philosophy. The "right" system will directly target and correct the root of that corruption.

[-] RockBottom@feddit.org 1 points 12 hours ago

I hope we can agree they are not entitled to anyones surplus value.

this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2026
550 points (99.1% liked)

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