Comment on The Dangers of Socialism they warned us about...
NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 3 days agoOk, that’s all true on a level of academia, but practiced politics and policy aren’t academia. None of that changes that the main antagonist in our current political situation is authoritarian capitalism and people who don’t understand politics nor political or economic systems. You’re acting like the everyday person and commenter not understanding these things is the problem when the politicians and world leaders in charge not understanding these things is the problem.
mechoman444@lemmy.world 3 days ago
I’m not relying on academic jargon in my responses. I’m simply correcting statements that are objectively incorrect.
A very common trend on this platform is that people attribute everything good a government does to socialism and everything bad to capitalism. They use these terms colloquially, often repeating misconceptions they’ve picked up here or elsewhere, even when those claims are objectively wrong.
That’s where I come in. I find myself correcting the same errors over and over again.
Then someone like you comes along and immediately starts throwing around terms like authoritarianism, dictatorship, capitalism, socialism, and communism, as though they settle the issue. But that has nothing to do with the point I’m making. I’m simply saying that universal healthcare is not inherently a feature of a socialist economy. Any government, regardless of its economic system, can establish a public healthcare program. Providing public services is one of the basic functions of government.
It seems like you’re trying to have a very particular kind of conversation, one where both participants already agree about how terrible capitalism is or how much they dislike the United States, and the discussion becomes little more than mutual validation disguised as debate.
I’m doing something different. I’m telling you that you’re wrong. Even when some of the individual facts you mention are true, you’re using them sophistically to push a broader narrative. And when I say “you,” I mean that in the royal sense, not necessarily you personally, although some of what you’ve written does fit that pattern.
I don’t know if that’s simply your comfort zone or what you’re ultimately hope to achieve. The United States is objectively doing many things badly; that’s not what we’re debating. My goal isn’t to defend capitalism. It’s to inform people about what socialism actually is, rather than allowing the term to be used as a catch-all label for any government program or policy.
NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 3 days ago
You’re a pedant.
mechoman444@lemmy.world 3 days ago
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