avevale_intelligencer

I've spent most of the day screaming inside my head at a perfect stranger because of something they said on Facebook.

Which you may think is ridiculous, but come on--to read this post and others like them, to know just a tiny fraction of what's really going on, and then to see someone on FB fatuously intoning (and you can hear the portentous Walter Cronkite tones) "The world has seen no greater evil than socialism"--wouldn't you be screaming?

The root of all evil is unbridled self-interest, and that's all there is to it. Socialism is one of many attempts throughout history to place legal limits on the self-interest of the rich and powerful, all of which have in their time been subverted and turned to evil ends by those same rich and powerful. As a force for good, it may have been a dismal failure, and it may have caused much suffering, but compared to runaway capitalistic greed, bigotry and oppression, homophobia and transphobia, racism and sexism, fanaticism of all kinds, and totalitarian intolerance of dissent--in the evil stakes of evil, socialism doesn't come close.

I stand by my belief that people are not really stupid...but this one is tragically mistaken. As was the lady who beseeched the Lord to come and "take care of all these crooked people taking advantage of us" and genuinely thought she was talking about Obama. They don't need to be screamed at, or ridiculed, or ignored, or attacked. They need to be enlightened. Preferably soon. And I'm really not interested in hearing that it can't be done.

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From:

melodyclark.livejournal.com

She's a moronic sheep. She's repeating the crap she has been programmed with. Unfortunately, the far-right has successfully attacked the US educational system to make people more easily fooled. As I've pointed out time and again, the US founding fathers were socialists. The very foundation of our democracy is socialist. Most people get that intuitively, if not consciously, it would seem, since Obama is still a very popular President.

Which is not to say that Obama is a socialist, he's not.

Edited Date: 2012-03-20 10:13 pm (UTC)

nancylebov.livejournal.com

If you include state communism under socialism, then it's one of the biggest disasters to hit the human race.

I think it's a very bad idea to count state communism and democratic socialism are part of the same thing.

rdmaughan.livejournal.com

No idea who it was that unset you but I had to drop one of the US filkers as a friend on FB due to the depth of drivel they linked to and the sheer offensiveness of the commentary by their friends.

jahura.livejournal.com

That's the internet. Anyone with a keyboard and an opinion has an instant audience. Whereas past generations used to argue politics and religion with friends and the occasional stranger at the local tavern, nowadays the whole planet has become said tavern and more strangers have more say.

We all have self-interest to some degree, whether bridled or not. It's a survival thing. But I think the root of all evil is the desire to win at any cost.