[two characters are talking]
Vaccines have saved millions of lives you know
[a blue character points at them proudly]
Heh, look at those idiots over there, they believe in the most obvious propaganda
[the blue character is shown doing various faces]
Anyway, did you know communism killed 100 million people?
I’ve seen that 20% of the people commit 80% of the crime
Our military keeps the world a safer place
Everyone starts with opportunities, you have to earn your place in society, work harder
[sixteen variations of the blue character are shown on a multicolored grid]
Crime is out of control and keeps getting worse
Men are natural leaders, women’s nature is to nurture
Billionaires create jobs
Poor people just keep making bad decisions in life
Migrants are taking our jobs
Socialism is when we all share the same paycheck
If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear
If minimum wages go up, everyone will get fired, it’s math
We brought modernity to the countries we colonized
The wage gap is a myth you’re just looking at it wrong
Immigration mathematically causes crime
Developing countries are poor because of corruption
We are the good guys
If workers were worth more, they would be paid more
Universal healthcare is communism
Patriotism means supporting the troops
[a large drawing of a serious Garfield is surrounded by the infinitely repeating phrase]
YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO PROPAGANDA
The problem is not that authoritarian regimes that mark themselves as communist cause a lot of deaths trough Missmanagement and suppression (great famine was mostly Missmanagement). Its how and by whom these numbers are used. When far right politicians call general health programs communism (which its not) and then cite that number (which had already been explained to be much lower), that is weaponizing it in a harmful way to suppress some potentially useful policy. This is what the other commentor was saying with “red scare”.
I also think they communism killed x number of people is also bullshit because what do you even call communism? States like Russia under stalin or Mao China were closer to authoritarian regimes than communism as defined by Marx.
Further I think that this number doesn’t make much sense at all since it also lacks any context to make it useful.
no, i am pretty sure that the problem is that communism kills people en mass. it is important to understand it when some uneducated moron dreams about communism and tries to explain that 100m of dead is propaganda, it was aKsHhuuuALly juSt 60…
the fact that somewhere else is some nazi moron is also a problem, but it is not a defense for a communism.
well of course we are talking about every attempt at practical realization of communism in human history. no one cares about a fictional dream in a book. fictional dream in a book does not kill people, all the practical attempts at bringing it to life does.
“the fact that somewhere else is some nazi moron is also a problem, but it is not a defense for a communism”
These things are in fact not a different problem. When we talk about power structures and state forms and what’s the best way to organize a country, context matters. It matters how those people where killed, it matters how many people in other state forms had to suffer and it matters what are the dynamics behind all of that. Otherwise a statement like that is rather manipulative and not allowing to engage with the ideas of communism and the underlying values.
“well of course we are talking about every attempt at practical realization of communism in human history. no one cares about a fictional dream in a book. fictional dream in a book does not kill people, all the practical attempts at bringing it to life does”
I strongly disagree with this statement. States like communist Russia happens because of the idea in a book but where twisted during there implementation and formed into something else. Therefore stating that communism killed so many people is wrong. The implementation of communism turns out to end up in authoritarian structures like so many revolutions do (example: France after their first revolution).
oh you strongly disagree? then will you present example of some happy communist society where they got that right, it just works for them and people are trying to immigrate there, because “hey, finally, you see? i told you it can work and i want to spend rest of my life there!”
right, so communism is good, it is just those pesky people that are in the way… 😂
Well, I didn’t say there is a functioning example. I said that the ideas of books are shaping realities in one way or another. Like it or not but books matter.
“right, so communism is good, it is just those pesky people that are in the way… 😂”
Well I did not say that. But I agree that communism is a lot of wishing that people are better than they are.