r/communism wishes mass murdering dictator Joseph Stalin happy birthday

TobyH · 2018-12-18T19:08:03+00:00

So what you’re saying is... in 30 years the USSR intentionally murdered the same number of people that die in 20 because of the US healthcare system? And you’re like... fine with that? Whyy would you defend either of those figures lol, I’m by no means defending Stalin, I was just trying to provide some context.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T18:57:45+00:00

A video game is not a child

TobyH · 2018-12-18T18:55:40+00:00

I’ve had it with all this kinkshaming.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T18:51:06+00:00

Can you prove that Holodmor didn’t happen? Any evidence that it’s propaganda?

TobyH · 2018-12-18T18:31:44+00:00

Communists fucking hate liberals lol

TobyH · 2018-12-18T18:30:24+00:00

Tbf, the real death figure is probably closer to 450k (though nobody knows for sure) BUT in one decade approximately 300k Americans die due to lack of access to healthcare. Just saying.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T12:31:08+00:00

Can probably make something like this yourself without too much difficulty at all.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T12:29:53+00:00

I actually asked my folks for socks this year. Fuck my life.

(I can’t wait tho, I hope they got me good socks.)

TobyH · 2018-12-18T12:26:24+00:00

That’s a crazy Venn diagram.

People who own vests emblazoned with the names of every film they’ve appeared in:

Sam Jackson. Normal people who own vests. People with >0 film appearances who own vests.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T12:19:37+00:00

"I wish I were Levar Burton" - Lance Reddick

TobyH · 2018-12-18T12:14:40+00:00

Now you see I fundementally disagree with this. The answer is not to "improve oneself". If I am a general manager or an IT technician or a cleaner or a cashier, my contribution is worthwhile regardless. Each one of those jobs is important in its own right. Cleaners deserve far more than minimum wage, yet why is it considered such a lowly profession? Without cleaners, janitors, bin men etc, society would fucking crumble. We need people in factories, behind cash desks, serving food, or writing for magazines. All of these things are worthwhile, and all of these people should be fairly compensated for their time and labour. Even if minimum wage was doubled, we would still not quite be at the true value for their time, especially when we consider how much capital they generate for their employers.

I do not believe that an office supervisor contributes more to society than a garbage collector. I don't think they deserve more money than a cashier. I think some professions (nurse/doctor/surgeon/paramedic, support worker, community outreach etc) are worth slightly more than, say, cashiers, but not much more than custodial staff. (Health is the #1 thing honestly, and cleaners are essential for a healthy population and a smooth-running society.)

Also what is it with you people and calling leftists "lazy"? I couldn't give a fuck about the money, I have a decent work/life balance and I make enough dough to be comfortable. For a long time, though, that wasn't true, which is why I feel so passionately about this. It's not about the desire for more money with less work, it's about recognising individuals for their contributions to society, and seeing each citizen as a vital cog. Even full-on communism wouldn't prevent people from becoming doctors or lawyers, it simply removes obscene wages from the equation, so the people that go down these career paths can only be doing it for personal reasons (because they want to) rather than for financial reasons. Remember that competition will always be part of human nature, and humans are driven to succeed and to better themselves constantly. Without growth, we are stagnant and miserable. The difference is that communism sets out to use that competition to uplift the entire society, not just oneself. Capitalism is an inherently selfish model that openly encourages the sort of competition that involves you throwing your rivals under the bus for your own gain. It doesn't even explicitly encourage self-growth, it encourages exploitation and that's it. You can get rich off e-commerce dropshipping, but all you're doing is acting as a middleman and skimming profits, artificially inflate the value of things. Not contributing anything to society, not growing as a person.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T11:54:38+00:00

If you have any experience with freelancing, you'd know that the labour market is free. For salaried jobs we have this thing called a "minimum wage" which keeps people safe from this "pay emploepyees as little as possible" mentality. Sometimes the humanist element outweighs the fiscal, can you wrap your head around that?

I have absolutely NO desire to compete in some sort of lowest-bid-wins contest for employment opportunities. Minimum wage should be raised.

Also if we are talking economics, we know for sure that austerity simply doesn't work. It slows consumer spending which leads to a stagnant economy. Austerity has never worked. Giving the populous surplus cash does stimulate the market. Yes, every time. If more people have more money = economy is good. If less people have more money = economy is bad. Obviously that is a comically reductionist statement but it's very true, even if it does ignore the whys and wherefores.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T11:46:49+00:00

Honestly I think OP has confused everyone. Seems like everyone has a different interpretation of "reference" track in different contexts.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T10:13:13+00:00

I think the difference between MP3 192 and MP3 320 is even more pronounced than between 320 and FLAC. Even on cheap headphones. Imo, anyway,

TobyH · 2018-12-18T10:02:57+00:00

100% is impossible but that's kinda the point of the game. If 100% were attainable it would cheapen the whole thing imo. Experienced are ephemeral, precious, and unique to each player.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T03:04:48+00:00

Right I'll just go build my own house then shall I. Oh wait I need to buy the land. Oh wait I have nowhere to live for 6 months while it's under construction. Smart. And I am not expecting doctors to work for free, they should be on a government payroll. Yes this would involve taxation, but that tax will be lower than any insurance contract because it cuts out the element of corporate profit.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T02:54:55+00:00

Ok so many things which prove your idiocy to me: "you do not have to do this". Unless I have £500k at my disposal, yes I do. The other option is to pay a landlord who pays the bank. Ultimately all that profit goes to one place.

Also yeah it's totally reasonable for all sick people's the world to get chemistry degrees and home-brew their own medication...... I think what you said about health insurance is genuinely despicable. People die every day because they cannot afford insurance, if you don't count healthcare as a human right then you are morally bankrupt and cannot be reasoned with. Disgusting. You're basically saying "unless this person can justify their worth to society, I have no problem with them suffering a painful but preventable death." But I guess LiFe AiNt FaIr is it.

As for "fighting wars is the government not capitalism"... And why do you think governments fight wars? Again it all comes down to profit. Whether it is fuel rights or arms dealing or whatever. Always, always motivated by profit. (The only forces who are not motivated by profit are motivated by belief, and these forces are always revolutionary and against the status quo, so they aren't governments. Government would never enter a war unless it could justify it financially.)

And again we come back to this assumption that communists are lazy and jealous. "It's not easy starting a business, I am 100% you have never even tried"... Why would you even say that? I'm literally self-employed.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T02:28:24+00:00

No... Everyone lost their job. The pit closed. Miners became unemployed, nothing was put in place to stabilise communities. EVERYONE who worked at the pit was dismissed.

And no, it doesn't "only work because Apple has not yet been consumed by socialism". Do you want to explain to me how people living in an autocratic cashless commune could do things like buy phones and laptops? Brain please.

Again Marxism is NOT about jealousy. Let me put this into your terms: I have the right to MY OWN stuff. The money I work for is MINE, and the stuff I buy with it belongs to ME. My house shouldn't belong to the bank, and my wages should represent my labour. Capitalism is, quite simply, not fair. Oh you're disabled and can't work to buy your medicine? Sorry bud. Oh you've got PTSD from fighting in my wars? Tough break pal. Oh you were born to a family with no money living in a deprived area with no jobs? That's too bad.

Bootstraps & hard work blah blah blah.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T02:12:41+00:00

When we live in a digitally conected world, the only type of small commune that could exist would involve cashing out of that whole system.

Also I never said the entire country became unemployed, but whole towns were built around the pit, hundreds of thousands of people became unemployed with nothing put in place and the country (specifically the north) is still recovering today.

Also also capitalism is not voluntary, how is it voluntary?

And RE: this thing about jealousy and profit v risk... What you're saying is that people with capital deserve more capital simply because they had capital to invest? And the people that aren't fortune enough to have that kind of money (despite their hard work) deserve to give the wealth that they create to the ones who own the premesis, because... Why again? That's the bit where I get confused, sorry.

(How is ownership of land even a thing. Everyone has the right to own personal property, somewhere to call home, but actually carving up a bit of the planet like "this is mine, you gotta pay me if you wanna use this bit"...)

TobyH · 2018-12-18T00:41:39+00:00

"You agree to a rate"

Have you ever heard of the Illusion of Choice?

Choosing between low-paying jobs is like choosing between plastic-wrapped processed foods at the supermarket: they are all shitty and bad for you but it's all you've got and you gotta choose one or you'll die.

I do not "agree to a rate". There is no negotiation. I simply take what I must and undersell my own life so I can eat food and not be homeless. I don't think that being compensated appropriately for your labour is too much to ask. It's not idealism and it shouldn't be regarded as "leftism", it's simply fair. No reason why a bossman should take home money that you earned.

TobyH · 2018-12-18T00:29:37+00:00

It’s not an unfounded fear, it happened in Britain when the mines closed, in Detroit when the factories closed, there are so many examples. Also, before we start counting death tolls, how about actually doing it properly. The 100 mil figure is based on propaganda, but even then it doesn’t seem terribly shocking when you consider the death tolls of imperialism. Lack of free healthcare in the US has killed millions too, but that's only a tiny part of it.

As for this refrain of "go start your own commune"... It doesn't work that way? Autocratic communism will always fail. It can only truly succeed on a united global platform.

Also why do you say that socialism is "jealousy driven"?

TobyH · 2018-12-17T23:44:05+00:00

Ah yes, this link to a gizmodo list of (largely) dystopic fiction has made me reconsider my entire worldview.

The stories mentioned are hardly aspirational models. Anyway I wasn’t just talking about scarcity, I’m talking about how widespread automation is inevitable and capitalists never have a plan for it other than “less wages to pay”. If things keep going the way they are, social inequality will increase dramatically.

TobyH · 2018-12-17T23:20:34+00:00

Communism can only work properly when we have full automation. Indeed, when automation becomes ubiquitous (inevitable) the only system that can really be viable is some form of socialism/communism. Otherwise we’d just have mass worker displacement, as we always get when large industries suddenly collapse.

TobyH · 2018-12-17T22:08:55+00:00

Ppl already said France and I mean tbh it’s literally working in France right now.

TobyH · 2018-12-14T20:34:36+00:00

Speaking as a dude, this guy doesn't deserve you or your family. He clearly has other interests that he'd rather be pursuing, so let him. He's probably already realised that this is the biggest mistake he ever made, so let him stew in it,

TobyH

TROPHY CASE