I’ve been speaking with other more informed communists and they’ve told me that none actually exist. Is this true?
China, Laos, and Vietnam: now notoriously capitalists. Workers work 12+ hours with no protection in horrible factory conditions. Suicide rates are so high that suicide nets are installed. The air is so polluted millions die from lung cancer, especially factory workers w/out basic masks. Corporations dominate
North Korea: Undemocratically ruled by the Kim dynasty. Jong un indulges lavishly at the expense of his citizens, ordering millions in fine wine and trips from Denis Rodman. They might be the most socialist though, as Juche seems to otherwise be democratic.
Cuba: Sanctions have taken a massive toll, but even taking that into account the country still has its own problems. They have massive food shortages and inventory probs and aren’t self sufficient after 60+ years. Why couldn’t they’ve use machinery imported from the Soviet Union to develop their agriculture and fishery? The Soviets supported them heavily. They seem to be incredibly mismanaged or corrupt
Can you be specific about what fundamental principles of democracy you question? You just said America doesn’t really have a democracy, so you were implying that more democracy would be a good thing.
So you don’t actually believe that? And if that’s the case, why did you signal as if you did? It seems pretty disingenuous to me
Can you be specific about what fundamental principles of democracy you question?
I already wrote some out in my first reply to you. Do you have any thoughts on them?
You just said America doesn’t really have a democracy, so you were implying that more democracy would be a good thing.
Incorrect on both counts. What I did was say that the language and concept itself are laden with propaganda and selective or incomplete application, raising serious doubts about what it even means.
An interesting aspect to your responses here is that you’re repeatedly reading things that I didn’t say while not recognizing the things I did say. This is very relevant my attempt to head off simplistic acceptance of, say, “democracy”. The point is that there are a lot of propaganda narratives and unjustified (implicit) assumptions that tend to get made and your inability to have a conversation with me is a good example of this. You’re clearly trying to slot what I’m saying to you into your existing framework, a precious epistemology, even when it doesn’t really make sense. This is another thought pattern you’ll have to leave behind if you want to have correct opinions or even just be capable of talking to other humans about politics.
So you don’t actually believe that? And if that’s the case, why did you signal as if you did? It seems pretty disingenuous to me
Having made no effort to understand my pretty simple and direct statements, you’re deciding to blame me for your confusion, lol.
This situation is fairly simple: you think you’re here to “own” your perceived enemies and are now reaching at straws because it’s not going the way you hoped. Gotta find some way for me to be the bad guy, eh kid?
Okay, so regarding democracy, when you said you didn’t vote to allow a genocide in Gaza, were you saying a vote should have been taken, thus making the United States a more democratic country?
If that’s the case, then we agree that more democracy is good. If that’s not the case, why did you bring it up?
Okay, so regarding democracy, when you said you didn’t vote to allow a genocide in Gaza, were you saying a vote should have been taken, thus making the United States a more democratic country?
I was giving an example to challenge common presumptions about what is democratic and what something with that labels can then be used to justify. The idea is to get you to think critically and ask your own questions about what the true meaning of that label is by how it gets applied. It’s not about what is simply true democracy and what is not. It’s what function the term and concept serves in our societies, particularly Western ones where it is used chauvinistically and is full of contradictions. Nothing can be more “authoritarian” (the other half of this concept’s dichotomy) than inflicting mass death and disposession and there isn’t even a fig leaf of requiring informed consent from the people of the state that’s supporting the genocide you see happening right in front of you. At the same time, the label of “democracy” is used everywhere to justify these dehumanizing, racist actions. Have you ever heard, “only democracy in the Middle East”? Have you ever wondered what makes an apartheid settler ethnostate democratic? What does it really mean?
The goal is to get you to critically engage with the tropes and thought-controlling cliches at work here. Your questions are full of them. It’s clear you’ve never really questioned hegemonic thinking and at the moment you’re being combative towards the idea of applying a little critical thinking or, God forbid, answering my questions or statements.
If that’s the case, then we agree that more democracy is good. If that’s not the case, why did you bring it up?
That last question is the only thing you should’ve said in reply to my first comment. An attempt to understand rather than an attempt to eagerly dismiss what you have never investigated.
I have answered that question twice now, though.
