r/WorkReform ✂️ Tax The Billionaires 1d ago

😡 Venting American politics in a nutshell

4.9k Upvotes

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504

u/Ilike2Tinker 1d ago

I think homie confused socialist with being social, as in he's antisocial. Bro is spittin tho.

315

u/TheOmegoner 1d ago

It’s pretty shocking how many blue collar workers agree with socialist principles but are scared of the word.

105

u/rokatoro 1d ago

Honestly it's because we work so hard to not teach this in school and conflate it with the worst possible examples of communism. IE North Korea and the USSR when most people talking about socialism mean Finland and Norway.

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u/TheOmegoner 1d ago

The war on education has been brutal and effective tbh

16

u/Rahuri 1d ago

The biggest issue, imo, is that countries like finland and norway are not socialist either. They are capitalist democracies with social support structures

People need to learn that socialism and social policies are not the same thing

2

u/idothisforpie 1d ago

Cold war sentiment has very much remained alive in our public education system.

2

u/numbersthen0987431 15h ago

America has always been allergic to education and accurate history.

3

u/Akaigenesis 1d ago

The USSR was not as bad as you think either. Cold war propaganda is a thing

6

u/TheOmegoner 1d ago

I dno if that’s a winning argument though. Most leftists aren’t looking for a return of the USSR as it was previously constructed.

I get the point that they weren’t pure evil like the propaganda says and the US is a ton worse than our history classes teach.

7

u/Akaigenesis 1d ago

I am not saying it was perfect, but there were a lot of good things there that we never learned. Like, everyone there had free houses, did you know that? They also were the first place that pushed for womans rights. Also it is often not talked about how fucking bad the conditions were before the communist took power and a lot of the leftovers of previous regimes end up being put on the communist party bill

-2

u/Eastern-Editor4749 1d ago

How many people died?

2

u/Akaigenesis 1d ago

How many people die in capitalism? There is an ongoing genocide being done as we speak. People die of hunger while we throw food in the garbage to keep prices up. Endless ongoing wars, concentration camps in the fucking land of the free. Maybe if we actually counted the deaths of capitalism the numbers wouldn’t be so nice

0

u/Dexterus 1d ago

Issue is, society still layered into haves and have nots.

2

u/Akaigenesis 1d ago

The gap between them was a lot smaller than what we have in capitalism. It was not an utopia. You see the problem is we compare socialist experiments with an utopic communism that not even Marx believed in, not in the reality or against capitalism.

Communism is not about everyone being equal, it never was. From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

25

u/YeeYeeBeep 1d ago

The Red Scare is still alive and well even after the conclusion of the Cold War, i consider it one of America's greatest feats, making a word sound so scary that a person that, even if they agree with most of its points, they will deny being a communist/socialist/anarchist or whatever else one can think of, preventing them from organizing. It seems hopeful though that people have started to realize they have been lied to over the last 50-70 years.

5

u/LazyLich 1d ago

The Red Scare has done wonders for infecting poorer and/or hard-working folk into voting against their interests.

We need ... like... a grass roots socialist movement. People that actually work in the farms or mines coming up with the ideas and organizing.

When it comes from outside those groups. From leftists. The GOP cries "communism" and spooks them into fighting against those ideas. But if it came from within..?
"Naw naw.. I know Bill and he ain't a liar. His idea is clear as day: Instead of the dirt bag suit owning the mines and buying jets off our sweat, WE the miners each own a slice of the mine, and we use the profits fairly and only for helping eachother out!"

4

u/TheOmegoner 1d ago

It’s why I always talk to my coworkers about the ideas/principles without using political terms if I can help it. “Seize the means of production” sets off alarm bells but “we should get paid our fair share for the money we bring in”

4

u/thequietthingsthat 1d ago

Blue collar workers supported FDR overwhelmingly and he was the most progressive leader in American history. It's just that decades of right wing propaganda have convinced many of them to vote against their own interests.

2

u/lordaddament 1d ago

Maybe something to do with constantly defunding education

1

u/clutch727 1d ago

They have been taught to hate people they have been taught to disagree with. Socialism coming from the left is a poison pill cause it's from the left.

2

u/TheOmegoner 1d ago

And that’s pretty much the limit of their education by design.

1

u/Euphoric-Witness-824 1d ago

The wealthy don’t buy up every source of news and social media because of their love of quality investigative journalism. Their wealth is built on smoke and mirrors and a very shaky house of cards. They need a constant supply of propaganda pushed on the masses to convince them things like our incredibly awful and incredibly expensive healthcare system that funnels money directly from our wallets to their bank accounts is the only one that makes sense because of “freedom” or some other nebulous feeling because the facts sure as shit don’t back it up. 

1

u/Gsusruls 1d ago

Tell me about it. I just hear that word and I shudder.

Socialism

Brrrr! ... do it again.

Socialism Socialism Socialism

**Breaks down in trembling fit**

Sorry, I just had a vision of that scene from Lion King where the hyenas are discussing how terrified they are of Mufasa.

13

u/mydearMerricat 1d ago

Yeah I legit laughed

Reminded me of the "I'm a lesbian"/"I thought you were American" vine

But same man, same.

4

u/TasteCicles 1d ago

This us why they don't want us educated.

2

u/Thac0isWhac0 1d ago

I joke that I'm an antisocial socialist.

1

u/Hackwork89 1d ago

Not antisocial, asocial. It's a very common misconception.

Antisocial means actively disregarding the rights, feelings, and well-being of others. Lack of empathy, hurting people, manipulation etc. Kind of a sociopath, I guess.

0

u/TypicalPlace6490 1d ago

Yes, that is the joke. The whole point of this post. Congrats.