Whats with the leftwing bent of Wrongplanet?

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dongiovanni
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06 Aug 2008, 3:10 pm

Dogbrain wrote:
Mussolini made the trains run on time...


and?

I've sighted other gains made by socialism that fascism would never allow, i.e. women's rights (Hitler disagreed to this), protection of the poor. Cuba has seen a resurgence of native religions which fall under governmental protection. The reason I sighted technological advances is because the main critique of socialism is inefficiency.


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06 Aug 2008, 11:40 pm

dongiovanni wrote:
Dogbrain wrote:
Mussolini made the trains run on time...


and?

The reason I sighted technological advances is because the main critique of socialism is inefficiency.

Technological advances are no proof of efficiency though. I mean, the Soviets advanced the heck out of rocketry, but they still did terribly with making consumer goods. It would seem to me that an efficient society would seek to actually help the people therein rather than devote all resources to vainglorious projects, this is especially bad considering that the US later surpassed the USSR in space exploration as well.



Dogbrain
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07 Aug 2008, 7:09 am

dongiovanni wrote:
've sighted other gains made by socialism that fascism would never allow


So what? Go live in North Korea, then, if you think Communism and Socialism are so inherently perfect.

That a pile of steaming s**t can be turned into fertilizer does not make it any less a pile of steaming s**t.



Wonx2150
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07 Aug 2008, 4:29 pm

I think the USSR did manage to archive a lot of good things and it improved the lives of the average Russian a lot. Although people did die as a result especially from Stalin madness. Hasn't almost every country got a history of blood on its hands regardless of its political system?



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07 Aug 2008, 4:39 pm

Wonx2150 wrote:
I think the USSR did manage to archive a lot of good things and it improved the lives of the average Russian a lot. Although people did die as a result especially from Stalin madness. Hasn't almost every country got a history of blood on its hands regardless of its political system?

Well, nobody is arguing that the USSR never experienced economic growth or anything like that. The issue is that it eventually failed, and that it can be argued that capitalist systems are superior to socialist systems at promoting the welfare of society including that of the average person. Based upon issues 1 and 2, the USSR is attacked, perhaps even a 3rd issue that the costs of the USSR were not worth the benefits, after all, we aren't talking about a few thousand due to governmental stupidities or some immoral but progress oriented act, or even just war losses, we are talking about the deaths of millions of people due to power-hungry or paranoiac actions by the government. I mean, Stalin is estimated by some to have killed 30 million people, and in the final days of the Soviet Union it had a population approaching 300 million, so we can estimate that Stalin had about 10% of the population of the nation killed, if not more given population growth between the 50s and the 90s(if we use the growth of the US's population as a model, then we might estimate this as about 20% of the country's population. Now, of course there are various methodological issues with the percentages used(as the methodology I am using is a bit iffy by my own standards given that Stalin's killings are cumulative while population is a set amount at any given point), however such a thought experiment is useful for my own purposes.



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07 Aug 2008, 4:51 pm

Griff wrote:
Well, raping you doesn't sound like a bad idea at this point, Johnnie. Bend over.


Are you threatening to rape someone, poo-pusher? :x



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08 Aug 2008, 12:41 am

Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC
Didn't get to bed last night
Oh, the way the paper bag was on my knee
Man, I had a dreadful flight
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR, yeah

Been away so long I hardly knew the place
Gee, it's good to be back home
Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey disconnect the phone
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the US
Back in the US
Back in the USSR

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the west behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
They Georgia's always on my my my my my my my my my mind
Oh, come on
Hu Hey Hu, hey, ah, yeah
yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boys
Back in the USSR

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the west behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
They Georgia's always on my my my my my my my my my mind

Oh, show me round your snow peaked
mountain way down south
Take me to you daddy's farm
Let me hear you balalaika's ringing out
Come and keep your comrade warm
I'm back in the USSR
Hey, You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR
Oh, let me tell you honey.


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08 Aug 2008, 12:57 am

Awesomelyglorious wrote:
greenblue wrote:
I am for the abolishment of money.

And upon it's death, how will you set the portions of goods for each person, and their exchange rates? How many computers is a car worth? How many pencils is a piece of paper worth? The abolishment of money does not eliminate the problem of scarcity, some people just think it does.

[extreme left]
Nothing, people should not possess anything! all they are allowed to do, is for the good of the state, their thoughts are for the good of the state, even when they breathe, is for the good of state and not for themselves, the abolishment of money goes along with the abolishment of selfishness.
[/extreme left]


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greenblue
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08 Aug 2008, 1:04 am

Awesomelyglorious wrote:
greenblue wrote:
I am for the abolishment of money.

And upon it's death, how will you set the portions of goods for each person, and their exchange rates? How many computers is a car worth? How many pencils is a piece of paper worth? The abolishment of money does not eliminate the problem of scarcity, some people just think it does.

Well, some people actually believe that the abolishment of money would be a better system, probably in the future implemented somehow to do better, even though some think that might be inside a capitalist system, just "improved", how exactly? I really don't know, others, and that would probably be most, or at least the origin of the ideal, from socialism, a socialist utopia, given that it seems to represent the view of a society, in which every human being on the planet are given their basic needs for living, for free, I assume. Can this be really acomplished and at the same time being a free and democratic society? I really don't know. Well, at least there should be a system, a good system along with freedom and democracy, of course, which it could erradicate poverty, as for now, just an utopic idea, which seems to be impossible.


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slowmutant
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08 Aug 2008, 4:15 am

The abolishment of money ... does that mean a cashless society? A bartering society?



Dogbrain
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08 Aug 2008, 8:59 am

greenblue wrote:
Well, some people actually believe that the abolishment of money would be a better system


Communist China attempted to do this early on. It failed, miserably.



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08 Aug 2008, 10:39 am

I am a Moderate leaning towards conservative

The only issues I am truly liberal about are Abortion and Gay Marriage, and nothing will change that. I am Conservative on most other things.



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08 Aug 2008, 10:21 pm

Dogbrain wrote:
Then you want handouts to everybody, including corporations, which become nothing but arms of the government. How well did that work in the Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics?


"Handouts" is a concept related to protectionist capitalism, i.e., the welfare state. I believe in economic redistribution, not handouts.


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dongiovanni
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10 Aug 2008, 12:01 am

nominalist wrote:
Dogbrain wrote:
Then you want handouts to everybody, including corporations, which become nothing but arms of the government. How well did that work in the Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics?


"Handouts" is a concept related to protectionist capitalism, i.e., the welfare state. I believe in economic redistribution, not handouts.


Hear hear!!


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"Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle,
walle zur Wiege! Wagalaweia!
wallala, weiala weia!"

I won't translate it because it doesn't mean anything.


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10 Aug 2008, 12:12 am

Hear, hear! A hand-up not a hand-out. :idea:



dongiovanni
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10 Aug 2008, 12:41 am

slowmutant wrote:
Hear, hear! A hand-up not a hand-out. :idea:


The state is not an inherent evil; if it is democratically accountable (with provisions protecting people from tyranny of the majority, etc.), it is possible for an empowered state to be a just state. I am also a socialist (meaning I advocate public ownership of industry and commerce), and I hold that, with the correct provisions in place, it can be more just than any capitalist state. I think "communism" in its truest sense (abolition of the institution of money) is asymptotic. Socialism isn't.

@Nominalist

What kind of "ite" are you? A Trotskyite, Schachtmanite, Marcyite, Stalactite?


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"Weia! Waga! Woge, du Welle,
walle zur Wiege! Wagalaweia!
wallala, weiala weia!"

I won't translate it because it doesn't mean anything.