thegreatdivide wrote on Jan 16^th, 2025 at 4:46pm:




Achtung, baby, ve haf  vayz to make you bruderz even if it killz you!
(How do you say this with a Chinese accent?)

thegreatdivide wrote on Jan 16^th, 2025 at 5:08pm:

Just read this again. Don't cut it up into disjointed pieces, it is a sequence of ideas focusing on the difference between ideal and practice. See if you get it this time.

Socialism as a social or moral philosophy was based on the ideal of human brotherhood, which can never be implemented by institutional means. There has never been, and there will never be, an institutional means of making people brothers. Fraternity under compulsion is the most malignant idea devised in modern times; it is a perfect path to totalitarian tyranny. Socialism in this sense is tantamount to a kingdom of lies.

This is not reason, however, to scrap the idea of human fraternity. If it is not something that can be effectively achieved by means of social engineering, it is useful as a statement of goals. The socialist idea is dead as the project for an “alternative society.” But as a statement of solidarity with the underdogs and the oppressed, as a motivation to oppose Social Darwinism, as a light that keeps before our eyes something higher than competition and greed—for all of these reasons, socialism, the ideal not the system, still has its uses.

Frank wrote on Jan 16^th, 2025 at 5:16pm:



They tried the idea of socialism/Marxism on Kibbutz's in Israel.
It never worked well.
Some people were working up to 16 hours per day while
others sat on their lazy fat arses watching TV all day
and ate well at the expense of others - they contributed nothing - only took.
It led to fights and breakups.

That's human nature - many people take advantage of others.

Frank wrote on Jan 16^th, 2025 at 5:16pm:


Let's see: "Socialism as a social or moral philosophy is based on the ideal of human brotherhood"

Got it.

Stop looking backwards; human advance is painful but progresses nevertheless.


Quote:


Establishment of effective international law - ie, capable of defending the principles of the UNUDHR (which you resist kicking and screaming) is NOT "Social Darwinism", it's human progress driven by the ideals of sociaiism.

Note: the human catastrophe of the 2nd world war resulted in the creation the UN - flawed but still a step in the right direction.

Hopefully men of good will work to maintain the goals  of the UN, and continue to make it more effective "to save mankind from the scoure of war".... urgent in the age of MAD.

The best Socialist party is the Cocktail Party.

......its authoritarian polices, have killed 10's of millions of    individuals    in China and in the USSR
[during the 20th century].


.





Faux pas.

faux pas = = a social blunder.

The Washington Democrats [i.e. the party elites] decision to 'double down',
and to stand behind Biden [as their party POTUS 'nominee'],
and later do exactly the same, for Harris.

Their 'collective' determination,
was to give firstly Biden, and then Harris, 'the keys to the kingdom',
without any fair [i.e. open,  err, democratic] nomination contest/process.


Q.
And how did that work out for them ?





09 min
Jan 16, 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAy_sGOJrPQ





Liberty Vault            https://www.youtube.com/@Liberty-Vault

Depends on what you mean by Socialism...... if you are a believer in 'international socialism' - then you are doomed to societal failure, destruction, death, injury, slavery of entire peoples, genocides, endless tribal conflicts - and so on and so on forever - for one simple reason .... most people in the world don't hold the same beliefs as you do.

For example - all you Gaza-luvvahs ... GO there and preach your goodwill to all men to Hamas.

Frank wrote on Jan 17^th, 2025 at 5:34pm:


The author's crap about "social engineering" is ideology based.

eg, simple tax changes could eliminate the oppression caused by  socio-economic disadvantage  in Oz (and elsewhere).

But self-interest and greed prevent governments from making those simple changes, in the democracies ruled by 50% plus 1..the self-interested slimest majority reigns supreme.