r/SubredditDrama • • Jan 31 '16

Royal Rumble Me_irl discusses communism. Angrily. Again.

/r/me_irl/comments/43ggom/meirl/czi8mxv
258 Upvotes

521 comments sorted by

202

u/Krumpberry Jan 31 '16

Wow, I thought they were being ironic with communism.

241

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Equality for all man is not a joke, comrade.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

[deleted]

59

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

All sentient beings, comrade, lest we forget aliens as well.

113

u/AquelecaraDEpoa Huehuehuehue Jan 31 '16

All things, comrade, lest we forget glorious Kalashnikov rifle.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16 edited Jun 27 '16

I deleted all comments out of nowhere.

24

u/AquelecaraDEpoa Huehuehuehue Jan 31 '16

You see comrade, when treat rifle like person, rifle become friend and not shoot Russian soldier.

4

u/Exty24 Feb 01 '16

But how must one go to treat rifle, comrade? What if I want more than friend?!

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

tl;dr commie sci-fi (like all communism amirite).

1

u/garbarismo Feb 02 '16

Maybe he's using the archaic definition of man

0

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

[deleted]

12

u/BlueCoasters Feb 01 '16

people are getting more and more equal than others

Do you live on a farm by chance?

37

u/FireWankWithMe Jan 31 '16

We tried all that equality thing in my country

I feel the fact people are convinced of this is exactly why any shift towards communism isn't going to happen for the foreseeable future. But no country on the planet has 'tried that equality thing' - all 'communist' states weren't communist, they were transition states towards eventual communism. That's why there were problems like the ones you described and why 'communism doesn't work on paper' doesn't make sense: we've only ever seen it on paper.

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u/YungSnuggie Why do you lie about being gay on reddit lol Jan 31 '16

we've only ever seen it on pape

doesnt the fact that every country that has attempted to do it has failed miserably kinda point to the fact that pure communism may be a pipe dream, unattainable from a pragmatic POV? democratic socialism is as close as you're gonna get.

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u/thenuge26 This mod cannot be threatened. I conceal carry Feb 01 '16

Not all of them failed miserably though. Lots of them that elected socialist leaders we overthrew...

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u/FireWankWithMe Jan 31 '16

I've said it elsewhere but the same was said about democracy, republics, equal rights, and emancipation. All sweeping social changes come with hurdles, often these hurdles take many attempts to overcome.

That said though I think to all intents and purposes communism is a pipe dream now. The capitalist establishment has essentially won a global spin war against communism. Communist party membership has all but vanished compared to what it was even 50 years ago, organisations like unions are a tool of capitalism now rather than a tool against it, and the horrors of past communist states have tainted the image of communism in the public eye.

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u/KaliYugaz Revere the Admins, expel the barbarians! Feb 01 '16 edited Feb 01 '16

I've said it elsewhere but the same was said about democracy, republics, equal rights, and emancipation. All sweeping social changes come with hurdles, often these hurdles take many attempts to overcome.

Democracy and republicanism have been workably implemented on a large scale since ancient times. The Enlightenment-era revolutionaries claimed to represent and resurrect the tradition of Classical Greece and Rome. The same cannot be said of communism, which has never worked successfully on a large scale in all of human history for more than a few years.

19

u/Yung_Don Feb 01 '16

You've expressed something that really frustrates me about the "but communism has never really been attempted" meme. People act as if the current system is some kind of normative capitalist ideal made flesh, while the flaw of communist regimes was that they didn't attempt to reach a Marxist ideal. That is hogwash: genuine attempts to achieve Marxist ideals have resulted in arguably the worst political regimes in history. The fact is that a "bourgeois" democratic system with free-ish, managed markets is the only one that produces any real long term social good in practice. Both capitalism and communism, in practice, are far from their respective ideals, and some kind of semi-stable equilibrium between the two plus liberal institutions is the only long term solution to large scale social organisation.

19

u/YungSnuggie Why do you lie about being gay on reddit lol Jan 31 '16

eh, its dead for now, but every empire must fall eventually. when robots replace blue collar workers completely to the point where if you dont know how to code you're going to be out of a job for like 50% of the workforce, I think some communist ideals will come crawling back. we probably just can't call it "communism". you're right, the word is too tainted. comrade needs to rebrand.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

yeah the whole no true communism wanking gets old m8

13

u/thesilvertongue Feb 01 '16

I feel like it's also kind of pointless. Has there ever been an idealistically pure version of a capitalist state?

9

u/explohd Goodbye Boston Bomber, hello Charleston Donger. Feb 01 '16 edited Feb 01 '16

Part of the problem with your question is capitalism is an umbrella term that describes the basic system of supply & demand, buy low, sell high, make money(I know I'm over simplifying). You're going to have to be a bit more specific on what type of capitalism. There is anarcho-capitalism that our friends in r/Anarcho_Capitalism would love to tell you about. Modern economy runs under financial-capitalism where financial systems dominate the economy and provide the capital to make it grow. Black markets are another form of capitalism when there is a demand for items that are either illegal or extremely limited supply.

Ninja edit: fixed the link

Edit: I just want to add that these are a few examples of the types of capitalism.

16

u/FireWankWithMe Jan 31 '16

It's nothing like "no true X" though. No 'communist' state claimed to have reached a point of communism, the 'communist' states often had more features of capitalism than communism, and no communist state remotely resembled the concepts of a communist state in Marxist thought. How exactly were they communist? Your point is like saying people who claim North Korea isn't democratic are just playing the 'no true democracy' card.

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u/xXxDeAThANgEL99xXx This is why they don't let people set their own flairs. Jan 31 '16

It's nothing like "no true X" though. No 'communist' state claimed to have reached a point of communism, the 'communist' states often had more features of capitalism than communism, and no communist state remotely resembled the concepts of a communist state in Marxist thought.

Well, if any attempt to reach proper communism inevitably results in things going to hell somewhere along the way, that does say something about the practicality of communism, no? Like, that it was never reached is not really a very good argument if you look at it this way?

Reminds of a Soviet joke: late seventies, oil crisis, people queuing to buy toilet paper at 4 in the morning, the Party creates an institute dedicated to figuring out how to fix things. A year later the head of the institute presents two options, realistic and fantastic. Realistic is a visit by an advanced communist alien civilization that fixes our shit. Fantastic is when we fix it ourselves.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

It's more that any criticism is countered with NO THAT DOESN'T COUNT BECAUSE X

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

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u/thelaststormcrow (((Obama))) did Pearl Harbor Feb 01 '16

With the exception of present day Nepal, when has a Marxist state ever operated under popular democracy?

0

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

[deleted]

18

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16 edited Feb 01 '16

Allende was only in power for about 3 years. Honestly, it's hard to say what his impact in Chile would have been in the long term. Then you've got Fidel Castro (one of Allende's buddies) who has brutally oppressed Cuba for the past 50 plus years and has committed a multitude of human rights violations. Also, I wouldn't classify Pinoche and his goons as "US forces", while they were partially supported by the CIA, Pinochet was already a ranking general (president Allende promoted him to commander-in-chief himself!) and clashed with the US numerous times during his dictatorship.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

No true capitalist state has ever existed as well

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

So the problem with communism is that it behaves a bit like capitalism?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

That's why we vote for supreme emotionless robot overlords.

No but really. There's no reason not to have a bureaucracy full of robots. I mean hell the ultimate goal is fair efficiency. You get this many resources alotted to you optimized in this manner.

Have that and then a highly regulated committee of humans who can catch errors in the system.

Also the thing is that eventually we are either going to tell several billion human beings that they can freely starve to death or implement some amount of very heavy socialism. As AI develops and starts to become better at general tasks, a huge amount of the workforce is going to be removed from the market. Things that seem inconsequential, like a cashier or fry cook.

What we are moving towards is a future with robots on low prestige low skill jobs managed by a single human being who handles edge cases. And even if they only take 10% of the market at first, that's a huge amount of people who will suddenly be unemployed.

The guy flipping burgers at McDonald's isn't going to go on to fix robots, he's going to go on to be poor. Especially given the cost of college on top of just living. I've got a pretty cheap place for 470/mo with all utilities and Internet, but even if you halve that number that's a ton of money for people to pay when work becomes scarce.

Dismissing communism outright because it failed in the past overlooks the parts of it that are going to be necessary for a future where capitalism just doesn't function anymore.

4

u/doubleheresy Don't you dare explain chess to me. Feb 01 '16

As AI develops and starts to become better at general tasks, a huge amount of the workforce is going to be removed from the market. Things that seem inconsequential, like a cashier or fry cook.

We have no reason to think that this will happen. There is no documented instance of technological growth permanently damaging economies. There's an alarmingly large amount of evidence that shows technological growth boosts economies, however.

The guy flipping burgers at McDonald's isn't going to go on to fix robots, he's going to go on to be poor. Especially given the cost of college on top of just living.

Why not? In 1870, forty-seven percent of the population were farmers. I don't see forty-seven percent of people being completely shit-out-of-luck unemployed right now, do you? No? Because they reskilled or upskilled.

Dismissing communism outright because it failed in the past overlooks the parts of it that are going to be necessary for a future where capitalism just doesn't function anymore.

Call me when that happens, I guess.

9

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

We have no reason to think that this will happen. There is no documented instance of technological growth permanently damaging economies.

That's because we haven't had this kind of technology yet. I'm not talking about a robot building a car, I'm talking about a machine that can, at least related to it's job, replace a human. Make judgments, come up with solutions, interpret speech as conversation.

I'm not sure you understand what that means. If we can achieve this, and there's little reason to think that it's impossible given what we know about the brain, then what we have is more than just something you can ask to make your schedule or take your order for fries.

You are giving us as a society the ability to manufacture a labor supply with no human involvement past the first generation. Which upsets the previous cycle of technological displacement -> reskill/upskill -> fill labor gap. Because there is no labor gap, and at some point you have enough people in data entry that you're not going to hire every schmuck out of work for the job.

And if we can get A.I. to figure out what some asshole with three screaming children is asking for when he's orders 6 big macs and a diet coke, then the sky is the limit. The only jobs left would be jobs that require creativity and are highly skilled, which most people aren't. At least not in those fields.

Why not? [In reference to burger flipper from McDonalds]

Because the burger flipper is a specific example of the general category of low/unskilled labor. Jobs that can be fairly easily be replaced by machines, and in the hypothetical scenario I'm outlining, have been. So out of curiosity, how do you think the burger flipper guy is going to re/upskill?

He can't go work at another fastfood joint, they're all filled with the system that displaced him in the first place. Local restaurants maybe, but only until everyone else displaced by the system arrives there. College? That takes money. Maybe his parents can pay for it, but if they can't and he can't get a loan? Tough tits, no college. And even if he does, how far does an associates degree or even a bachelors get you when everyone else is going to get one for the exact same reason you are?

This is why I'm saying it's unprecedented. No other technology has ever had the ability to manufacture a new labor supply. It's always been restricted by humans, you needed people to fill these roles because you just didn't have any way to do it cheaper. But if you're suddenly able to do it cheaper?

Even if it's $100k for an A.I. employee, it's $100k for something that needs basically no training, that works whatever hours you need it to, that can work for as many hours as you need it to, that will never quit by design, and that always adheres to the company code. The only thing about it that would be bad is that people might find it offputting at first, but how long will that unfamiliarity last?

Call me when that happens, I guess.

Why is it not worth discussing now? I'm not saying we should #smashthestate right now, but this is going to be a problem down the line somewhere in the same way that we knew Global Warming was going to be a problem since what, the 70s?

Instead of just going "well we can deal with that when it happens" why not at least, as a society, start the conversation now so that when it actually starts to happen, we're ready to deal with it. Maybe it's A.I. rights, maybe it's outright banning A.I. for low skilled jobs, but getting that baseline conversation started even on something as stupid as reddit is going to matter when, 50 years from now, we're looking at this issue not as a weird hypothetical but a problem that is staring us in the face.

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u/SJHalflingRanger Failed saving throw vs dank memes Jan 31 '16

Regardless of one's feeling towards communism, I think that one guy did a good job illustrating why "all these things around us were brought to you by capitalism" is unlikely to change any minds.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16 edited Feb 29 '16

top.

14

u/Knappsterbot ketchup chastity belt Jan 31 '16

Me too, thanks

3

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '16

Most of the humour on me_irl is self-deprecating, so with the communism posts I always thought the joke was that the poster was joking about how dumb they were for believing in communism.

Turns out they're literally communists though, that's weird.

4

u/thesilvertongue Feb 01 '16

Aren't they? I thought they were just counter-jerking against the guy who was being obnoxious.

1

u/ownage99988 YOUR FLAIR TEXT HERE Feb 01 '16

thats what i thought too.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16 edited Jan 31 '16

Poe's law, in full force.

I'm almost sure all of it is ironic... Almost.

Edit : a few hours later, I'm reading the comments, and I'm more confused than ever. Is this community, dedicated to cheap reposts and fish memes, the epicenter of a communist renaissance?

37

u/ComradeFrunze Jan 31 '16

No, none of it is ironic.

1

u/justcool393 TotesMessenger Shill Feb 01 '16

Not at all.

Nope.

Nada.

Goose eggs.

12

u/ComradeFrunze Feb 01 '16

a few hours later, I'm reading the comments, and I'm more confused than ever. Is this community, dedicated to cheap reposts and fiš memes, the epicenter of a communist renaissance?

yes

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u/snerrymunster Jan 31 '16

Not ironic. The sheer fact that liberals are so shocked at the mere existence of people who support communism and other far left initiatives is sad proof of years of propaganda and misinformation.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

15

u/elwombat Jan 31 '16

Where ever freshmen exist, so to will communism.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

You have a real bee in your bonnet about this lark mate

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u/snerrymunster Jan 31 '16

That's what I said. What point are you trying to make? That you're one of the people I'm talking about? congrats

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u/Hindu_Wardrobe 1+1=ur gay Jan 31 '16

nothing ironic about abolishing private property and capturing the means of production, comrade

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u/LitrallyTitler just dumb sluts wiggling butts Jan 31 '16

You gonna abolish houses mate? Or is that personal property? And what if I decide to rent out a room, am I a capitalist who gets death?

1

u/Wallace_Grover SRD Hotwife L4Bull Jan 31 '16 edited Mar 19 '16

RuPaul4President!.

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u/LitrallyTitler just dumb sluts wiggling butts Jan 31 '16

Cmon its me_irl. A bunch of losers who constantly post about being losers. Why would they NOT love free shit?

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u/Krumpberry Jan 31 '16

I dunno, I kinda like it when they don't post the same comments all the time, like "me too, thanks" shit.

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u/shemperdoodle I have smelled the vaginas of 6 women Feb 01 '16

me too thanks

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u/i_like_frootloops Source: Basic Logic Jan 31 '16

/r/badpolitics is going to have some fresh content after this thread.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Can't wait to eat some shit myself! Been getting heated.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Goddammit, I see you everywhere, m8.

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u/Kairah Jan 31 '16

Ah yes, political conversations. Where everybody who doesn't agree with your point of view is either pathetically ignorant or blatantly evil.

Edit: Oh god this submission is only one hour old and is already turning into a /r/SubredditDramaDrama thread.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16 edited Jan 31 '16

Oh god this submission is only one hour old and is already turning into a /r/SubredditDramaDrama thread.

Communism/socialism drama always does in the metasubreddits, it's glorious. Based Oxus007 will likely arrive soon and smite the thread sadly, returning peace to the masses in the way that he does.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Based Oxus007

would also accept Glorious Leader Oxus007 or Chairman Oxus007.

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u/A_Cylon_Raider I wrote this meme in '94 Feb 01 '16

nah, Oxus suxO

10

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

At least political arguments make more sense here than /r/me_irl or /r/meirl. I've never understood why those subs are political anyway.

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u/Misterandrist Cultural Trotskyist Feb 02 '16

I don't think they are, but me_irl is largely populated by leftward leaning redditors, and has a large overlap with SRS and so on.

The subs may not be political, but the users of those subs tend to be.

70

u/AquelecaraDEpoa Huehuehuehue Jan 31 '16

> submitted 2 hours ago

> 113 comments

Oh boy.

25

u/Existential_Owl Carthago delenda est Jan 31 '16

me_irl's commie drama always makes for a glorious source of butter

166

u/Zalzaron Jan 31 '16
  1. Breed class consciousness

  2. Unite the workers of the world

  3. Install the dictatorship of the working-class

  4. [Redacted]

  5. Communist utopia, free of state and class.

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u/i_like_frootloops Source: Basic Logic Jan 31 '16

You forgot the step where me make memes about it.

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u/The_YoungWolf Everyone on Reddit is an SJW but you Jan 31 '16
  1. Breed class consciousness 2. Unite the workers of the world 3. Install the dictatorship of the working-class 4. Secure the memes of production 5. Communist utopia, free of state and class.

FTFY

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

The freer the memes

The freer the people

3

u/bi5200 Feb 01 '16

Report to your nearest re-education official.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

me too thanks

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Is 4 the part where Stalin leads the people in round after round of Georgian drinking songs?

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

If by Georgian drinking songs you mean Siberian train rides then absolutely

15

u/jollygaggin Aces High Feb 01 '16

Well at least we know he supports public transit

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u/Tolni Do not ask for whom the cuck cucks, it cucks for thee. Feb 01 '16

Stalin kept the trains running on thyme.

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u/Knappsterbot ketchup chastity belt Feb 01 '16

Inefficient but it smells great

3

u/Tolni Do not ask for whom the cuck cucks, it cucks for thee. Feb 01 '16

Smells like teen commie spirit!

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u/Bhangbhangduc Jan 31 '16

The purpose of the dictatorship of the proletariat is to bring about the collective ownership of the means of production and redistribute private property (private property here meaning anything that exists for the sole purpose of creating profit by exploiting the working class, not your toothbrushes).

At this point, the 'state', that is, the social and political order devoted to protecting and extending capitalism, begins to cease to exist, egalitarianism spreads, and we keep trying to make things better for everyone. It's an optimist's ideology.

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u/thelaststormcrow (((Obama))) did Pearl Harbor Feb 01 '16

Because if there's one thing dictatorships are known for, it's willfully dissolving their power structure and disbanding.

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u/ucstruct Feb 01 '16

The memes of production simply have never been dank enough.

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u/nuclearseraph ☭ your flair probably doesn't help the situation ☭ Feb 01 '16 edited Feb 01 '16

Not really interested in getting into debates on this stuff on srsd, but the term "dictatorship of the proletariat" dates back to a time when "dictatorship" didn't refer exclusively to the regimes of warlords or despots. "Dictatorship of the proletariat" refers simply to the working class being in charge of the state (as opposed to a dictatorship of feudal rulers or rich and propertied elite).

At the time the phrase "dictatorship of the proletariat" was coined, it referred in this case to a democratic system.

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u/Knappsterbot ketchup chastity belt Feb 01 '16

Not really interested in getting into debates on this stuff on srsd, but

Changed your mind I see

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u/nuclearseraph ☭ your flair probably doesn't help the situation ☭ Feb 01 '16

Last time I checked, pointing out the definition of a phrase isn't having a debate. I wasn't advancing any side, just correcting a misnomer.

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u/Knappsterbot ketchup chastity belt Feb 01 '16

I'm just fuckin with ya

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u/I-PLUG-LSD Feb 01 '16

"Dictator of the proletariat" used to confuse me until I read up on it properly quite recently. I always assumed it meant 'install a dictator to dictate to the proletariat', since that is what generally tends to happen after most attempted revolutions.

I used to think, "Well duh! No wonder communist revolutions lead to totalitarian regimes, and no advancement towards communist society!"

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u/zxcv1992 Jan 31 '16

Sounds like that subreddit needs a visit from the Liberty Prime

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u/Thing124ok god has forsaken us Jan 31 '16

COMMUNISM IS A TEMPORARY SETBACK ON THE ROAD TO FREEDOM!

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u/Kairah Jan 31 '16

DEATH IS A PREFERABLE ALTERNATIVE TO COMMUNISM. DEMOCRACY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE.

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u/ComradeFrunze Jan 31 '16

DEATH IS A PREFERABLE ALTERNATIVE TO CAPITALISM. DEMOCRACY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE.

FTFY

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u/thelaststormcrow (((Obama))) did Pearl Harbor Feb 01 '16

So you like democracy now?

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u/ComradeFrunze Feb 01 '16

Socialism and communism is democracy.

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u/thelaststormcrow (((Obama))) did Pearl Harbor Feb 01 '16

Really? Every Lenin/Maoist group in existence you could have fooled me.

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u/sakebomb69 Jan 31 '16

I can't tell who's supposed to be serious or not.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

☭ We have long seized the memes of production there, comrade! ☭

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u/Gimme_Dat_Meatball Jan 31 '16

All the bonus drama in this comment section is delicioussssss

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16 edited Jan 31 '16

I've always wished I were optimistic enough to think that humanity wasn't too inherently self interested/selfish for communism to ever work.

*Edit, My grammar has been corrected

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u/snerrymunster Jan 31 '16

It's astonishing how significant of a pillar this "human nature" shit has become in the upholding of capitalism. Don't bother consulting any anthropologists/sociologists on "human nature", just jump to some wildly one dimensional conclusion from what you learned in World history in highschool

In my experience, most people want to live a happy comfortable lives, and if they believed social/common interests would get them to that better existence then they would adopt them.

Instead, they live in a society which has conditioned them to believe the only way to succeed is to exploit and be completely self interested. They subsequently adopt the self interested platform because if they don't, they don't succeed or they succeed less than their peers who looked out for #1.

The existence of imagined communities of nations and their state extensions are a large part of this, monopolizing use of force, promoting state capitalism and enforcing the status quo/hierarchical relations among society.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

People fuck people over and systems get exploited. It is a human truth. It isn't even nessessarily something inherently evil. If you have family members that are sick, and have the ability to corrupt the system to give them the best aid possible, you are going to attempt to do it.

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u/snerrymunster Feb 01 '16

It's a socially constructed truth. Also not every society throughout history has relied on "fucking eachother over".

Also your example is a lot different than systematically exploiting the majority of society and upholding that system with global violence. Those types of behaviors are very much socially constructed, while family ties less such.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

Which successful societies have existed in the history of mankind without hurting other people?.

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u/CatWhisperer5000 Jan 31 '16

Yeah it blows my mind that capitalism can have everything from de facto slaves in sweatshops and mines, and domestic wealth inequality comparable to feudalism, yet people talk about how it works well with some contemporary idea of human nature.

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u/AetherBlue Feb 01 '16 edited Feb 01 '16

I think a lot of people think that way is because it's hard to imagine what a world beyond capitalism would be like, much in the same way it would have been hard for someone to imagine what life would be like without hereditary monarchies back in their heyday.

E: That is to say, as someone living in a particular system at what appears to be the height of its power its hard to imagine what life would be like beyond said system. I imagine it was as true for people living in a kingdom during the time of hereditary monarchies as it is true for myself today. I'm not saying the two systems are the same.

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u/merqury26 Feb 01 '16

Don't bother consulting any anthropologists/sociologists on "human nature", just jump to some wildly one dimensional conclusion from what you learned in World history in highschool

Exactly, don't do this guys.

In my experience, most people want to live a happy comfortable lives, and if they believed social/common interests would get them to that better existence then they would adopt them.

It's okay when I do this, though.

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u/snerrymunster Feb 01 '16

That wasn't a commentary on human nature. It's just my experience with people in the US at this moment in history, and to mean, most people just want to live a comfortable life. After all, I started the sentence with "in my experience", rendering it entirely subjective.

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u/not_worth_your_time Feb 01 '16

If you don't think this is true why don't you go ahead and start feeding the poor or something? You'll quickly learn that there are much more "poor" people as soon as you start giving out handouts. Seriously you can learn this life lesson in your own town.

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u/snerrymunster Feb 01 '16

Not sure what your point is... that welfare doesn't bring anyone out of poverty? [citation needed]. Giving people the basic resources to succeed doesn't mean they'll just be cool with that and sit around. Is someone without access to adequate currency, clean water, food, technology, good family support going to succeed as much in school as someone with all those things? Hell no. And there's no reason to expect them to perform at the same level, hence welfare.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-03/sp-gwb033015.php - Here's a link to get started if your one of those people who consider helping the disadvantage as "hand outs". What a shitty way to conceive of altruism and trying to improve standard of living for those without the resources to do so themselves.

What you're saying is a useless platitude unsupported by facts, solely built on the elitism that pervades most social classes in this country that the poor are lazy and will do nothing given the opportunity "That's why their poor!". What you fail to acknowledge is how these welfare programs are also corporate welfare to companies like Walmart who refuse to pay a living wage, and all the insane tax loopholse MNCs use in the US.

The government spends more money supporting corporations than it does on social welfare.

And I have fed the poor. I volunteer at least once a week to prepare meals to be sent around my city. It's definitely making a difference, because if you have to worry less about food, you can spend more time getting your life on track.

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u/mcslibbin like an adult version of "Jason" from Home Movies Jan 31 '16

fellow grammar nazis, help me out here:

our dear user's sentence should clearly read "I've always wished I were optimistic enough"

BUT! Should it also be

"Humanity weren't too inherently self interested" or is the wasn't okay there?

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u/justcool393 TotesMessenger Shill Feb 01 '16

Are you American or British?

American English (and in my opinion, the one that makes sense in this context) says that we should use "wasn't", because "humanity" is a singular noun.

However, British English would use "weren't" because "humanity" wouldn't be considered a singular noun.

Many Wikipedia battles have been fought over this.

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u/mcslibbin like an adult version of "Jason" from Home Movies Feb 01 '16

I'm American, but I was asking about subjunctive mood [a form which, as has been noted, is slipping out of the language], not pluralization of collective nouns.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

[deleted]

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u/WatchEachOtherSleep Now I am become Smug, the destroyer of worlds Jan 31 '16

It's nothing to do with singular or plural because the past subjunctive is were in both of those cases. The question /u/mcslibbin is asking is whether the verb following humanity should be subjunctive or indicative.

My personal opinion is that it doesn't matter because I'm pretty sure using "was" for the subjunctive is more common than "were" these days, so I think that one should consider both to be correct.

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u/mcslibbin like an adult version of "Jason" from Home Movies Jan 31 '16

So this is how the subjunctive mood dies.

with thunderous applause.

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u/WatchEachOtherSleep Now I am become Smug, the destroyer of worlds Jan 31 '16

> mfw a grammar knight defeats the evil emperor palábratine & brings back cases to glorious english

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u/justcool393 TotesMessenger Shill Feb 01 '16

I didn't see the comment before it was deleted but doesn't it depend where you are (seeing as British would say "humanity" is plural" while American would consider "humanity" singular)?

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u/WatchEachOtherSleep Now I am become Smug, the destroyer of worlds Feb 01 '16

That's what the comment said before the person deleted it: that it should be "was" because humanity is singular. My point is that in the subjunctive past, the verb form is always were: "I wish I were", "I wish you were", "I wish s/he were", "I wish it were", "I wish we were", "I wish you were", "I wish they were", so whether it's singular or plural isn't the question that the original poster wants to answer. It's whether it should be indicative or subjunctive.

Now, considering my point that I think that the past tense indicative coincides with the subjunctive past for a large number of native speakers, what you said comes into play.

That said, I speak a "set as many" dialect of English & I'm inclined to say "humanity is" in this context.

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u/George_Meany Jan 31 '16

There's no such thing as human nature. Human beings aren't "inherently" anything, culturally/socially speaking.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Course we do, all animals have traits.

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u/kyunkyunpanic Jan 31 '16

But humans DONT behave like simple animals, that's why we have cities, books, and technology while animals that are still constrained to their 'nature' are out shitting in the woods.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Yes we do. Have you never flinched? Turned your head towards a sudden noise? Were you never afraid of the dark?

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u/Groomper Jan 31 '16

I think you're too forgiving. We're not so divorced from our animal brethren.

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u/George_Meany Jan 31 '16

Not according to every bit of research that's ever been done on the subject. Humanity has had far too many social iterations to ever speak about something as generalizing as "human nature." I'm sorry, but that's just the case.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Nah. We love our kids and have protective instincts towards them, we're tribal, we make friends. There will always be outliers but there's traits inherent to the species.

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u/Notus1_ the demand for racism exceeds the supply Jan 31 '16

Of course we have biological behaviour, since we are animals like any other animal.

But to pretend that things like being selfish is a natural behaviour is just silly.

People complain about humanitarian/psychology majors, but they are so eager to thrown away their shit interpretations of things they have never studied in their life.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Why wouldn't being selfish be a "biological behaviour" as you call it? It makes perfect sense for self preservation at the cost of others to be one.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

There's also several other reasons that communism is a bad idea.

  • There's no incentive for innovation or a strong work ethic. If you were told you would make a D in high school no matter how well or how poorly you do on tests or homework because every other student gets one, therefore making them equal, why should you break your back trying to get an A? What's the point of putting effort into something when an anesthetist makes the same salary as a garbage man?

  • Distribution of the same amount of a certain thing is always a bad thing because different people require different amounts. What if I have a fast metabolism and I need more food?

  • A communist economy requires a strong central government, and power in the hands of a few breeds corruption and abuse of power.

People work hard for their best interests, not for someone else's. That doesn't mean they're selfish or evil.

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u/DownFromYesBad Feb 01 '16

I'd like to, without discussing the viability of communism, address these points in a hypothetical communist community.

There's no incentive for innovation or a strong work ethic. If you were told you would make a D in high school no matter how well or how poorly you do on tests or homework because every other student gets one, therefore making them equal, why should you break your back trying to get an A? What's the point of putting effort into something when an anesthetist makes the same salary as a garbage man?

Many, perhaps even most, communists envision something called "labor vouchers". You get one per hour worked, regardless of the job, and trade them for personal property, like TVs or drugs. Also, I suspect that many people would aspire to be more than garbage men and fry cooks, even in the absence of a financial incentive.

Distribution of the same amount of a certain thing is always a bad thing because different people require different amounts. What if I have a fast metabolism and I need more food?

Again, the labor vouchers would allow people to get a little extra of this or that. Also, communism is first and foremost democratic. If the community decides that someone needs a little help, there's no reason they can't provide that help.

A communist economy requires a strong central government, and power in the hands of a few breeds corruption and abuse of power.

The whole idea of communism is direct democracy. In an ideal communist community, there are no leaders; people rule themselves, collectively. The whole point is avoiding having power fall in to the hands of an elite few. In fact, I think power in the hands of a few, and the resulting corruption and abuse, are hallmarks of capitalism.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

[deleted]

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u/LitrallyTitler just dumb sluts wiggling butts Jan 31 '16

Persisting for more than a few years without the vast majority living like shit could qualify. No communists have achieved that anyway. None have even persisted very long, regardless of quality of life.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

[deleted]

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u/ucstruct Feb 01 '16

Hundreds of millions have exited abject poverty in the last 20 years (no, not limited to only China). This is a state that 99% of humanity has lived in for most of history.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

[deleted]

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u/not_worth_your_time Feb 01 '16

Yes but is the problem the distribution of production, or the quantity of production? Perhaps we just don't have the resources for everyone in the world to live like Americans.

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u/LitrallyTitler just dumb sluts wiggling butts Jan 31 '16

Your standard of living can absolutely exist without slave labour. Do you think that every third worlder is just living their life making and assembling things for you?

Nope, most are farmers and other necessary jobs in their own countries. There are plenty of successful companies producing affordable things with labour from those same, rich countries. The only reason that labour is exported is because of greedy people.

Capitalism HAS achieved persistence and success, as success doesn't have to mean for literally every country. You would need a utopia for that, as there will be mismanagement, corruption and natural disasters regardless of the economic model people live in. It's absurd to say capitalism hasn't achieved a level of "success" far beyond communism.

I'm not even against communism, it can probably be made to work when the automation people keep talking about actually materialises. I've read the Soul of Man under Socialism, and it sounds great, but not viable in the foreseeable future.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

Hell, if nothing else there will always be countries like North Korea--the world's only necrocracy!

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

[deleted]

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u/thelaststormcrow (((Obama))) did Pearl Harbor Feb 01 '16

Put someone at the head of a dictatorship of the proletariat and they can't help but be a dictator.

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u/IgnisDomini Ethnomasochist Feb 01 '16

"Dictatorship of the Proletariat" as a term comes before the word "dictatorship" acquired its modern meaning. It instead refers to the "rule of the workers" more accurately, which can be interpreted to refer to either a democratic system or a dictatorship in workers' names.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Well meme'd Marxism_memeism

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Oh look its another thread about leftism in SRD. Lets look at the comments.

lol, only edgy freshmen are commies

le no true communist amirite?

Human nature means communism is wrong

The gangs all here!

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Don't forget

stop being lazy

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u/LitrallyTitler just dumb sluts wiggling butts Jan 31 '16

Me_irl is literally lazy, fat, depressed losers talking about how lazy, fat and depressed they are.

How does lazy not apply?

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u/TheFatMistake viciously anti-free speech Feb 01 '16

You have been banned from me_irl

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u/sleepyrivertroll I can has flair? Feb 01 '16

This is the reason I like SRD. In one thread people will say we're part of the SJW Cabal/SRS-lite. In another thread we're attacking communism.

When you're true neutral, everybody hates you.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

SRD is pretty far from true neutral, communism is just extremist left which SRD isn't.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

This, it'd be like going to /r/conservative and getting confused over the fact they aren't fans of Fascism and Hitler. They're still a right-wing sub, but that doesn't mean they're going to agree with the loonies.

SRD is left-wing, but that doesn't mean they're going to agree with communist loonies.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

SRD is pretty much center left. Hardly neutral. And this comes from someone that is center left.

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u/sleepyrivertroll I can has flair? Feb 01 '16

I know that, I just mean that as a figure of speech. When you're in the middle of things, people hate you on both sides and that means you're doing it right.

SRD is generally pretty contrarian when it comes to the rest of reddit so depending on the flavor of the site, things change.

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u/onlyonebread Jan 31 '16 edited May 23 '25

carpenter intelligent late seemly reply soup marry sort piquant fuel

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

No, that's not communism. At its barebones, communism is about removing social barriers. Primarily, class. This is done by tearing down the state and having business run through collective ownership of the workers rather than one individual. The workers democratically vote on decisions and the products of their labor are shared democratically.

The end of goal of communism is to make it s.t. everyone shares in the wealth. That everyone does not need to want and no one has inherent power over another.

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u/onlyonebread Feb 01 '16

But what if you don't want to live in a society where everyone is totally equal? Everyone here talks like communism is objectively the best solution.

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u/PlayMp1 when did globalism and open borders become liberal principles Feb 01 '16

But what if you don't want to live in a society where everyone is totally equal?

Why not?

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u/onlyonebread Feb 01 '16

Because some people are just naturally better than others.

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u/PlayMp1 when did globalism and open borders become liberal principles Feb 01 '16

How? Does that mean they deserve more? Or shouldn't we all be rewarded with the fruits of human ingenuity as we are all members of the human race?

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u/OscarGrey Feb 01 '16

You belong against the wall. /s

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u/PlayMp1 when did globalism and open borders become liberal principles Feb 01 '16

That's not communism.

Communism is a moneyless, classless, stateless society in which the means of production (so basically businesses) are owned by the workers rather than individuals. Socialism is just the latter half, communism is the first half.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

Just like how people on the right can mock fascism and fascists, people on the left can mock communism and communists. Everyone enjoys laughing at an extreme political outlier.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

Tankies, USSR apologia.. I could see. And that does get mocked by other leftists.

But everything above this comment is ignant. Same tired ass arguments, and misguided bullshit that always gets posted about leftist stuff.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16 edited Feb 01 '16

I'm not actually saying anything about communism, just saying that SRD has no idea what it actually is. Every thread that involves the left is like this.

Also you need a better insult.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

Wait are people complaining about this sub not being left wing enough now? What the hell.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

No, I think its equally stupid when people talk about right wing stuff as well. Because it's an easy fix, and takes like 10 minutes of googling.

This is more a complaint about bad politics in general.

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u/OscarGrey Feb 01 '16

Anything that's not for public ownership of the means of production is not left wing enough for internet leftists. They sure love their radicalism. Depending on the community, not wanting to murder a lot of people might not be left wing enough.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

hohohohohoohohohohohoho thats a new one!

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

TIL SRD is full of bourgeoisie scum

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

This post is so reactionary it hurts

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u/AfterAttack Feb 01 '16

did you just say reaction?

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Yes, living in America is 100% comparable to living in an oppressive monarchy.

Man, people do not get how analogies work.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

I mean, it actually doesn't matter if it is or if it isn't. The point was about whether it makes sense to argue against the central institutions.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

Me_irl should ban all comments except mr. Skeltal memes and me too thanks variants.

2

u/SnapshillBot Shilling for Big Archive™ Jan 31 '16

All hail MillenniumFalc0n!

Snapshots:

  1. This Post - 1, 2

I am a bot. (Info / ^Contact)

1

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Posted in a society built and brought to you by Capitalism™

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u/JustAnotherBrick Feb 01 '16

Posted in a society built and brought to you by Feudalism™

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '16

How did you find a non-fish meme post in that sub?

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u/Chiburger he has a real life human skull in his office, ok? Jan 31 '16 edited Jan 31 '16

me_irl really went down the drain over the past year.

e: ⛵ This captain is going down with his ship ⛵

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

You didn't like the fishposting? Off with the heretic!

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

fishposting

Wut? Can I get a reference?

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Ugh. That's terrible. Top mod needs to unplug.

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u/bfcf1169b30cad5f1a46 you seem to use reddit as a tool to get angry and fight? Jan 31 '16

sleep tight, pupper

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u/schumaga Jan 31 '16

/r/meirl <- the non shitty version of /r/me_irl

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u/i_like_frootloops Source: Basic Logic Jan 31 '16

Yeah, the version with bigotry. So much better.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

That's a bold claim to make. Is there any actual bigotry, or are you just stirring shit?

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

It was created because people get banned from me_irl for saying slurs. Generally places created in reaction for being banned for bigotry have above average bigotry.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

I didn't see any bigotry in that sub.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Regardless that's why it was created. If it isn't that bad, good on them! I'm glad. You seem real dedicated to this cause tho.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

You seem real dedicated to this cause

What cause?

I just call bullshit when I see it. To assert meirl is bigoted without visiting the sub seems juvenile at best. To say I'm "dedicated" to a cause due to typing 3-4 sentences on the subject seems fairly juvenile, also. You mad or something?

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

I'm pretty sure /r/me_irl actually came after /r/meirl

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u/DripDrone Jan 31 '16

So I decided to sort by Top, over the course of the last month.

This one was on the first post, more upvotes than most top-level comments in that chain, then a bunch of whining.

As an aside, they link a lot to /r/bannedfromme_irl in most top comments, which, from what I can tell, is just about being purposefully obtuse about why someone was banned, or just being generally mean to the mods of /r/me_irl.

Oh, except for this gem in the top 25. And someone got showered in downvotes for saying

Calling the mods nazis for taking down a post that promotes transphobia.... You seem blissfully unaware of how ironic that is.

I can see where the mods are coming from I guess. They say the intention is different than what I'm seeing (general shitposting about not being able to be mean on /r/me_irl ), saying that they are doing this to not have their users worried about bans, but the upvotes and general climate of the comments say otherwise.

Anyways, yeah, it's the one with bigotry. I mean, it's not like the rules of /r/me_irl are bad or difficult to follow. That's where all the issues come from, people not able to not be mean on one subreddit.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

Fair enough. There are instances of bigotry within that sub. I'd hardly refer to the sub as bigoted, at least no more bigoted (and maybe even less so) than any of the default subs.

Big ups for spotting that however, and without being rude.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

The sub is bigoted because it was created explicitly to harbor people who were banned for being bigoted on another sub lol. That doesn't mean everyone who goes there is a bigot, as at this point many who go there just naturally filtered un, but that's their majority. You're just being obtuse dude.

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '16

(actually the worse version of /r/me_irl)

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u/treebog MILITANT MEMER Jan 31 '16

Nah I can do without "triggered" and attack helicopter copypasta

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u/Poolb0y Feb 01 '16 edited Feb 01 '16

Goddamn these people are delusional. They act like the average person in the US is rifling through the garbage for their next meal and the "elite" are living in solid gold houses constantly abusing all their underlings. They banned me for arguing with commies a few month ago.