From "Democratic Socialists Need to Take a Hard Look in the Mirror" by Fredrik deBoer in the NYT. He's the author of "The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice."
Nice illustration, by Gary Ellis, at the link.
November 16, 2021
"I want socialism to win, and to do that, socialists must be ruthless with ourselves. The idea that most Americans quietly agree with our positions is dangerous..."
"... because it leads to the kind of complacency that has dogged Democrats since the 'emerging Democratic majority' myth became mainstream. Socialists can take some heart in public polling that shows Americans warming to the abstract idea of socialism. But 'socialism' is an abstraction that means little without a winning candidate. And too much of this energy seems to stem from the echo-chamber quality of social media, as young socialists look at the world through Twitter and TikTok and see only the smiling faces of their own beliefs reflected back at them.
Socialist victory will require taking a long, hard road to spread our message, to convince a skeptical public that socialist policies and values are good for them and the country. Which is to say, it will take decades.
Americans have lived in a capitalist system for generations; that will not be an easy obstacle for socialists to overcome."
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Same as they ever were. They are going to have to kill the capitalism out of me or wait until I die.
Looks more like a doctored photo than an illustration. Also, predictions on Rittenhouse? Pretty sure Richards did poorly in his close. May have only been saved by how bad Kraus was in rebuttal. Gaige Grosskreutz is a socialist. Maybe he should be the poster boy for the movement. Some people are born lefties. Others, like Gaige, are made. (That’s a bad joke about how he can’t use his right hand very well anymore due to have his bicep “vaporized” after pointing his gun at Kyle Rittenhouse).
Kind of hard, when there's places like Venezuela. That's different, of course. But still.
Good to see the gloves come off. And this little Lenin wannabe is correct: the American public needs to see socialism up-close and in person. It needs to feel that boot grinding into its face —and clearly planning to keep doing so forever. Only then will the public send these monsters back into the dust-heap of history.
... as young socialists look at the world through Twitter and TikTok and see only the smiling faces of their own beliefs reflected back at them...
At that's where socialists should stay...forever, staring at each other's navels and dreaming about they day their number comes up...
Socialism sucks.
These people will not accept being voted out of power as they made clear in 2020.
And President ShitsHisPants is ending any chance they have at winning an election legitimately.
These are violent little shitheads just itching at the opportunity to attack and subjugate.
Capitalism is not a system of government. It is a non-coercive basic method of commerce.
Socialism is coercive. It is a demand that you comply.
“Americans have lived in a capitalist system for generations; that will not be an easy obstacle for socialists to overcome."
I’d prefer the corksoakers just give up and move to Venezuela, or another one of their “socialist paradises”.
This requires acknowledging there are valid arguments on the other side.
But that takes cancel culture out of their arsenal.
So, no dice.
That fucker is high on his own supply
Fuck socialists and socialism.
People can be greedy. That is a human condition that cannot be solved by removing the right to non-coercive commerce.
Authoritarian socialism coupled with the force of an all-powerful government = #greed factor.
When powerful wealthy politicians skirt paying income tax for 3+ years, all while they tout tax fairness and wield tax hikes on YOU - and preach the gospel of tax fairness - that is the definition of GREED. and hypocrisy.
To be a socialist knowing the blood-filled experience of the 20th century, you have to loathe humanity with a passion that is frightening to consider.
"Democratic socialists."
Ah, yes. Right up to the victory station, at which point socialists get off the democracy train. Who needs democracy when you've reached your destination? Wouldn't want the people, with their false consciousness, to mess it up.
The plain fact of the matter is that socialism is a fool's fantasy which has never been other than disastrous to the extent it has been implemented. Maybe that's why it's lacking in support.
Meh, just another socialist whose ideas presuppose the benefits achieved only under capitalism. Yawn.
He's the author of "The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice."
He does know that the public education system is probably the most socialist institution in the country, doesn't he?
The contradiction is explainable because, for people like deBoar, it's not fundamentally about distribution of resources.
It's about control over what people can think and say and do.
The Cult of Smart: "Everyone agrees that education is the key to creating a more just and equal world, and that our schools are broken and failing."
I don't agree with either of those statements and don't agree that "just and equal" should be considered together since they don't have a strong association with each other.
Education increases inequality by giving smarter people more of an advantage than they'd have if nobody knew much of anything.
"Our schools" aren't broken and failing any more than anyone else's schools, they just cost too much.
"This passionate, voice-driven manifesto demands that we embrace a new goal for education: equality of outcomes."
Everyone should be the same height, too, because that would mean justice.
Socialist are only a small step above communists, and communism should be a death penalty offense.
Fredrik deBoer says: "I am a Marxist of an old-school variety, ..."
I first went to study and work in China in 1976, when it was still a socialist economy.
It cured me of my Aussie-trendy “Chardonnay Socialism” that I’d imbibed at Uni.
Then from 1980 on, “capitalism with Chinese characteristics” made the country wealthy (yes, yes, for good and ill…)
The problem with these western socialists (eg DSA) is they’ve never lived in a truly socialist economy.
It don’t work. Full stop.
I hope they all die. They hate America and everything we stand for. Go live in Cuba or Venezuela. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way to your utopia.
Socialists can take some heart in public polling that shows Americans warming to the abstract idea of socialism.
Exactly. The abstract idea. Once people grow up and learn the impacts of socialism in reality they tend to sour on it it pretty quick. Lured by abstract, mugged by reality. Every generation comes along and learns the same lessons, only the academics never grow up and thus they keep pushing this failed ideology on the impressionable young, generation after generation.
Socialism is nothing but fascism. The only way to make socialism work is to force it on people. There will always be people who don't like being looted, I mean taxed, to support the people who won't work themselves, but believe they are entitled to free stuff. That describes Democrats. The core concept of fascism is mandatory, everyone must support the state and to make that happen, the state will use force to make the reluctant become true supporters.
The NYT has outed itself with that column. But we already knew they supported fascism. They had Walter Duranty doing stories from the USSR. Those stories white washed the Ukraine famine and the elimination of the Ukrainian Kulaks. He got a Pulitzer for those stories, which has never been retracted. Just like the NYT's stories on Hillary Clinton's Russiagate hoax.
He wants socialism. I want freedom and individual choices.
His is the society of the anthill. Mine is the Empire of Liberty.
"Socialism" is indeed an abstraction. Many people who claim to support it don't know and don't want to know what it means. It's their way of saying "not this" and gesturing towards some "notthisness."
Enoch Powell famously said, "Beware the adjective social, for it will surely negate or reverse the noun to which it is applied."
Social justice. Social studies. Social security. Socialized medicine. Social diseases. Anti-social behavior order.
"Americans have lived in a capitalist system for generations; that will not be an easy obstacle for socialists to overcome."
No kidding! It's hard to convince Americans not to believe their lying eyes, as they look around at the wreckage of socialism, all over the world. Close at hand, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela; further afield, Russia, China, Cambodia, etc. A hundred million dead: that's a lot of broken eggs for what turns out to be a crap omelette. And always with the jack boot on the neck.
No thanks, no socialism for me.
It’s Not Just White People: Democrats Are Losing Normal Voters of All Races
“Democrats fear they are losing white swing voters over racial politics. Three studies suggest that the party’s elite culture may be the real problem.
“Democrats have seen a steady erosion in support among working-class voters of all races, while gaining support among the most highly educated voters.
“The culture war is not a proxy for race, it’s a proxy for class. The Democratic problem with working-class voters goes far beyond white people. . . . for many voters, and not just white ones, critical race theory is in a basket with other cultural microaggressions directed at working people by the elites they see as running the Democratic Party.”
My Cuban, Polish, and Ukrainian friends are unsurprised.
From the article:
". Socialists can take some heart in public polling that shows Americans warming to the abstract idea of socialism. But 'socialism' is an abstraction that means little without a winning candidate."
The strategy is to dress up socialism with a popular(ish) candidate, to make it look attractive. This reduces politics to something near HS School President elections, where the best looking, or most popular guy or gal is elected on that one factor regardless of ability or ideology.
Social media have been full of 'socialism is cool,' and 'government services are just like socialism' memes. It all looks to me like a copy of Das Kapital with a happy face sticker on the cover. In reality, there should be a skull and crossbones, or a biohazard sticker on it.
A very Lenin-like approach. Lenin also thought the random socialists- the Mensheviks of his day- were too soft on their approach- not nasty enough. Not murderous enough. They weren't willing to kill everyone and destroy everything to get their way. Lenin was.
Two things to note: polling is notoriously unworthy to use as a guide. So polling that ‘shows’ Americans ‘warming’ to socialism is probably a shallow reading. A cherry pick of data that fits the wanted conclusion. A sort of confirmation bias poll, which so many of them are.
Also- the thing about Democrats/Liberals, morphing into Progressives, morphing into Socialists, and eventually Communists and Totalitarians, is that they succeed best when people don't actually know what they are, or what they are doing. Democrats/Liberals get elected by not revealing what or who they are. They pass bills by giving them Orwellian names that belie the actual goal and purpose of the bill. Take, for instance, the Affordable Care Act, which was not affordable, but instead blew up medical pricing as it shattered the healthcare marketplace. Or the newly signed Infrastructure Bill which has the sound of something that will repair and build new roads, bridges, and airports. Nothing of the sort will happen. Oh yes, the money will flow. Unions will make out well. But roads and bridges will acquire red barrels, and not much more. This bill also includes boodles of money for something called 'Climate Change' (not sure how you throw money at the climate to stop it from changing, but they're claiming to save the planet with this), and broadband service- as if enough people are somehow not getting Facebook to censor their thoughts. And yes- censoring speech and thought is a big Socialist trait. It shows up everywhere they do.
Democrats cannot tell you exactly what they are going to do. They avoid it. Give things fuzzy sounding names. Remember Obama telling the nation- 37 times- that "you can keep your doctor if you want to" when he knew that was not going to happen? He and his chief medical architect of the plan laughed about that. They laughed about how stupid the American people were. They love that. They required that. And they use it.
If socialists came out as this guy says they need to do, they'd get hung by their heels. Socialism has killed millions in just the last 100 years. We're not talking ancient history. They've destroyed countries, generations, entire cultures. And yet, this disease that is socialism keeps taking over schools and pumping this falsified story of Capitalism vs Socialism at the kids.
Here's the reality: When the American people actually get to know socialism, they reject it- with prejudice. When the kids wake up and realize that there is no nobility in standing in line to hopefully get a loaf of bread for the week, they'll reject it. When they see their neighbors are missing- taken away at night, they'll reject it. When their own individual dreams are vanquished to the cause of "the greater good" which translates to "everybody is going to be equally poor and desperate", they'll reject it.
Capitalism is the natural state of humans. And if left alone by Government would continue to pull civilization kicking and screaming toward a better future for more people. Capitalism has given more wealth and opportunity to more people than any system- ever. It's problems come from Governments manipulating markets. Get Governments hands out of the pot, and this thing works- for everybody who wants to take part.
Old-school universalist socialists like deBoer are a small group but have proven to be far more principled and intellectually honest than the so-called socialists or progressives who went with what Stephen Hicks calls the postmodern ethical inversion of values to demonize wealth, focus on identity politics and green Utopianism as the grounds of the contemporary socialist struggle. Those who hewed to class may have disagreeable politics to me, but they seem to have preserved their souls. Think Bernie before he ran for national office.
I find this incomprehensible. Socialism is a failed economic system, it has failed everywhere and everywhen it has been tried. I have relatives who lived under communism in Lithuania, and I was allowed to visit them in the 1980s, after decades of forced separation, It was terrible. You have to see it to understand it. I have been back many times since then. The remarkable transformation of Lithuania since the Russian overlords left is powerful testimony to the superiority of capitalism to socialism.
Obviously Venezuela is another example of failed socialism, but Lithuania is the case I know personally.
Our public schools led have failed completely on economic education. The science on this question is settled, as the liberals might say.
"Americans have lived in a capitalist system for generations; that will not be an easy obstacle for socialists to overcome."
Two things:
1. From his lips to God's ears.
2. Yes, it is difficult for socialism to overcome people's "lived experience" of capitalism, isn't it? Since people's "lived experience" of capitalism includes the whole rising-tide-floats-all-boats thing and the system-that-has-produced-the-greatest-prosperity-for-the-greatest-number thing?
Socialism looks appealing before seeing what it means in practice. Politics is almost always a question of the comparison of alternatives and socialism becomes a monster when you dig a little. Socialism is near peak in America. Biden’s policies will tarnish it for the young who have little experience other than the current.
Socialism would work perfectly if people were prefect.
People aren't perfect, and never will be.
Socialism has never worked, and never will.
What will really not be an easy obstacle for socialists to overcome is the actual reality of what socialism has wrought in the USSR, Cuba, China, Venezuela, etc. The values of those countries are not particularly appealing to Americans.
Now, what the socialists might actually be able to get is a higher-tax regime, something more like Europe (which is still capitalist, but just at a higher tax level). But that's not terribly popular either. They have all that lovely architecture from the pre-capitalist days, and a bunch of lovely museums. We can always use our capitalist dollars to go visit on vacation.
Jake: "Pretty sure Richards did poorly in his close."
LOL
Pretty sure you completely 180 degrees out of whack wrong.
And the proof was in Fatlock's/Sauerkraut's closing Closing after the Defense. The defense had to toss out even more chaff after Richards, who was so quiet for the entire trial, took a flamethrower to the prosecutions hoax case, methodically, witness by witness. In so doing, Richards left the jury with multiple memorable "kill shot" (heh) lines, for example:
- "Hocus Pocus, out of focus".....absolutely perfect
- Re: weapons used against Rittenhouse: Hands, Feet, Skateboard, gun....again, perfect.
- "if the glove don't fit, you must acquit" (always worth a call back)
The weapons used argument actually forced Fatlock to stand up and say "hey, everyone has to take a beating sometime" and "hands and feet have never killed anyone". Wut?!
LOL
Again, the prosecution better hope there are no battered women on the jury.
Fredrik De Boer is the Freddie De Boer who turns up elsewhere on the internet. I didn't think Freddie was a Marxist, though what he wrote was never interesting enough to make me want to read through to the end. "Freddie De Boer" sounds like some millionaire playboy, like Reggie Van Gleason III, not some embittered academic drudge.
"And President ShitsHisPants"
If one is wearing a diaper, can one truly shit their pants?
Prole-
Drudge linked to that and I read most of it. Garbage.
Could that idiot say "REPUBLICAN OPERATIVE" one more time?
Why don't socialists just move to a socialist country?
The corporate press is a group-think-D hack globular cluster. Mostly toxic.
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1460612500060262407
clicky the image.
This type of Dim makes you people go off on uber virtue signalfest
I had to go to the NYT to discover that DeBoer was writing about the non-election of India Walton as Mayor of Buffalo. That wasn't just a defeat for "Democratic Socialism," it was a spectacular defeat. The guy ran a write-in campaign (how often do those work?) and beat the "official" Democratic candidate by over 15 percent, despite the two Democratic NY Senators endorsing his opponent. That's a plain wipe-out.
Temujin @ 9:58: Eloquent. And IMHO all true. The socialist BS only works until the buyers open the shiny wrapper, at which point the seller has already pocketed the proceeds and the inedible contents stand revealed: too late.
That's what really worries me. These alluring promises of free s*** will persuade a population which was spared any exposure to Civics; which has been told how unfair life is, and how they deserve more; which lives in a society of overwhelming material abundance; which has been told they can click a button ("vote") and the magic engine of Democracy, with which they have little or no local or frequent contact, will generate, like an Amazon delivery, whatever they need or want, at no charge. Let the leaders worry! Let the future pay for it!
And once that vote is over, or its simulacrum has been played out and the outcome gives the Left the most slender handhold on absolute power? We're done.
The issue is affordability and availability. The market system optimizes supply, demand, and pricing of finitely available and accessible resources (e.g. human, medical, sea-side estates). Single/central/monopolistic solutions are antithetical to market economies and are a first-order forcing of catastrophic anthropogenic economic dislocations and climate change (e.g. lust and abortion, what is it good for).
Social (i.e. relativistic, "ethical") justice anywhere is injustice everywhere.
Skippy Tisdale said...
"And President ShitsHisPants"
If one is wearing a diaper, can one truly shit their pants?"
I worked in senior care for over a year and I can assure you it's not only possible, it's probable.
Gospace said...
"Socialism would work perfectly if people were prefect.
People aren't perfect, and never will be.
Socialism has never worked, and never will."
Precisely.
If men were angels...
Even an ardent socialist like science fiction writer Isaac Asimov understood that the kind of power required to make socialism "work" isn't the kind of power you could entrust to human beings. That's why he created his altruistic and God-like robots. They were incorruptible administrators who could always be counted on to know what was best for humanity.
In the real world, those given such power are infinitely corruptible and always end up acting in THEIR own best interests. They use their power to first neuter (if not destroy) their opposition in the name of the common good. Then, with no one to answer to, they provide to rob the system of anything of value. As systems fail, they either pretend the failure isn't happening or use the failure as an excuse to apply pressure to any opposition left standing. Pretty soon, the general population is left with nothing while those in charge vacation on the Rivera.
Gee, I wonder why such a system is such a hard sell?
Blogger Rollo said...
Fredrik De Boer is the Freddie De Boer who turns up elsewhere on the internet.
Is he? I wondered about that myself and went looking this morning. What I found in a cursory search seems to indicate that they are not the same person.
But, it is an unusual name and the info was ambiguous enough that I am unable to say that for sure.
So does anyone know if they are?
I had just run across an article by Freddy deBoer this weekend. In the intro, about why he had taken down most of his writings, he says:
Partly this is because I don’t like to look back in my writing - I publish so frequently in part because I want to move past what I’ve already written. But the other reason is that I have very mixed feelings about this essay, as I was profoundly manic when I wrote it. I think if you have that foreknowledge you’ll find it rather obvious while reading it. And this is not a piece of trivia, as the essay intersects with my illness in uncomfortable ways, particularly with the severe paranoid ideation that rises when my mania deepens and which usually prompts the behaviors that lead to hospitalization. This essay sees cop behavior everywhere because cop behavior really is everywhere in our social culture, particularly online, but it also sees that kind of behavior everywhere for the same reason that I have accused friends of being disloyal to me, of attempting to hack my bank account, of putting broken glass in my toothpaste. The observations in these piece are true, I believe, but also partly motivated by serious mental illness. To be clear, I agree with this essay, I stand by the things it says, I admit that I enjoy its bravura writing style very much, and I don’t want its fans to stop sharing it or to feel bad for liking it. But it’s hard for me to read and personally I prefer to move on.
https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/planet-of-cops
So crazy enough to have been hospitalized for it multiple times. Not the kind of person i would use as my go-to for life advice. But is it the same guy?
John Henry
Howard: "This type of Dim makes you people go off on uber virtue signalfest"
Republicans: Democraticals are obviously attempting to advance socialism/marxism in our nation.
Democratical: I want socialism to win!
Republicans: See?
Howard: Republicans Pounce!
"To be clear, I agree with this essay, I stand by the things it says..."
and
"I don’t like to look back in my writing ... I want to move past what I’ve already written."
So- "I believe what I write, but don't quote me on that", then?
Prerequisite to being a Democrat and/or a Socialist is that you never take a hard look at yourself or the world.
I wish people who respect economic liberty would quit using the word "capitalism." It's a Marxist term of art; a tool for fabricating straw dog arguments against the natural economy.
Drago said...
Jake: "Pretty sure Richards did poorly in his close."
LOL
Pretty sure you completely 180 degrees out of whack wrong.
Richards did a horrible job.
For a good lawyer's take, see here: https://legalinsurrection.com/2021/11/rittenhouse-trial-defense-delivers-a-disappointingly-weak-closing-argument/
My take:
He completely blew it on self defense. He should have walked through the elements one by one, and pointed out that the prosecution is ignoring the law in their attacks on Kyle (it does not matter what the person he was defending against was thinking, or why that person was attacking him. All that matters is the defender's point of view).
He should have beat on the fact that lethal self defense only requires an imminent threat of great bodily injury. Then he should have walked through each of the attackers, and pointed out the threat of GBI from each of them, and how it was indeed imminent.
The prosecutor called Kyle a "lair" for lying about being an EMT. Richards should have fully addressed that, going through each of the people Kyle helped, and pointing out that none of the people Kyle helped were harmed by Kyle's lie. Pointed out that if Kyle had committed any "EMT malpractice", the Prosecution would have brought those victims to court, but they brought no one.
Then he should have turned it around and pointed out the Prosecution's lies, and the fact that the πrosecution was actually attempting to do harm with those lies.
It was perfectly legal for Kyle to walk around Kenosha with that rifle, which is why the judge tossed that charge. The Prosecution knew that it was legal, but repeatedly lied to the jury about that, trying to get an innocent boy convicted of a crime he didn't commit.
There were a couple other lies, not remembering them off the top of my head. Should have beat on all of them.
(Continued)
(Continued)
Richards should have had entered into evidence the FBI death stats, which show that every year more than twice as many people are killed by handguns than by rifles. And then during his closing he should have made the point that Left's Glock was in fact a bigger threat to Kyle than Kyle's rifle was to Lefty. It's just act Kyle had faster reflexes than the murderous Lefty.
Richard's remark about Blake getting shot 7 times and surviving was incredibly stupid.
He shoudl ahve said to the jury: "Now, imagine that I've previously been screaming at you, threatening to kill you if I ever got you alone. One witness said that wasn't very scary, when that witness was with a bunch of armed people who were on his side. But Kyle was alone, being chased by a maniac who would not back off." he shoudl ahve measured out 4 feet, which was Rosie's starting distance from Kyle. Then say "I have some audio I'm going to play for you. it has a beep to let me know to get ready, a half second delay, then the audio of Kyle's 4 shots. I want you to imagine yourself in Kyle's position, because the standard for self defense is based on what a reasonable person would do in the defender's position, not in the attacker's position, I want you to imagine me coming towards you, and think about where you would stop firing."
Then play the tape. 3/4 of a second goes by quickly, but a person can go a hell of a lot farther than 4 feet in that time.
Take away the "frame by frame" BS, and make them think about it in real time.
Then I would have gone after the "active shooter" BS. There was over 2 minutes between teh first 4 shots and the last 4. Make an audio that long, filled with the crowd screams of "cranium him", "get him", etc.
Play that audio, while talking about what Kyle was doing at that time: running to the police to turn himself in while because chased by a lynch mob. Add in play by play commentary "here's when jump kick man kicked Kyle in the head...." Stop the audio right before Kyle's shots at JKM. Ask "is that an active shooter? No, that's an innocent man being chased by a mob, and defending himself when the mob catches up to him. The prosecution is trying to continue that mob's work. Don't let them get away with it."
I echo Darkisland's question
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