1065
reminder rule
(lemmy.cafe)
edit: GUYS fuck stalin and fuck tankies, period. i understand that this community is more sensitive than most to pro-stalinist vibes, and i apologize for unintentionally twinging that nerve, but you need stop calling each other (and me) slurs
good heavens, happy new year, fuck incarceration and murder in all forms
(mods pls also do your job and help with the slurs thing)
edit2: big thank u 2 da mods for helping with the slurs thing u guys rock 😎 💕
Ok, so maybe not dozens, but regulatory capture and other facets of the US system of laissez-faire for the already rich and powerful coupled with brutal oppression of those already hurting the most directly kills at LEAST a million people a year, maybe double that indirectly or as a major but not sole factor. Multiply that with 29 (the length of Stalin's reign) and you get a hell of a lot more than 6.
Are the victims any less dead? Are the politicians that knowingly created and uphold that system any less culpable for their murder just because they were less direct?
They are when the people making the rules are aware of the consequences of their actions and choose to cause the premature and preventable death of citizens anyway. Which is the vast majority of the deaths.
Gulags were awful, yes, but only a few of them were worse than the worst present day US prisons.
You're letting red scare propaganda cloud your judgment.
As well you should
Good idea, since you're very bad at it
When you're significantly biased by red scare propaganda exaggerations as well as the paucity of reporting on US atrocities, I can see how you'd think so. You're not right, but you're wrong in a somewhat understandable way.
I got the multiplicator wrong by mistake once and corrected it when you called me on it. Maybe don't just blatantly lie when accusing others of arguing in bad faith?
Yeah, have a good one, I guess 🤷
Yeah, because pointing out the fact that underregulated capitalism is even worse than the failed communism of the Soviet Union makes me a tankie who loves Stalin. The same Stalin who I called an autocratic dickhead on this very post 🙄
The world isn't a binary where something stops being awful once something else is even worse. That unfettered capitalism is even worse doesn't mean that the USSR wasn't a shitshow in many ways.
While it's true that "bashing Stalin" (something that I engage in myself) isn't red scare propaganda, dramatically exaggerating the many faults of the USSR while simultaneously greatly minimizing those of US capitalism very much IS.
So if you can stop foaming at the mouth over me being a communist (I'm not. I vary wildly between a European style Social Democrat and an anarchist depending on the subject matter but never ultra-authoritarian like a tankie) and take off your binary goggles for a second, you might actually learn something rather than having a hissy fit.
I deleted my earlier comment before I saw that you replied bc it was stupid and douchey and I'm sorry about that. You definitely aren't a tankie from anything I've seen, the meme just had major tankie vibes and I unfairly assumed you must have been a tankie since you were defending it. Have a good day, sorry for being weird and aggressive for no reason🌸
Apology accepted. We all lose our heads or otherwise act stupidly from time to time. Realizing it and owning up to it is how you can tell the good ones from the bad ones, so you're good in my book! You have a great day too 🫶