In former communist countries, the presence of neo-communists is pervasive in public discourse. They appear on TV screens, dominate social media, and influence everyday conversations. The communist mentality that once prevailed has merely taken on a new form.
In the neo-communist mindset, as in the communist one, an academic must always rise from the working class. According to neo-communists, it is a "crime" for an academic to descend from an academic father or grandfather.
The inheritance of knowledge or wealth across generations does not align with neo-communist ideology. In their view, a university professor should never be wealthy but rather a simple son of the people, without any family history or inherited wealth.
In the neo-communist mentality, the wealthy are always viewed as vile, and anyone who inherits wealth or knowledge is seen as a despicable scoundrel.
Neo-communists, like their predecessors, refuse to understand that humanity's calamities and tragedies did not stem from inherited knowledge, wealth passed down through generations, family crests engraved on rings, or pianos gifted for birthdays.
The true source of humanity's tragedies is the hatred of others, as Mark Twain aptly observed: "The problem with the left is that most of those who became communists did so out of hatred for the rich, not out of love for the poor."
Post Scriptum: Nothing good has come, or will come, from the hatred of inherited knowledge or wealth.
197 sats \ 1 reply \ @TNStacker 9 Aug
We also shouldn't automatically assume wisdom from those with inherited knowledge and/or wealth. They can be idiots, too.
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Exactly
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a simple, smart expression of a powerful truth, one that took me too long to realize but is a big reason for my orange pill journey
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Based on and with my own experience, I can tell you that migrating from a country that has changed forever for 25 years... and that has currently been in all the news for the last 10 days due to the great fraud they committed in their supposed last elections. .. that country where they kill the thoughts of young people... putting in that garbage that being rich is poor and stop counting... a country where you simply die because there is no medical care and there is no way to get to a hospital. transport because there is no gasoline in your car... where the electricity comes and goes at every moment... ending up damaging the few devices that you still have... and from which more than 8 million people in official and real figures had to leave ... In that South American country the worst happened... THE LEFT AND COMMUNISM took power... What they call socialism and it ruined everyone's lives FOREVER.
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You are reminding me of the whole Covid fiasco we all lived through.
Suddenly bureaucrats how knew nothing about medicine, science, market prices, macro economics were making decisions about which businesses were essential.
I swear, as I watched this go down the arrogance of these people was so obvious. The idea that we should listen to these people's decrees about what is essential drove me nuts. I can't imagine making such declarations that are enforced by violence. But of course politicians are sociopaths.
These people could have offered advice and made it voluntary but they are to arrogant and the public is to dumb in their eyes. It really felt like they were all communists to me. Just different stripes of the suit.
Looking back it is clear how wrong they were on so many arbitrary things. I don't blame them for being wrong. Central planning doesn't work. I blame them for being arrogant and using force to destroy the economies of the world.
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plus they encouraged snitching
Governor Walz set up a covid snitching hotline
Covid snitches deserve stiches ^2
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It was very communist. I really allowed anger to get the better of me during that time. Much prayer was required to get that out of my heart.
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Anger is a valid emotional response to injustice or moral outrage.
Rage is an overreaction.
Acting from anger and rage is ill advised usually
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Yes.
Anger is dangerous. It is not wrong but it should be treated with care. Like a weapon we need a healthy view of its power and potential for destruction. Anger can be right (righteous) but even then it can also lead to bitterness and destructive actions.
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Communism is motivated by envy, one of the deadliest sins as warned about by holy scripture.
Remember, Cain killed Abel because Abel had success and Cain did not. The path from envy to hatred to murder is short, and as old as time itself.
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Abel offered lamb to god. Cain offered vegetables.
I will take the lamb please.
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Honestly, IMO the biggest failure in the fight against communism has been the lack of focus on the failures of central planning. With Ludwig von Mises "Economic Calculation Problem" the socialist system is exposed.
People get caught up in the moral aspects of communism and honestly its mostly a distraction. The same critiques can be made of all top down systems that are statist in nature.
Socialism/Communism biggest problem is the calculation problem. Here's a brief summary.
The calculation problem in socialism refers to the alleged inability of a socialist economy to make rational economic decisions and allocate resources efficiently without the guidance of market prices. This concept was first proposed by Ludwig von Mises in the 1920s and has since been debated among economists.
Key Arguments
  1. Lack of Market Prices: In a socialist economy, the means of production are owned and controlled by the state or collective entities, rather than private individuals. Without private ownership, there is no mechanism to establish market prices for capital goods and intermediate products. This makes it impossible to calculate the costs and benefits of different production methods and allocate resources efficiently.
  2. Inability to Value Resources: Socialism lacks a system to value resources and goods in terms of their scarcity and utility. Without market prices, it is difficult to determine the opportunity costs of alternative uses of resources, making it challenging to make informed decisions about production and investment.
  3. Central Planning Inefficiencies: Central planning attempts to allocate resources through administrative decisions, which can lead to inefficiencies and misallocations. Without market prices, planners lack the necessary information to make optimal decisions, and their choices may be based on incomplete or inaccurate data.
I don't think Mises ideas are well understood. Politicians of all stripes seem to ignore the lessons and while I OFTEN here people in the US criticize Communism I rarely hear rational critiques that use logic. Its often a cartoonist criticism.
The fact is, central planners even if they were the smartest people and the most moral people would fail. They just can't know what is required to know. But I think this is a clue to why this critique of socialism isn't used. All politicians are in favor of some sort of centralization and lack humility. There are rare exceptions to this like Ron Paul but most just desire to grab the "Ring of Power" and use it for "good".
They do not accept that the market is the hive mind that they will never be able to recreate. It is literally the only real democracy. Freedom is the radical idea that statists fear most.
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100 sats \ 1 reply \ @drlh 9 Aug
Also I'd add the argument that in order to reach the communist utopia you need to surrender your right of property to commune. But you can't just throw away or take one liberty from someone without crushing the others, and it doesn't matter which be it the economic liberty, free speech, free travel etc.. You need to enforce, or else the other fellow human won't care about the rule. And communism requires ALL to surrender the economic liberty.
I like the affirmation of Hayek that the evil roots of nazism is the socialism, even though one is far left and other far right. Both requires the liberty sacrifice, but the difference is in the goal.
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I completely agree except I have always had a very hard time actually believing nazism was right wing. It has always seemed far more centrist but authoritarian. I think nazism breaks the right/left. And I'm not alone in this. You need more of compass x/y to really understand the various ideologies.
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"In the neo-communist mindset, as in the communist one, an academic must always rise from the working class."
I think it's quite evident that in the neo-communist mindset, an academic must always rise from the "approved" institutions, having obtained the "valid" degrees which prove they have completed their brainwashing, ehm, excuse me, "educational" journey and can then be bestowed with the holy powers of central planning
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And the brainwashed studemts must compile debt and then we cancel their debt
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Optional, but in the neo-communist mindset, definitely a highly regarded maneuver 😁
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Even the ones that have good intentions fail to realize that redistribution of wealth is a great authority given to the one(s) who get to decide how to redistribute the wealth. It is a zero sum game and gives the referees of the game free reign to be corrupt in the name of "equality".
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Indeed, the true source of humanity's tragedies is the hatred of others. That is why the political class and the rich plant seeds of hatred amid the masses.
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This ⬆️
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I am just curious, the people on the top usually had wealth. Did they hate each other? Or laugh at the people who didnt have wealth?
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The last one, I think.
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We see it today. But they laugh in private.
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The system doesnt work. People arent honest enough.
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Neoconmunism is bitcoiners who think fiat isn't that bad, bitcoin isn't that revolutionary, and that fiat venture capital has been great 🤡
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That’s a great Mark Twain quote. The Marxist impulse is sadly still strong in society. I believe the ‘woke’ crowd are the latest incarnation of it.
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Neo-Communist is a politically correct term for stupid.
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Countries who is run by communist party is bad for their citizens
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An academic must rise from the working class: such a quaint outdated utopian notion
What about physical traits that are inherited? Tall people inherit height from their parents. Do communists revile tall people? Maybe in North Korea but unlikely.
Hatred of the rich? In the West today especially USA it is the rich who support communist causes. Look at George Soros. Look at all the donations to BLM after George Floyd died.
Today communism is driven out of hatred for the working class or the small business owners.
Climate change is a communist idea.
Gun control is a communist idea.
Most academics are communists. I can think of at least 2 SN users who fit this description.
Edit: open border is a communist idea. The nation state is inherently capitalist. Globalism is the same idea. I am a citizen of the globe not of a country.
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open border is a communist idea
That’s is why most communist countries have had fences and walls around… makes sense 🤣🤣🤣
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And in situations of rising wealth disparity, the hatred will likely only intensify.
The people have an urge to blame something that they can see, and rarely ever travel down the rabbit hole to determine if they're presumptions are correct.
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Well said!
To me the neo-communism looks like yet another one of those unnecessary political classifications cooked up by a bunch of pundits as an epithet to hurl at people they do not like.
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Nice piece, though.
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Thanks
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Mark Twain: "El problema con la izquierda es que la mayoría de los que se convirtieron comunistas lo hicieron por odio por los ricos, no por amor a los pobres".