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In reply to the discussion: Libertarians and Communists: Two Sides of the Same Douchenozzle [View all]True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)39. You merely prove my point without realizing it.
If you believe the first excerpt, you've ignored 83% of 20th century history because a) at no point did self-described communist governments or movements approach anything near a majority, much less get near 100%, and b) these governments merely attempted socialism, not communism, and were from 1917 onward under continuous threats and multiple, actual armed interventions which turned the policies from rudimentary socialism into state survival.
In other words, once again, the Perfect System and its acolytes are held to be above criticism by an infinite web of recursive excuses. All of its real-world horrors can be dismissed as not representing "real" Communism, all of its perpetrators not being "real" Communists. That attitude is how you distinguish people who want to make the world better and ideologues who just want to punish the world for not rising to their standards.
Advocates of Christian theocracy refuse to accept any responsibility for the Crusades or the Inquisition because they can concoct some petty doctrinal quibbles with the exact religious beliefs behind them; same way that Fascists can reject responsibility for Hitler or WW2; same way that every adherent of every discredited and corrupted ideology in history pretends that its utter failure when tried in reality is just really unfair and the world should really just keep giving them infinite chances to fuck it up.
If you consider libertarianism, even as a concept, to be "an originally benevolent, compassion-driven movement", you either do not understand what it is or, consider what is actually is to be benevolent.
I know its foundations in Enlightenment thought, and the morally laudable thinking that says government should operate as if with a Hippocratic Oath rather than intervening by default. That is the original basis of libertarianism, just as solidarity with the poor was the original basis of Communism. Unfortunately, the root often has very little resemblance to the fruit, and the fruits of both Communism and Libertarianism are bitter and poisonous. I suggest you think deeper before deciding you have a workable insight into these ideas.
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Libertarians and Communists: Two Sides of the Same Douchenozzle [View all]
True Blue Door
Aug 2014
OP
So your solution is they should retire in poverty to make a political statement. (nt)
jeff47
Aug 2014
#35
Thanks for cutting through the rhetoric to get to the results. Bravo. May I share this?
freshwest
Aug 2014
#7
Libertarianism has as much to do with Communism as this post does with political reality.
rug
Aug 2014
#14
By your words, "the Perfect System and its acolytes" you've established you're simply
rug
Aug 2014
#50
Then by that logic, capitalism is what capitalists do and nothing more......
socialist_n_TN
Aug 2014
#38
I have to agree, the OP needs to read more real history and less propaganda brochures. nt.
Rex
Aug 2014
#59
Is this your original writing, because it is awesome. Expletives at end paragraph notwithstanding
Fred Sanders
Aug 2014
#20
The corruption of large-C Communism had nothing to do with utopianism or radicalism.
Ken Burch
Aug 2014
#43
Rec-ing for one of the best discussions/conversations I have read here in quite some time.
Tuesday Afternoon
Aug 2014
#57
Interestingly I was just on a thread about the dangers of all forms of religious fundamentalism...
LeftishBrit
Aug 2014
#58