Get ready for your first communist neighbor

[Banzai]

Maduro in Venezuela is still trying to run the old playbook, despite having an opposition leader recognized by a number of western countries.

Western countries don't get to decide who the President of Venezuela is. Neither does Guido.

Speaking of playbooks, here's the American one:
Step 1 – Sanction, invade, or bomb the shit out of Socialist countries. Wreck their economies. Impose misery and poverty on their civilian populations.
Step 2 – Point finger at country they just destroyed and say "LOOK! See how bad Socialism is?! Everyone is miserable and poor!!"

 

[Banzai]

Well, I ommited the fact that he tells the poor that they are oppressed by the middle and upper class, he gives the poor a 100usd monthly "bribe" to keep them in his pocket, he also gives anyone under 30 without a job or education a scholarship, whilst cutting funds for researchers, he says tha the poor are all inherently good, that they never lie and that they never do anything wrong hence the name "pueblo bueno" or "good people".

In either case we are fucked

What a horrible man, helping the poor.

Regime change him. Stat.

 

[user 37518]

What a horrible man, helping the poor.

Regime change him. Stat.

Really? do you really think he is helping the poor by giving them $100USD a month whilst making big name companies go away and making thousands loose their jobs? do you think when he builds a train that goes through the jungle, destroying the enviroment, having to publicly ask for forgiveness to the local poor communities for having their ecosystem destroyed and getting told by them to "fuck off" for an answer is helping the poor? Do you think paying respects to the mother of one of the biggest drug lords, cartels who take advantage of the poor and enslave them is helping the poor? Do you think that telling the poor that the ones to blame are the middle class and the upper class who are responsible for all their problems, and thus polarizing society is helping the poor? that worked great for the poor in the USSR and Cuba because everyone became the same, poorer... Do you think that telling them that the poor can't lie, can't commit a crime (when crime is rising) and that they are all wise is helping them? Do you think that the country with one of the highest indexes of COVID fatalities is helping the poor?

Why don't you research a little bit more before judging other countries instead of letting your extreme left passions rule over you?

I am amazed by some of the americans (I am assuming you are one) enjoying all the benefits of capitalism and defending socialism.... Have you noticed that all the people who love communism are from the least communist and richest countries? everyone except those from communist countries,...

 

[user 37518]

That's still not Communism though...

Ok, what else do you need to call it Communism? a red flag? Isn't that the whole Marxist idea ? the proletariat is good and all their problems are due to the evil burgoisie?

 

[Banzai]

Really? do you really think he is helping the poor by giving them $100USD a month whilst making big name companies go away and making thousands loose their jobs? do you think when he builds a train that goes through the jungle, destroying the enviroment, having to publicly ask for forgiveness to the local poor communities for having their ecosystem destroyed and getting told by them to "fuck off" for an answer is helping the poor? Do you think paying respects to the mother of one of the biggest drug lords, cartels who take advantage of the poor and enslave them is helping the poor? Do you think that telling the poor that the ones to blame are the middle class and the upper class who are responsible for all their problems, and thus polarizing society is helping the poor? that worked great for the poor in the USSR and Cuba because everyone became the same, poorer... Do you think that telling them that the poor can't lie, can't commit a crime (when crime is rising) and that they are all wise is helping them? Do you think that the country with one of the highest indexes of COVID fatalities is helping the poor?

Why don't you research a little bit more before judging other countries instead of letting your extreme left passions rule over you?

I am amazed by some of the americans (I am assuming you are one) enjoying all the benefits of capitalism and defending socialism.... Have you noticed that all the people who love communism are from the least communist and richest countries? everyone except those from communist countries,...

You assume wrong. You're also the last person I'd look to for objective news about Mexico.

Since you're so enamored by the US capitalist and political model, their last President slashed science and medical research funding, forgave war criminals, engaged in corruption and nepotism, wholesale removed environmental regulations, told his supporters (majority of whom were poor) that all their problems were caused by immigrants/Mexicans and anyone who disagreed with him, and he presided over the highest COVID death rate in the world.

Sound familiar? Amazingly, he wasn't a communist. He was just a pos opportunist posing as a rightwing bible basher. The kind you would like to see in charge of Mexico.

Except you'd prefer an actual rightwing bible basher like Bolsonaro, no?

 

[squizo]

Western countries don't get to decide who the President of Venezuela is. Neither does Guido.

Speaking of playbooks, here's the American one:
Step 1 – Sanction, invade, or bomb the shit out of Socialist countries. Wreck their economies. Impose misery and poverty on their civilian populations.
Step 2 – Point finger at country they just destroyed and say "LOOK! See how bad Socialism is?! Everyone is miserable and poor!!"

Isn't it funny how everyone glosses these Steps over - but but but vEnEZuElA #simpleminds

 

[jasonallenh]

Really? do you really think he is helping the poor by giving them $100USD a month

yes

 

[user 37518]

You assume wrong. You're also the last person I'd look to for objective news about Mexico.

Since you're so enamored by the US capitalist and political model, their last President slashed science and medical research funding, forgave war criminals, engaged in corruption and nepotism, wholesale removed environmental regulations, told his supporters (majority of whom were poor) that all their problems were caused by immigrants/Mexicans and anyone who disagreed with him, and he presided over the highest COVID death rate in the world.

Sound familiar? Amazingly, he wasn't a communist. He was just a pos opportunist posing as a rightwing bible basher. The kind you would like to see in charge of Mexico.

Except you'd prefer an actual rightwing bible basher like Bolsonaro, no?

First I am not enamoured about the US model, the capitalist and political model of Mexico used to be very similar to the US before this administration.

Second, regarding Biden/Trump, all I am going to say are the following things that I appreciate about Trump's presidency: He didn't engage in any new War, Biden almost instantly attacked Syria and now is on the bringe of causing an international conflict between the West and Russia/China (exactly all the bombing that you complained about was carried by Biden almost instantly as he became president), Trump enforced the Mexico City policy and Biden revoked it whilst calling himself a "devout catholic", Trump is an ass, but at least he was honest about being an ass, Biden is a hipocrite, Trump called mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, whilst I do not agree he was somehow right when he said that Mexico doesn't send his best, unfortunately most illegal immigrants that go there are the most enpoverished and uneducated, that doesn't make them rapists or criminals but I can see his point, so even if I disagree with Trump I dislike Biden more when he says "We look at Mexico as our equal", yeah right....

Even if Mexico is extremely religious, the constitution is very clear, the goverment has to be free from religion, we don't use the bible before an oath, our money doesn't have a phrase like "in God we trust", in fact if a candidate for presidency starts using the bible for his campaign he would probably loose automatically. However, if you gave me a choice to decide between an extreme leftist and an extreme rightwing bible basher, I would definitely prefer the latter, although personally I would like an unbiased centrist.

The current president of Mexico is very religious, he said that in order to not become infected by Covid you had to and I quote "do not lie, do not steal and do not betray", during the first months of COVID the president said that people shouldn't pay attention to the instruction of not hugging and using a mask, then he took his image of the sacred heart of Jesus out and said that he was protected by the sacred heart of Jesus, he contracted COVID some months later, sadly he recovered.

 

[user 37518]

yes

Funny how you cherry picked a few words out of an entire list....

 

[knadles]

Sounds like an oppressive government and a rather terrible situation. I don't see communism in what you describe though. If anything it's closer to fascism.

Agree. Growing up in the Cold War we got used to bad actors calling themselves "communist," but what OP is describing is fascism, which is a political philosophy that emphasizes control. Communism and socialism are economic philosophies, and populist fascists often graft themselves to those words as they play well to a citizenry that feels left behind and disenfranchised.

Government tracking people and telling them what to do has little to do with Marx and much more in common with Hitler, Mussolini, and modern China. And yes, that is very concerning.

 

[user 37518]

Well, the debate is whether its communism or fascism, I think it has elements of both, perhaps not 100% communist like Cuba or 100% fascist like 1940's Italy. Lets call it totalitarian instead...

Modern China is communist, perhaps not 'old communist' but communist still....

 

[boji]

Sanction, invade, or bomb the shit out of Socialist countries.

Socialist/communist countries are doing everything they can to shred democracies in like kind.

No one is innocent, and the blood we see speaks to our confirmation bias. That bias ought to keep the truth seeker humble and mostly silent, but hey...word battles.

 

[user 37518]

I am amazed that an almost 2 century old BAD ideology like communism/socialism is still being supported, how many more goverments have to collapse? how many more millions have to die? How many times do I need to hear the argument that "Those communist countries didn't apply REAL communism the right way, that it is possible to create the Utopia if done correctly the next time'? how many experiments do we need to make to finally understand that communism/socialism is not only a bad ideology but that it simply doesn't work?

I am not saying capitalism is perfect, but its the best we've had so far....

 

[john12ax7]

Ok, what else do you need to call it Communism? a red flag? Isn't that the whole Marxist idea ? the proletariat is good and all their problems are due to the evil burgoisie?

Appealing to a working populus that feels downtrodden is a common technique for those seeking a totalitarian regime. That does not make it communist. In WWII Germany the official party name was National Socialist German Workers Party. One of the Nazi selling points was they were anti-bourgeois. They were also anti-communist.

 

[cyrano]

If not for the incessant and constant interference from the USA, some socialist/communist countries would be doing great.

Current example is one province of India, ruled by democratically elected communists. They were the only province able to help out other places in India with oxygen. Everywhere else, people were dying, thanks to a right-wing central govt that looks a lot like that from Brazil.

You can't blame communism for the fact that some of these countries turned totalitarian, unless you turn a blind eye to the fact that there are totalitarian capitalist countries too.

 

[brujo]

an almost 2 century old BAD ideology...

How can an ideology be bad?
I´m starting to think that you are exaggerating a lot about having to live in a country that elected a political party that you didn't vote. Those are the rules, and calling everybody a communist because you don't agree with them is a sign of lack of political maturity, or maturity at all.

Also, I don't think that a communist country can even exist right across the borders of the USA, that's childish. Grow up.

 

[dvdwmth]

Communism is an economic system. Just because you have concluded “communism bad” doesn’t mean all bad things are communism.
I truly hope things improve in your country though.

 

[john12ax7]

You can't blame communism for the fact that some of these countries turned totalitarian, unless you turn a blind eye to the fact that there are totalitarian capitalist countries too.

I would go even further and say they are independent of each other. An oppressive government is not a result of communism or capitalism. Often they are simply used as vehicles to gain oppressive power. They use the banner of being anti-communist or anti-capitalist to slowly take away the people's rights.

I am very much pro capitalism, as it has had the most success in lifting the standard of living. But what I often see is people using the word communism as a scare tactic in order to retain power and prevent things like better wages for workers, equal rights, affordable healthcare, education, etc. None of those things are against capitalism, they would actually make it flourish even more. True capitalism levels the playing field, very few in power actually want that, as they would actually need to earn their keep, not leech it out of society.

 

[dvdwmth]

Have you noticed that all the people who love communism are from the least communist and richest countries? everyone except those from communist countries,...

Ive had the opposite experience. I’ve only met a couple people from
Communist countries but they said they liked it better there. Health care. More community. Less stress. One was from Cuba and the other from Eastern Europe. Forget where exactly.

 

[user 37518]

One was from Cuba

Did you ask him about his trip to the US? did he say why he leave?

So because you met a couple of them we are going to ignore the millions of Cubans fleeing Cuba in a Tupperware raft? or the 5 million Venezuelans?