@rozenglass
Yeah. I fear that democracy is already starting to implode in EU. But my fear as an Eastern European still lies with what is happening with US, because throughout my whole life, I've seen Europeans here emulate whatever happens there, either intentionally or because we're subconsciously copying US like it's our big brother.
If US goes down the communist rabbit hole, we're sure to return to what you describe. If US recovers, relearns what free speech and freedom in general means, then we'll redress some of our issues too. US has been a lifeline for Europe for close to a century now.
I was lucky enough to not live myself under a dictatorship rule, but the ravages of that dictatorship, and the lessons from it, are still everywhere to be seen by those who can open their eyes to see and learn from it.
You mentioned school uniforms. Communism here theoretically ended when the 90s started. We still had the uniforms mandatory nationwide a few years into the 2000s. Some highschools still enforce it to this day.
Then there's the systemic corruption that became a thing because of the twisted mentality communism brings along with it. There are countless scars here that are no wear near close to healing, and some morons in the west are trying to experiment with the same madness again.
I find it hilarious how much fear mongering there is in America about Nazis, but those same people say nothing about the horror of Communism, especially as pretty much every major communist attempt devolves in the same thing: a slightly different form of national socialism dictatorship, that sometimes chooses a different class of people to politically persecute.
I see University aged Americans say "true communism has never been tried" or "we'll do it right this time" and it's just horrifying to me.
@rozenglass @WhitestTemplar
Personally, what I'm actually interested is liberty, human rights being protected, and a fairly stable society overall. I'm not necessarily married to democracy per se. If someone conceives a system that is better able to guarantee what I'm looking for, I'm open to hearing it. But I already know that nothing derived from marxism can do that. So seeing representative democracy has the better track record, I'm sticking with that for now.
As for US, I think they've been trying to tack on more and more on top of what used to be a bare-bone democracy. More specifically, some of them have been looking at promises that socialism makes on paper. And it destabilized things as this hybrid creation grew in size. Some Americans now want to take things back a little, to regain stability, and the others are going full gas out of panic. Which has basically caused everyone to panic.
@WhitestTemplar @rozenglass
Yeah, I was about to say earlier, we're ultimately not biologically set up for grand countries of hundred of millions of people under one government. And in a sense, we do form tribes in western nations. You have a tribe of work colleagues (or a tribe of schoolmates in University), you have a tribe of neighbors, maybe a tribe of a hobby you follow. That's realistically how we actually function from day to day.
But somehow, for better or worse, there are elements that unite these small tribes we have in a larger cultural framework, elements such as language, a shared religion for some, a common history, etc. So it became useful to have a central government that protects the borders surrounding this large cultural framework. But these governments now encompass things that really should remain at that small tribe level.
A common thing that has annoyed the hell out of me for the last decade... I keep having the expectation that as adults, we can talk through things. If two people get into a fight, they're the ones that should deal with it, make up, apologize, or whatever. If I insult you, and you don't like it, you explain to me how it bothered you, maybe I fell sorry and apologize, things that you learn as a fucking kid.
But instead, the world transformed in a way where two people upset with each other no longer talk it out like adults. Instead some grand authority, whether it's Twitter/Reddit mods, or your jobs HR team, intervenes and levies out punishments. They chastise you, tell you how evil you are. But you never get to talk it out, you don't even get to say your side of the story, so instead of understanding the person you hurt, how you hurt them, and growing as a person, you only really have reason to become resentful. So next time, you're likely to be a bigger asshole.
I give this example, because it feels like the most simple of human interactions are now subjected to this weird, ad-hoc, governmental system. Communication no longer feels like it's between two people. It's through the approval of self-appointed mini-governments, and tyrannical ones at that. I feel like we're unironically inching closer towards "oy, you have a loicense for that speech".
@demonofustio @rozenglass @WhitestTemplar
If you don't want democracy, I understand and have no desire to change your mind. But I promise you, whatever you might want out of a governmental system, you won't get from national socialism, or any other Marxist derived ideology. They're simply worst at creating prosperity long term than a basic democracy+capitalism combo.
@cowanon @charliebrownau @demonofustio @WhitestTemplar
I'd never though I'd say this... but based.