In Sweden we often think of our selves as socialist. I suspect it means something very different across the pond. Anyone care to elaborate on the differences?
The word “socialist” was strongly associated with the USSR in the Cold War era United States. Anyone advocating for socialism was dismissed as a red pinko commie spy.
See Joseph McCarthy, HUAC, Hollywood blacklists, J. Edgar Hoover’s COINTELPRO and other domestic surveillance programs for a small slice of anti-communist efforts in the Cold War US.
Very true. I’ve started talking to older generations about their Socialism Security checks. “That’s different! The government taxes me and then… uses it… to support me when I’m not making money… Oh.”
Lots of people detest socialism until you show them how they’re already benefitting from it. I’m not even really pro-socialism, except in the simplified case where you have a number line with “capitalism” on one end, “communism” on the other, and “socialism” as the range in the middle. I definitely wouldn’t want to live on either end of that spectrum, and a mixed economy where private enterprise handles wants with a government handling needs for those who can’t do it on their own — i.e. socialism — is a reasonable alternative.
Social Security is a really bad example though. It doesn’t support a living wage, and everybody depending on it would have been better off if they could have invested those taxes instead.
The Ruling Class in the US has long been effective at influencing public opinion and behavior with boogeymen: communism, socialism, woke-ism, and so on. Mention publicly funded healthcare to 1000 random Americans, and the response from 950 of them is gonna be "Socialized medicine is bad!", and nothing else.
Also timely/relevant: <a href="https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/i-want-you-to-tell-me-what-socialism" rel="nofollow">https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/i-want-you-to-tell-me-what-s...
I'm so curious why this comment is being downvoted. Isn't it true? Words have meanings and meriam webster agrees with this comment. If we say any country anywhere that provides anything to its citizens is included in the socialist umbrella, then every country on earth is socialist and what's the point of the word in that case? The DSA in the US have hitched their wagons to this word that is highly ambiguous and it feels unhelpful when it comes to any meaningful national political goals.
Socialism in the US is currently a slur that you use to discredit your opponents, it’s not interrogated to mean anything useful. You are expected to be violently opposed to socialism while being completely dependent upon social programs. The point is to make the contradiction seem normal.
Socialism means different things depending on where you are, even within Europe. For some socialism is the same as communism, for others socialism simply means social-democracy.
In a lot of American discourse, it honestly seems like the baggage surrounding the term is more of an issue than the policies being debated that are labelled "Socialist".
Since political threads don't last long on HN, I'll add for the anecdote that I was first puzzled the difference in meaning by the lyrics of a Slayer song, "Consumed democracy returns to socialist regime" [1], certainly because at that time the government in my country was "socialist".
wronex · · focus · HN ↗
quickthrowman · · focus · HN ↗
See Joseph McCarthy, HUAC, Hollywood blacklists, J. Edgar Hoover’s COINTELPRO and other domestic surveillance programs for a small slice of anti-communist efforts in the Cold War US.
kstrauser · · focus · HN ↗
Lots of people detest socialism until you show them how they’re already benefitting from it. I’m not even really pro-socialism, except in the simplified case where you have a number line with “capitalism” on one end, “communism” on the other, and “socialism” as the range in the middle. I definitely wouldn’t want to live on either end of that spectrum, and a mixed economy where private enterprise handles wants with a government handling needs for those who can’t do it on their own — i.e. socialism — is a reasonable alternative.
ar_lan · · focus · HN ↗
jimt1234 · · focus · HN ↗
theraaca · · focus · HN ↗
<a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/243362/meaning-socialism-americans-today.aspx" rel="nofollow">https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/243362/meani...
Note, this article is from 2018 and the situation hasn't exactly improved...
cryzinger · · focus · HN ↗
binlog · · focus · HN ↗
rektomatic · · focus · HN ↗
Sweden is not socialist, it's capitalist. A large portion of the budget goes to welfare programs, just like the USA.
anramon · · focus · HN ↗
You mean soviet-like socialism. Socialism is older and broader than bolchevism.
samesame · · focus · HN ↗
Isamu · · focus · HN ↗
astrobe_ · · focus · HN ↗
CactusOnFire · · focus · HN ↗
astrobe_ · · focus · HN ↗
[1] <a href="https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/slayer/fictionalreality.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/slayer/fictionalreality.html
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