Funny (political, religious) pictures
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And with that, I spat my iced tea upon my monitor. I hope you're proud of yourself.
GasBandit
Staff member
Yeah, because we tried to make it more like communism
Capitalism's not fair, let's do an end run around the system by making the banks give home loans to people who obviously have no means of repaying them, and call anyone who questions this practice a racist. Ohh noooo, we accidentally our whole economy. Guess capitalism doesn't work, amirite guys?
Hey, this is really versatile, it turns out.
I read those posts as:
"Bullshit underthought statement about capitalism and communism."
and
"Bullshit underthought statement about capitalism and communism."
"Bullshit underthought statement about capitalism and communism."
and
"Bullshit underthought statement about capitalism and communism."
The combination of pure capitalism and pure democracy as we use the terms doesn't work. You can adjust the way the market works, or the way politics is done, but the current way of combining the two leads to an oligarchy of a rich upper class whose riches are only ever increasing at exponential speeds. It's reached the point where most markets are fairly secure in the hands of a duopoly or oligopoly, making new entrants into the market almost impossible. Capitalism works fine as long as all/most/many markets are fairly easy to break into. The power of lobby groups has eroded this, and we're slowly returning to a form of capitalism more like the 19th century - which is Not a Good Thing for the vast majority of the people - and I know we differ here philosophically, but the point of a government, to me, is to improve the lives of the majority without costing the minority too much, and assuring a viable base level, all while obstructing freedom as little as possible.
I saw the puffin meme and thought solely that the words "under Capitalism" should have been replaced with "In the United States."
I don't see the current situation as the result of Capitalism. I see it as the result of the actions of People Who Can Never Have Enough.
So many of these economic philosophies don't fail because of their tenets, they fail because they don't have checks preventing individuals from abusing the rules to their own benefit at the cost of others'.
--Patrick
I don't see the current situation as the result of Capitalism. I see it as the result of the actions of People Who Can Never Have Enough.
So many of these economic philosophies don't fail because of their tenets, they fail because they don't have checks preventing individuals from abusing the rules to their own benefit at the cost of others'.
--Patrick
Even that is ludicrous. "Everything we feared about Communism..." has come true in the United States? "Forced to labour eternally for meagre wages..." - allow me use the height of argument: come on. Remind me about all those bread lines, all the gulags, and the disappearance of political dissenters whose bodies will never be found. Show me how those who criticize the government are silenced, and not making media appearances; how the government even denies such dissent exists among the happy populace! Let me see your Potemkin villages! The massively rigged elections showing 99% support! Yes, all of those things are clearly true; our fears of Communism are realized in that hellscape known as capitalism/the United States of America, pick whichever one.
Oh
brother
(I'm doing the eyeroll myself)
You're right.
I should have specified that none of the "bad" things are directly attributable to Communism, either.
Communism wasn't to blame, it was the method of implementation that caused all the problems...mainly due to the lack of checks to the possibility of the system being perverted towards the interest(s) of a few.
--Patrick
I don't entirely agree with this, but it's besides the point. Whether communism or capitalism are accurately assessed isn't the issue: his claim that our way of life has become like another way of life is. Nothing that is happening in the life of the average American, and certainly the creator of that image, is even comparable to life under communism. "Everything" has not come to pass, certainly, but not even "most" or "many" or "some." It's entirely stupid.
"Let me just post this uncensored image to an uncensored source of information from a several hundred dollar device while sipping a five dollar coffee and talk about how deprived I am."
Did you know that in English, "Fuck capitalism," translates to "I don't know much about economic systems, but I sure resent rich people."
I would say it's more situational, the same way that a peon might hate a King even though his living conditions are actually the direct result of the actions of his Lord rather than his King.
But you're not entirely wrong in that assumption.
--Patrick
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I guess I don't understand what you're driving at in this conversation. First you're saying the meme is accurate, but it should just be the US, not all capitalist systems. Then you say that neither capitalism nor communism are the direct cause of suffering in those systems - a debatable, but unrelated point. Now you're saying that not only is it indirect, but systems have always been criticized unfairly for indirect failings - again not related to the question at hand: is the modern US suffering the woes of a system they historically fear. We've gone so far past the point, which to me is: what, exactly, about the meme is correct or agreeable? It's just such underthought puerile crap that appeals to a certain lazy, kneejerk sensibility.
I make certain assumptions. I am assuming that the person who made the meme (out of cherry-picked "facts") is probably a disenfranchised American, and I know what he probably meant to say ("USA" v. "Capitalism"). Either that or he is trying to raise the specter of Communism again with that sort of "I knew them Russkies always had it in for us!" attitude. If we're going to seriously deconstruct the meme, it's going to fall apart in pretty short order (which I think it did), but I doubt whoever posted it was actually interested in having meaningful discourse, they were probably just trying to troll.
Well, at least we had some meaningful discourse. I'm actually open to discussion on economic theory or the like. I actually want to know how all this stuff works, and not because I have some Jokeresque plan in store, either (in case you were worried).
--Patrick
Well, at least we had some meaningful discourse. I'm actually open to discussion on economic theory or the like. I actually want to know how all this stuff works, and not because I have some Jokeresque plan in store, either (in case you were worried).
--Patrick
Sure, but even if that's what they meant to say, how can you conscionably agree with the meme? I guess I'm saying your assumptions don't seem to make any more sense of the claim. If you're saying the person who made it did so just to troll, then why bother to correct their statement? Surely a troll is more effective with a broad target like capitalism than a limited one like the US; but also does it make any sense to 'clarify' a troll? What is there to gain from agreeing with the sentiment of the meme if you want to deconstruct it partially (to US instead of capitalism), but not wholly? If people think they're making a political point and it's utter nonsense, it merits pointing out, surely, in whole -not half- measures.
I suppose not (especially since the author will probably never see my commentary), but I have this habit of wanting to "tighten" stuff. For better or worse, I tend to act a lot like the engineer at the execution. I view the accuracy/seriousness of this particular meme with the same level of faith/trust that I view most memes, or comments made by Dave Barry, Lewis Black, or David Sedaris (or even Jon Stewart), or like how I view the whole "fire engines are red" thing. I know it's a false equivalency, but I appreciate the cleverness of the constructed message. I'm just saying that if I had made it, I would've substituted US to give it that "down home" sort of appeal rather than referring to nebulous "Capitalism."
Back here in reality world, I don't question the assertions (loss of property/savings/voice, those things are happening), just the attribution ("Because Capittunism!").
--Patrick
Sure, but those things are ripe for some funny jokes!
You can put as much info on a meme as in a 7-second sound byte, and those have been good enough to explain all policy in the last 5 years, so hah!
....yeah, sadly
figmentPez
Staff member