21–30 of 112 posts
Communism is an abstraction, which "works" only for abstract Socratic and Platonic ideal societies. In 2020 it should be understood that abstractions (and models) are fundamentally different from what we call real world.
Whereas capitalism has only existed as the predominant economic system anywhere for a few centuries. In the US, with two economic crises in the past decade, Covid at a peak, global warming, racial strife, riots on streets etc., I am not sure what is working in the real world with the economic system here.
Modern day communist leaders are no less depraved. For example, Bhaskar Sunkara, founder of the hip democratic socialist magazine, Jacobin, has recently tried to justify both the Berlin Wall and the killing of the defenseless Romanov children: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/child-killing...
Apparently he finds sacrifices of life in the cause of his values worthwhile while finding such sacrifices made on the basis of other people's values unacceptable. To use Dreher's rhetorical standards, that's just who he is, I suppose.
For the people who aren't as quick to catch on to the substance of the topic: personally I'd strongly agree that there are moral issues with any execution, and the execution of children more so. But there's also moral issues with monarchy, and what's your plan for putting a decisive end to one with the cultural momentum of hundreds of years behind it? If you're an American, the plan of those who birthed the present order sure involved violence and we've got a culture which doesn't merely ruefully acknowledge its necessity but actively celebrates revolution with quotes about the tree of liberty being watered with blood echoing in discourse down to the present moment. If folks like Dreher are going to be horrified at Sunkara's acceptance of violence, they should at least have the decency to be sobered by its acceptance at the foundations of their own culture.
But then again, that'd require the same higher level of thinking he failed to do in his coronavirus rantings earlier this year.
I don't know why he's some kind of big name in Christian thinking circles; as far as I can tell, there is nothing in any of the writing I've been exposed to that is remarkable for either its Christian or intellectual character, and his status on that front likely exists far more out of the desire for conservatives & Christians to tell themselves the story of how they have their thinkers rather than any serious interest in the work of either discipleship or philosophy.
If he dislikes Sunkara, then Sunkara has my favor to lose on that basis alone.
Communism is an abstraction, which "works" only for abstract Socratic and Platonic ideal societies. In 2020 it should be understood that abstractions (and models) are fundamentally different from what we call real world.
It might not be possible in the real world, but it's something to strive for.
What a weird piece. The heart of the argument seems to be that if one is to be a Marxist that one must be 1) poor, and 2) chaste and to be otherwise is hypocritical. Just state the point and be done with it.
How is it not hypocritical to argue for equality and wealth redistribution and at the same time hoard wealth for yourself ?
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
If you want to get into the intended groove, the way to do that is to relax a bit out of your habitual identification (pro-communist, anti-communist, whatever) and take pleasure in stuff you didn't know before. People, including Engels, Marx, you, and me, are complicated. They have interesting contradictions.
As usual, I am not surprised to see this thread devolve into name calling and strawmanish idealist arguments.
What draws me to HN are the thoughtful, genuine discussions about topics around technology, science, and business. While not perfect, it often seems to dodge the political divisiveness and focus on common interest. I hope we can find a way to keep that spirit of camaraderie and shared interest.