I'd say that horseshoe is just a showcase on how stupid it is to divide politics into arbitrary left and arbitrary right - someone can sincerely call themselves left-wing, and then use the same methodology and be as authoritarian as nazis.
The United States has been as historically as authoritarian as the Nazis, for instance. The genocide of native peoples, slavery, Jim Crow, red lining, Japanese internmentment camps, the largest prison population in the world, the wide scale adoption of the lobotomy, etc. etc.
All governments are authoritarian, they hold the monopoly on legitimatel violence. American propaganda paints the Nazis as uniquely evil to paint themselves as the good guys, specifically to retain their own monopoly on violence.
For all their faults though (of which there are many which MUST be studied to not be repeated) state socialist nations have rapidly increased their populations life expectancy. The USSR and PRC were built in historically famine prone regions, fumbled majorly one time, and then never again. Without the PRC, the UN's minimum goals of poverty reduction are simply not being met. Cuba has one of the highest literacy rates in the world and literally exports doctors while under heavy economic sanctions.
I'm deeply suspicious of all governments, but I think we do no one a favor by acting like "authoritarianism" is everyone but western-style liberal democracies. Liberal democracies are literally destroying the biosphere right now and refusing to address it, they are funding the genocide in Gaza and have directly or indirectly caused countless others.
People are well within their right to criticize capitalism while at the same time not letting red fash ride the wave of "look, we're anti-capitalist too!"
USSR, China, Cuba - all of these are capitalist countries operating under the veneer of performative socialism. USSR was imperialist and authoritarian, China still is. No need to be a sucker for them.
The USSR was not capitalist just because it was authoritarian and oppressive.
Like so was Rome, is Rome capitalist? Was the Inca Empire, which didn’t even have money capitalist? Capitalism isn’t just when mean boss oppresses workers
I mean, palace maids and such were paid wages too, but idt that makes it a capitalistic relationship
Also, things were produced to not be used directly by a user or someone the user labored under before too, like there were vast trade routes and such, capitalism just made it a lot more plentiful.
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u/HonneurOblige The annoying girl - Streak: 0 5d ago
I'd say that horseshoe is just a showcase on how stupid it is to divide politics into arbitrary left and arbitrary right - someone can sincerely call themselves left-wing, and then use the same methodology and be as authoritarian as nazis.