Notices by rcbevans (rcbevans@mas.to)

@fencoul human nature isn’t a fixed of beliefs or behaviors, but is fluid, changing with the material conditions and superstructure of the society we live in, reflecting social norms. Neoliberal capitalism teaches us that human nature is to be selfish and greedy and that everything is a zero sum transaction where someone has to win and someone has to lose, and that some deserve to be billionaires whilst the people who’s resources were taken or who did the work are impoverished. 1/2

@fencoul whilst I don’t disagree that this is a nature as-is is incompatible with socialism, I do disagree that human nature is fixed, and if the political, judicial and economic institutions which preserve the current system were changed, “human nature” would change along with them. That doesn’t mean this doesn’t make it more challenging and that the changes wouldn’t tend to revert if not protected, just that the making the changes is against nature, not the change itself.

@westtexasjesus @fencoul In Social Democracies the losers are moved to be those outside the country, invisible in every day life to avoid making citizens feel too uncomfortable about the life they maintain at the expense of those in the global south.

@westtexasjesus @fencoul I would argue that greed in the form of resource hoarding is a self preservation mechanism from times of scarcity. This regularly rears its head during crisis with people hoard hand sanitizer or TP. Under capitalism people defend some having more than others because we're constantly told there have to be losers without enough, so people must do what one can to make sure they're not the one without.

@fencoul @westtexasjesus I'm not smoking anything. Whilst life is undeniably better for citizens living in a Social Democracy vs what the UK/US has, it just moves the problem where it's more palatable to the citizens benefiting from it, rather than fixing the failings inherent to Capitalism as a system. This is also why those hard won rights erode over time through austerity politics. http://tidewaterdsa.com/concealed-imperialism-the-true-face-of-social-democracy/

@duckwhistle @fencoul @westtexasjesus Unachievable in your opinion. Prior to any great societal shift or revolution there have always been and will always be those who think such change is outlandish and impossible. The deck is definitely stacked against socialism because it is those who hold most the cards who stand to lose their unfair advantage, but I don’t see it as impossible, there’s ever increasingly more of us than them.

@fencoul @duckwhistle @westtexasjesus and you’re right, there are many forms of “the left”, but neoliberalism isn’t one of them, even Nordic social democracy which preserves capitalism as its foundation.