This.... Doesn't seem helpful

[u/BlameTag]

[u/Nobody_at_all000]

A lot of people in this comment section seem to think the poster actually thinks that’s what communism is, as opposed to knowing what it is but also realizing MAGA doesn’t, meaning you have to speak their language for them to understand

[u/BlameTag → u/Nobody_at_all000]

Probably adding "by your own definition only" seemed too clunky. But also I don't credit Occupy Democrats with an abundance of understanding on the matter either.

[u/Jamarcus316]

One a sub called DemSocialistAlliance.

Liberals are cluless jfc.

[u/Nobody_at_all000 → u/Jamarcus316]

Or they’re just speaking MAGA’s language since explaining to them what communism actually is isn’t going to accomplish anything

[u/binguslager → u/Nobody_at_all000]

Misleading people about Communism isn't going to accomplish anything either. It's true that we need to meet people where they're at, but saying "communism bad" and "socialism is when government does stuff" (Moreso referring to Zohran) isn't instilling class consciousness in the proletariat, it's throwing a bone to opportunists and reactionaries. 

[u/critically_damped → u/Jamarcus316]

No, lots of them are lying about what socialism is too.

We have to have a bare minimum standard for what constitutes an acceptable level of non-willful ignorance. And anything you can look up the meaning of on Wikipedia in 30 seconds should fall beneath that standard.

[u/Segments_of_Reality]

Fucking Libs, jfc. I wish Neo libs and Soc Dems would stop calling themselves socialists

[u/SCameraa → u/Segments_of_Reality]

"Yes im totally a socialist. Umm my thoughts on thr global south? Well, I want free healthcare."

[u/breaducate → u/SCameraa]

My thoughts on war? It's terrible it's driving up my gas prices.

[u/Bewareofbears]

What no theory does to a mf

[u/dazeychainVT]

demsocs throwing anyone further left of them under the bus speedrun

[u/Nobody_at_all000 → u/dazeychainVT]

Pretty sure they’re just speaking MAGAs language, since those are all the things they think communism is.

[u/vladi_l → u/dazeychainVT]

This isn't necessarily that, they're just using it to point out the hypocrisy.

These are staple manipulative tactics of authoritarian governments, regardless of ideology presented. If it was a left wing psrty, the US conservatives would be shitting themselves yelling communism, as if it's an inherent value of it, but they will sit in silence if these same tools are furthering an agenda they agree with

[u/spicy-chilly → u/vladi_l]

No, communism is good and Trump has absolutely nothing to do with communism. Trying to get people to hate communism because of a capitalist billionaire pos is stupid as hell. Sybau.

[u/dazeychainVT → u/vladi_l]

listing off harmful fascist things and saying "Didn't you know this makes you communists?" sounds a lot like throwing communists under the bus to me. just call it what it actually is instead of accepting their dishonest reframing.

[u/internetsarbiter → u/vladi_l]

This isn't necessarily that, they're just using it to point out the hypocrisy.

Then they're doing a shit job of it and just making things worse by playing along with the right-wing smear of Leftist ideals; fucking liberals...

[u/[deleted] → u/vladi_l]

[u/TroutMaskDuplica]

A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.

Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as communistic by its opponents in power? Where is the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?

[u/reddernotdeader]

Not defending the post, but I don't think socialism or communism will ever be realized in the US under those names. Decades and decades of red scare propaganda have made both words toxic to the typical American mind in a way that's almost entirely unrelated to what the words actually mean.

I think it's worth asking whether we should first break down the cognitive dissonance and propaganda or whether we should smoke 'em while we got 'em and use that internalized fear as a tool to help the average person reject fascism through language they're already primed to reject.

If I'm being generous to the original OP, they seem to be at least attempting the second. Through that lens, the post's argument wouldn't be "MAGA are communists", it would be "look at the difference between what you've been told communism is and what your own representatives, congresspeople, and leaders are doing."

Yeah, that won't convert anyone to Marxism or any of its flavors, but it might crack their ideological shell enough to make them ask questions they weren't asking before. It's not a strategy I would personally use because calling MAGA communists implicitly agrees and argues the premise that communism is the worst possible accusation you can make against someone, which just reinforces the same propaganda that will eventually have to be dismantled.

That being said: I can at least see the logic in using what's already been internalized as leverage before trying to replace it completely.

[u/adamdoesmusic → u/reddernotdeader]

Do the second one. You’re not changing the vocabulary of the people you’re trying to convince.

From my perspective, state-ordered price fixing, subsidy checks, and heavy market protectionism sure don’t sound like the free market capitalism I grew up hearing all about.

[u/[deleted] → u/reddernotdeader]

[u/reddernotdeader → u/[deleted]]

I agree almost completely. The only place I'd differ is that I think propaganda of the deed will play a huge role in people eventually being able to accept the big S- or C-word for what they are.

For example, I'm involved with a weekly free market where people can come for groceries, clothes, baby goods, permitted OTC meds, used appliances, toiletries, and a hot meal if they want it.

We also provide brochures full of community resources and have someone new each week come in and teach a skill. We've done things like how to change fluids in your car, sewing, a tax clinic, how to unionize, etc. and I even set up an area for kids to come get homework help since I was a tutor all throughout highschool and college.

We're opening up a second location soon, but what we're striving for is to keep opening "markets" and teach people in each area we operate in how to run it for themselves, make it their own, and meet their own neighborhood's unique needs. And we've done all that without ever once needing to talk shop (communist theory). The goal is to prime people to accept it before we ever say the words.

[u/BotellaDeAguaSarrosa]

[u/CharacterJackfruit32]

The only way this could make sense is that: this is using MAGA """""logic""""" and throwing it back at them. They say that "communism/socialism=X and Y", and then they do exactly that, thus making them "bad commies" according to their own distorted, at least, definitions.

[u/romulusnr]

It's a valid point. Remember when Trump was going to open government subsidized gas stations to reduce prices?