I disagree. And I don’t mean to preach, but there is a power in words and using them (or not using them). The fight over the word and meaning of socialism is not what “the people” need right now, that can come later. This has been happening in the US closing in on a century. It’s not those tolerant of material reality (as you say) you need to convince, it’s those that would benefit from “the peoples” agenda that don’t acknowledge material reality. Ride the wave of making billionaires pay.

Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years.

Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security.

Socialism is what they called farm price supports.

Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance.

Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.

Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.

When the Republican candidate inscribes the slogan “Down With Socialism” on the banner of his “great crusade,” that is really not what he means at all.

What he really means is “Down with Progress–down with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal,” and “down with Harry Truman’s fair Deal.” That’s all he means.

• Harry Truman

Don’t swim against this right now. These programs from the new deal and fair deal are not even called socialist by American standards anymore.

Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I’m one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it’s true! — but when you’re a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are — nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what’s going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? — but when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it’s four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it’s all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don’t, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible.

“Learn a bit of your own history” posts links from 3 mo ago

You got em. The long and storied history of q1, 2024.

Agreed. Coming full circle back to my comment, Putin and Russia are to blame for the unnecessary deaths of Ukrainians, not those who harbour sentiments of “Fuck Putin and Glory to Ukraine”

If the election was illegitimate (you mean he really didn’t get 88% of the vote ?!?), then it sounds like its Putin shitting on Russian citizens. Not sure how my comment is derogatory either.

Yaaa, let’s blame the sentiments of observers for killing Ukrainians, not the genocidal kgb agent and the country where 88% of the voters reelected him…

I’ve thought about this a lot lately, especially since having kids. It really hit me how much non-verbal and indirect communication they pick up on. I want my kids to be good people, better than me, and I worry they are picking up on my short comings.

I think society is like that. We say sharing is good and we teach sharing, but a disproportionate group that takes everything, that is selfish, that puts there priorities above others… that behavior is rewarded, intentionally or not. And generations go by and the behavior is normalized.

I like (and shudder) to think alot of history is a series of these little oversteps that the masters of the universe are laughing about at the time… “trickle down economics, can you believe they are buying this shit?!” And 50 years later, after 2 generations the supporters forgot it was all a scam and are genuinely believers.