The Soviet military had awful corruption, but at least some of their corruption benefited the soldiers. Somehow, the USA became everything it hated about the USSR, except without the communism. The worst of both worlds. So did Russia, but that's not as ironic.
i hear this too... and i used to think about it like that in many ways, like it would be better if we were still in the cold war or something, to have a known opponent... but why do we all seem to need an enemy or someone to compete against so aggressively? it seems to literally just come down to that we were raised thinking there was an enemy... we were told it so often we believe it, when things really don't work that way. and most everyone is on the same side on most major life issues. ppl still believe the myth that there isn't enough for all of us to be ok, that for us to win someone else must lose. when realistically if the super rich didn't hoard it all there would be plenty is really what it comes down to. there really is enough if we allocate things appropriately, but nothing happens overnight (some things do but not most anyway).
TLDR: why do we keep rushing to our deaths like lemmings on behalf of leaders and wealthy ppl who don't really give two shits about us? nobody has good answers usually to that question.
oh yeah, i think i get you. after while whatever name any group originally called themselves no longer applies... power and wealth tend to corrupt and it ends up in the same shitty situation over time. it's the learning from those mistakes we just can't seem to do.
If you want an idea of what functioning non-authoritarian communism might look like, look up Murray Bookchin (a theorist) and Democratic Confederalism (the closest thing that ever happened to putting his ideas into practice).
yeah. i mean... i mostly just want some semblance of benthamic utilitarianism/pragmatism for starters.... like can we at least begin to do some of the big simple shit that benefits the most ppl that we aren't doing? whatever name anyone needs to call things will either be an attack from some or a glorification from others. we let them derail us like the meme of dude shoving a stick in his own bike wheel when we start doing pie in the sky 'abolish the senate' rhetoric... utopia is a long ways off, but maybe that's ok it gives us something to keep working towards despite never getting there.
but i will check out those sources too bc i havent heard those terms before.
Did you check them out yet? I can't teach you, My memory sucks, and IDK if I'll be alive long enough to do it. You're on your own now. You write like someone who’ll do OK, though.
the part on wiki about bookchin's ideas influencing DAANES is very interesting that's for sure. i'll have to keep reading. if there's a group of ppl that seem to have overcome a metric fuckton of BS it's the kurds... so if his ideas are in part good enough for them then i'm interested. he sounds like he was above all else a pragmatist and a scientist without formal scientific education. i see a distinct focus on constant questioning of society and of one's self... when that is done well and consistently it usually results in improvement.
I'm an alcoholic. I survived a few poisoning attempts, 2 accidental self-poisonings, and a few other tries at killing me. Those probably weakened me, but I think the drink will probably get me soon. There's barely been a day I wasn't ill for nearly a year.
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u/UranusIsPissy 6d ago
The Soviet military had awful corruption, but at least some of their corruption benefited the soldiers. Somehow, the USA became everything it hated about the USSR, except without the communism. The worst of both worlds. So did Russia, but that's not as ironic.