The book the 1% don't want you to read

[Tail Gunner]

I am not sure what this debate over the proper definition of socialism is all about. You are simply discussing two connotations of the same word.

A connotation is a commonly understood cultural or emotional association that some word or phrase carries, in addition to the word's or phrase's explicit or literal meaning, which is its denotation.

In the end, any difference in meaning is irrelevant because both connotations describe a political philosophy that results in more state control, an ever-encroaching police state, and an unsustainable economic model that ultimately fails and causes much pain and suffering.

 

[berserk]

Studies show the Scandinavian countries are the happiest in the world (Denmark is often touted as no 1), but Switzerland and the other Western social democracies are not far behind them. I don't see how Swizterland being a Republic is relevant here :huh:

Scandinavians are pretty miserable. Those surveys who show Denmark as number 1 are very flawed as 'happy' means different things in different languages and is translated differently. Besides, a right wing danish pundit (would be centrist abroad), looked into the studies and found that when you asked people "Where you happy yesterday?", that danes were at the bottom of the pack. Their 'happiness' is more being 'content' or feeling that you have to be happy because so many people are poor etc.

Trust me, scandis are far, far from the happiest in the world, they are largely miserable.

 

[Simeon_Strangelight]

Studies show the Scandinavian countries are the happiest in the world (Denmark is often touted as no 1), but Switzerland and the other Western social democracies are not far behind them. I don't see how Swizterland being a Republic is relevant here :huh:

Scandinavians are pretty miserable. Those surveys who show Denmark as number 1 are very flawed as 'happy' means different things in different languages and is translated differently. Besides, a right wing danish pundit (would be centrist abroad), looked into the studies and found that when you asked people "Where you happy yesterday?", that danes were at the bottom of the pack. Their 'happiness' is more being 'content' or feeling that you have to be happy because so many people are poor etc.

Trust me, scandis are far, far from the happiest in the world, they are largely miserable.

It was true some 15 years ago according to large worldwide-studies back then.

Just as the happiness factor was the highest in the world in the 1950s in the US.

But things have changed dramatically in the last 15 years in Scandinavia. Still - anyone who has lived in Switzerland and Scandinavia with extremely high minimum wages knows that most people are quite content materially. In most countries you have to do a lot more just in order to survive on a much lower level - USA included.

Happiness however is based on a very uniform population structure, high trust values within, long-term financial security, stable marriages, etc. Nowadays you only have that regionally around the world.

 

[buja]

The book the 1% DOES want you to read...

...so they can continue to control you with the politics of jealousy and class envy...and make you feel like you have intellectual rationalization for your jealousy and class envy.

 

[boycottamericanwomen]

Aside from all the capitalist vs socialist comments, I don't think anyone would disagree that the modern economic system is hopelessly broken and that we need to evolve towards a new system, one where people who are willing to work can afford a middle class lifestyle. Nowadays even if you work 60 hours a week, you'll barely have enough to get by, what to speak of a middle class lifestyle.

We talk about the marriage strike as a result of feminism but it's more of a result of bad economic times.

For starters, how about we arrest and put in jail the Wall St bankers who caused the economic collapse in the first place? Oh wait we can't do that because the big banks like Sachs, JP Morgan and so on literally control the government.

 

[puckerman]

Aside from all the capitalist vs socialist comments, I don't think anyone would disagree that the modern economic system is hopelessly broken and that we need to evolve towards a new system, one where people who are willing to work can afford a middle class lifestyle. Nowadays even if you work 60 hours a week, you'll barely have enough to get by, what to speak of a middle class lifestyle.

We talk about the marriage strike as a result of feminism but it's more of a result of bad economic times.

For starters, how about we arrest and put in jail the Wall St bankers who caused the economic collapse in the first place? Oh wait we can't do that because the big banks like Sachs, JP Morgan and so on literally control the government.

Yes, it's broken. It's broken almost solely because of government interference into the free market.

 

[buja]

Yes, it's broken. It's broken almost solely because of government interference into the free market.

That's it.
I hate it when people refer to the big bankers and their plunder as "capitalism".

It it not capitalism.
It is corporatism or cronyism.

Under a capitalist system, these banks would have failed or more likely would have never existed in the first place.

They depend on the force of government for their very existence.
They are no different than the elites in a Marxist society such as the former Soviet Union.

 

[Vicious]

So berserk. The extensive, widely publicized and generally accepted data is wrong and we should instead accept your anecdote as the prevailing truth.

Got it.

 

[boycottamericanwomen]

Yes, it's broken. It's broken almost solely because of government interference into the free market.

That's it.
I hate it when people refer to the big bankers and their plunder as "capitalism".

It it not capitalism.
It is corporatism or cronyism.

Under a capitalist system, these banks would have failed or more likely would have never existed in the first place.

They depend on the force of government for their very existence.
They are no different than the elites in a Marxist society such as the former Soviet Union.

I am glad you pointed this out. The system in America is not capitalism and especially not a free market. If people make bad decisions, they should not be bailed out, whether that is a single mother who got pregnant and wants welfare money (paid for with men's tax dollars), or a car manufacturer like GM that created such a shitty product to begin with that no one wanted to buy it and thus they went out of business and the govt bailed them out, or worst of all, the big banks that speculate with trillions of dollars of people's money and then demand the govt bail them out.

Fuck the government and fuck anyone who votes for big government.

 

[worldwidetraveler]

So berserk. The extensive, widely publicized and generally accepted data is wrong and we should instead accept your anecdote as the prevailing truth.

Got it.

You are on a site that goes against widely publicized and generally accepted data. Maybe you missed the threads.

Unless we know how the data was gained we shouldn't be accepting any of these prevailing truths as facts.

Not that I am saying berserk's post was factual.

 

[Vicious]

With regards to Scandinavians, Vicious talks a lot about how most people aren't supportive of their recent government policies there. There are like 7 major political parties in Sweden, and there is a very large counter-culture there as well, as well as many malcontents.

This I have never said. I have said that there's a large counter-culture towards feminism. The welfare system has just as many supporters as it has had for the last 100 years or so here.

So berserk. The extensive, widely publicized and generally accepted data is wrong and we should instead accept your anecdote as the prevailing truth.

Got it.

You are on a site that goes against widely publicized and generally accepted data. Maybe you missed the threads.

Unless we know how the data was gained we shouldn't be accepting any of these prevailing truths as facts.

Not that I am saying berserk's post was factual.

You seem to confuse data with opinion. What generally accepted data are opponents of the manosphere leaning on? Other than trying to out -cream everyone else from the moral high ground I don't see game-denialists and their ilk as particularly factually concerned.

The actual data at hand was from Eurostat. Thus widely publicized and completely open for research.

 

[KorbenDallas]

So, all 7 parties support massive immigration of the third world and the welfare state? Good Luck with that then.

 

[Vicious]

No on the first and yes on the second. Do you have a point?

Also, there are 8 political parties in the riksdag.

 

[worldwidetraveler]

You seem to confuse data with opinion. What generally accepted data are opponents of the manosphere leaning on? Other than trying to out -cream everyone else from the moral high ground I don't see game-denialists and their ilk as particularly factually concerned.

The actual data at hand was from Eurostat. Thus widely publicized and completely open for research.

Happiness is now something that can be measured within data constructs, eh?

This site tends to take stats like rape stats, women getting lower wages stats, etc with a grain of salt if you're asking for examples.

Stats can be manipulated or downright negligible depending how the data were attained and used.

 

[Vicious]

When the alternative for said data is the opinion of someone on an Internet forum I'll go with what's been measured and presented. You're not even trying to argue the data and deconstruct it, you're just being dogmatic. Dropping clichés like "stats can be manipulated" isn't going to cut it. Individual agendas are far more likely to be subjective and biased than anything that makes it onto Eurostars.

 

[worldwidetraveler]

When the alternative for said data is the opinion of someone on an Internet forum I'll go with what's been measured and presented. You're not even trying to argue the data and deconstruct it, you're just being dogmatic. Dropping clichés like "stats can be manipulated" isn't going to cut it. Individual agendas are far more likely to be subjective and biased than anything that makes it onto Eurostars.

The fact that you think happiness can be measured is hilarious. There is no reason to deconstruct something that is flawed to begin with.

Don't worry, bud, I know how bias you are when it comes to your neck of the world. You are not one to be objective in these matters so it doesn't surprise me you would jump at any data claiming your country is one of the happiest in the world.