Re: No Logo, Part Two
Feb. 4th, 2022 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingTo be be super honest and real, I'm not too keen on socialism or the unironic celebration of the concept of "community." Specifically, socialism only really works for people who fit neatly inside the community. If you don't fit in - or if you have no interest in fitting in - you're kind of fucked. And sometimes you just want to exchange legal tender for goods and services without having to do emotional labor or community volunteer work.
I feel like people who are seriously interested in socialism should spend a year working in a socialist country. I think a lot of them would be surprised by how xenophobic these countries are, and I think they would also be surprised to realize that they understand where this xenophobia is coming from. When close to 70% of your paycheck goes to taxes, it's difficult not to resent people who benefit from community resources without necessarily being a part of the community. Being an immigrant to a socialist country is an especially trashfire experience, as you feel this resentment at the same time that everyone else resents you. On top of that, co-op politics are an absurdist drama, which is fun to read about but not so fun when it determines whether you're going to be able to buy tampons and toilet paper when you go to the grocery store.
But like, look. Listen. Why does capitalism have to be so fucking awful?
I feel like people who are seriously interested in socialism should spend a year working in a socialist country. I think a lot of them would be surprised by how xenophobic these countries are, and I think they would also be surprised to realize that they understand where this xenophobia is coming from. When close to 70% of your paycheck goes to taxes, it's difficult not to resent people who benefit from community resources without necessarily being a part of the community. Being an immigrant to a socialist country is an especially trashfire experience, as you feel this resentment at the same time that everyone else resents you. On top of that, co-op politics are an absurdist drama, which is fun to read about but not so fun when it determines whether you're going to be able to buy tampons and toilet paper when you go to the grocery store.
But like, look. Listen. Why does capitalism have to be so fucking awful?
