Recently I have been bothered by some memes I found on Twitter that suggest communism is not only a viable alternative to capitalism, but would also fix all of its inherent problems. I understand the absurdity and frivolity of getting mad at memes on Twitter, but I happen to be that petty and excitable — not to mention obsessed with the kind of person that shares that sort of thing. Even if it’s just one person out there who thinks this way, it’s enough to make me zone out in traffic and grit my teeth in unnecessary disgust.
This notion of communism’s utility seems to stem from the belief that there is so much inequality in America in terms of power, privilege and suffering that it is necessary to reform the system in a way that allows for those things to be more evenly distributed among the masses. The problem with this however, is that I don’t think anyone who claims communism would fix our problems has any idea what they’re talking about.
I think most of these comments come from idealistic college-aged people who can’t even remember what they had for breakfast, or if anyone actually loves them — let alone what would be the best form of government for the world. I used to have a distinctly anti-capitalist attitude too. I would drone on about the illusion of freedom, parroting things I had heard from comedians and then try to confirm my bias by finding literature that reinforced my knee-jerk reactions.
I used to be the kind of person who wrote papers in social studies class about 9/11 being a false-flag operation with definitive certainty. The point here is whether or not 9/11 was an inside job or capitalism having its faults is irrelevant. It was the absolutism that I applied to it which ignored the nuance of the real world.
If you think systematic oppression comes from people in power, then what would be the difference if we started redistributing wealth and resources. In the end, there is still going to be someone who has to be in charge and that person is going to take advantage because power corrupts.
Saying that communism is somehow a reasonable alternative is like avoiding heroin because it is too addictive and then turning around and injecting meth into your crotch. It’s a naive mindset that is stuck in a childish game of “if only we did this everything would be perfect.” If you examine literally any situation in life there are probably minimal to no times when all you would have to do is one or two things to make everything better.
In reality, the communist dictatorships in the 20th century were exponentially more murderous and brutal than even Hitler. The difference being, that Hitler actually tried to kill people he deemed as the “other.” The communists at the time starved, and overworked their own people by the truckload and then threw them into muddy pits when they finally keeled over.
But, forget about that — my college education and I have enough foresight to stop those atrocities going forward. How delusional are you? You think that just because you’re a history or political science major that you have any clue about how the world should actually be run. I certainly don’t claim to know the answers, but I do know that there isn’t a simple solution.
When I was in high school I used to think the only way for the world to be run properly would be if there was some type of benevolent dictatorship where someone with good intentions would actually unify the world under one government. That is just as stupid as thinking that communism would work as a magic alternative to capitalism.
It is one of those things that looks good on paper, but when put into practice doesn’t really work out the way people want. At this point in my life I am not dumb enough to think that I understand anything about the world other than a few basic things like how to wipe my ass. Other than that, I am probably somewhat clueless in the grand scheme of things.
I am 22 — the age where people older than that say, “Wow, remember what a moron I was back then? I can’t believe I used to think that way.” So, as much as I like some of my ideas, I am not going to swear by them without some serious trial and error.
These people who want some kind of communist superhero to arrive and fix capitalism need a dose of crushing self-doubt. The worst part is that this nonsense stems from feelings of a perceived inequity in terms of suffering. People love to say, “I’ve had it worse. You don’t know what it’s like.” I can’t blame them for that though. It’s cathartic to feel superior because of sustained trauma. My dad died when I was 14 and I used to love to think, “These people don’t know what real pain is.” If that isn’t the most cringe inducing example of someone missing the point, then this communism “would be cool” thing comes pretty close.
If you are genuinely the victim of trauma or oppression and you go around trying to say, “I’ve had it worse than you. You don’t know,” not only have you learned nothing from your trauma, but I can’t even feel so bad that it happened to you in the first place. Depending on how much you harp on your suffering in a melodramatic way, I might even be glad it happened.
The true marker of someone who has endured hell is humility and perspective. You have neither of those things if you think that you and your political science friends can change the world with a few simple tweaks to a system that killed countless people — so many in fact that we can’t really verify the actual number.
