You've been looking in the wrong direction, the dangers are coming from the right.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119726197#Comment_119726197

I see a problem with right-wing Elon Musk owning Twitter but I don't think it is going to happen, but it pales in comparison to the way that the left-wing Chinese government is controlling its own people through the use of social media.

Danno

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119726291#Comment_119726291

What is the problem with Elon Musk owning Twitter? Would it be better if for example George Soros owned it, if so, why?

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119726426#Comment_119726426

Similar issues with a single person or single government having full control of social media.

nullzero

This thread is basically about making sure the Right are perceived as the Wrong.

Some of the right are reprehensible but that applies to the left as well but if you say that you're immediately right wing.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119724731#Comment_119724731

What is left wing about DPRK

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119726426#Comment_119726426

The creator of Twitter has actually said it should never have been a company or “owned” by anyone but an open communication protocol. So in that regard both those options are terrible.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119726660#Comment_119726660

Exactly, that is my point.

The extremes are bad.

circadian

How in the **** do you see the Chinese and DPRK governments as left wing?

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119726760#Comment_119726760

Because they're both openly communist regimes.

This isn't a secret, nobody is taking liberties saying they're left wing. They're extreme left wing whether that's convenient or not it's a fact.

dtothebtotheh

I think people are very confused about what’s left wing and right wing? Autocratic nations would be considered right wing, that would include North Korea, Russia and China. The very few left wing nations I can think of, and they’d be slightly left of centre are Scandinavian countries.

I am happy to be corrected, but the left support social reform?

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119726822#Comment_119726822

It's good that you're happy to be corrected because you are wrong here I'm afraid.

China and North Korea describe themselves as socialist countries. China is still ruled by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), North Korea describes itself as socialist but in reality it appears to enforce a version of communism that would make Josef Stalin wince.

Russia is a country that had democracy foisted upon it at the end of the Soviet Union. Putin and his cronies were part of the soviet system and have long since done away with anything remotely resembling democratic process and have more recently returned to the type of expansionist behavior that characterised the Soviet Union. If you could describe Putins actions this year simply, you could do worse than to say that he's attempting to reestablish something resembling what the soviet union once was. If by creating a situation where Russian people are living in a system that denies them basic human rights and results in fold scarcity and general misery then his mission has been a resounding success.

The notion that anything negative is automatically right wing is puzzling. It's as if nobody knows anything about history beyond the fact that the second world War happened and the Nazis were b*stards.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119716169#Comment_119716169

Wrong.

Tony EH

............

dtothebtotheh

China, Russia, communist countries? some companies may be run by the government (or wealthy oligarchs), but where is the socialism in that? To me it sounds like capitalism on steroids.

The CCP is an elitist group that suck all of the profits out of the country, I could say similar of the 1%’s in the democratic world, I really don’t see much difference.

RobbieTheRobber

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119726197#Comment_119726197

Posters ascribes a common mindset to whole swath of different people.

At the same time as accusing them of having group think.

This post is satire right?

RobbieTheRobber

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119726426#Comment_119726426

What's the difference between George Soros and Elon musk?

dtothebtotheh

Communism:

“a theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs.”

I can’t think of a single country run this way, sure you can say your communist, but what does a pig farmer in Hunan actually own, other than his pigs?

in China you don’t even own your house, it’s on lease from the government, good deal if you work for the government.

blanch152

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119726822#Comment_119726822

Not true, North Korea, Russia and China have avowedly left-wing ideologies, all of them reject capitalism which is the foundation of right-wing ideology.

People are confused and unaware of the dangers of extremism.

cezanne

Left are liberal and embrace all the woke ideals abortion lgbtq rights gender issues & the right are conservative and embrace old values like ; right to life marriage family values and community .,. Like everything there are extremes of both. I personally prefer a centre right type of ideal. Family values supporting your children in their life choices but not gender changing and not denying womanhood - a woman versus a trans woman.

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119728912#Comment_119728912

You seem to have a problem associating negativity with the left wing.

You see the negative aspects of these regimes and assign them to the right wing because only the right wing could ever do anything bad.

What's so difficult to understand about the fact that China and North Korea explicitly describe themselves as socialist countries?

This is where we get back to the real problem being extremism of any colour, because it's extremism of a right or left wing variety that leads to negative consequences.

The notion of the left wing being the key to some kind of utopia is simplistic in the extreme.

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119728939#Comment_119728939

You need to read what you've written here and take a moment to let it sink in because you've completely contradicted yourself.

Communism is exactly what you've described above in China. You own nothing, you literally outlined it in the definition you gave at the beginning of your post.

RobbieTheRobber

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119729198#Comment_119729198

I don't think its correct to say you own nothing in China, can you clarify what you mean by own nothing?

dtothebtotheh

This is the confusion for me, left wing, right wing, I don’t see the difference, at the end of the day you just end up being a serf. They end end up being the same thing, the guise of being far left is extremely similar to far right. China to me is very much the same as the US, a small percentage of people with all the power.

the main difference being, to get elected in the west, politics is much trickier and just as much of a sham.

personally, I would consider myself as a social democratic, power to the people, not the entitled few.

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119729266#Comment_119729266

I share similar principles. To hell with the elites.

The notion that gets pushed that left wing = good and right wing = bad doesn't really hold up to scrutiny though. Both are equally terrible when you get to the extremes.

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119729217#Comment_119729217

It was an over simplification to make a point.

China has modified its tyranny without a doubt but it is still a distopian country where human rights, including rights to property are non existent if the government wish to impose their will on you.

flexcon

My two cents here

I remember a quote from Jordan Peterson that resonated with me

"Name a time the right went too far. Clear answer: Naziism.

Name a time when the left went too far. Well, we don't know that yet"

And I think the whole discussion and how near we came to mandatory vaccine was a possible example of the "left" going to far.

I often find myself struggling to swim in the middle, contemplating all angles and it's tiring but the one recent development I am sick of is the genuine shouting down of those you disagree with or "boxing" them into categories.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119729332#Comment_119729332

There's no clear answer regarding when the left went too far?

East Germany, the Warsaw Pact countries, China, the Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela, Zimbabwe to my mind are examples of when the left went too far.

flexcon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119729428#Comment_119729428

He might have been referring to modern left. Good points though, I'l try and find where he said that quote perhaps context is missing.

conorhal

I'm beginning to think that Marine le Pen was correct in her assessment that the old 'left right paradigm' is outdated and no longer really applies, the real political divide that exists today is between nationalism and globalism.

Dyr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119729604#Comment_119729604

And she still can't get elected. 😂

LePens party is pretty much a one woman show, she runs off anyone who might challenge her