this post was submitted on 25 May 2026
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[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Let me ask a very simple question:

What, exactly, is wrong with socialism?

QUICKLY.

[–] takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's not the problem with socialism, but communism which most popular version came from USSR, came with authoritarianism and extreme corruption, but so does fascism.

I think social democracy, like we see in Nordic countries is much better. They seem to put a lot of effort fighting corruption.

IMO strength of institutions (whether the society is ruled by law) and amount of corruption is what decides whether the system is good for citizens or not.

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Social democratic governments objectively have the best metrics for well-being among all forms of government we've tried.

That doesn't mean it's the best possible form of government by any means but it does mean you need to make a strong case for why your system should be better.

Personally I think more could be done to reduce the power of the wealthy and the state in those countries, so I'd like to see more experimentation to move towards libertarian socialist policies but I don't think it's crazy to start with a social democratic foundation.

[–] pachrist@lemmy.world 6 points 22 hours ago

The thing that's wrong with socialism is that we've spent almost 100 years teaching everyone's uncle that it's bad to give him a conversation topic that was tangentially related to WW2.

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

What, exactly, is wrong with socialism?

It's... it's... it's SOCIALISM!!!

It’s not well defined.

People arguing for socialism could fall anywhere on the scale of supporting the UK’s NHs to North Korean style dictatorship.

[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

What, exactly, is wrong with socialism?

Literally and figuratively: "everyone else." It's not the ideology, it's the implementation. Let me explain.

I'm of the opinion that the idea of everyone living on an even playing field, without the capitalistic intent to "exploit and extract", is noble and worthwhile. On paper, it works brilliantly - just like every other model for government. The problem comes in where it meets the real world, specifically around cultural values and psychology.

Right now, the biggest problems the US has boil down to a lot of people acting in an "my group vs your group" mentality. This is the biggest hurdle to overcome and really kills this whole thing in the cradle. Sometimes the dividing line is ideological, economical, geographical, political, or just plain bigotry of some flavor. No matter how you slice it, this behavior is anathema to socialism. You can't get people to organize in a manner that helps everyone, if a huge chunk of that group insists that's not right because it's fair. Without that kind of organization, you're left to force those values on people, which will be quite obvious and not without blow-back. Not to mention, doing so requires a governmental body strong enough to act out of unchecked corruption, which usually creates new problems.

Meanwhile, being a stupidly rich country means it's absolutely worthwhile for our home-grown billionaires to keep a death-grip on the levers of power. In the same way you or I aren't likely to vote against self-interest, the architects of corruption aren't likely to let action take place that loosens their grip. I'm not saying the economy needs to take a nose dive to put this engine fire out, but I'm at a loss to describe a way to end this particular part of our collective waking nightmare.

So you can't just "do a socialism" because of everyone else, and how those people will cite that everyone else is why that's not a good idea. And the people with the most power right now won't let it happen because there goes their meal/yacht ticket. So basically, "everyone else".

I think it's possible to get there, but there's no getting there in one big leap. Gradual change and a long period (a century?) of a hybrid model, where we have a little bit of everything going on until "being fair to everyone" wins out.

[–] Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There should be an actual textbook communist and socialist running in major elections alongside Democrats and ~~fascists~~ republicans. This way you can actually see the policies side-by-side.

Much like some average schmuck should compete in the first round of the Olympics just to give perspective

[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

Provided you don't get de-platformed (e.g. not invited to political debates), this is a proven strategy. For example, Vermin Supreme is doing this from the other end of the spectrum. Although, he has a run for his money these days.

https://www.youtube.com/@VerminSupremeOfficial

[–] Lemming6969@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The goal of capitalism should be to create competition to generate general maximum efficiency. Once that is reached and natural monopolies start to form, they should be socialized into non-profit utilities.

When the only goal left is enshittification and profiteering, it's time to gobble them up.

We don't have to have a race to the bottom, we can get the government to freeze things at the peak and keep them there.

We just need a mechanism to break that up again if it stagnates.

[–] PhoenixDog@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The goal of capitalism should be to create competition to generate general maximum efficiency.

You can do that under socialism as well. The problem with capitalism isn't the competition to generate maximum efficiency, it's the monopolization of that efficiency for profit rather than actual good. Why should we rely on the private sector to do what is best for society when publicly traded socialist companies can do the same without the dragon hoarding?

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[–] M1ch431@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Socializing them would be a boon sure, but I can't name a single major monopoly that is at any sort of "peak" that couldn't be re-implemented better if we started from scratch.

Our country has been stagnating in many areas for decades now and the competition that occurred in the past did not push us to realize "general maximum efficiency" - it pushed us to realize a corporate hellscape, with billionaires drinking our human rights like they would a fine wine.

[–] Lemming6969@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You don't start it from scratch, you take away the profit motive by folding it into the political machine as a utility. People still work there, it's still run in a similar fashion, but you take away the stocks and speculation and decision making and regulate it back to the people either via wages or 100% profit tax rate.

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[–] vegafjord@slrpnk.net 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)

school: Whoa whoa there pal... We love free speech, but not that kind of free speech.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

They've never loved free speech and have to be reminded that minors still have civil/constitutional rights from time to time.

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 8 points 1 day ago

US government: we can't allow a socialist government to succeed, because it proves that we're just greedy assholes. Go overthrow their government.

CIA: we're gonna get so much fucking richer, Ican't wait!

[–] mattyroses@lemmy.today 66 points 1 day ago (7 children)
[–] iocase@lemmy.zip 45 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] ImgurRefugee114@reddthat.com 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Everyone grieves differently... And some ways of grieving are just way more lucrative than others, apparently.

[–] bedwyr@piefed.ca 2 points 23 hours ago

Those monsters that criticize her just never let her grieve in her privacy, even when she was on her privacy barn storming tour.

[–] iocase@lemmy.zip 57 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Two of my favorite Erika Kirk memes. Hopefully it brightens someone else's day like it did my own.

[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

his righteous work

I will never understand this clumsy, ham-fisted, last-minute, posthumous religious pivot they gave this guy. There's a way to martyr someone and they're so far off base, it's like a parody of itself.

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[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

A post is always great if you put the punchline in the title

[–] Wren@lemmy.today 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is Brand New Sentence. The brand new sentence goes in the title.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

I'm tired of "clickbait-y" titles. I want the point of the post in the title complete. Especially self-posts.

[–] Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 91 points 2 days ago (63 children)

It's actually scary how people will never say it but understand perfectly that communism would lead to poor people doing better and that they will absolutely never allow that to happen.

[–] Tiger666@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Its not the poors getting a better outcome that they are against, its the fact the 1% will no longer exist.

[–] JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Let's be honest. It's both.

[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago

people will never say it but understand perfectly

I think you're vastly overestimating what people understand.

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