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[–]Trajan 6 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

Because at a very superficial level it seems a solution to the inequalities inherent to free markets - you can't have winners without losers. Younger people are particularly prone to seeing communism as an amazing solution that simply has not been done right, seeing themselves as having found the one true implementation that would actually work. The reason it skews more this way for younger people is a combination of lack of experience, limited exposure to working life, incomplete brain development, and academia presenting both ideology and an artificial world on which they base their views.

After World War 2 everybody quite rightly condemned National Socialism, with a great deal of research into how ostensibly normal people could be part of it. Given the political leanings of the most prominent researchers, it's not a surprise that they considered this exclusively a right-wing problem. It was only later that further research into the authoritarian personality considered the left. With decades of apologising for and concealing the obvious parallels in communism and other far left ideologies, the left never saw the scrutiny it should have received while filling mass graves pretty much everywhere it was tried. We're now left with people not realising how terrible communism is. Had things been done right, extolling communism would be viewed the way we view people who quibble over the numbers exterminated by the National Socialists.

[–]Canbot 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

it seems a solution to the inequalities inherent to free markets

Inequality is inherent in literally everything. Even in a communist dictatorship there is inequality. China is communist and still has Billionaires. None of the systems they propose actually get rid of inequality at all. It is an impossible thing to do. So, no, it's not about that. That is just a platitude.

[–]Trajan 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

True, but in principle they believe that communism/socialism will bring equality. By contrast, free markets are based on competition. Of course we know that these beliefs have not exactly translated into reality whenever they've had a chance to implement their childish ideologies.

[–]Canbot 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's the thing though, even a cursory exploration reveals that these systems always fail to improve the lives of anyone except the few who are in power. Someone is knowingly spreading lies. Those who have the power to spread these ideas know better, they do it anyway. The question is why do THEY do it.