all 41 comments

[–]Jiminy 6 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 2 fun -  (17 children)

I can see it because nepotism is bad and yeah I don't like that lazy idiots are better off than me. But socialism isn't the answer because the elites are still in charge. A vanguard party giving up its power after setting up socialism is a lie.

[–]PsychoTranyRedditMod 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Human greed and selfishness make both those forms of government eventually fail. The only thing slowing it down are checks and balances in the system to mitigate abuse. Companies like Walmart, Amazon, or Microsoft are prime examples of why they need to be regulated well before they became what they became.

Also these constant 403 errors every other comment is annoying af.

[–]Jiminy 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah some common sense regulation is good. We need to break up monopolies too

Http 403 is a code meaning forbidden. This site is telling you there is forbidden knowledge here and you'll have to go through annoying challenges to get it. If you shoot a flare gun and send the flare up into the clouds that'd be liking asking God for help.

[–]jet199 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (14 children)

Why is nepotism bad?

Isn't one of the main reasons people build businesses and work hard to create a better life for their children?

[–]SMCAB 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Nepotism is bad because it doesn't reward merit. It rewards ass kissing, and plainly being born. Nepotism isn't just for family, it catches ass kissers too. A Manager or Owner who rewards ass kissing isn't genuine, and doesn't really care about the profitability of his company. He cares more about being validated.

There is a fair amount of nepotism in my company, it hasn't directly affected me, but I see it and it does affect a great number of people I know.

[–]ID10T 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Nepotism is bad for the same reason DEI is bad. If you don't hire or promote based on merit, you end up with unqualified people in positions that make bad decisions and damage the company. That's bad for everybody; employees, stock holders, and customers.

The best way to create a better life for your children is to give them a solid foundation to make their own success. That means education, setting a good example, instilling them with morals, giving them a sense of personal responsibility, and not spoiling them. Which means they have to pay for their mistakes and don't get everything handed to them on a silver platter. Raise a child right and they will make their own success and not be dependent on you.

[–]Jiminy 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

It's good for your children and makes you feel good. But it's bad for every other human in earth. In a perfect world everything would be based on merit. It's not a perfect world. And socialism makes it even worse. So even though I'm against nepotism I'm also admitting I don't know of a perfect system that is better than capitalism.

[–]ID10T 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

I would argue that it's not good for a child to have everything given to them. That just creates spoiled, shitty children. Better to make them earn things on their own.

[–]Jiminy 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

That's true but what about if it's nepotism where you pay for all the best schools for a kid, pay for college, give them money to start a business. What if they're then successful because they do work hard but got a head start poorer kids don't have. Like Taylor swift, very successful right now, but her dad paid for her early career.

[–]ID10T 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

That's not nepotism.

[–]Jiminy 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

name checks out

[–]ID10T 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Maybe you should look up the definition of the word nepotism lol. Words have meanings man...

[–]Jiminy 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I just did, I'm right you're wrong.

[–]ID10T 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

You’re a silly child

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

That's not nepotism.

[–]xoenix 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Giving your kids your own property is different than giving kids government (public) property.

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Who would you rather do brain surgery on yourself or your child?

  • somebody who became a brain surgeon through years of hard work, talent and dedication;
  • or somebody who got the job because their uncle is on the hospital's board of directors.

If you can see why the second case is bad, then you've just answered your own question.

[–]chadwickofwv 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

More than one sentence, but accurate.

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

More than one sentence, and completely inaccurate.

[–]hfxB0oyA 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

That's more like a single paragraph, though maybe he just meant "Hate the man who is better off than you are." When I saw the headline, I thought the sentence was going to be "Give me what's yours."

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

maybe he just meant "Hate the man who is better off than you are."

It is painful to hear people whose (mis)understanding of Marxism is no better than the cartoon "its all just jealousy against the successful" 😞

Capitalism is not the same as the free market. Free markets have existed since Ogg the caveman offered a mammoth steak to Thag in exchange for a pair of rabbit-skin moccasins. Capitalism is only roughly 300 years old. Marx had many very insightful criticisms of capitalism, although it has to be said that his ideas of socialism and communism are in their own way equally naive and ignorant of human psychology as is laissez-faire libertarianism.

[–]hfxB0oyA 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Criticizing Marxism doesn't imply condoning capitalism, or any other philosophy.

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Indeed. I agree totally.

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

That is quite a mouthful, and more than a single sentence. Not to mention full of "always/never" to push a political agenda instead of attempting to make an impartial discovery. This is just some circlejerk nonsense. If I wanted a bullshit echochamber, I would go back to reddit.

[–]alladd 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

I think Marx's position would probably be that personal success and exploitation in capitalism are inseparable from each other so the position argued here is fallacious. "His own efforts" presumably include adapting to markets that facilitate the transfer of the value of labor from the laborers to business owners. It's also sort of baked into capitalism the understanding that it is a competition, whose losers are not necessarily the product of laziness or weakness, but merely circumstance, so that sort of language is loaded; the subtext is that any indignity towards obviously unfair practices are just an inability to utilize them and not a moral concern. If you can't beat em, join em, etc.

But we see firsthand everywhere how hard working people don't get what they deserve. So it's not merely hard work that is required; it's cheating. Corrupt work. The better you are at cheating others out of their money the more celebrated you are, the more successful. Our titans of industry these days scarcely create; they largely provide maintenance services for existing transfers of goods or data and profit by eliminating overhead, which means people losing jobs.

[–]ID10T 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I'm decently successful, not rich, but comfortable and I came from a very poor upbringing. Never had to cheat anybody. I just worked hard on educating myself and always improving my skills.

[–]alladd 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

And any disparities or unfair circumstances you've faced during that time is probably due to corruption. You'd be doing even better were it not for a handful of people.

[–]TheBlackSun 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Do you think being poor is a necessary fuel to motivate yourself to become better?

Had everything been handed to you from the get-go would you have still turned out to be the same person or a similar likeness?

[–]xoenix 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Marx's parents were successful but he pissed it all away.

[–]Jiminy 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

He had a housekeeper I think he was doing ok. Probably paid by banker friends to write his books which helped influence poor people and get them to fight in wars. I actually suspect Marx didn't write his books, Engels did. We don't hear about him as much. Probably cuz he was against top down revolutions. Just supported democracy. He had based views on women too. He pretended to be communist to get with proletariat women

[–]xoenix 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

3 of Marx's kids died of starvation. He was always begging for money from Engels.

[–]Jiminy 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's true. I think that was fishy, he was likely abusing them. I don't trust reports on his money. He was rich but just couldn't admit that, cuz of the implication. Him and Engels both enjoyed the good life while writing about how bad the bougoise (middle class) is. The surviving Jenny's were rich socialites, rewarded for what their dad did.

[–]Mcheetah 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Basically.

[–]Bridgeheadprod 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Umm I’m sorry that was more than a sentence.

[–]longtime_user 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

incorrect, because it disregards everyone who inherited their wealth, which is most of them

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

"The whole gospel of Karl Marx can be summed up in a single sentence..." and then goes on to use four sentences 😂 😂 😂

You're quoting a drooling moron who can't count, and you think that he's got any insight or understanding of Marx?

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

The sentence being referenced was the first one, "Hate the man that is better than you." The rest is an expanded explanation of that first sentence. How did you not understand that?

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Your grasp of English is no better than your grasp of Marxism. If you need "an expanded explanation" of the first sentence, then you cannot sum something up in "a single sentence" because you need three extra sentences to explain it. Duh.

In any case, one sentence or four, this summing up of Marxism is total, 100% bullshit. It is not part of Marxism to "hate the man that is better than you" any more than it is part of capitalism to "love the man that is worse than you".

[–]LordoftheFlies 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's funny to read Marx, and then look at his personal history and see how much of his life he spent mooching off his family, his friends, and his wife's family.

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This summing up of Marxism is total, 100% bullshit. It is not part of Marxism to "hate the man that is better than you" any more than it is part of capitalism to "love the man that is worse than you".

You need negative understanding of Marxism to believe that Henry Hazlitt quote describes Marxism. It is not just stupid and foolish but it is obviously stupid and foolish. It is as accurate as these:

  • you can sum up the conservative political view with "never throw trash away, you must keep it forever"
  • you can sum up libertarianism as "every day should be like that movie The Purge with no laws or rules"

but because this is Marxism Henry Hazlitt is talking about millions of wet-brains are all "so true!!!".

Hazlitt has been praised by such intellectual midgets as Ayn Rand and Ronald Reagan, and economic frauds like Milton Friedman who at least had the decency in his retirement to admit that the economic bullshit he invented, which had and still has such awful human cost around the world, was wrong.