• blight [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    but you see, they only allowed them to live longer so they could trample on their liberties longer! :very-intelligent:

    • NomadicWarMachine [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Honestly people today seem to be taking the "better to die free than live a slave" logic to some weird extreme lately. Like I get it, I'd rather live an awesome shorter life than a lame long life, but you got people openly wishing for nuclear holocaust rather than having to live in a world where Russia has slightly more geopolitical influence that may disrupt their treat flow.

      Personally, if I was offered one day of getting insanely drunk and nude in public and jacking off on everything I want to, followed by death, and a long healthy life with dignity, but where I was expected to NOT get drunk in public and jack off in front of strangers, I'd pick the latter, but apparently that makes me an insane brainwashed authoritarian or something.

      • AFineWayToDie [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Look, I know I don't want to get drunk in public and jack off in public right now, but I might in the future. What's the point of living, if I don't have that choice?

        Now if you'll excuse me, I have to hose a bunch of semen off of my car.

    • ProfessorAdonisCnut [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      They only had literacy programs so people could read propaganda, and they only had lighting so they could read propaganda at night

      • star_wraith [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        They only had literacy programs so people could read propaganda

        All my science textbooks in school, until I finally went to public school in 9th grade, stated the earth was < 10,000 years old and that evolution was a lie. History textbooks were usually a combination of Old Testament stories + extreme American Exceptionalism.

  • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Communists maliciously increased people's life expectancy so they'd spend longer in gulag.

    • Lovely_sombrero [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Evil USSR, where you were like ~8x less likely to be in a gulag when compared to current US prison rates.

      I remember someone linking how the population of Gulags rapidly decreased after 1917, but I don't remember from where. Have to find it!

      • ProfessorAdonisCnut [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Source on 8x lower? Mortality was definitely lower in the later years of the GULAG system than it currently is in US prisons, but numbers I've seen were <2x (maybe a bit more with probably the rampant COVID deaths :amerikkka: )

        Oh wait I get it, because you were just that much less likely to be imprisoned...

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          From what i understand the US prison system has more people than the GULAG ever did, both in absolute numbers and per capita numbers.

          • OgdenTO [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Yes but the gulag imprisoned the rich and entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs!

  • StLangoustine [any]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    Libs love to parade the 75-90 vs 90-present contrast though.

    • anaesidemus [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      well for the Russians life expectancy dropped massively in the 90's. Maybe the Poles got more treats sooner.

      • kristina [she/her]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Also Poland had less supply issues cause their country maintained their borders. Whereas in the USSR they split in like 10 different countries and the logistics issue of that is terrible

      • Gosplan14 [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Yeah, also people who already lived in the west were able to send foreign currency now, as socialist Poland disallowed that, and thus directly import treats from the west (the embargo on imports was lifted with the counter-revolution). On the other hand, unemployment, crime and poverty rose sharply as industry collapsed (or was collapsed due to the skyrocketing corruption) and immigration steadily drained the pool of young people and skilled workers.

        Poland had the problem that socialism came in 1945 and until the end neither the population nor the communist party actually wanted socialism, so they did nationalism and constant infighting for the right to hate gays and ban abortion I guess. Also it had the worst food shortages in any socialist country in the early 80s (though the situation was improving in the late 80s), yet say the GDR, Czechoslovakia or Bulgaria only lacked in exotic foods like bananas... might have something to do with the decollectivization of agriculture in 1956? (Collective farms did still exist until the last one was privatized in November 1995, but were to my knowledge a minority)

  • KasDapital [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Hit me with the source if you can. If I share this I know people will want it. Also I want it just to see where it comes from.

  • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Yeah, but what's the point of living if you're denied the fundamental human right to emigrate to the UK to become a plumber for some gammon?

    • Gosplan14 [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Pollution (probably the biggest problem in AES countries) and alcoholism, as well as the inability to buy better machinery from more technologically advanced countries or invest into R&D because Gierek did a IMF LOAN IMF LOAN IMF LOAN in the 70s and the west went :troll: with interest rates and demanding the repayment of what actually was a pretty average amount of debt compared to say England or Italy had back then

  • Nagarjuna [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    NGL, that trend looks less steep than wht you'd generally expect for a communist country.