To be clear, I'm not urging another "read theory" struggle session. This to me seems to be about posting. Or maybe not? I guess we could have a struggle session about what it's actually about instead. And to prove I'm not one of the elite liberals, here's the link
when i say im a socialist i basically preface it with : i'm radically in favor of making sure everyone has food, jobs, healthcare, and housing, no questions asked. this is kinda an idea thats hard to refute other than just outright saying 'but you gotta wOrK fOr It'
then i'll say some bullshit about being raised christian and that theyre thinking about themselves only
Couching all of my leftist ideas as christian psychopathy is a tried and true tactic for me.
why yes, we need to invest 1 trillion in fish meat culturing because it is important that we follow jesus's example of replicating fish ad infinitum to give to the poor
Oh, you want to deport all the brown people? Jesus wouldn't think that's very cash-money of you my man.
That would be way fucking cooler than an F-35 that doesn't even fly.
Fuck I hadn't even tried that yet. Wasted Sundays throughout my youth will finally have some purpose.
the thing is people that say 'you gotta work for it' are coming from a place of emotion, e.g. indignation, hatred of the lazy. so its better to just argue with emotions instead because that is more compelling to the majority of onlookers. like yeah i know those things and i also know that a farmer today can produce a ton of crops with minimal work in comparison to 100 years ago, and same with construction. people can produce a ton of houses with minimal effort due to standardization. but that wont convince them that yeah, we should be helping people. stating those facts will just make them think 'yeah but then everyone who works will be EVEN RICHER AND THATS AWESOME FUCK THE LAZY'.
When I was doing framing for houses me and my coworker could frame a 3 story house in a week and a half. A house can go from a hole in the ground with foundation pilings to built in like 2 months if you can get all the trades lined up right.
2 framers, 1 concrete person with 2 extra crew, 1 plumber and apprentice, 1 electrician and apprentice, 2 drywallers, 1 painter, 1 finish carpenter, 1 tiler and 1 carpet person is all you need and a lot of those trades can be done by the same people. Just 15 people max can build a 2 story house with basement in a summer.
Homelessness is a policy position actively pursued by all levels of government.
now imagine just repurposing the entire industry to build aparment complex style units en masse for just a year. so much housing we wouldnt know what to do with it all.
I just say I'm for the cooperation of workers and it's anti-capitalist for the ownership class to conspire to enrich only them selves. Try and turn capitalism back on them and say I'm against it for my own reasons but you're the one getting fucked by anti-capitalists on the other end of the spectrum.
Some of my go to arguments concerning the attitude of 'you must wurk fur it" are:
Lets try to make with certainty that the terms of working always result in the fulfillment of basic needs so people aren't demoralised by a needlessly difficult prospect and impossible set of challenges. There's no issue with securing these things in advance as it's absolute fact that this will always result in a greater economic outcome. The only way to secure these things for everyone, because of the reactivity of the economy supply and demand (make them feel nice and smart for knowing that term) is the cooperation of workers.
And maybe if I want to push my luck I posit that it shouldn't be up to the political machinations of a scheming capitalist class to determine through acts of economic manipulation how much work constitutes the right to live a prosperous life. There needs to be a formal constitution and a set of measures put in place to make sure monopolisation and hording wealth of shore aren't permitted. And then we'll have 'fair economy'.
It's libcity like I'll give you. We know the realities of western wealth and just greater distribution doesn't cut it at this point but it's a nice nudge in the right direction.