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Benefits of Socialism That Are Often Overlooked
Socialism’s main benefit is supplying a huge number of jobs. Quite often, these jobs are done by people formerly considered unemployable.
Remember how in East Germany, before that nation crumbled away, 25 percent of all East Germans worked for the Stasi? This type of job allowed those East Germans to spend their time reporting on their neighbors and others. They could often work from home. And all the job required was the ability to patiently listen in to the neighbor’s conversation. Such were the wonders of East Germany’s electronic surveillance equipment. Later rather than sooner, the neighbor might tell a joke or two mocking some government official and then it was curtains for that neighbor.
Granted, that activity doesn’t make for a productive nation with a high standard of living, but it did offer full employment!
One other benefit is that the various matters relating to a court case are soon streamlined, making the court system much more efficient. No longer is there a need for a plaintiff to spend time acquiring reasonable evidence.
Instead, the socialist view of “evidence, shmevidence” saves the plaintiffs and the entire system lots of time and oodles of money.
As long as a person is a member of society in good standing, the claims about a guy who may have “something something, not sure of date, not sure of location” over three decades ago will be taken seriously. And if the guy can’t prove a negative, well, too bad for him.
There may be other benefits of socialism I can’t think of right now. (But there are a lot of parades and street marches, if you are into that type of thing.)
Please feel free to mention socialism’s other benefits. Here’s an East German joke:
Published in GeneralA judge comes out of a court room in East Berlin with an assistant. The judge is laughing and laughing. The assistant says, “What’s so funny?”
The judge: “This defendant told a really funny joke today in court, when I asked him to tell the court why he was charged with sedition.”
Assistant: “So what was the joke?”
Judge: (Still laughing) “I can’t tell you the joke — If I did, I’d have to sentence myself to 20 years.”
Keeps the population down, of everything in the territory and nearby. Provides more mutations due to nuclear spills and unregulated toxic wastes in the rivers.
You neglect to mention the low obesity rates of socialist countries.
Crime prevention. You don’t have to wait until somebody commits a crime in order to deal with it. And you don’t have those pesky limits on powers of the police to protect the people.
I don’t know if socialist countries have gone so far as our civil-assets forfeiture system, though. Maybe they have. I just don’t know.
Socialist countries don’t have civil assets.
Heh. Heh. (except for Party leaders.)
Except for the crimes the police commit, although they are not labeled as crimes.
It’s a recurrence of the old Soviet joke: They pretend to pay us; we pretend to work.
Wait, are you talking about East German trials or Senate Supreme Court nominee hearings?
Same t’ing!
The average Venezuelan has lost 24 lbs in the past year.
Perhaps socialist political theory books should be sold in the ‘diet plan’ section of the books store.
Hmmmn, maybe I should move to Venezuela for a few years.
Very sad to say, but I don’t think they suffer from excess pet population.
Are you trying to confuse me, Buster? Try it again and I’ll be using my secret Anti Fa phone line to the Stasi.
You should know I traded in my old “Get Smart” shoe phone for my pink hat phone. All I need to do is hit the speed dial and I will be connected with the Nancy Pelosi – Anti Fa headquarters:
The joke probably was:
Two Russians discussed who was greater, was it Stalin or President Hoover.
“Hoover taught the Americans not to drink,” says one.
“Yes,” replies the other, “but Stalin taught the Russians not to eat.”
* * *
Q: How do you deal with mice in the Kremlin?
A: Put up a sign saying “collective farm”. Then half the mice will starve, and the rest will run away.
* * *
There was a long queue outside a meat shop in Poland. After an hour the manager came out and said: “The delivery of meat will be less than we thought. The Jews should go home.” An hour later he came out again: “There is even less meat than we expected. Those of you who are not party members will not get any.” Most people left. After a third hour the manager addressed the party members: “I know you are all loyal party activists so I can tell you the truth. There isn’t any meat.” As two of the activists trudged away, one said to the other: “Just as I thought another bloody Jewish conspiracy.”
Make sure you see “The Death of Stalin” and “The Lives of Others.”
This is really dry, but it’s the best explanation I have ever seen on why socialism is stupid.
The way they to do full employment is to simply declare not having a “visible means of support” illegal. Anyone without a job gets arrested and sent to a labor camp.
This actually caused a big problem in Czechloslovakia after communism there ended, because this same law was also the only law that criminalized prostitution that the communists had, and all the communist laws were overturned automatically. The way my father described it was that there was basically porn and hookers everywhere in public until the new government could pass new laws to control that stuff.
I haven’t seen The Death of Stalin, but my wife and I watched our DVD of The Lives of Others.
The East German surveillance state by the Stasi is as chilling as it can get. TLOO is a must watch . . .
A clarification – I don’t think 25% of East Germans worked as paid employees for the Stasi. The informants were those who for personal advantage, to prove their loyalty to the state, and/or were blackmailed by the state provided information on those they worked with, lived with, and/or were friends with.
There’s a new series (I can’t remember if it’s Netflix or Prime – just checked, it’s Amazon) called “Der gleiche Himmel” (the same sky) that is even better. It’s about two families who turn out to be related on each side of the wall. The Stasi guy comes to the West looking to set up a romance with a British/Swedish woman in intelligence. She has a stroke early on and the Stasi guy’s handler kills her in the hospital. Then the Stasi guy switches to a friend of hers in an American/German family. I think it is going to turn out to be his twin sister as could only happen in a twisted spy thriller. There’s lots more going on than that though – tunnelers, DDR athletes, inner workings of Stasi both domestic and against the west. The first season is out and hopefully more will follow.
You forgot the main benefit of all – hairy female athletes. Amazing what drug therapy will do.
I think CarolJoy’s number was picked out of the air for satire.
Didn’t Sessions or someone else in Trump Admin stop the assets forfeiture situation? Or else take steps to see that it will be stopped some time in the next couple of years?
You’ve got it backwards. Sessions likes asset forfeiture, if it was Sessions you were referring to.
Surely you joke. My writing is in keeping with that very serious vein of thought that my dad instilled in me.
And remember it was Dad who once said “When the going gets tough, the tough turn on the TV!”
An East German fun film is “Goodbye Lenin”. Culture shock when the wall falls.
They just identified as female. Progressive before Pro(re)gressivism.
@hang on
I have always liked those hairy female athletes. They make us California girls look that much more appealing.
You don’t need the help: