this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2025
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[–] [email protected] 118 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

My parents fled a socialist country many decades ago. I grew up listening to my father drone on and on about how bad Socialism is. He still doesn’t understand that there's a difference between socialism and totalitarianism, but following political developments of the last decade or so I am often reminded of his sermons.

One detail was: what happens when you hire people not based on qualifications but loyalty. You get stupid people in positions of power, happy to wield it for its own sake. Often with a penchant for cruelty and a vague feeling of revenge (against “the bourgeousie” then, against “woke globalists” now). And it always ends the same: you have to dilute milk with water and lie about it. This is where the US are headed now, folks. Stalinism, the burgeoning 3rd Reich, take your pick.

[–] Barbarian 51 points 3 days ago (1 children)

My dad grew up in a communist country, and I know exactly what you mean.

I'm incredibly lucky that we have a kind of mutual intellectual respect, where we fact-check each other a lot and are both willing to change our minds about stuff. Consequently, I've managed to explain the differences between totalitarianism, communism, and fascism (had to explain why horseshoe theory isn't a thing).

He thought I was being hyperbolic about the US' slow descent into fascism in 2017, as I ran through the fascist identification checklist. As a victim of communism, he naturally tried to make excuses for Trump. That ended the first week of his second term, and we're having some close calls with a similar candidate here.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

We have too much emotional baggage to have regular discussions but it was kinda cool to be on the same side during Covid, pro Ukraine and against Putin and Trump. Although he too thought me hyperbolic when I compared Trump's first weeks in office to Hitler's first weeks in office. Maybe he has changed his mind by now.