On standards and hypocrisy
…Hold yourself and those you support to the same standards you demand of your enemies and opponents, and show the same respect to those who fail them as you would want for yourself and those you care for.
Sweden – A socialist state or not?
I often see a bit of confusion regarding the Nordic model and whether Sweden has been a socialist country or not. And I see people who are against socialism actually arguing both. This confusing right wing stance on whether Sweden is socialist or not depends on whether Sweden is regarded as successful or not. Those on the right who regard it as a socialist state, claim it is a failure, which is common among right wing Swedes, and especially so in the far right. Those on the right who instead recognizes it as successful do not however recognize socialism as being the reason, but tend to emphasize the things they see as in opposition to the socialist aspects.
And it is different to what you find in many other countries for sure, not quite the stereotypical idea of socialism, but certainly not a libertarian free market either, especially not if we look at the period that really defined Sweden. It is one modern definition of socialism though, being a variation thereof.
It is sometimes argued that a free market made Sweden what it is now, with its social benefits, and it is partially true, but we can’t really ignore that many very vital markets were not free at all, and others have been heavily regulated. And in those free markets, those who “produced” had lived under extremely poor circumstances, for generations, with very few rights, not even being allowed to vote, and sometimes literally robbed of what little they had by businessmen who were free to set up schemes to do so.
Fascist soup
…“The problem with reactionary conservatism and fascism is that it is a bit like a soup made from pickled herring, roquefort cheese, liver paté, banana, spinach, garlic, caviar and marshmallows. Most of the elements are good on their own and can be quite tempting, but when combined it’s pretty bloody awful and tastes like shit when you are forced to eat it.
And here we again have people who love those ingredients, like so many of us actually do, hell bent on trying to make that soup again, not seeing how they do not fit together, not understanding the properties of the ingredients, and not caring about the failures of earlier attempts, thinking if they just tweak the proportions a little bit, it will work this time around.”
On reactionary conservatism
…“It is curious how the reactionary conservatist and fascistoid obsession with tradition and culture never really focuses on the actual, living and near traditions, never on the ambitions and hopes of those living two, three, four generations back, who worked hard at making society better, often living under very harsh and oppressive circumstances, making great sacrifices in the process.Instead the focus is on timewise quite distant cultures and traditions millennias or at least several centuries back, predating the French Revolution and “modern society”, completely rejecting democracy and strive for equal opportunity. In that it literally is against the dreams, traditions and culture of our closer ancestors of the last 150 years or so, and against their hardwon legacy, rejecting them as not part of tradition, while in reality it is very much a consequence of our history, our culture and our traditions, and something which has been constantly debated and fought over for millennias in our societies, not least in the past times these people choose to look to, even in the Talmud, the Bible and the Koran, and certainly in Greek, Roman, medieval and Renaissance philosophy.It is a pure fantasy of a time with no connection to anyone alive, outside of theory and book reading, and often quite ill-informed, built on romanticized stereotypes and cherry-picking of pretty and cool pieces of times which for the majority were very far from what most of us would want or desire.
What to fight over and what is at stake
‘Any ideological “war” has to also be fought in the same arenas as the ones chosen by the opponent, using the same tools, tactically and with consideration. Focusing on single issues, like e.g. racism, is doomed to fail simply because it just doesn’t affect the majority or move them deeply enough.
This ideological war is not simply on fighting the opponents of the extremes, or about convincing those on our side, but more so about influencing all the ones caught in no man’s land, all the ones not committed or even particularly aware of what or how much is at stake, or how they are being manipulated and deceived by the reactionary. It is primarily over them that this war is fought. And while the minorities will benefit greatly from this, this is really not a war of minorities, but one of the majority, just as it was for our ancestors who sacrificed so much to leave us this great legacy.
So, it is necessary to broaden the scope, to show how a move towards reactionary conservatism and fascism fundamentally changes the lives of everyone, deeply, at its core, literally removing democracy, removing the right for everyone to vote and the opportunity to have a little influence on their own lives, and a chance to a dignified life, replacing it with a rule by the very elite, replacing it with a separation of people who already live together and have done so for generations. It would inevitably mean losing many hardearned rights as a citizen, as an employee, as a student, as a parent and as a life partner, and would put society even more in the hands of the elite, in the hands of those who have simply been born into a family with the right connections, and with a chance for higher education, having been streamlined into positions of power and influence over generations, just as has been the case for millennias before, and is blatantly evident even now.
Everything matters
…“Every single word spoken or not spoken, every single action taken or not taken, counts and matters, as in some way your choices have changed the life of someone else. The final question is whether it was for the better or not.”
A bit of a pretentious knobhead with thoughts too big for his head and a need to get them out to leave room for other things.