• river
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    2011 months ago

    hm i wonder if theres any capitalist countries with a history of committing genocide…

    • ATGM 🚀
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      311 months ago

      Every genocide can be bad at all the same time. You know?

      • river
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        211 months ago

        yea i know. genocide is never a good thing. no matter who does it. whats ur point?

        • ATGM 🚀
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          411 months ago

          I’m not sure about your specific views, but my point is that the genocides carried out by the USSR and by China and by other ‘Communist’ states are bad, and that they don’t become any less bad as a consequence of Capitalism also having carried out genocides.

          • river
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            211 months ago

            i fully agree and im sorry if it came across differently.

            • ATGM 🚀
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              11 months ago

              No you’re good, just trying to answer.

              edit: Oh and I see where we went wrong, you replied to someone doing a USA whataboutism. I was hunting for tankies in the comments. Should be careful where I point my ATMG - Anti-Tankie Meme Generation.

              • river
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                311 months ago

                lol oki. i decided to stop arguing with the tankies here. i dont wanna legitimize it as a valid position to discuss about.

                dont waste too much time on these fuckers, look after urself too :3

                • ATGM 🚀
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                  211 months ago

                  Yeah, thanks :) I’m not trying to appeal to them directly so much as make sure their claims don’t linger unchallenged.

      • @candlebury
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        1511 months ago

        My country, Guatemala, for a start. With tacit US approval even.

      • river
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        1411 months ago

        oh dear here we go. off the top of my head, there is of course, canada, usa (native americans), israel (palestinians), nazi germany (jewish people, PoC, queer people, communists, and a whole bunch of others)(it mightve called itself socialist but was still very much capitalist), china (uyghur people) (also might call itself communist but they literally have billionaires and a fucking stock market, cmon)

        • @[email protected]
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          011 months ago

          I view nazi germany and china quite a bit different from real capitalist societies. Simply having a stock market doesn’t mean the markets are free to function as they please.

          I also tend to disagree with canada and usa being genocidial at this point in time. For sure they did horrific things, but comparing usa to nazi germany or current day china is delusional, as the US country’s government is not actively killing a part of their own population.

          What rubs me the wrong way in these conversations is mentioning capitalism as a system that commits the genocide. Both germany and china are/were state driven, and as such the markets didn’t really have anything to do with the actions. Instead the genocide is driven by the government that is/was authoritarian, and as such the markets aren’t driving the killing.

          The one country I agree with being a free market and genocidial is Israel.

          • @Sunforged
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            1411 months ago

            So because the genocide the US did was in the past it doesn’t count?

            • @[email protected]
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              -111 months ago

              It counts for sure. It’s just different to call current US genocidial in comparison to stating that US has committed genocide. Kinda like germany is not a genocidial country, but 80 years ago it was. The government now isn’t the same that committed the atrocities.

              I’m probably off topic, but in left leaning communities I see a lot of references to the US as a genocidial regime. My above explanation should clear up somewhat why I feel that it’s a bit far fetched. Eg. the current state of things in the US doesn’t count as one IMO.

              • @Sunforged
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                11 months ago

                We have a government that spends billions of dollars on the military industrial complex with what amounts to no opposition politically. Having spent that money we then go on to justify the weapons being deployed around the world.

                If Isreal is a genocidal country, how is America not for enabling Isreal? There is no distinction in my mind. It’s the same capitalist interests at play.

              • SomeLemmyUser
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                111 months ago

                I understand where you are coming from, but maybe u understand our point of view, that you don’t need the genocides and war that bad anymore, when past genocides and wars already have made you the mightiest force in the world.

                If your on top and have mostly money, its easy to screw others with said money, a fight you’ll always win, and pointing the blame, when they switch to the same strategies, you used to get in the position of power where you are now.

                • @[email protected]
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                  111 months ago

                  I don’t disagree with people saying that US is doing questionable stuff. What rubs me the wrong way is that the current meddlings of US are being compared to what is being done in ukraine right now. They are fundamentally different levels of evil.

          • river
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            1111 months ago

            Simply having a stock market doesn’t mean the markets are free to function as they please.

            are u saying that government intervention in the “free market” = communism?

            as a reminder, communism is a stateless, classless, and moneyless society.

            also, state intervention in the market does not make a country no longer capitalist, they all have that.

            but comparing usa to nazi germany or current day china is delusional

            i was just giving u a list of genocidal capitalist countries, i wasnt comparing them with each other.

            many countries are built on genocide thanks to colonialism. canada is one of them, and it has not changed its course

            • @[email protected]
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              111 months ago

              are u saying that government intervention in the “free market” = communism?

              I mostly agree with the rest of the points, but I have to comment on this. I’m not implying that china is communist. AFAIK I did not state that in my comments. What I am saying is that government intervention in free markets is antithetical to capitalism. That doesn’t make it communism, socialism, or any other flavor of purism, but still disqualifies the country from being capitalist.

              • river
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                611 months ago

                I’m not implying that china is communist. AFAIK I did not state that in my comments.

                yea i figured. just wanted to make sure 👍

                government intervention in free markets is antithetical to capitalism.

                all the countries i mentioned have/had corporate taxes

                still disqualifies the country from being capitalist.

                oof so by that definition, are there any capitalist countries right now? has it ever been tried and succeeded so far? if any intervention in the free market makes a country no longer capitalist, i mean.

              • SomeLemmyUser
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                411 months ago

                Sry but this is just bullshit. Nearly every country does that and they are capitalist. Its not antiethical, its needed to stabelise capitalism (even in the USA there are ISO norms, food and drug administration, tax differences for different corporations etc. Pp.)