Sorry. You can't have a hereditary monarchy and pretend that's socialism:
Saudi King Abdullah demonstrated how effective socialism can be when he announced on Friday that — purely out of the goodness of his heart (oh, and also out of fear that the population might get antsy and try to oust him) — he’s handing out goodies for everyone. $100 billion worth, give or take. Civil servants will get a bonus worth two months’ pay. Students will get an extra two months’ living allowance. The military and security forces will get 60,000 more jobs (just in case the population doesn’t take the hint and clam up already with its complaints).
It's one of the saddest things about Internet based comment that words like Nazi and socialist get all bundled up into "thing I don't like" or "thing that other people do that I don't understand. Hitler, for example, has to be socialist to make sure that there was never right-wing dictatorships. Now, apparently, one ruler holding absolute unlimited political power in the state based on birth is socialism. Brilliant. But, then again , why bother with fine points when it's only the conclusion that matters, right?
Comments
David Janes - March 21, 2011 4:12 PM
Socialism is the one that wipes out the Ukranians, but it totally won't happen again we pinkie promise, right? It's all very confusing to me.
Alan - March 21, 2011 4:55 PM
No, that is pretty much it. Think Cybermen rather than Daleks. The hive, the Borg. The stripping of individuality and the provision of standardized work and reward.
Pok - March 21, 2011 8:42 PM
No comment in fear of some form of beheading order.
Mike C - March 22, 2011 6:50 PM
Following on a sci-fi theme...
In my mind, the political realm is like warped space, where Socialism heads off over the horizon on the left and Fascism heads off over the horizon on the right and they both go around underneath, meet and become one in an unwelcome nexus of inhumanity and non-sustainability.
"Intellect & Romance, over Brute Force & Cynicism!"
8-)
Hans - March 22, 2011 9:02 PM
You guys sound like a bunch of pinko commie fascist Iggy-lovers to me. And bordering on Un-Canadian to boot!
Ben (The Tiger) - March 22, 2011 11:53 PM
Kings can administer socialist policies, just as they can go with capitalist ones...
Alan - March 23, 2011 8:38 AM
Hahhaahahhahhahhahha!!! Monkeys can fly!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A despot throwing around the hoard of gold is not socialism.
Jay Currie - March 25, 2011 3:00 AM
I have big election FEVER. but I have to add "racist", "phobe (with any suffix)", "denier" (of either sort) and so on.
Fun as it is to use the big brush, it is seldom accurate or very interesting.
Meanwhile, gather round the telly, pop open a beer and enjoy the silly spectacle of a 100 million dollars wasted on Iggy and Steve not winning. How cool is that?
David Janes - March 25, 2011 9:55 AM
I guess another issue I'm having trouble with wrapping my head around is why so many socialists are proud watercarriers for fascist propaganda - that the west killed hundreds of thousands of kids in Iraq.
Alan - March 25, 2011 10:04 AM
What I don't understand is why that is a separate question in your mind distinct from the general failure of people at all points in the political scheme fro understanding how close they are and have been to manifesting violent tyranny. The right does exactly the same thing as the left.
Plus its an entire sidetrack from the question above.
David Janes - March 25, 2011 10:41 AM
But there's a fundamental issue when you say "all points in the political scheme" or posit Hitler as a "right wing" phenomena. You're basically positing there's a political continuum of belief that goes rightward like this
[Alan] --> [Steve Harper] --> [Hitler!]
which doesn't have any meaningful explanatory powers or relationship to reality.
Alan - March 25, 2011 12:08 PM
I think the short answer is "no, that is wrong of you."
But I take your point that the explanation may not be clear enough on the ecumenical nature of politics and tyranny. Yet, it is a right wing application in the particular even if it is also a left wing one, too.
In the end, I would still state as I did clearly that suggesting a absolutist king has anything to do with socialism is simply absurd and indicative of how ill informed the discourse is.
David Janes - March 25, 2011 4:40 PM
Yes. The problem occurs ... and not only in politics ... one attempts to project a multi-dimensional systems onto a lower dimensional system. Greenland becomes huge, Africa tiny. Or Hitler gets put on the opposite of a scale with Stalin; or that as you say, the Kingdom becomes socialist.