Why is socialism viewed so negatively in politics and media?

[Vix150]

Why do people not like socialism?

To me it doesn't seem disastrous but it's portrayed in the media as a horrific way for a society to run.

Any thoughts?

Do you read a printed newspaper??! Wow.

The very rich can be protected by a very powerful socialist state anyway.

Oligarchs with connections have ownership and you can see even higher inequality emerge due to that.

As pp said destroying the middle classes can end up with poor, controlled population and a small powerful elite / state who will never want to give up that power.

Socialism that is, not the Nordic model which has very different outcomes.

Think I meant to quote your other pp

Yeah some of us still can read you know.

Well obviously. But Im not sure many people get their news from printed newspapers owned by these millionaires of which you speak. Given the readership figures. So I think you are barking up the wrong tree a bit there.

You do know you can read papers online don't you. Where do you get your news from, social media?

Tbf it’s better than the state owning all media and controlling it. At least there can be one group criticising the other.

I do read the Telegraph online. But I also get my news from the BBC (run by socialists unfortunately) and from various other podcasts not run by millionaires. The days of media tycoons are long gone due to proliferation of online news sites and opinion. For good or ill. Which rather dashes the PPs argument.

That’s an extreme reaction - as it’s not what I said. Or even close to it 😂 The observation was, does socialism in the PRC work, and I was pointing out that it’s resulted in worse income / wealth inequality than in most western countries. But at a control level and from taking a super long term view it has much to commend it, especially if you’re out at the bottom of the wealth scale :)

Well I think the BBC must doing so thing right because the Left are convinced it's run by uber-rightists! 😉

Also the BBC doesn't really voice much opinion either way about socialism, that's not really its role. But a lot of other media effectively paints a picture of 'But what about when you're rich and you don't want to pay tax or give your workers rights?!'

Capitalism was built on slavery, indenture and widesptead exploitation

This isn't correct sorry. Capitalism has been allowed to run badly out of control and it's doubtful now how it can be got back under control.

But it started as the best mechanism for deciding what should be grown and made in response to the needs and wants of people.

We don't talk enough about the benefits of capitalism. Anyone who wants to understand it should read the very readable book "Talking to my Daughter" by Yanis Varoufakis, himself a Socialist and heavily critical of the way the EU handled the Greek financial crisis when he was Greece"s Finance Misister.

That may be true. It doesn't contradict my point.

I copied and bolded the only piece was i commenting on.

And your point still doesn't contradict mine.

I'm not sure that's a good enough answer to questions of bias; that you are annoying both sides? The BBC is staffed by left wing people. That is a fact. I can't imagine anyone would admit to voting Reform in the news department! And so as is pointed out by so many, they probably need a bit of diversity of opinion to properly reflect the UK.

Thanks for posting this, but I fear you're wasting your time. It's incredibly frustrating that either/or, black/white, socialist/capitalist thinking is so entrenched. Fully-fledged adults seem incapable of reasoning beyond the level of an eight-year-old.

Fwiw, ALL political-economic models are harmful if unchecked. This is simply because of human nature - any one of them could be beneficial to all its members in theory but never will, because people will be people.

The thing that's worked best for the most people, so far, is constrained capitalism. The constraints that make it work are labelled 'socialist'. What works is a bit of this, a bit of that. The really important questions are about what balances to apply, when and where, and how to enforce them.

That is of course your opinion Garlic. Other people have different opinions. That is allowed and doesn't mean they are "incapable of reasoning beyond the level of an eight year old". Such lofty statements does your argument no favours unfortunately and probably should be avoided on a MN politics thread.

I didn't say it did, FFS!

Whilst I agree with your general conclusions I agree with pp about the 8 year old jibes.

lol - yeah, right.

Eh? You literally said 'this isn't correct'. That is, by definition, contradicting.

Well, the biggest landowning families did literally steal it off the commoners in the first place.

I'm not sure many of us need to graze our sheep on shared land or take turns with the plough for our strip of corn these days, though ...!

You might be interested in the UK government's current green farming incentives, which have largely replaced product-specific bonus schemes. We're receiving cautious praise from agriculturalists around the world; even China's trying to implement a model based on ours.

That response was to you saying

"That may be true. It doesn't contradict my point."

Jesus, 'can we just move on!?

Erm because most of the media is big business with share holders who have a vested interest in capitalism? Just a guess😏

1. People this it's communism
2. The media is owner by those with a lot to lose by socialism.

Well the state (councils) do own a lot of farm land that they let out to tenant farmers. They usually have ladder style progression on these farms as well. Seven years on a small for example, then move up to a bigger farm. The tenants own the farming businesses pay rent and get guidance and oversight from the council.