I'm half-tempted to tune in - 'Bernie Sanders Wants to be America’s First Twitch Streamer President'

[Admiral X]

[Yukaphile]

Don't forget the looting and the rapes! Those happened far more frequently. The glories of Stalinism, eh?

[Mecha82]

Don't forget millions killed by Nazis and other extreme right wing dictatorships and military regimes including ones that were supported by USA during Cold War. There is no reason to pretend that extreme right wing is innocent when they have been equally bad during history. Besides unlike most Americans seem to think Social Democracy and Communism isn't same thing.

[Antiboyscout]

Don't forget millions killed by Nazis and other extreme right wing dictatorships and military regimes including ones that were supported by USA during Cold War. There is no reason to pretend that extreme right wing is innocent when they have been equally bad during history. Besides unlike most Americans seem to think Social Democracy and Communism isn't same thing.

Except they aren't "equally bad". The body counts aren't even close. What is with the endless apologizing for people like Mao and Pol Pot? They weren't motivated by racism so that makes it ok or less bad? Holomodor* was clearly designed to crush the spirit of ethnic Ukrainians, but Stalin gets a pass for that too.

*Holodomor

[Yukaphile]

@Mecha82 I'm not pretending that at all, Mecha82. But as I've said elsewhere, you'll see people defend Communism way more than they do the Nazis, which I can understand. But you don't have to be a Stalinist to be a Communist. Sadly, too many young idiots today think it's "trendy." Sanders himself said the USSR was a wonderful place people here should visit "at least once." Line up in front of those bread lines and avoid getting groped, we're in for the big bucks! 'Scuse me, rubles.

[Admiral X]

Don't forget millions killed by Nazis and other extreme right wing dictatorships and military regimes including ones that were supported by USA during Cold War. There is no reason to pretend that extreme right wing is innocent when they have been equally bad during history. Besides unlike most Americans seem to think Social Democracy and Communism isn't same thing.

You're right, communism has killed millions more.

[ProfessorDetective]

@Mecha82 I'm not pretending that at all, Mecha82. But as I've said elsewhere, you'll see people defend Communism way more than they do the Nazis, which I can understand. But you don't have to be a Stalinist to be a Communist. Sadly, too many young idiots today think it's "trendy." Sanders himself said the USSR was a wonderful place people here should visit "at least once." Line up in front of those bread lines and avoid getting groped, we're in for the big bucks! 'Scuse me, rubles.

Who in the sam hill wants to bring STALINISM back?

Communism and Socialism, those I can understand. American-style Capitalism isn't working as well as it used to, why not try something else? But why are they cribbing notes from the freaking USSR? They're the communist regime that FAILED! And ended up with a higher body count than the NAZIS (it just took the USSR a fair bit longer to get there, but yeah)!

Why not the Canadians or the Scandinavians? They're actually functional. Let me guess, they aren't going far enough for these nimrods?

[Yukaphile]

I saw more than a few Sanders voters who think they had the right idea over there. But it's hard to tell if they were online trolls or not. And that was back in 2016.

[LittleRaven]

Who in the sam hill wants to bring STALINISM back?

I suspect there's never any shortage of would-be Stalins, but I don't see any of them getting much traction in the US today. (and no, Trump isn't one of them. Not even close.)

Why not the Canadians or the Scandinavians?

Neither of those countries is remotely socialist, much less communist. They both have capitalist economies - just with much stronger social safety nets than you see here in the US.

Of course, that comes with tradeoffs. You think immigrating to the US is hard?

Try Canada.

[Yukaphile]

Shit, among legitimate Communists and Socialists and Anarchists and just general hard-lefters who want a workers' revolution, they're split among those who defend Stalinism and make excuses for or deny Soviet crimes against humanity (they're known as "tankies"), and those who don't. Tankies generally get mocked pretty harshly. Usually. As with any political topic, that's too broad to pin down to specific factors like that.