How can you spend 20K on SRS when people are starving?

[Jamie D]

I'm not going to call you a crackpot. Some of those ideas are not unlike the stuff of futuristic science fiction.  It never hurts to dream.

I'll just note that utopian societies don't work, never have, and never will.

[El]

Lol I would argue that a Utopian society has never been tried, heck theres never even been a real communist nation. Also if you consider how well the Nordic model is performing I think that its the direction we are heading in, albiet not in my lifetime

[Bridal Wish]

Why should I try and help people who are starving when I saved up the money to get this myself.... vs people like Johnny Dep or an actor who does so little but makes SOOOOOOOOOOOO much money for nothing.... much better way of thinking about it. You earn your money by working off your butt VS someone who says a couple lines in a movie and makes bank...
You Earn= Your Right
Do nothing= You should help people

[El]

I personally think that that "why should I" attitude is a big part of why the world is so screwed up right now.

[pebbles]

depends on who's resources you pool.

50% of the worlds population own less than 1% of this worlds wealth.
and of course 1% of pepole own 40% of the worlds wealth.

Inequality is to be expected but these days it's so exaggerated it's worse than any dystopian novel could imagine.

[El]

I agree with that, and that the 1% should bear the majority of the burden but its up to every one of us to try and make a difference

[Vanora]

Lol I would argue that a Utopian society has never been tried, heck theres never even been a real communist nation. Also if you consider how well the Nordic model is performing I think that its the direction we are heading in, albiet not in my lifetime

They have been tried many times on small scales in communes and hippy villages. Try have been tried on large scales in the USSR, China, and other places. They never work on a scale of more than a few people because they run counter to human nature. Some are lazy. Some are greedy. Some cheat. And some fulfill their roles. Moreover most complex systems need functional market forces to work. But I'm not even claiming a utopian society based purely on market forces as in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged would work either.

[El]

Using the word communism does not make a regime communist.

I think a lack of money and the automation of menial tasks would fix the problems of lazyness corruption and greed.

[Joelene9]

  Two anecdotes: 
  My sister was one of the first female paper carriers in my town in 1972.  Of course, they give the newbe the harder route.  This was down in the flat flood plain, lower middle class.  Nearly all paid their monthly subscriptions when my sister went collecting, with tip around Christmas.  Then she got the upper class route up on the hill and she had a harder time collecting from these folks (got change for a hundred?), little or no tips. 
  A survey from Pizza Hut's delivery people in the late 1990's when the economy was better showed that the tips were higher when the customer had a Ford Taurus in the driveway than if there was a Lexus there.  The ones with all of the money with the high-end cars were more likely give a small or no tip. 
  Joelene

[Vanora]

Using the word communism does not make a regime communist.

I think a lack of money and the automation of menial tasks would fix the problems of lazyness corruption and greed.

If communism worked then there would be one working example by now. In contrast we have multiple functioning non communist models out there that almost always work better particularly in he developed world. There have been plenty of societies with lack of money.  You could probably find one now to live in if you want. Virtually all major inventions and improvements come under market or quasi market models.  The only way to get more automation is in a market model with technology improvement. And once you automate current tasks you will just have a new set of tasks that you want to automate. 

[El]

No-one has ever tried to implement communism on a large scale. If something hasnt been attempted how can you say it doesnt work? I understand you believe in the systems we live by at the minute but Jiddu Krishnamurti (not sure i spelled his name right) once said "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society" I would add that it is no meassure of health not to notice that our society doesnt work.

[J R D]

I'd probably ask them if they would feel better about it if any left over tissue was donated to the soup kitchen. 

[El]

Eww XD That is probably gonna be grossest thing ill hear today

[Vanora]

No-one has ever tried to implement communism on a large scale. If something hasnt been attempted how can you say it doesnt work?

Stalin did it and Mao did it. This line of thought has been re-run since about the 1960s as it became clearer and clearer that the actual experiments were complete and total failures. It's an esoteric question of whether those experiments were legitimate.  Capitalism seems to work in a variety of environments that are either full or partially capitalistic. It doesn't need a perfect experiment to prove its value. And you can't get a perfect experiement in communism because most people don't want it and would gladly cut the throats of anyone who wants to impose it on them.  I believe it is a bogus ideology that emanated from the 19th century and I would fight to the death to keep it from being imposed on me or my family or my country.  I believe it will always result in totalitarian dictatorship.

If commnism worked then some of the small scale experiments would work and begin expanding exponentially as more and more people joined in. 

[El]

First I should point out is that capitalism is an economic system whereas communism is a politcal ideology and infact many of the earlier regimes that used the name communism were not actually opposed to many aspects of capitalism.

Stalinism was a counter revolutionary form of government that used vaguely marxist language to persuade the proleteriat into believing that Lenin's idea of a vanguard party acting in the best interests of the people was still being followed when in actual fact it was an underhanded way of bringing in totalitarianism and the implementation of a personality cult.

Even the earlier leninism was far from Marx's view of an egalitarian state where true power was held by the proletariat due to the emphasis on the establishment of a vanguard party again with a personality cult around its leader.

Dont forget that Lenin tried to convince the CPSU to remove Stalin from a position of responsibility although after Lenins death this attempt nearly dissapeared from history.

Maoism was even further from Marxism. It had the same differences as between stalinism and Marxism but also Mao had far less interest in the urban poor segment of society. Also Mao was never open about his views on teh relationship between the party and the people in the way that Lenin was. Maoism was a mishmash of social policies and ideologies, mixing elements of Leninism, Stalinism, Confucianism and Free Market Capitalism.

HOWEVER I am not a communist and i dont advocate communism, my political position is that of Libertarianism and Socialism combined (although i dont agree with the actual Libertarian Socialist party). But then most people cant even be bothered to see the inherent difference between Socialism and Communism. Marx believed that communism was a neccisary step to Socialism and truthfully im not sure where i stand on that point. Im also at odds with parts of Socialism but i suppose that is the problem with naming political ideologies, rigidly defined specifications are allways going to have elements that are odds with the views of the individual.

[El]

I could have put that in a more concise manner:

Dont spread the wealth, get rid of the myth that wealth is an idea that we need.

[Hikari]

For what it is worth, if you read the constitution of the USSR you see, that even they didn't call themselves communist (as in a classless stateless society, which properly is what it is), but rather there was a sort of hair brained idea, that by attempting public ownership over everything, in an economy that even still had market elements, they would somehow bring about this mythical idea of communism.

Just because a Communist party runs something, doesn't make it communist. The communist party of China for example is one of the most pro capitalist groups I have heard of in some time. Likewise the Communist Party of the United States, has a very different outlook than them. Names are meaningless is what I am saying basically.

In any case as to the actual question at hand, I suppose I don't really care so much. I mean on the grand scheme the money I will spend on my well being is a tiny drop in the bucket of the waste of consumerism. I mean people buy Ipads, Lamborghinis, Fast food, and Cruise missles with their tax dollars. When you look at it like that, telling people they don't need medical treatment because people are starving is pretty asinine.

[xxUltraModLadyxx]

think of how much money we all spend on ourselves in a whole lifetime. that goes well over 20K. how could you spend thousands of dollars to buy that house, how could you spend thousands of dollars on that car, those cigarettes, that alcohol, those clothes, those piercings, those tattoos, those breast implants, those toys for your children, those vacations. the list goes on and on forever. people do tons of things for themselves everyday. we breathe our own oxygen all the time, but when it comes to being transgender in this society as a whole, you amazingly become an elusive being, a person who doesn't count or really need anything, but to be outcasted and taken advantage of when people get the chance.

[Felix]

Dystopian fatalism FTW! Represent!

[Vanora]

Dont spread the wealth, get rid of the myth that wealth is an idea that we need.

How do you do that?  As long anything is scarce (food, beach front property, classic art, or whatever) it seems like people will want it whether it is a necessity or not.  How do you get around human nature?  Certainly technology is helping in many ways.  This web site is free to all who use it so transgender folks rich and poor can all use it.   Many people even in socialist and/or communist countries strive for positions of power and prestige where they can get more benefits than the regular folks.