How to Convince my Friends that Communism isn't evil?

[EmperorDisasster]

How about giving your friends the freedom of choice? You can't just say "LOL I LIEK COMOONISM SOW YOO ALL HAF TOO" because that's a way to lose friends. Keep your political views to yourself and focus on other things that make you all friends.

[Journeyman H. [UK]]

How about giving your friends the freedom of choice? You can't just say "LOL I LIEK COMOONISM SOW YOO ALL HAF TOO" because that's a way to lose friends. Keep your political views to yourself and focus on other things that make you all friends.

Very true.
In fact, if people directly attack a culture / ideology. People will instantly not listen.
The best thing to do is to find people who actually studies into politics.
Also, it's far better to find pros and cons of each political structure.

[Mr Jive]

Hmmm communism is definitley flawed. But so is democracy? To say that the ideology itself is "evil" just seems down right, well stupid. The theory of communism (remember it is only a theory, as lots of people said it hasn't been done) ecourages every one to be equal; everyon would have equal rights and equal pay, pretty much no one would be unemployed or living in poverty (less than 1$ a day I think).

If you were going to say an ideology is evil and you were comparing say communism and capitilism then it would be more likely that you would say capitilism is bad. Like Journeyman said it leads to competition which will inevitbly lead to people going bankrupt etc.

But in actual fact neither is "evil". If you wanted to point out an ideolgy that was evil violent dicatorships would be a good start e.g. the Nazis. I suppose communism is sort of a dictatorship but sort of not.

Perhaps tell your friend that in what way is communism "evil" and he should be stumped. A better argument would be which one works better, but even then that would be hard seeing as how one of them dosen't exist :l

[Pielolz]

a lot of people associate communism with Stalin, Hitler, China, and other countries/people that use it as an excuse to do horrible things and suppress their people. The reason why Americans hate/dislike Communism is because we've had so many ban encounters with it, a lot of wars against Communism.

[Mr Jive]

a lot of people associate communism with Stalin, Hitler, China, and other countries/people that use it as an excuse to do horrible things and suppress their people. The reason why Americans hate/dislike Communism is because we've had so many ban encounters with it, a lot of wars against Communism.

Just going to point out that Hitler was super anti-communism In fact his SA used to fight communists on the street before he was elected and the fact that he stood up to the communist threat gained him power.

Also I think Americas anti-communist roots come from their paranoia in the cold war. Both governments were so suspicious of each other and so were the people, back then many Americans would have believed communism was the evil thing of the east but I suppose back then Soviet Russia could have tried to destroy them at any moment. If someone pointed a gun at your head all the time but would not fire, he just had it there; you would think poorly of him.

The difference is today communist countries are not aiming their nukes at American and are not trying to "take over the world". It could be argued that soviet Russia under Stalin was trying to take over the world.

I think any hatred towards communism today is just the fallout of the Red scare.

[StingsVolgin]

As a lot of people have mentioned, I think the crucial thing here is, are you trying convince them that communism is actually better than capitalism?

Your initial post stated that you were trying to convince them that communism isn't inherently evil. My reply on the last page pretty much summarised my thoughts on that. If the reply from your friends when you try to explain how communism isn't inherently evil is "lol, you must hate America," then in my book, they would be far too immature for me to want to be friends with them.

However, if you're actually trying to argue which is superior, than to a certain extent, you should really expect that, and like others have mentioned, it really is a matter of respecting the beliefs and ideologies of others.

The fact of the matter is, your society currently works around Capitalism. This is what the average member of society believes in, and a lot of these members of society will believe that it has done their society well. (Not to say they're wrong, I'm keeping my beliefs on the matter neutral for the sake of this thread.)

If you're arguing which ideology is better, since Capitalism is currently considered the norm, it's going to be a relatively natural reaction (Not necessarily the right one) for them to consider it something of an attack against their own ideologies.

Anyway, in summary, if it is an argument about communism not being inherently evil and that is all, then from what we've been told, it seems to be a lack of maturity on their part, and you'd be best off leaving those friends to their own antics. If you do get along with those friends perfectly well when you're not discussing this though, seriously, use some common sense, realise they're not going to change their ideologies and stop having the conversation.

If you're arguing which ideology is better, then that conversation is going to go the same way every time, too. They're not going to change they're mind, and you're all going to need to learn how to just respect each other's idelogies. Again, it's just a conversation that is going to go the same way every time and isn't really worth having.

[SoapANator]

How about giving your friends the freedom of choice? You can't just say "LOL I LIEK COMOONISM SOW YOO ALL HAF TOO" because that's a way to lose friends. Keep your political views to yourself and focus on other things that make you all friends.

It's more the opposite. They are the ones who begin it and attack me ect.

[tics]

Sorry, but there's some things pissing me off here. I'm experiencing the same kind of pissed off feeling that a mathematics teacher feels when everyone fails a test.....

Let's define some things here:

The Communist Manifesto - THE MANIFESTO OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY WRITTEN BY KARL MARX, FRIEDRICH ENGELS, AND OTHERS. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH GOVERNMENT AND ALL TO DO WITH ECONOMICS.

Capitalism - an economic system.....not a type of government, and does not go hand in hand with democracy. In fact, some claim capitalism can't be truly democratic.

Socialism - an economic system....."", and is the opposite of capitalism. It is a system in which wealth is redistributed through social welfare programs and the sorts. Universal healthcare is a socialist concept, for example.

Communism - an economic system that exists in a society in the state of anarchy. Communism has no government, and does not feature a system of currency. WAGE EQUALITY IS NOT PART OF COMMUNISM. The Iron Law of Wages is the replacement, although it's more for socialism when regulated. Essentially, it means that doctor a, and doctor b make the same, but doctor b doesn't make the same as worker a. Communism sounds impossible. Well, it's existed.....in Native American tribes for example. In a tribe, all members work not for themselves, but for the tribe. In return, the tribe gets food, shelter, water, etc. Native American tribes of course still have hierarchies, making it technically socialist, but socialism generally needs currency, and a government that does more than regulate. There's other examples. Karl Marx believed in stages of development. Therefore, he didn't hate capitalism. He believed that you had to pass from feudalism to capitalism, to socialism, and then to communism. Hypothetically, the entire world would have to be encompassed in socialism for communism to be on the table. And even then, such a transition would take generations upon generations upon generations.

Moral of the story here.....Soviet Union........wait what did that stand for again? OOOOOHHH....Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics. The Soviet Union was NOT communist, it was socialist. 'Communist nation' is an oxymoron, because communism is stateless. North Korea is well.....with unemployment at projected 85%, there isn't much producing going on, but they're socialist. Same with every other 'communist' nation.

Next person to throw the word communism around and refer to a government will die. kthxbai.

[Journeyman H. [UK]]

Nikolai, you could have wrapped it up by saying that communism does not require the monetary system or an elected government to lead the  people.

[SoapANator]

Nikolai, you could have wrapped it up by saying that communism does not require the monetary system or an elected government to lead the  people.

Sums up what i was gount to say,

[Krisrules]

i was told communism = everyone is equal


everyone can't be equal, there is no order


which is why I believe communism fails

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

i was told communism = everyone is equal


everyone can't be equal, there is no order


which is why I believe communism fails

Not really.
There is to much elitism and corruption in humanity's heart to allow for communism to work so unless you change Humanity you cannot have a fully working Communist Economy.

[Krisrules]

i was told communism = everyone is equal


everyone can't be equal, there is no order


which is why I believe communism fails

Not really.
There is to much elitism and corruption in humanity's heart to allow for communism to work so unless you change Humanity you cannot have a fully working Communist Economy.

Why should a barrister and a convicted criminal be equal?



Why should a student who's studied for 6 years and gotten x amount of qualifications, be equal with a junkie who's been mugging for his wages his whole life

[The Doctor, RIP Juggernaut]

i was told communism = everyone is equal


everyone can't be equal, there is no order


which is why I believe communism fails

Not really.
There is to much elitism and corruption in humanity's heart to allow for communism to work so unless you change Humanity you cannot have a fully working Communist Economy.

Why should a barrister and a convicted criminal be equal?



Why should a student who's studied for 6 years and gotten x amount of qualifications, be equal with a junkie who's been mugging for his wages his whole life

Its not really "ALL is equal" As "Every one in humanity working to the same Common end".
Basically the way I see it if humanity wants to Advance faster than it already is(Which it is at a huge rate, just not in the fields that I personally think it should be) It should pick up SOME communistic Traits and remove some that are common with a communist Economy(Making it basically impossible to fire one one equal wages).

[Journeyman H. [UK]]

i was told communism = everyone is equal


everyone can't be equal, there is no order


which is why I believe communism fails

Not really.
There is to much elitism and corruption in humanity's heart to allow for communism to work so unless you change Humanity you cannot have a fully working Communist Economy.

Why should a barrister and a convicted criminal be equal?



Why should a student who's studied for 6 years and gotten x amount of qualifications, be equal with a junkie who's been mugging for his wages his whole life

Why do people like you resort to exaggeration? A far more intelligent question to ask before we should answer your question.