The quote about being a good man is very cool. I wish more people were like that. I part ways with him pretty quickly on the communist activism, and don't think that capitalism is incompatible with being a good person.
First, did you bother reading the article? He is the opposite of an activist these days. He goes out of his way not to preach to anybody to the point where there are longtime conservative volunteers there that have no idea about his personal politics. He is just living his life according to his personal ideals.
Secondly, what is your issue with communist activism? If someone genuinely thinks that's the best way forward and wants to try and spread the word, power to them.
I said I differ with him; I don't think communism solves any problems but creates a lot of misery, this is proven historically. If he wants to promote it that's his right though, at least it is in this country.
Yes I read the whole article, I thought it was interesting.
While certainly not specific to Communism, the desire to find the best way forward has often been used throughout history to justify genocide and lots of other horrible actions. Merely having a utopian vision doesn't make a person good or preclude them from using evil means to achieve their vision.
> the desire to find the best way forward has often been used throughout history to justify genocide and lots of other horrible actions
Does that mean we should never again root for radical change? Because Stalin effectively murdered millions of people? If that's what you're implying, then I would have to disagree completely.
The activism of socialists and communists that you're labelling as "utopian" involves working on community problems, fighting for local progressive legislation, practicing mutual aid, showing up in solidarity with unions, and so on. And that's how it's been for a very long time. Where is the utopianism in that? And how on earth do you look to that and see a specter of genocide?
Right... like Elon Musk proposing using slavery to colonize Mars, or Jeff Bezos using Amazon's platform to promote Amazon products over his own customers' products being sold on his platform, or Mark Zuckerberg building platforms full of dark patterns to addict people to his platforms at the expense of their mental health? But unlike the Henson->Genocide connection you've insinuating, those are all well-documented and actually exist.
American capitalism has plenty of genocide on its hands, from the Trail of Tears to Wounded Knee to all of the stuff that Kissinger did in multiple countries.
You realize that there are plenty of communists who don't believe in violence or authoritarianism, right?
