So what do you think it means to be on the left?
Here is how I see it:
The left/right divide is between collectivists & individualists.
Collectivists (the left end of the spectrum) believe rights come from the collective or from what the group decides or allows. So they prioritize the needs of "the collective" or "the greater good" over individual rights, which ultimately leads to justifications for all sorts of theft & destruction of individuals in order to maintain the collective which is actually some sort of imaginary abstraction.
Individualists (the right end of the spectrum) believe that all rights come from the existence of the individual (via self ownership), and are willing to dissolve any group or abstraction when it becomes destructive to individual needs. In other words, all individuals should be free to exit or refuse participation in any group. And groups should only exist to the degree that all parties benefit. Mutual trade like relationships.
Socialism is built on the idea that the capable owe some inherit debt to the incapable as a result of being more capable. "From each according to ability, to each according to need," right? That doesn't sound like trade, it sounds like an effort to enslave anyone with ability into service of the needy using guilt or force or whatever means the group decides is necessary.
One is built on delusions & the other rooted in reality. Groups are abstractions, they aren't real. Groups don't think, they don't decide, & they don't have needs. Individual people do those things.
Jeff Swann
npub1aj…ftppj
2024-03-20 17:01:34
in reply to nevent1q…td8h
Author Public Key
npub1ajv7m32k0cpgzha32qszsh304qusjvwwmavus0ttktzldms4xzusuftppjPublished at
2024-03-20 17:01:34Event JSON
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"content": "So what do you think it means to be on the left?\n\nHere is how I see it:\n\nThe left/right divide is between collectivists \u0026 individualists. \n\nCollectivists (the left end of the spectrum) believe rights come from the collective or from what the group decides or allows. So they prioritize the needs of \"the collective\" or \"the greater good\" over individual rights, which ultimately leads to justifications for all sorts of theft \u0026 destruction of individuals in order to maintain the collective which is actually some sort of imaginary abstraction.\n\nIndividualists (the right end of the spectrum) believe that all rights come from the existence of the individual (via self ownership), and are willing to dissolve any group or abstraction when it becomes destructive to individual needs. In other words, all individuals should be free to exit or refuse participation in any group. And groups should only exist to the degree that all parties benefit. Mutual trade like relationships.\n\nSocialism is built on the idea that the capable owe some inherit debt to the incapable as a result of being more capable. \"From each according to ability, to each according to need,\" right? That doesn't sound like trade, it sounds like an effort to enslave anyone with ability into service of the needy using guilt or force or whatever means the group decides is necessary.\n\nOne is built on delusions \u0026 the other rooted in reality. Groups are abstractions, they aren't real. Groups don't think, they don't decide, \u0026 they don't have needs. Individual people do those things.",
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