What is the most annoying ignorant smug anti-communist phrase of all time?

[Comrade Jacob]

For me it was Reagan saying
"A communist is someone who reads Marx and Engels, an anti-communist is some one who understands Marx and Engels"

It has always managed to make my blood boil.

[Sasha]

"socialism in one country"

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

"Communism great in theory, but it would never work in practice."

WORK FOR WHAT? AS COMPARED TO WHAT? BECAUSE CAPITALISM WORKS SO WELL? WHAT MAKES A "GREAT THEORY" IF NOT ITS PRACTICE?! AUGH! FOR FUCK'S SAKE. EVERY PART OF THIS.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

"Communism great in theory, but it would never work in practice."

WORK FOR WHAT? AS COMPARED TO WHAT? BECAUSE CAPITALISM WORKS SO WELL? WHAT MAKES A "GREAT THEORY" IF NOT ITS PRACTICE?! AUGH! FOR FUCK'S SAKE. EVERY PART OF THIS.

^This combined with "look at the USSR, China, Best Korea, Somalia, etc."

[Art Vandelay]

The human nature argument always makes me chuckle; I mean sure, if you want to argue its against human nature to live communally, then be my guest, but you'll have to somehow explain away hundreds of thousands of years of human history. :lol:

[A.J.]

Anyone who quotes from the works of that utterly despecible excuse for a human being eric blair/"george orwell"(specifically "1984" and "animal farm")

Charlatans, every last one of them.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Anyone who quotes from the works of that utterly despecible excuse for a human being eric blair/"george orwell"(specifically "1984" and "animal farm")

Charlatans, every last one of them.

An anti-communist is someone who reads "animal farm"; a communist is someone who understands "animal farm".

Regardless, the most inane anticommunist thing has to be: go back to Russia. I've had people tell me that now 20+ years since the end of the USSR. I once responded to someone when they said that: "go back to 1980, when your advise was relevant". But it's doubly frustrating when someone tells you this and you don't even think the USSR or Cuba represent socialism... But even if I did, it's still fucking annoying. Someone once told me to "go to venusuela" and I asked if they would buy me a ticket.

I have to say that it's actually pretty rare that people say things like this. More often I heard it indirectly. The more direct challenges I get are liberal (usually by professional too, to stereotype) concern-trolling. When Obama was elected I was helping organize some ant-war thing, and an old lady told me that we need to stop this at once because the war is already over basically because Obama was about to be sworn in.... Never mind all the leaflets were arguments about the exact opposite. But worse is like organizing something urgent like an exactions and some liberal tells you... "Not today, but I really admire what you are doing, keep it up". "But I can't keep it up because they are going to ex acute this guy next week!" "Oh, well, I don't know all the facts yet on this.... So that's why I can't take your information, go to a teach in or demo. But keep it up... I need to read some news on my iPhone now, but I don't have time to google anything about treyvon or fracking or any other issue that might cause outrage... I only read news that makes me feel I can't do anything about it..."

[A.J.]

An anti-communist is someone who reads "animal farm"; a communist is someone who understands "animal farm".


Paraphrasing Ronald Reagan also gets up my nose.

[Sinister Intents]

"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of oither people's money."

So fucking wrong!

[Comrade Jacob]

"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of oither people's money."

So fucking wrong!

Damn Thatcherites don't understand surplus value!

[Ele'ill]

'that's just the way things are, you know'

[Ceallach_the_Witch]

there's always the old "It's a good idea, but in practise" line. I wouldn't mind so much, but my family has a history of strokes and heart attacks, so raised blood pressure isn't really ideal.

[TaylorS]

"Great idea, wrong species"

A quote from E. O. Wilson, a great entomologist who wrote the book on ant behavior, but out of his league on political stuff. :lol:

[Flying Purple People Eater]

"Looks good on paper, but doesn't work in practice".

Every child in almost every country seems to have rote memorised this shallow phrase before they even reach high-school. I know, not only because of the shocking number of people who don't know the first thing about history, politics or the history of politics that will self-assuredly let fire the phrase during any conversation involving far-left politics, but also because I used it in high-school, when we were learning about the GDR.

I remember people nodding sagely after I made the comment. What people were unaware of was that I didn't know jack shit about communism apart from the fact that it had something to do with Russia, Stalin, dictators and james bond, and I'm sure the same could be said for the rest of the people in the classroom.

[Comrade Jacob]

"Looks good on paper, but doesn't work in practice".

Every child in almost every country seems to have rote memorised this shallow phrase before they even reach high-school. I know, not only because of the shocking number of people who don't know the first thing about history, politics or the history of politics that will self-assuredly let fire the phrase during any conversation involving far-left politics, but also because I used it in high-school, when we were learning about the GDR.

I remember people nodding sagely after I made the comment. What people were unaware of was that I didn't know jack shit about communism apart from the fact that it had something to do with Russia, Stalin, dictators and james bond, and I'm sure the same could be said for the rest of the people in the classroom.

It happened to me too, it's sad how many people just take it on board as if it was a simple equation.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

It happened to me too, it's sad how many people just take it on board as if it was a simple equation.

I attended a college history course once in the states at a community college and I was asked to leave when I defended Communism and the USSR.

http://i.qkme.me/3ud57y.jpg

^is how it went.

[Comrade Samuel]

"Barrack Obama is a communist, socialist, fascist AND a Nazi."

It's fucking scary living in a world where it's normal to say shit like this, seriously.

[TaylorS]

"Barrack Obama is a communist, socialist, fascist AND a Nazi."

It's fucking scary living in a world where it's normal to say shit like this, seriously.

To most Americans "Communist", "Socialist", "Nazi", "Fascist" and "Terrorist" all mean "bad person who hates America, Freedom, baseball, Grandma, and apple pie".

[Durruti's friend]

“If a man is not a socialist by the time he is 20, he has no heart. If he is not a conservative by the time he is 40, he has no brain.”

Allegedly (but probably not) a Churchill quote, which pisses me off every time I hear it. It's close to the "good in theory - bad in practice" shit. Yuk.

[Jimmie Higgins]

“If a man is not a socialist by the time he is 20, he has no heart. If he is not a conservative by the time he is 40, he has no brain.”

Allegedly (but probably not) a Churchill quote, which pisses me off every time I hear it. It's close to the "good in theory - bad in practice" shit. Yuk.

Yeah I hate that quote - so condesending... basically a oh you idealistic kid you.

I think any counter-argument that envokes human nature is really annoying because its wrong on multiple levels. People use this reasoning as if it's self-evident when it's generally anthropologically, historically, politically, nonsense.

[Red Commissar]

The ones I really dislike have been mentioned already. The only one I haven't seen brought up is the old canard about if everyone was paid the same (eg would you pay a janitor the same as a doctor?) would there be incentive to work. I think this kind of betrays a problem of trying to think of socialism in the context of a highly regulated capitalism rather than a new system all together, or missing the point all together that this is about people making a living off exploiting others.

[A.J.]

“If a man is not a socialist by the time he is 20, he has no heart. If he is not a conservative by the time he is 40, he has no brain.”

Allegedly (but probably not) a Churchill quote, which pisses me off every time I hear it. It's close to the "good in theory - bad in practice" shit. Yuk.

Change the word "socialist" for "liberal" then you have the genuine Churchill quote.

[Red Commissar]

Change the word "socialist" for "liberal" then you have the genuine Churchill quote.

I think he had that quote in mind, but even then, while popularily attributed to Churchill there's no proof of him ever saying it.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill


If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain.

According to research by Mark T. Shirey, citing Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations by Ralph Keyes, 1992, this quote was first uttered by mid-nineteenth century French historian and statesman François Guizot when he observed, Not to be a republican at 20 is proof of want of heart; to be one at 30 is proof of want of head. (N'être pas républicain à vingt ans est preuve d'un manque de cœur ; l'être après trente ans est preuve d'un manque de tête.) This quote has been attributed variously to George Bernard Shaw, Benjamin Disraeli, Otto von Bismarck, and others.

Furthermore, the Churchill Centre, on its Falsely Attributed Quotations page, states "there is no record of anyone hearing Churchill say this." Paul Addison of Edinburgh University is quoted as stating: "Surely Churchill can't have used the words attributed to him. He'd been a Conservative at 15 and a Liberal at 35! And would he have talked so disrespectfully of Clemmie, who is generally thought to have been a lifelong Liberal?"

Variants: Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.

Show me a young conservative and I'll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old liberal and I'll show you someone with no brains.

If you are not a socialist by the time you are 25, you have no heart. If you are still a socialist by the time you are 35, you have no head

It is regardless fairly frequently invoked to make it seem left-wing political views are only youthful idealism.

[Sheepy]

"Great idea, wrong species"

A quote from E. O. Wilson, a great entomologist who wrote the book on ant behavior, but out of his league on political stuff. :lol:

I'm guessing he got the two species confused.

[Stalinist Speaker]

"permanent revolution"

[synthesis]

Just because the original topic ended a few weeks ago:


The human nature argument always makes me chuckle; I mean sure, if you want to argue its against human nature to live communally, then be my guest, but you'll have to somehow explain away hundreds of thousands of years of human history. :lol:

I've actually really come to disagree with this assessment. It's not at all in our nature to live communally - well, perhaps within our own tribe, if you ignore the alpha-beta struggles for dominance, but vicious intertribal conflict over territory has been human nature since before humans even existed. Chimpanzees and gorillas do it, too.

Of course, one of the beautiful things about being human is the ability to rise above our base nature if it's in our long-term interest. But as animals we evolved to deal with scarcity. I think this concept results from a misinterpretation of the term "primitive communism" - it's not saying that we were somehow better and more peaceful people back then, it's supposed to refer to people not being alienated from their labor. There's a pretty big downside to not having any surplus: if anything goes wrong, like a drought, you're completely fucked unless you go into another tribe's little ecosphere and take the shit they're depending on. (I'd also argue that a lot of the early anthropological work on "existing primitive communism" was eisegetically reverse-engineered from an intellectualized, socialistic notion of "the noble savage.")

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of
envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill

[Thirsty Crow]

Something along the lines of "it's nice youthful idealism, you'll grow out of it soon".
Yeah just wait until I fully enter the labor market. All of the joys therein will just make me a very happy and content man.

[Tim Cornelis]

I've actually really come to disagree with this assessment. It's not at all in our nature to live communally - well, perhaps within our own tribe, if you ignore the alpha-beta struggles for dominance, but vicious intertribal conflict over territory has been human nature since before humans even existed. Chimpanzees and gorillas do it, too.

Of course, one of the beautiful things about being human is the ability to rise above our base nature if it's in our long-term interest. But as animals we evolved to deal with scarcity. I think this concept results from a misinterpretation of the term "primitive communism" - it's not saying that we were somehow better and more peaceful people back then, it's supposed to refer to people not being alienated from their labor. There's a pretty big downside to not having any surplus: if anything goes wrong, like a drought, you're completely fucked unless you go into another tribe's little ecosphere and take the shit they're depending on. (I'd also argue that a lot of the early anthropological work on "existing primitive communism" was eisegetically reverse-engineered from an intellectualized, socialistic notion of "the noble savage.")

It's not in our human nature to live communally, nor to not live communally, otherwise we would have always maintained the same living conditions. Nevertheless, what you insist on is a false equivalence as well as a naturally fallacy of sorts. The fact that other primates have always had territorial struggles does not mean it applies to humans as well. The alpha-beta struggles for dominance in primates is physical, but with advanced cognitive abilities in humans we acquired social skills which the beta males applied to drag down the alpha male to its own level resulting in thousands of years of egalitarian band societies.
Moreover, tribal societies and chiefdoms (a degree of stratification) are not the same as band societies (egalitarian). Anthropologists widely accept that hunter-gatherers were relatively peaceful (see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23340252 or http://libcom.org/history/how-hunter-gatherers-maintained-their-egalitarian-ways-peter-gray ), and, as far as I know, only Australia had pre-civilised warfare.

You also assume or imply that because primitive society is referred to as primitive communism that therefore we need to necessarily hold positive positions toward it. Indeed, it's not saying we were better or more peaceful, it was describing their means of acquiring subsistence. I think most communists agree that primitive society is undesirable.

I wouldn't know if anthropological work was biased, other than that statement you provide no evidence. Various sources, for example, confirm that the contemporary Hadza people are egalitarian. I doubt that researchers would consistently reproduce wrong results out of a bias when they can clearly observe the hunter-gatherers, with them being alive and all.

[Blake's Baby]

'Actually-existing socialism'.

[synthesis]

The fact that other primates have always had territorial struggles does not mean it applies to humans as well.

You really believe this, huh?

The fact that you believe those links prove your point makes it hard to take the rest of your post seriously. Responding to it, however, would mean I'd have to reply to each sentence with another sentence, which I can't stand doing, so this round goes to you.

[Rafiq]

"socialism in one country"








"permanent revolution"


These

[Yuppie Grinder]

"Communism great in theory, but it would never work in practice."

WORK FOR WHAT? AS COMPARED TO WHAT? BECAUSE CAPITALISM WORKS SO WELL? WHAT MAKES A "GREAT THEORY" IF NOT ITS PRACTICE?! AUGH! FOR FUCK'S SAKE. EVERY PART OF THIS.

It's a phrase used so people can feel they have a nuanced and high-brow understanding of something without having to have an actual opinion, which might alienate them from people, or worse yet read a fucking book.
I fucking hate when smug posh liberals talk about "democratic socialism" as opposed to communism as a way of setting themselves above those without college degrees who are distrusting of left academia. It's a "middle of the road fallacy". The truth isn't always in between, dipshits, the truth is the truth.

[Japan]

"Communism great in theory, but it would never work in practice."

"Looks good on paper, but doesn't work in practice."

"It's against human nature."

like oerhogijreogjeoirjg wtf gahhhh these annoy me like hell

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
- Winston Churchill

Wanted to share this again, because I think it wins the prize
(Winnie was a pretty smug chap and had once written "I will not pretend that, if I had to choose between Communism and Nazism, I would choose Communism.")

[Bolshevik Sickle]

I attended a college history course once in the states at a community college and I was asked to leave when I defended Communism and the USSR.

Eeeer, the public education system is PC to the core. I
don't like it, but at the same time I want to be able to get a diploma and a job. Sometimes you have to compensate.

[Evo2]

"It's great on paper, not in practice"

[zoot_allures]

You really believe this, huh?
How does the fact that other primates frequently engage in intertribal conflict entail that humans have always done so too?

[goalkeeper]

"Communism great in theory, but it would never work in practice."

WORK FOR WHAT? AS COMPARED TO WHAT? BECAUSE CAPITALISM WORKS SO WELL? WHAT MAKES A "GREAT THEORY" IF NOT ITS PRACTICE?! AUGH! FOR FUCK'S SAKE. EVERY PART OF THIS.

The thing is as well, people who say this are the last person to admit communism 'works in theory' anyway. Unless they utter these words while stood over the ashes of some failed communist society, they are basically attacking in theory anyway.

I really want to press someone who says this 'works in theory' thing about how they think it works in theory, because i don't fucking know how communism works in theory, i just know i want it.

[Marshal of the People]

I personally hate the quote "better dead than red".

[Landsharks eat metal]

I personally hate the quote "better dead than red".

My high school history teacher had a poster of that in his classroom, and it always seemed vaguely threatening.

[La Comédie Noire]

"Looks good on paper"

"Have you actually read the paper?"

"No."

[RedWaves]

Easily Ronnie Raygun and his dumbass mindless worshipers.

No one made hating the poor more patriotic than Raygun.

For my money he was the worst president ever. The 80's fucked everything up in this country and we're still paying for it. I wasn't even alive to see Reagan's reign of pain and I know it was bad.

[Bostana]

This page is pretty much anti-feminist:
http://www.conservapedia.com/Feminism

But it's fucking hilarious to read the bias

[The Feral Underclass]

"I thought you were a communist." Used in multiple situations, such as someone eating all your food without asking or someone seeing you drinking a Starbucks.

I wanna shiv those fuckers every time.

[Queen Mab]

"I thought you were a communist." Used in multiple situations, such as someone eating all your food without asking or someone seeing you drinking a Starbucks.

I wanna shiv those fuckers every time.

Someone on another internet forum was arguing that it's hypocritical for a socialist to own an iPhone. I mean wtf?

This is what happens when stunted liberals try to wrap their minds around class politics.

[rednordman]

'left (or liberal) wing media' that notion is as good as a joke, even though the people who use it genuinely believe it. Such a load of rubbish though. People just see stuff they dont agree with and thus say its the 'leftwing media' brainwashing us bla bla bla.

[Ceallach_the_Witch]

I find the "liberal media bias" thing pretty amusing tbh. Especially considering that if theres any group who has the right to complain of persistent media bias it's the far left - I don't think we've had a positive portrayal in any major media for the last century and a half tbh. Even now the supposedly left-wing papers are quick to condemn anyone further left than the Greens as a bunch of wacko dinosaurs.

[brigadista]

"you're a dinosaur"...

[Bostana]

When people say liberals and communists are the same
http://files.sharenator.com/epic_rage_guy_Meme_Faces-s620x520-156978-580.jpg

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

"I thought you were a communist." Used in multiple situations, such as someone eating all your food without asking or someone seeing you drinking a Starbucks.

I wanna shiv those fuckers every time.

And, I mean, you did scam the Starbucks, right?

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

This page is pretty much anti-feminist:
http://www.conservapedia.com/Feminism

But it's fucking hilarious to read the bias

Also, Pat Robertson demonstrates, again, that Conservatives often have a more realistic, objective view of the world than liberals. I agree with him wholeheartedly when he says:

The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.

So good, right?

Actually, I think AK Press sells t-shirts with this on it.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

OMG, Bostana, that site is a fucking GOLDMINE.


Anarchism ranges through a number of different ideologies and practices. Some anarchists limit themselves to peaceful marches. Most refrain from voting. Others lead an insurrectionist lifestyle, which can include throwing rocks through Starbucks windows, yelling expletives at policemen, hacking into white nationalist or neo-Nazi websites, forming black blocs at national protests, and generally wreaking havoc on the system they are fighting against.

[Bala Perdida]

I hate how people basically make Communists out to be as Nazi equals. I had a teacher with a poster up that said "Communism Kills". What exactly about communism kills? I've studied the Soviet famines and oppression myself, it seems like authority and war kills people. One of these being completely absent in actual communism. The fact they reward that ignorant thinking really concerns me.

And I hate how they say communism /socialism don't work because of the USSR, DPRK, PRC, Cuba ect... All of these countries have/had money and classes. Their resources weren't available as public goods. What makes them think that those countries are blue prints for communism? This really shows how much of an understanding they lack of communism.

[The Feral Underclass]

And, I mean, you did scam the Starbucks, right?

No, I used money.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk (http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1)

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

No, I used money.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk (http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1)

:confused:

Money? Isn't that . . . capitalist?

[Remus Bleys]

"So you think the neurosurgeon and the salesman should be paid the same" like what the fuck even

[The Feral Underclass]

:confused:

Money? Isn't that . . . capitalist?

I THOUGHT I WAS A COMMUNIST!!

I also like the fact I responded to you from my Iphone and it says Iphone in the post.

[LOLseph Stalin]

Not specifically anti-communist per se, but the whole "if you work hard then you can be rich too!" line really makes my blood boil. Why? I have witnessed personally how the hardest working people are generally the poorest; my mother was extremely hard working having to work two jobs just to get food on the table. Even then she barely made it.

How does one get rich? By being the best manipulator and having the most resources, obviously.

[the debater]

There's a line from a Krs-One song "I'm Still #1"


I hang with the rich and I work for the poor


Wtf!? :laugh:

[servusmoderni]

"Obama is a communist"

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