I am pretty sure your average American has no idea what socialism is if they think we're it (or the even more paltry healthcare reform bill is it).
Well, exactly. "Socialism" has pretty much become a buzzword for anything that the Neoconservatives don't like. It can be whatever they want it to be. They can use the word without their base knowing what it really entails at all.
I could lament the lack of political education in America at this point, but I'm pretty much afraid that this guy is right. My own Mom did a very good job at explaining the concepts behind Socialism and Capitalism to myself and my brother when we asked Why Do The Russians Want To Bomb Us back during the 1980s - but then, she was anti-establishment back during the 1960s and 1970s, and had educated herself accordingly. I have since of realized that she was in the minority, and when your average kid asks those kinds of questions, they get the standard "THEY HAAATE OUUUR WAYYYY OF LIIIIIIIFE" answer instead.
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Date: 2009-09-21 11:09 pm (UTC)Well, exactly. "Socialism" has pretty much become a buzzword for anything that the Neoconservatives don't like. It can be whatever they want it to be. They can use the word without their base knowing what it really entails at all.
I could lament the lack of political education in America at this point, but I'm pretty much afraid that this guy is right. My own Mom did a very good job at explaining the concepts behind Socialism and Capitalism to myself and my brother when we asked Why Do The Russians Want To Bomb Us back during the 1980s - but then, she was anti-establishment back during the 1960s and 1970s, and had educated herself accordingly. I have since of realized that she was in the minority, and when your average kid asks those kinds of questions, they get the standard "THEY HAAATE OUUUR WAYYYY OF LIIIIIIIFE" answer instead.