I’m “debating” a Liberal who thinks “Marx had some valid critiques of capitalism” and “the US has done some bad things” but isn’t great on AES. I sent them the recent post showing that China doesn’t block western media, and they said that it only shows one computer and smart people can get around blocked stuff, and I explained what it actually shows before they said “China is still more authoritarian than the US and my personal freedoms aren’t stopped by my government” (note: all of these are paraphrases, but I don’t think I’ve strawmanned anything). So, what are some solid examples of the average citizens in socialist countries having more “freedom” than in capitalist countries? Edit: Thanks for all the great responses!
US prison population and military expenditure compared to China should say it all. That and the fact that people can’t afford healthcare and housing despite having full time jobs.
Anyone who isn’t convinced by those simple metrics is just operating off of racism and privilege and there’s not gonna be much you can say to convince them otherwise. IMO, value your mental health and move on.
Also police.
YES! Prisons, military and police are so drastically different between the two and are the immediate idea that pops in the head of what an “authoritarian/tyrannical regime” looks like.
Unfortunately many libs still think there is a good standard of living compared to China, though middle class statistics may help there still is a strong fascist middle class living off of America’s spoils of imperialism. Still, there’s quick numbers to cite here too.