Ok so China's doing really well lately. They've taken an extremely harsh stance against the financial corruption that pervades countries operating under a system of casino capitalism, jailing and even executing the worst offenders. They promote the best and brightest through testing and other measure that strive for objectivity. It's much closer to a Meritocracy than anything we have in the US, where personal connections and having friends in high places is the key to success. There's an old saying that a philosopher tells you what you NEED to hear, a politician tells you what you WANT to hear. It was Plato who hypothesized nothing would be right in the world until Kings become Philosophers, or Philosophers Kings. China has a one party system, where leaders are promoted through the ranks according to the content of their character and intellectual ability. The US has a two party system, where the politician who raises the most money from friends in high places wins more than 90% of the time. They pander to their audience and more often than not, fail to keep their promises. During his campaigns Barack Obama was financed almost entirely by Wallstreet, all the while promoting YES WE CAN, and CHANGE. He proceeded to fill nearly all his appointments with the top execs on Wallstreet, and we are in more danger of collapse now than we were when the "big" one slapped us in 2008. We are selfish animals by nature. This is not a tragedy, it was necessary. We would not have survived and flourished to this point in our evolution without a huge incentive for self interest. What we're doing now, however, is encouraging this selfish behavior to the max. We call it greed. Private banking (capitalistic) promotes greed, and it's led to a TREMENDOUS wealth gap that is still rapidly growing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM Considering epigenetics, and what kind of behavior memes, and possibly genes, we're passing on to our kids, do we want to strive to embrace the selfish part of our nature? It seems to me, we are lopsided into selfishness from the start. China's policies encourage a rebalancing of this dynamic towards selflessness. Towards what's good for the society, for the whole, for maximizing well being. It's likely the case that we're hard wired to favor a dynamic slightly in favor of Selfishness over Selflessness. The question is how lopsided should this equation be? Selfish - 99%, Selfless - 1%? Selfish - 60%, Selfless - 40%? I'm in favor of the latter equation. I think reasonable individuals, often times high IQ individuals, are able to make the connection that THEY THEMSELVES benefit more from a more balanced equation. The US is clearly embracing and incentivizing greedy individuals. A tiny bit of greed in the form of self preservation and contentment is good. Encouraging a little greed is good, encouraging a "take what you can, hoard what you can" mentality is bad. The US has not begun the process of balancing out this equation. China has started this project.
I just told my Chinese wife that you are arguing that China has less wealth inequality, less corruption, and more meritocracy than the United States and she spat out her breakfast cereal laughing.
The thing is, capitalism in the true sense of the word does not exist. The current system is a hybrid of monopoly capitalism, corporatism (corporate socialism), and state socialism under one roof. There is no such thing as a "free market". The market is controlled by a monopoly. Words have been twisted to the point where people don't even know what they mean. Socialism is simply when the banks seize control over the state and use the state to consolidate power, seizing the wealth of the people on behalf of the real powers that be. Somehow people think socialism is somehow administered by a loving state that truly cares about the cattle and wants to help them. Socialism is nothing more than a tool to give the state more power. The state in turn is controlled by the banks the corporations. Therefore the state is merely a vehicle of control for the bankers and corporate elitists. You simply cannot have a tyrannical state without socialism, because otherwise there would be a decentralization vs. a centralization of state power. You must sell it to the cattle as something "good" to get them to go along with it and essentially enable their own enslavement.
i believe that in chinese society, more value is placed on education and intellectual ability than american society. as you said OP, it seems america at large sees more value in a person's social status, and ass kissing.
Except business, politics, and huge swathes of Chinese life are dominated by the concept of guanxi (a favour-based system of personal networking) far beyond any ass-kissing required in the United States.
not if i can help it. seems many people would rather hear a person tell them what they wanna hear (a load of BS), knowing full well it's a load of BS than real truth.
There is a difference between kindness and manipulation...what do people want to hear? I am sure not insults for no reason, right?
Yeah, it's the same thing I have been saying for years. Socialism is a ruse. Socialism is monopoly capitalism.
china isn't a true communist state and America isn't true free market capitalism. Both are somewhat of a hybrid and both are rampant with corruption.
Communism in its basic form was supposed to be a government that was taken care of at the local level. There wouldn't be a need for a strong central government in the way the communism originated. It's been altered since then to come to be known as what we see it as today.
Nerdanderthal I’m not sure China is a very good roll model, just ask the protestors on the streets of Hong Kong.
Rat What ‘true self’ are you talking about? The current system is a hybrid of monopoly capitalism, corporatism (corporate socialism), and state socialism under one roof. There is no such thing as a "free market". And there never has been and there never could be – Free Market = plutocratic tyranny http://www.hipforums.com/forum/topic/331290-free-market-plutocratic-tyranny/ * And as I’ve pointed out before you seem to think anything to the left of your extremely right wing take on things as ‘socialist’ if not hard line Stalinist communism.
China is a state capitalist society, not a Communist society... and I'm pretty sure that there was never any real social or economic equality either. Communism can only exist in an enlightened society where people value each other more than profit or material gain.
My Korean friend tells me there is not even an attempt at equality of opportunity in Asian societies. In particular, he pointed to China and told me that one needs to be a member of one of a handful of families to go anywhere in life. Demonizing the USA is lame, if you ask me.
Communism will never exist unless everyone likes apples better than oranges; Apple better than IBM; Ford best of all; etc. etc. And THAT will never happen. All "communists" and "socialists" can do is point a gun at folks' heads and tell them what they are supposed to like.
Only if you lack creativity. Social engineering happens in every society... it's the reason you care more about profit than other people, why people would rather buy an iPhone than save a handful of starving children, etc. None of your values are actually your own-- you developed them through your social interactions, your education, the media, etc. It's simply a matter of promoting concern for each other and overall happiness over social hierarchy and personal gain.
I agree with fraggle, your view seems rather myopic you’ve been told that ‘communism’ means one thing and that’s it but there are many types and degrees of socialism out there just as there are many forms of capitalism. Also many forms of choice and opportunity within a ‘capitalist’ system can be an illusion limited by soci-economic factors.
