I’m a socialist, generally vote for socialist or at least left-leaning candidates, support socialist policies and agree with the premise that record profits are basically unpaid wages.
But, seeing the hammer and sickle pop up in my Lemmy feed makes me really uncomfortable. I grew up under communism, and a good chunk of my family was killed and oppressed by people in uniforms with that symbol. To me it represents all that can go horribly wrong when socialism is stripped of empathy and compassion and married with violence and intolerance.
For me, it’s a bit like seeing a swastika. Really hard to get behind it, even though I know the symbol predates the NSDAP.
Is there really no better alternative for symbolising modern socialism?
Every communist has either never heard of social democracy, or is just fine, even supportive of genocide and autocracy that communism naturally every time evolves into
Exactly! A profitable company is one about to hire more people and increase wages to be competitive in a diverse industry fueled by creativity and ingenuity.
If not: The most profitable companies are those that either: are monopolies (of the consumer and/or labor side), operate as banks, or operate as limited-liability speculative arms of banks.
No ingenuity required, only “I have money on hand, so I win”.
The most profitable companies also do the utmost to treat employees as contractors and avoid paying employer taxes, social security and health insurance.
Uber is just waiting for self driving cars and will fire all their contractors the day it happens. Amazon will fire all their delivery guys once drones work as intended.
I've made a mental image of those posting this sort of stuff over time, and it is not very flattering. This one in particular irks me, it makes me cringe really hard and I hate it.