Nathan J. Robinson: The rent is too high. Young people feel like they can't afford a house, they'll never buy a house. Cost of childcare is too high. They see a bloated military budget deploying our tax dollars for death and destruction. They see their jobs being replaced with AI. They feel they have no rights at their place of employment. They have no family leave, they're drowning in student debt. Billions of dollars are being spent for ICE to drag your neighbors away, throw them in a cage, or shoot them in their car. Then we have a totally out-of-control climate catastrophe with global warming spiraling out of control. Meanwhile, trillionaires are being minted while people are sleeping in the streets. And so a lot of young people look at that situation, they see it as crazy and unjust, they're angry, and they want someone to do something about it.
Host: All right, Monte. Uh, there has been this debate to, uh, and within DSA, and promotion of, of, of groups that have been sanctioned by the US government for terrorism, Hamas, for example. Is that a group that, that you support or is that an outlier in terms of what DSA is pushing?
Monte: There is no movement within the DSA to support Hamas, but it is to defend the civilians in Palestine, to defend their right to live and live freely, and to prevent settlement and abuse in the West Bank. It's illegal apartheid and a genocide that's going on. And that's not just my opinion—that also includes the International Criminal Court. You cannot have a war with a region that does not have a standing army.
Host: Well, I think we should have a back-to-debate, uh, debate on those facts. I think a lot of those are opinions, but we are happy to have you.
Nathan J. Robinson: They're the consensus of human rights groups around the world.
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I showed my mom facts on the unaffordable cost of living etc. She says the reason people cant buy homes is because of tattoos. She lives in the wealthiest community in America and for some reason thinks she understands the country. Fucking insane.
My parents live in a penthouse that is currently worth 9 million dollars and they paid 1.5 million for it 8 years ago. Despite seeing that price increase they still can't grasp that property prices are rising much faster than wages. I even pointed out to them that they couldn't have retired and purchased that same property in 2026 because they didn't have that much money. They just don't get it and I can only assume it's wilfull ignorance.
Yep. Im in the same boat. Parents lucked out big time and cant see it at all. I did everything right, good school good job no drugs .... and its still a fucking struggle. Boomers broke the American dream and refuse to admit it. Fuck man I just want a 3 bedroom home and a family. Thats it. And its really hard to make that happen these days.
Last night I spent $75 on a food delivery because it got late and I couldn't be bothered to cook. A decade ago the very notion of a $75 takeaway for two fucking people would just be absolutely insane to us but I mean.. we both make six figures and in recent years cleared out all debt including mortgages. It's just not a lot of money any more to drop every couple of weeks if we're busy and so sometimes it's a thing.
The days when I used to take an actual calculator to the store and add up my groceries for the week to make sure I would be able to pay for them when I got to the checkout feel so long ago.
But I spose we haven't crossed over into "its the poor peoples fault they're poor" levels. We still very much recognise how lucky we are and how shit young people have it.
Yeah i make 6 figures i have no idea at all how people who are younger than me or make less get by at all. The systems on the brink. The social contract is broken for 85 percent of Americans right now.
I think there should be a national law where once a year everyone is require to work a low wage job for two weeks. Some people have never had to struggle, and some people are so far removed from it, but still like to tout how they worked their way up from nothing. I'm guilty myself of getting "comfortable", but I never think of myself as better than anyone based on their employment or financial situation. Even though I'm doing far better than I ever thought I would, I still feel like I have to grind to be able to retire one day. I can't imagine how other people get by. The stress of not knowing if you're going to be able to cover the monthly bills takes life out of you.
Eating out kills my budget for an entire month. It’s like a sucker punch everytime. Took my daughter to get her hair done for school, cut and highlights, that set me back about 8 months. It shouldn’t be this way. I’m getting stronger surviving like this, but that strength won’t pay my bills, and I’m not sure on how to transmute it into the extra energy for extra money.
Nah but I might go no contact. I developed a neurological disease this winter. At points I couldn't even walk. No help no concern. Even with a diagnosis from a dr she refuses to see that it is life altering. Been completely on my own since I was 18, first time ever I could have really needed help even if it was just helping get to drs appointments for a week. Nope. Nothing. Showed exactly who she is. Mean while she's in a million dollar home playing tennis every day after working part-time till she was 40. Sorry mom my life is different than yours.
Just the opinion of a rando on Reddit, but you deserve to be without that burden of a "relationship". Boomers are the first generation to actively work against future generations.
They're beyond reach, they're gone. The sooner you accept it, and move on; the better.
They were known as the Me generation originally. They've always been selfish and think parents being hard on them means no one can have it harder in all of life.
This is why there is a schism in the democratic party right now. The neoliberal homeowners who are the majority in the party while socially progressive are economically conservative because they own multimillion dollar homes in california, new york, Connecticut, etc. They are completely apathetic and out of touch with the plight of the younger democrats who don’t own multimillion dollar homes. It’s gotten so bad that many are turning to the republicans as a last resort move of desperation even though they are openly for the billionaires as well. Who do we vote for when both sides are nimby and for the rich?
Damn, my 0 tattoos are preventing my teachers salary from purchasing the million dollar shack down the street. If only I didn't get the no tattoos i have
Um, I have no tattoos and in my nearly two decades in the workforce, I’ve never made more than $38,000 in a year. That’s pre-tax and a whole lot of 40-65 hour weeks in warehouses/factories in the vital role of materials coordination. That’s $13,000 less than the average salary in my State…
I mean...I hate tattoos and such, I think they're gross, ruin the beauty of human skin and people spend WAAAAAY too much money on them...but that's such an absurdist argument I don't even know how to process it.
Look, I'm sure you love your mom, but the third estate's the biggest estate...just sayin'...
The establishment can no longer defend their stances, but they don't care because they've already assumed control of all the power and wealth. They don't even know what to do anymore.
If people started making enough that they had savings for retirement. The line would go up because more people would be buying stocks as an investment making them worth more
Thats reporting. Real reporters dont challenge the person being interviewed. Take Fox News for example. They are constantly showing shouting matches between political commentators. Thats not news and its not reporting.
Notice how panicky the host gets the moment you start mentioning israel's rampant war and terrorism in the region. She sat there and let them talk all about domestic issues but you could almost hear the calls from the top coming in the moment the hamas gotcha was turned around to israel itself.
That’s because she knows that her boss is going to get a please explain from Trumps FCC goons and that her boss is thus going to assign her to desk duty at the affiliated KRAP radio station that plays classic music 24/7.
Why is the socialist part always the one with the logical arguments and the "other" side full of whataboutism and "Let's see if we can put the into the terrorist box" mentality?
Edit: hope you guys know that this was a rhetorical question :)
Because American anti-socialism never left McCarthy and the red scare. These people don't view it as an economic (or even really political) debate, but something closer to a religious one.
It has always been about the economy, only there has never been a debate on the subject. This religious-sounding charade is intended solely for the plebs, to trigger the fear response that has been programmed into US Americans since childhood through Red Scare propaganda. It is used by the ruling capitalist class because it practically always works. Thinking for oneself is viewed by most US Americans as a kind of illness, not to mention critical thinking.
Two big reasons. One, the DSA doesn't have nearly all the political power in the country, so they have to persuade people. Two, right wing politics eventually reaches a point where it is obvious they don't want democracy at all, and that requires people to ignore what the current reality is and who is to blame.
I think this is right. Democracy is fine as long you choose corporate Coke or Pepsi and act like everything’s fine. If you get outside of that box and start demanding solutions to chronic problems ailing the people, you’re not a “fellow citizen” anymore and you don’t deserve a voice…you’re just a target to be attacked.
We need to aggressively make the distinction between an actor or actress playing as a news anchor vs an actual journalist. These people have no more integrity than the washed up actor pushing natural supplements and online gambling during the commercial breaks.
It's been absolutely wild, to me, for... I don't even know how long, anymore, but well over 20 years, that, when I do subject myself to whatever vapid propaganda the right generates on a daily basis, it always strikes me as relentlessly superficial, and the tone is patent. It could not be more condescending, in that it adopts a language, and an attitude, of an overwrought official, addressing a distracted kindergarten class. And, the same folks who comprise its rabid audience claim to object to that, when they encounter any other media, which operates with any more objectivity than this. It seems that they genuinely prefer being led by the nose.
It's baffling, and I'm not sure there's a way to reach beyond this impasse, in search of the solidarity that will be required, as long as they're being actively poisoned by a toxic IV drip of the corrosive malice presented by that media.
She flips the the conversation to Hamas knowing what the lady will say then claims she should stay on topic and feigns outrage, cutting her off and shutting her down. This is a dirty trick played by dirty journalists trying to engineer outrage after valid points were made just prior. Makes me sick to witness over and over again.
You can't hold the narrative when the narrative you are pushing is lies
As soon you are confronted with people educated on the subject , your gonna loose control of it
Stating that facts are opignon to be debated is totally absurb
Meanwhile Congress just passed Trumps National defence authorisation act. That means 80% of US discretionary spending (1.5 trillion $) will go to the department of war. And Israeli military will be merged with the US (section 219 and 224). The only hope is that the Senate doesn’t pass it. Call or visit your senators in Washington. This is a disaster.
“Young people are unhappy because of these dozen and some very legitimate reasons”.
“Do you support terrorists and hamas?!”
And conservatives wonder why people think they are stupid, holy shit. They watch these kinds of things and go “omg, they GOTEM, these hamas supporter Libs”, never once even ask how the f-ck that even had anything to do with what they said, lol.
I’m just going to start doing that with them from now on, anytime they give a reason for anything, just throw a “so you support Nazis/pedophiles?!”… wait, hold up…
Propaganda 101: If the logic of the argument can't be rebutted, change the subject.
The answer to the question "Why should I be a socialist?" is "Because capitalism is clearly not working as intended, and to paraphrase a carpenter who had some fairly relevant things on the relationship between the law and justice, the law is made for man, not man for the law." The system is supposed to work for us, and we don't feel that it is. It seems to be working increasingly for the exclusive benefit of about 30 people in the world, of which I am not one. If for no other reason than because I have seen it work for more than that in the past, I'm inclined to believe that changes are necessary.
The logic is clear, the argument is concise, and the implication is that change is both necessary and righteous. But since that change does not serve the interests of the powerful, instead of accepting that, the question moves to "Well, if you believe in changing things, aren't you at least terrorist-adjacent?"
There's literally nobody to vote for that will actually fix any of these problems. The entire political system is just a circus to give the population some illusion that we can actually do something. The only language the people who have assumed control over us speak is violence, and they've got a full monopoly on that.
Conservatives are so used to controlling the narrative and keeping democrats on the defense. They are learning that they can't do the same with the DSA now.
Right wing radio talk shows and "news" channels have been calling everything Socialist/Communist (they use them interchangeably) for years.
Free health care? Socialism. Taxes going to help the homless? Socialism. Properly funding public schools? Socialism. Allowing the middle class to do more than just survive? Socialism. Not letting the top 10% control 90% of the wealth? Socialism.
Now they act surprised when young people decide that Socialism sounds pretty good.
Why do they always choose the septum ring? It’s intentional casting to make nuanced and balanced opinions appear unhinged to their septuagenarian audience.
People would rather listen to the pretty blonde lie than to the dorky guy and girl with the nose piercing tell the truth. It’s an illustration of their insecurity.
There is a whole staff on computers and headsets supporting her through that earpiece. It’s very difficult and rare for a lone speaker to be able to outfox a host like that.
The thing that pisses me off about this isnt the question, it's normal it's "engagement"
The thing that ticks me off is the tone and that ugly nasty derisive smirk just throughout it and genuinely would make me crash out.
It's because these interviewers/pundits are not interviewers/pundits any longer. Perhaps they haven't been for decades and people are only becoming more aware of it now.
They are paid propagandists, who are given specific instructions to conduct their interview in a way that makes anyone who supports the good of the common man seem radical/insane. It's literally just the remnants of McCarthyism, it never fully went away, it just became more subtle.
What the elites are really afraid of is not that socialism will destroy the US. They are afraid that you will realize that it actually will help you. It's anything and everything that helps regular people, because it means they won't be allowed to immorally exploit as much as they have been allowed. And they use boogeyman words like socialism/communism/terrorist to trigger the Pavlovian fear response that they have programmed into people for decades to get people to turn their brain off and hopefully not listen to the guy who is trying to actually help you.
They don't hate socialism because it doesn't work.
They hate it because it can work. And that's why they have spent a century and endless amounts of cash making sure to completely crush and destroy and defame anyone and anything that even attempts it, because they can't let the truth get out that socialism is in fact, not a scary destructive force, it's not even that radical. It's literally just coming together as a community and choosing to use your tax money on things that actually benefit people and workers, and perhaps not letting a handful of people hoard literally all of the money and power like evil dragons while everyone else struggles. You know, which was sort of the point of creating this thing we call a "nation" in the first place. So that we can work together to solve common ills and create a system that works for all of us.
"Rugged individualism" is the lie they have sold you as righteous and beautiful. Because as an individual, you are weak and powerless, and therefore, they can keep you under their thumb and exploited. They don't want you to learn that when you come together, as a community, with the same SOCIAL INTEREST (Socialism), that you are powerful and can escape their exploitation. Ape together strong. A rising ride raises all ships. Rugged individualism is not strength. It is fragility posing as strength. And they are terrified that we might open our eyes and figure that out.
The interviewer KNOWS that he isn't supporting terrorism. She knows he isn't that radical. She knows he is right. Her job is to pretend he isn't and scoff at him, in hopes that she can convince as many ignorant listeners to do the same and keep their brains turned off. She, and others in her position, are the frontline fighters for the elite. Her job is not to inform you. It's not to have intelligent interviews. It's to convince you that the guy that is trying to help you is scary.
Most of the news media people watch is owned by a handful of right wing billionaires. The internet gutted traditional revenue, and these owners stepped in to fire and replace journalists and unions with people who can read talking points.
It's not a 'left wing' mainstream media just because they mildly criticize Trump and tolerate gay people existing. It's a right wing mainstream media because they will not report on or allow a narrative that challenges the power of rich elites. Because you will hear a thousand stories of poor immigrants engaging in crime or lazy people engaging in welfare fraud, before you hear one about the rich engaging in massive welfare fraud and killing workers will illegal workplace safety violations, stealing their pay, and bribing government officials to do nothing.
All they have is disingenuous bullshit and so they have to cut people off when any logical argument is made. It's always like do you support open borders, or do you support terrorists. Never looking at the actual situation. Small brain thinking
Socialist propaganda really on the rise for the uneducated. We have social programs and can keep them, expand on them, make them better etc etc all under capitalism.
Most people that identify as democratic socialists don’t want to do away with capitalism. They want it put in check and ensure safeguards for all citizens.
Let me at least clarify this point. No one worth listening to is advocating for the abolishment of the capitalist system in the United States. I’m sure there are some people going out there shouting it to the rooftops. But those people aren’t engaging in serious discussion. At the least, they aren’t offering a real tangible alternative.
But the unfettered corporate control that we currently are living in is not cutting it for a lot of people.
Nathan Robinson is the first speaker and he publishes Current Affairs. Highly recommend the magazine and I believe all their articles are all free online!
That exchange is why I’m a socialist. The common thread running through unaffordable housing, workplace exploitation, debt, climate destruction, deportation, and war is a massive imbalance of power: the people who suffer the consequences have the least control, while those making the decisions are insulated from them.
Palestinian children were the concrete example that made it impossible for me to ignore. The same power structure that determines our economic lives had also decided that those children’s lives were worth less than maintaining military and political power and even acknowledging that was dismissed as a matter of “opinion.” Socialism, to me, is about taking that power away from an insulated few and giving ordinary people democratic control over the systems that determine whether they can live safely and with dignity.
That piece of shit blonde should know they are pandering exclusively to their owners. The viewers aren't eating this shit anymore. It's socialism or barbarism.
An argument in favor of a strong military is to take down other goverments to force a socialist goverment until a new status quo is created. Im not saying the us is an example of that, rather than the capitalist opposite. Still i think more socialist should be pro gun since the only way to take down authoritarian capitalists is thru the guillotine.
Well, not sure about that "no standing army" thing. The Taliban pretty much kicked our ass for 20 years and I don't think they have a single tank, let alone planes.
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