this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2023
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there are some accounts in one of the :parenti: books about how former communist, and particularly east german, people were hoodwinked and took everything they had from socialism for granted.
Don't need a book. I lived through the dissolution of socialist Yugoslavia myself. People absolutely took everything good in socialism for granted and thought they were going to keep it, while also getting the capitalist treats as well. What followed was a nightmare of transition to crony capitalism, mixed in with a war. As a kid, I was also "hoodwinked" by the western media, but realised something was off with the whole narrative of wonderful capitalism, when I traveled abroad and was shocked to see so many homeless people and people going through garbage...something I haven't ever seen in socialist Yugoslavia. Soon after the transition, garbage scavengers became a regular thing and now it's all just a bunch of failed sorry states and ruined societies, staying barely afloat, mostly because of the achievements of the past socialist governments.
it's always telling that the former socialist citizens living in capitalism praise it always talk about their own successes and treats and people that those who despise capitalism always talk about the poverty experienced by not just themselves but others. nice little microcosm of ideology there. none to be found in watching a human being scavenge the waste of others for food.
yeah, in hungary, we thought we were getting western european social democracy (or rather, what we imagined that was). when in fact, this mythical beast was already on the way out even in western europe.
During the 2020 lockdowns, there were some stores that hid empty shelves with posters of shelves with food. I came across a Reddit thread about this and some descendent of East Germans said “wow this is just like east Germany”
Then an actual ex-East German guy showed up and said “actually, it’s nothing like east Germany. There weren’t many options to choose from but no one ever starved or struggled to find a home.”
The descendent guy got upset and said “stop praising a murderous regime.”
The addiction to the theater of "choice" that comes with US consumerism is one of the most mind-numbing things to have to keep retreading with reactionaries. I don't give it a shit if there are forty brands of oatmeal on the shelves. Just give me one that's minimally processed and not covered in sugar and corn slurry.
My favorite supermarket chain in the world is a Colombian chain called D1. There's only one choice for most things and they're nearly all store brand. Prices are low, quality is consistently high (their wine/liquor buyer in particular is a genius), and because they aren't filling up aisles with 100 variations of the same thing, they can stock a little bit of everything in a small corner store. It is perfect.
Ask any psychologist at random and they'll tell you straight-up that excess choice drives people insane. It's even more infuriating because half the shit here comes out of the same chute, into seven different labeled bags with difference price tags because the suburban boat dads need to feel like they're buying something better than the filthy poors.