Is Communism Really THAT Bad?

[Alpha]

Feel free to keep discussing the Islamic economic system (vis à vis Western economic systems) as some kind of Third Way, but debating religion itself and religious violence strikes me as rather off topic. If you're not going to talk about Zakat (a 'tax' on all working Muslims for the benefit of the poor that is one of the Five Pillars of Islam) and all that interesting stuff, please refrain from posting in this thread.

Economic systems only. Take the rest to VMs or make a new thread and open it to the floor without detailing this any further. This is especially directed at Diyala and Hoaginator. I like when discussions evolve but it's getting too far from the origin.

[Hobaginator]

Feel free to keep discussing the Islamic economic system (vis à vis Western economic systems) as some kind of Third Way, but debating religion itself and religious violence strikes me as rather off topic. If you're not going to talk about Zakat (a 'tax' on all working Muslims for the benefit of the poor that is one of the Five Pillars of Islam) and all that interesting stuff, please refrain from posting in this thread.

Economic systems only. Take the rest to VMs or make a new thread and open it to the floor without detailing this any further. This is especially directed at Diyala and Hoaginator. I like when discussions evolve but it's getting too far from the origin.

Communism isn't an economic system only. It's also an idealogy. It's not just about money and how the citizens use it, it's also about the utopian ideals behind it. Communism is based off of the idea that all man was created equally, but equal distribution of money is impossible. If no matter what you do you will have the same amount of money as everybody else, that takes away the very definition of money. Money is a system of attributing value. If everyone is forced to maintain the same wealth, then there is no value to anything. If you obtain more than you should have, you either have to hide it, or it gets taken away from you by a higher authority. Communism isn't JUST an economic system. That's why I believe discussing idealogies in this thread is not off topic at all, nor discussing human currency, nor the handling of prisoners of war. In a true communist society, there would be no prisoners, no slaves, no leadership. Yet we see in countries like North Korea the average citizen is starving while the "president" is fat -- and this so called "president" is not voted on, his lineage continues reign. This resembles more of a monarchy. War is also not off topic on this thread, as war is a major "economic system" that drives international commerse and relations. It's not like we're discussing Ren and Stimpy, or if Twinkies are better than Ho-Hos. If we're going to discuss a topic as broad and powerful as communism itself, I don't think it's unfair to bring the discussion to encompass other economic systems and argue whether they're right and just or not. After all, it's a debate on whether the economic system of communism is "that bad". Comparing it to others or arguing their rightness or wrongness seems to be an entirely valid discussion for this topic. If you go back to the earlier posts, you'll see we are simply continuing and expanding on this comparison to communism and giving reasons for why it's right or wrong. Or is this a dictatorship where discussing our beliefs on the broad topic at hand will result in punishment at the hands of the figures of authority? Your choice. I'm just here to say what I think and to show people when and why their statements are incorrect (which is always on topic).

Dilaya's original point was something along the lines of the Islamic system works better than capitolism, particularly why America is wrong and therefore our views on communism are incorrect. I'm simply stating the facts on why the Islamic system is at least just as flawed as communism. By showing her where her prefferred idealogical and economic system is flawed, I'm reinforcing the moral standpoint of the nation that I stand for. Therefore, I am defending the Republican American viewpoint on the "badness" of communism through the fact that I claim to represent this demographic. On topic.