Second Thought Doesn't Understand SociaIism

🌟 Other Socials 🌟

#debate #socialism #communism

[Sneaker]

One note on Second Thought saying “tankie” has replaced the word “commie” as an anti-communist pejorative.
Anyone who has spent any time being an anti-communist, like most Americans, will know that they never say “tankie, ” because that term distinguishes between communists, and they hate all kinds of “commies.”

[Sneaker]

Vaush’s unapologetic hatred of tankies is legit one of the things that got me hooked on him in the first place, and willing to hear out his anti-capitalist critiques, and becoming the ardent socialist I am today.
I’m a living testament to the idea that simping for or being permissive of simping for these awful societies is a gigantic issue that leftism faces.

[harismeld]

My jaw hit the floor when he dropped "Let's check how many people chinese police have killed: zero!" COMPLETELY straight faced holy shit you have to respect the audacity

[EvilStevilTheKenevilPEN]

Someone finally said it. Joseph Stalin was quite possibly _the single worst thing_ that has ever happened to leftist movements, and modern leftists shouldn't be aiming to repeat the USSR's _many_ mistakes.

[blackwatertv]

The second a “socialist” or “Marxist” starts going on about how “authoritarianism is good actually!”

They’ve gone full Tankie.

[leftistdegeneratejs]

It’s a shame that second thought has gone off the deep end, his early videos about socialism were actually really good and a good entry point for people unfamiliar with the concept

[runagaterampant]

Second thought: "we should criticize our own country and not focus on others"

I'm Finnish. Second thought would never say to me that I shouldn't criticize the US. Not in a million years he would.

Also, China is by far one of the major superpower countries of the world. China and the US are both huge in power and influence. Of course anyone should be able to criticize them.

[cameraman]

"Authoritarianism is when the government can look your address" a man who is apparently unfamiliar with a phone book

[TrepidDestiny]

"The west does authoritarian things, therefore authoritarian is meaningless, therefore my favorite 'socialist' countries can do an authoritarianism and it's ok uwu"

It has "US slavery was ok because all countries have had slaves" kind of vibes.

[Chinesetakeout]

Keffals covered an older second thought video recently where he did openly criticize the Soviet Union’s use and development of chemical weapons. He used to be a lot better on this, but he deleted that video presumably around the time he cozied up to other fascists.

This is why I’m not charitable towards him at all, I think he’s just a monster. He knows or at least knew why he’s wrong.

[fjordojustice]

The widely-believed idea that these authoritarian states are communist/socialist is such a massive problem. I have an uncle who seems amenable to leftist ideas, but when I last talked to him about socialism I could not get past his firm beliefs that modern day China is somehow a socialist country, and that communism is the same thing as fascism. How am I supposed to argue with him, when the people who publicly call themselves "communists" are often all too happy to associate leftism with any authoritarian regime that happens to have a red flag.

What Vaush is doing here isn't "punching left" - it's attempting to cut out a festering blight on leftist advocacy and public perception.

[erfarkrasnobay]

Hey, I don't know how to convey how calming this video is. As an Eastern European, I am shocked by how there are people justifying cannibalistic authoritarian regimes.

[Yvädastra]

I used to be a big Second Thought watcher like 2 years ago. I eventually weaned off because I noticed he had a tendency to talk in absolutes and lack nuanced takes. Like, I hate capitalism, but it's far more complicated than "rich people are evil".

Given that his style seems to have not changed, it does not surprise me that he doesn't have a nuanced understanding of socialism.

[mikean]

I had only seen a handful of Second Thought videos before these recent events, he seemed like a decent chap, rather disappointed that he actually has these rather horrible opinions.
Why is it so hard to find people that actually have reasonable and humanitarian political opinions?

[Enkarashaddam]

Second thought is literally, no joking, actual propaganda. He's peddling state propaganda with higher production values probably better than NK themselves are capable of

[EastCoastGamer]

“The US surveillance system is cruel and unjustified. Also we need strong surveillance to combat terrorism”. - Second Thought, a serious political actor that we should listen to

[parisky]

The fact that this guy can make this video, post it, and then just carry on and not worry about getting killed or abducted or even censored is proof that US internet surveillance is not equivalent to authoritarian censorship campaigns.

[mortenskovdal]

"The US police is the most brutal in the world BY FAR"

- Coddled U.S. Tankie that has never stepped foot in The Global South.

[jakuth]

25:56 I hate the line he uses all the time about how America was the only country to use nuclear weapons. Like, yeah, we did 80 years ago and and the entirety of symmetric warfare since has boiled down to "don't use them". Just because we did doesn't mean we will. And just because no one else did doesn't mean that no one else would have or will.

[AmbrosiaPoly-yolkEgg]

Man's not called Second Thought for thinking twice, it's for thinking two incompatible thoughts at the same time.