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peanut butter actually works better than cheese and is cheaper (lemmy.cafe)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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[–] 149 points 1 year ago (6 children)

The explanation given in the picture condemns capitalism, not socialism.

Capitalism is the system that assumes actors work in their own rational self interest. It's when capitalism gives "free stuff" that people need to worry about the hidden cost.

The transaction in this case is that the mouse trades its life for a chance of getting food. But, as is typical for capitalism, the person who offers the transaction is intentionally concealing its true cost, making it impossible for the mouse to make any rational decision.

The person who originally made that meme seems to believe that socialism simply means "free stuff". But a mouse trap baited with food is an absolutely textbook example of capitalism.

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  • [–] [S] 61 points 1 year ago

    capitalism will you give me free social media

    for increased social bandwidth with friends?

    yesssssss

    actually creates a hellhole of ad supported data theft, harassment, misinformation, and networks of abuse

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Until I got to your comment I actually thought I had read capitalism. I just thought it was the "if it's free, you're the product".

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    Yes, I read it and said, "Where's the government?" I don't think you can have socialism without a government or some equivalent. If it's just two entities interacting without outside regulation, then it's definitely not something specific to socialism.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    socialism is when the people own the mousetrap

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    That's closer to the way communism is generally used. Socialism would be more like if the government had a mousetrap program where it distributed mousetraps to people with rodent problems.

    I say "generally used" because some people have used "socialism" and "communism" interchangeably, but I think it's just confusing to do that today.

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