What has religion done for humanity?

[Odreria]

Historically it referred to western communists who supported the Soviet Union's party line and foreign policy. Nowadays it means, more broadly, someone who thinks that at least some Soviet bloc states were cool and good.

Well then the definition certainly has changed over time. But we actually seem to be in agreement over the basic premise of the term's modern definition, which is what I was referring to. My definition just includes a provision on why they like the old eastern bloc states.

Because let me tell you: almost no one around today who knows about leftist theory, even if they are authoritarian, believes the USSR and its satellites did anything well.

Hmm, you should definitely be taken seriously, yes.

[Aguaria Major]

Well then the definition certainly has changed over time. But we actually seem to be in agreement over the basic premise of the term's modern definition, which is what I was referring to. My definition just includes a provision on why they like the old eastern bloc states.

Because let me tell you: almost no one around today who knows about leftist theory, even if they are authoritarian, believes the USSR and its satellites did anything well.

Hmm, you should definitely be taken seriously, yes.

Stop sneering and defend your argument.

Explain why I'm wrong and hold yourself accountable, instead of slinking away from actual discussion of what you believe in favor of substanceless sarcasm; at this point, you seem scared to engage in an actual exchange of ideas.

[Adamede]

Religion just is.

[Odreria]

Hmm, you should definitely be taken seriously, yes.

Stop sneering and defend your argument.

Explain why I'm wrong and hold yourself accountable, instead of slinking away from actual discussion of what you believe in favor of substanceless sarcasm; at this point, you seem scared to engage in an actual exchange of ideas.

The German Democratic republic for example was very good at a lot of things and anyone who knows anything about it acknowledges as much.

[Aguaria Major]

Stop sneering and defend your argument.

Explain why I'm wrong and hold yourself accountable, instead of slinking away from actual discussion of what you believe in favor of substanceless sarcasm; at this point, you seem scared to engage in an actual exchange of ideas.

The German Democratic republic for example was very good at a lot of things and anyone who knows anything about it acknowledges as much.

It was a corrupt dictatorship whose citizens were regularly poorer, less well-fed, and had lower rates of employment than the West. It was actively hated by most of its citizens, who attempted to defect to West Germany on a regular basis. That's the entire reason the Berlin Wall existed. When the cracks in it started appearing (in both the wall and the government), its citizens were all to happy to start fleeing and tearing it down. It was most certainly not a people's government (which is what leftism is supposed to be), and it was objectively worse than West Germany in almost every metric.

Stop trolling.

[Kilobugya]

It was a corrupt dictatorship whose citizens were regularly poorer, less well-fed, and had lower rates of employment than the West.

It was a corrupt dictatorship, I admit that. But it had no unemployment, and no one was suffering from homelessness, starvation or lack of healthcare. And it had a very good education system too. A place can be very wrong on some aspects, and yet right on others.

It was actively hated by most of its citizens, who attempted to defect to West Germany on a regular basis.

Some did, for many different reasons, from the will to reunite with loved ones, to the fear of repression, to wanting better-paying jobs in the west for those with a high level of education. Since DDR had a very good education system, some of their citizens were trained "for free" by the government (which also paid housing, food, ... for students) and then wanted to defect for the higher pay in a more inequalitarian system.

But it wasn't as massive as you claim. And opinion polls done since the 2000s have shown that those who were adults in the DDR actually think things were better for them back then than now. Reality is more complicated than "it was good" or "it was evil".

[Odreria]

It was a corrupt dictatorship whose citizens were regularly poorer, less well-fed, and had lower rates of employment than the West.

It was a corrupt dictatorship, I admit that. But it had no unemployment, and no one was suffering from homelessness, starvation or lack of healthcare. And it had a very good education system too. A place can be very wrong on some aspects, and yet right on others.

It was also more independent than the west.

[Giovenith]

The German Democratic republic for example was very good at a lot of things and anyone who knows anything about it acknowledges as much.

It was a corrupt dictatorship whose citizens were regularly poorer, less well-fed, and had lower rates of employment than the West. It was actively hated by most of its citizens, who attempted to defect to West Germany on a regular basis. That's the entire reason the Berlin Wall existed. When the cracks in it started appearing (in both the wall and the government), its citizens were all to happy to start fleeing and tearing it down. It was most certainly not a people's government (which is what leftism is supposed to be), and it was objectively worse than West Germany in almost every metric.

Stop trolling.

*** Warned for Trollnaming ***

If someone is trolling, report them, don't name call them one.