this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2025
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Chapotraphouse
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The funny thing is, I think I ultimately ended up a leftist because I took all those things we teach children about sharing and community at face value. The first time I was ever called a commie, I was about 5 years old, and the incident all began because I asked why we can't just share everything so that everyone has what they need. (Idealism, sure, but I was five.) I had no concrete argument for Dad in response to the "but if everyone gets their needs met no matter what job they do, why would anyone do difficult or dangerous jobs" line, but I still thought he was wrong about capitalism being the best system, even if I didn't know the right system and how to advocate for it.
I'm not sure if my dad made me a communist in the same way that being told "oh, go hug a tree" when kid me tried to stop people from wasting water or electricity led to me actually hugging trees (which I highly recommend, it feels nicer than you'd think), or if I'm just a good example of "no one's born a capitalist". I don't know if I was made a communist by my strong sense of justice and equality, or I just always was one and it just took a long time to discover there's a word for the political and economic system I stand for.
“but if everyone gets their needs met no matter what job they do, why would anyone do difficult or dangerous jobs”
Yet the actual dangerous jobs don't actually pay more, and the dude who just sit in a chair all day are paid the most, curious.
Yeah, I know that now, but I didn't understand it as well when I was five. I just knew that my dad wasn't paid enough and that capitalism was stupid.
This is how it worked for me. I was raised in a christian household, where we were told to feed the poor, give the clothes off of your back to the people are cold, care for the widowed, orphans, etc. Then I did them and I argued for laws and policies that would further those things. Hell, I was told this is a "christian nation" and to me, that means we should be enacting policies that require giving to the needy, right? Well, apparently they just meant punishing people for being gay or whatever. I told them that sounds like a theocracy, and not a "christian nation" and that's how I found out communism is good.
"When I feed the poor, I am called a saint. When I ask why they are poor, I am called a communist."
So many stories of Christians raising communists and then having an absolute shit fit that their children actually took to heart things like "feed the poor" and "love thy neighbour" and "it is more difficult for a rich man to enter heaven, than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle".
"When asked "what would Jesus do", remember that whipping capitalists is a valid possibility."
Honestly, in context of things like Liberation Theology or just any reasonable interpretation of the literal words of Jesus in the Bible, it is so weird to me that the Religious Right exists and that Cold War Christianity happened.
Yeah, that's really the crux of my family relationship now. They all think I'm insane, i've been poisoned by liberal college professors or something. But really I just read the fuckin book they claim to live by.
Yeah, definitely this. "No, I don't get these opinions from Liberal Society, I got them from the freakin' Bible. You people need to actually read your holy book." I like those kinds of Christians a lot more than the religious-right idiots.
One of the most satisfying things for me is growing up and finding answers, context, and explanations for gotcha questions. It's a cheap tactic and that's why you would usually use it on a child and not an expert.
Why would anyone do a difficult or dangerous job when their needs aren't being met? What if it's dangerous because their needs aren't being met? What's the best way to stop a job from being dangerous and difficult? What is the purpose of the job anyway?
That was also part of it for me too, I already had the strong sense of justice and equality, my dad quoting Marx just pointed me towards theory earlier than I would've found it myself
Yeah, checks out. Really wish someone had given ten year old me that push. Would have saved me a lot of tweenage political cringe.