this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2024
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Socialism

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[โ€“] kwomp2@sh.itjust.works 13 points 4 months ago (13 children)

All of y'all need to get into the original meaning of that word. Radical basically just means "take a problem by it's roots".

The interesting part is what type of society/politics makes that some kind of slur.

Materialism is thinking of things and their development on the grounds of history and causality, like a play of material and its organisational emergent forms (like ideas and their neurons). Whereas Idealism means imagining some kind of methaphysical structure or idea behind thins, like a god or ghost (Geist, Hegel, Kant...).

Utopia refers to an imagined, but possible world. When well done/thought, it is what you think and feel about how things could be. By definition this seems impossible regarding the currwnt state of affairs, and utopia will never come put as you imagined it. History is too complex for that. It is still necessary to be able to think utopia somewhat, otherwise one cannot hope and everything is eiter determined or irrelevant.

[โ€“] folkrav@lemmy.ca 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I agree with your takeaway, although the "extreme" definition is right next to it and is perfectly valid too. It's indeed interesting how loaded the word is by default.

3
a: very different from the usual or traditional : extreme
b: favoring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions
c: associated with political views, practices, and policies of extreme change
d: advocating extreme measures to retain or restore a political state of affairs
the radical right

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