Most of the time when people say they have an unpopular opinion, it turns out it’s actually pretty popular.

Do you have some that’s really unpopular and most likely will get you downvoted?

  • gowan@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    For this site? The overwhelming majority of Marxist Leninists are more likely to be “educated” in economics by finding sources that support their preconceived beliefs than being educated in formal settings that would discourage such an anti-scientific approach.

    Basically if your understanding of economics ends before or does not include the empirical revolution in economics which takes place in the 1960’s then you likely aren’t well informed on the subject in any regard.

    That’s likely unpopular here

    • redprog@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Much of Marxist literature is still taught in universities because it’s in fact been such a good analysis of our economic system that it’s still relevant to this day

      • gowan@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        That simply is not true. Marx’s sociology and anthropological work has some value but the vast majority of Marx’s views on economics are no longer seen as useful, accurate or relevant. Bringing up Marx as a source us like bringing up Adam Smith, sure they wrote highly influential works but what was correct has been incorporated into the classical literature and what is incorrect, such as the labor theory of value, is taught as an example of previously held incorrect beliefs.

        Very little of what Marx did is relevant to today’s economics because the focus is so incredibly different.

          • gowan@reddthat.com
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            1 year ago

            No, economics as a subject writ large in all nations has moved past Marx. Marx was a human and as such he was wrong about some things. Why would we cling to dated material that we know is not correct because a bunch of fanboys, who aren’t academics, think we should?

            Do you think physics should hyper ficus on Newton or might you concede we have learned things since then?

    • Wage_slave@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Also, to add as an agreement/slight counter point, I find a lot more of the users here that I would believe as actually educated and insightful about political topics like communism then most other sites, which is a nice change.

      It also allows for people to be mind blowing assholes to others, which totally ruins any credibility whatsoever, which i guess ultimately adds to your original statement.

      • gowan@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        You are finding a lot of Marxists who are educated in Marxism but not necessarily modern communist/socialist thought as sadly many of the Marxists I see are the anti-scientific types that search for proof of their conclusions.

    • alvvayson@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      While that is true, it also applies to libertarian capitalists.

      Most people don’t understand economics. Because economics isn’t that sexy to be honest.

      And it doesn’t help that a lot of the popular economists that one encounters in the mainstream (like Krugman,.Friedman or Mankiw) absolutely and actively engage in disinformation (which they consider education) in the service of their own political biases.

      I think Economics Explained is one of the better YouTube channel brining mostly unbiased economics to a mainstream audience.

      • gowan@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        That’s vastly less common than uneducated Marxists. The right-libertarians just tend to be idealistic and/or super racist.

      • gowan@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        I think you need to clarify what you mean by libertarian capitalists as their delusionary states are a sliding scale. The AnCap is even less realistic than any Marxist and much more likely to be motivated by shitty behavior (Marxists might not be correct about everything but their hearts are in a good place), whereas the neoliberal is likely confused about how the impacts of free trade can harm the local working classes and might not be as beneficial as classic economics suggests.

        Krugman, Mankiew et al are often writing opinion pieces and those should be seen as such.

        I don’t think economics should be discussed in any format other than print as it is too hard to check the work on a video.

        • alvvayson@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          If you think Economics should only be discussed in print, you might as well buy an Ivory tower and lock yourself up there.

          Economics affects people directly through economic policy, so unlike say anthropology or linguistics, people will have strong public opinions and debates on economics.