George Orwell was certainly a socialist, and certainly not a Soviet-style communist. When he signed up for the Spanish Civil War, he was rejected by the International Brigades specifically because of his anti-communist sentiment, and fought instead under Poum, which was pro-socialist and fervently anti-Stalinist.


It doesn't make sense to conflate socialism and totalitarian communism; they are very different to one another. You can't attack Soviet communism and say therefore socialism is bad, that's a straw man.

Animal Farm was pro-socialist and anti-Stalinist. You are right that it was a critique of totalitarian communism, in that it was a more or less overt attack on Stalin. The Stalin vs Trotsky angle is represented in the novel by Napoleon vs Snowball. It's quite clear.

Here's a photo of Orwell literally fighting for socialism in the 30's.


https://libcom.org/files/imagecache/article/images/library/digest20014_jacobs1.jpg

Username: Cnut237
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I don't know if it was a trick or not, but I certainly agree with the bit about announcing a pump. If you say that you are going to manipulate the market in a certain way at a certain time, that gives other plenty of time to plan their own opposing strategies.

Yes, exactly.


Because capitalism (particularly in its laissez-faire variant) is all about entrenching existing power and wealth by exploiting the majority of the population, it tends not to spawn popular heroes (they have to be created artificially).
Socialism, on the other hand, because it's about mass-empowerment and giving everyone equal opportunities, does tend to create heroes.

In the US obviously Bernie Sanders is a hero on the left, because he represents the interests of the majority of people, and stands up for the oppressed and the disenfranchised.

Trump, the popular hero of the right, by contrast, doesn't have natural support. He has to create it by crafting a narrative - which he has done tremendously successfully. For the establishment to become popular amongst ordinary people, they have to pretend to represent common interests by inventing an other who wants to take it away. Cue demonisation of immigrants, foreign powers, etc. The pattern is repeated endlessly throughout history, and is still the strategy of choice. Whilst I despise Trump, I have to admit he is a hugely talented orator and storyteller.

So figures who are heroes to large numbers of people do naturally tend to have socialist principles and aims, which is why I agree with many on the OP's list.
Orwell, Mandela, ML King, Marley, Gandhi and (the legend of) Jesus certainly.

Sorry, but you weren't in the 80% who correctly predicted (below) that he'd be removed by legal ruling. I know some people are claiming that he remained in office until January and then left voluntarily, but I'm afraid this is all fake news. There was actually some legal thing in November probably or whenever I invented the story and that's when he got removed - I'd back this up with evidence, but unfortunately I had the evidence stored in my Twitter account and I've now been banned from the platform.

I may be just regurgitating The Onion (not that one)... but they do have some great angles on Biden

Doctors Concerned As Hairline Fracture In Biden’s Foot Spreads Through Entire Skeleton

Yes, it's the Wall Street Bets thing moving into their second crypto market after Doge.
It's difficult of course to predict what will happen given these rapid price swings. XRP will rise, and then come down... but how far will it rise, and when and how far will it come back down?
It might be instructive to look at Doge, in case XRP follows the same pattern. Doge peaked ridiculously high and came down quickly... but seemed to stabilise well above the initial value. And now it is pumping a bit again, up 34% in 24h.
Obviously XRP is a bigger market and so harder to manipulate, but it's not that much bigger. The way it's going, you'd think it would go over $1 once the real pump starts - if it does indeed start as planned. But a fall back to the high 20c range seems unlikely in the short-term. These new buyers do seem to have a bit of staying power, as evidenced by Doge.

This is it exactly: there is nothing you can do.
Normally when defending a free-kick like that, you put up a wall and hope it blocks the shot.
But in this instance, because it was Messi, they did more. They put a man on the line by the post, exactly where they thought he'd aim the shot. They even had a man lying down on his side behind the wall to block a low shot, and so the wall could jump really high.
And the outcome, because it was Messi, was inevitable. Over the jumping wall, right into the corner where the man was standing on the line, over his head, bang into the top corner.
It was absolutely ridiculous, and proof if any more were needed that Messi is the GOAT.

Well, I tried.

The higher the bitcoin price goes, the more wary governments get. However as has been said so often, the current bull market is being driven by institutional investment. Prices are rising because establishment financial behemoths are gaining exposure. Which makes government action against bitcoin less likely. The more the price rises, the more concerned they get, and the less they can do about it.

Yes, he's some player. I'm biased as a Villa fan, but really England should be building their team around him, and I'm glad he's finally been given an international chance. I read somewhere that he's now been fouled in more than 160 consecutive games, going back 4 seasons. I can't find the source to determine if it's a 100% accurate stat, but a foul is often the only way to stop him.

BBC: Is Grealish the Player of the Season?

I think Villa were lucky to beat Southampton. But I think they were unlucky to lose to Burnley in the previous game. They have a chance of maybe 5th to 8th in the league, but a Champions League spot would I think be beyond them at the moment.

Comfortable was perhaps the wrong word. I'm suggesting that you're arguing in bad faith. That you have decided without evidence that Covid is a scam/cover-up/conspiracy, and have then sought out selective evidence to back-up your already entrenched position.
If you give an example, as I have done, of some time when you've changed your opinion based on evidence, then I'll happily reassess my theory. If you can't do that, then you're undermining every argument you've ever made.

One brilliant aspect of the Futuur site is that bet resolution criteria are very clearly defined and publicly available. In this instance:


Essentially I'm gambling that the EU, given its current vaccine shortage, will speed up their approvals process... because it was the fact that their approval process is slower that caused the current furore with the UK. They are unlikely to make the same mistake twice. But yes, it is of course a gamble.

One that I'm willing to put real money on.
Latest results show this vaccine is 66% effective against moderate cases, 85% effective against severe cases, and 100% effective against mortality.
Promising results and good news for everyone, especially the EU who are running low on stocks of the other vaccines.

I think I used to be reasonably accurate with my Premier league predictions, but most of the bets I've made this season have been wrong. I don't know if it's more unpredictable than usual, or I've been unlucky, or I have zero knowledge and insight. I tried venturing into foreign leagues last week and bet on a home win for league leaders Milan... and of course they lost 0-3

The only thing I'm willing to predict this weekend is that Man C will win at home to Sheff U. Just like I predicted a home win for Man U against Sheff U...
Given my recent form, I'm not prepared to put any real money on it.

If anyone wants a guaranteed profit in sports betting, let me know... I'll send you my bets and you can just bet the opposite each time

BADecker.

I'll admit any possibility initially, and am willing to be swayed by hard evidence. But in this instance the evidence is overwhelming that something caused huge numbers of extra deaths in 2020, and that the peaks coincided with the rise of Covid, and the troughs coincided with lockdowns. It's pretty conclusive, and the evidence is derived from many countries and many different sources.

I know that you and I have very different perspectives on most topics, but I'm drawn to the—perhaps erroneous—assumption that you start from a desired conclusion, and then seek out evidence to corroborate a thing that you've already decided. Obviously I think I'm impartial, but I'm aware that of course I also have my own biases... it's very difficult for anyone to assess issues with 100% perfect objectivity and no preconceived notions.

I think I'd be more comfortable discussing things with you if you could give me an example of sometime in the past where you've had a firm conviction on something but you then changed your opinion completely when confronted with evidence.

An example from me would be that I used to argue that all religions should be abolished, because they brought nothing but conflict and persecution, and were in essence evil. Since then, whilst I still don't believe in god, I've come to understand from speaking to people with strong beliefs that religious affiliation brings huge social benefits and can often be a force for good. I would now argue a much more nuanced perspective.

Could I have an example from you?

This may seem a risky bet, because I'm gambling 487 Ooms for the chance to win an extra 13. But... I think the odds have to be even higher than those offered. Coal was in decline anyway, but 2020 obviously saw huge lockdowns and massively reduced power consumption. Surely, surely this is a guaranteed winning bet.
I promise not to delete this post when I lose

Yes, definitely. It makes sense. There is some evidence that vitamin D helps, and there is no danger from taking too much vitamin D, so definitely use it. Ans obviously vaccines have been proven to work, so take that when you get the chance, to protect yourself and others.

I've lost BTC by betting on strong teams recently! My sports betting hasn't been a huge success.
I'm doing a lot better in the Politics markets for some reason. Perhaps it's just that sport is inherently unpredictable.

Yes, you'd expect both Villa and Chelsea to win.
Nearly half-time, and Villa are 1-0 up. Chelsea still 0-0 but dominating Wolves with a 77%-23% possession advantage.

Edit: Results are in, and we were both wrong Villa managed to contrive a defeat from the jaws of victory, Chelsea somehow finished 0-0. Meanwhile in the next game, Man U are already losing at home to Sheff U. It's been a strange day.