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Design Brand Identity Basics The Brand Identity Design Process Brand Process (and Creativity)

Why would I take advice from a socialist?

Most people who have taken advice from a socialist is not living happily.

6 Answers

Andrew McCormick
Andrew McCormick
17,730 Points

I'll bite. Why not? I don't think you can generalize everyone who has taken advice from a socialist as unhappy, or even "most people". The term 'socialist' is so open ended, there's almost not even a conversation here. I'm not sure why the fact that Wallas was a socialist was even mentioned other than that's how he's introduced on Wikipedia. However to keep this conversation relevant and somewhat on point with encouraging creativity, I would strongly encourage you to learn from those who you think would not be the best sources. For example, say Wallas was a socialist along the lines of Marx or Engles, then I certainly wouldn't follow his ideas on the economic structure of the government. However I may subscribe to his thoughts on leadership or writing a book, after all Marx certainly go a lot of people to read his book.

Now obviously if someone is just in complete left field from your way of thinking then you can discount most of what they say and find someone you agree with more to hear their lines of thought. However I'm careful never to completely discount someone unless I have a very thorough reason to disagree with them in all regards. I hate to mention someone so vial, but in truth, if I was to study propaganda the master was Joseph Goebbels. If I am able to just focus on how he ran the Nazi propaganda machine, then there may be much to learn. But if all the other junk is so intertwined and I find that there's no way to use his methods without all the junk that was in his mind, then no matter how well his methods worked, they are useless to me.

This is a great answer. And really does bring up a good point. I see that there are really two different definitions of socialism. One is ideological and one is practiced. The idea of socialism is a nice thing; everyone shares what they don't need, and people that need something can get it from their community. This really is a beautiful thing and is actually seen often naturally in human nature. Personally, I prefer to use the words charity and family when I describe these qualities, because they've been around long before the idea of socialism was pooped out of the minds of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

And then there's the other definition of socialism. Or what it becomes in practice. And we don't have to look to hard to find examples of failure. This has brought the deaths of millions of people in very short time periods. They may have had good intentions, but a failed out is repeated almost every time. Especially when practiced in states with large populations.

But this is why I won't accept any advice from a socialist. Because, honestly, how can they be so naive?

Thank you for your thought-out response Andrew. This is a fun conversation.

Rachelle Wood
Rachelle Wood
15,362 Points

A lot about brands has to do with people, and what has to do with people has to do with society and the way that a society/culture sees things. If you look at the wiki page on the guy, he wrote books about society (Social Judgement) and he wrote about the creative process, not just about Socialism. His inclusion in this course is therefore entirely proper. Your loss if you have been programmed to disqualify someone's unrelated work based on his political ideology. I would also like to point out that Socialism and Communism are not the same thing. This is a mistake I keep seeing over and over again.

Well, John Norris, while your claim is absolutely correct and I agree with the fact that this Graham Wallas is not even a designer, then why should you take advice from him. While that's true, it's equally true to the letter that above all he's a human being like you and me. No doubt in that. And you can never stop learning from other's lives, their stories, their faults, failures, successes and all that. Hope that's a lot of reasoning for a day. Happy learning

I can say that I have taken advice from many socialist, but I do believe that and 80/20 split 80 being capitalist society. Socialism is important for those who may not as equipped for life as some of us. What do you think?

Can Tural
Can Tural
13,053 Points

Well, being a partisan is not a good thing. Although you are not a socialist you can learn a lot from the socialist theory, critical theory and socialist movements. To me, socialism is the best when it is the opposition. Without socialism we couldn't have had labour rights, working time rights and so on. after the industrial revolution peasants and farm laborers moved to cities, to factories from rural areas and started working up to 18 hours a day. Collective bargaining and worker protection laws came with socialist movement. I think this is one of the examples of historical importance of socialism in the history.

What I want to say is that you don't need to be a socialist to see the good parts of socialism. Maybe it has too many downsides but this doesn't necessaryly mean that we can learn nothing from socialism.

I agree, the mafia is pretty cool.

Socialists are capable of empathy. That's why you should take advice from them.

Who are these people you are referring to and why do you believe they represent some kind of majority?

Most people who have a problem with socialism are usually libertarian or conservative and are staunchly against the sort of regulations you mention Can Tural, so I doubt that sort of argument will sway them. Then again, no arguments seem capable of swaying such people -- their rigid fixation on their particular ideologies is tantamount to wearing blinders, and their own lack of empathy for people who aren't exactly like them at times seems borderline sociopathic.

I'll echo Andrew in this, and ask you why not?...post this somewhere else like reddit-these kind of debates are not what these forums are for.

Yes, I agree. I fondly think of the many examples of socialist empathy. The charity of giving food to the many needy during the Great Leap Forward. The wonderful charity of the Red Terror and Great Purge. The many hugs and kisses given at the Katyn Massacre. The love shared by the Khmer Rouge during an episode of history known as the Killing Fields. The beautiful people and country of North Korea who love it's leader. The Chinese kindness given to those in Tibet.

And, of course, my very favorite. The example closest to my heart. The Cuban Revolution. A beautiful movement led by Fidel Castro and the art communities hero, Che Guevara. Men so loving and caring, they killed those who disagreed with them.

Yes, there are many examples of socialist empathy. Very large scale empathy. And I hope to never have any of it.