Are you a Marxist?

[Antonio the Sixth]

No. Ideologies named after a specific person are invariably too rigid and dependent on a given historical context to provide a useful guide to approaching politics in the long term. And people who attach themselves to those labels tend to be more interested in the exegesis of the Master's works than in actually applying critical analysis to new situations.

I view Marx as an important and insightful voice in the Socialist tradition, but just one such voice out of many. His elevation into quasi-Sainthood in leftist circles has generally been a detriment to the movement, and that's even before you get into the kind of regimes that trotted out his name despite sharing very little of his ideals.

[Antonio the Sixth]

No, my parents did not raise me to be jealous of other people's bank accounts.

It is interesting how envy seems to be wrong only when it comes to wealthy people. For instance, it seemed/seems our betters encouraged us to be envious of those who got to continue working at home after Covid.

Playing dumb, I've never understood why the only time people are called out for being envious is when they're envious of the wealthy.

It's also a particularly ridiculous assertion to levy at Marxism given that Marx and Engels came from well-off backgrounds and gave up a life of comfort to pursue their ideals.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It's also a particularly ridiculous assertion to levy at Marxism given that Marx and Engels came from well-off backgrounds and gave up a life of comfort to pursue their ideals.

Well, Engels didn't haha.

I mean I know he was wealthy, but that's kind of my point: there are far easier ways to live for a wealthy industrialist than as an exiled radical.

[Antonio the Sixth]

No, my parents did not raise me to be jealous of other people's bank accounts.

It is interesting how envy seems to be wrong only when it comes to wealthy people. For instance, it seemed/seems our betters encouraged us to be envious of those who got to continue working at home after Covid.

Playing dumb, I've never understood why the only time people are called out for being envious is when they're envious of the wealthy.

It's also a particularly ridiculous assertion to levy at Marxism given that Marx and Engels came from well-off backgrounds and gave up a life of comfort to pursue their ideals.

But a whole lot of people who do believe in Marxism ARE jealous of the rich, and that was what I was referring to, not to Karl Marx himself.
Besides, since when is jealousy an attribute solely used to describe feelings towards the rich? There's lots of jealousy in romantic entanglements. High school seniors get jealous of the guy who gets elected class president. The list goes on and on.

I mean, yeah, I'm sure there are jealous and envious people (not the same thing btw) in every political movement. But associating any desire for economic redistribution with jealousy or envy is nothing but a lazy right-wing trope.