Question: Is public perception of socialism representative of what its practice actually entails?
Response: Throughout the lecture on how "Socialism Sucks", many examples of countries are given in order to show how all attempts failed, and how all attempts exposed some shortcoming within socialism and contributed to the current negative connotations of socialism. Among these examples given include Venezuela where women were found selling their hair to make money, terribly low living wages in North Korea, and widespread famine in China. I do not personally think that the negative stereotype of socialism entirely falsely informed. Many of the opinions formed about socialism were made due to the obvious failures of the system and how millions have suffered under it. The Chinese are a perfect example of how even the governments that once advocated for socialism are now realizing the negative consequences of living under a socialist regime. Where there were once slums and low income areas there are now high end privately owned businesses and buildings. This shift from socialism along with terrible living conditions, to a more capitalistic system which caused higher living wages and better living conditions is a perfect example how socialism usually is what people think: a poor way to govern people.