I stopped using the word “capitalism” as it’s meaning has changed. Now it commonly means the soul sucking, hyper-independent, materialistic culture that permeates the US and other parts of the ‘western’ world. I can’t support that, so I don’t use the word anymore.
“Socialist” is also a tricky word that means dramatically different things to different people. To some it means community, to others it means authoritarian repression. I am somewhat of a “socialist” in spirit, in the community sense, but not in practicality, and that’s because of what’s happening in this photo.
But the photo could be labeled much better. It should be labeled authoritarian vs liberalist, or extractive vs inclusive as the lesson here is simple and clear. You can have a variety of structures for it, you can have a dictator, a comity, or political party, but whenever you concentrate power in the hands of the few, whenever you try to take choice and freedom away from people in whatever package you wrap it in, the desolateness and lifelessness of North Korea in this photo is the result.
