• BrainInABox@lemmy.mlBanned from community
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    19 hours ago

    So, in short, you were using an irrelevant metric to try and force conclusion.

    Funny because you were the one who tried to sneakily switch the metric away from live expectancy when you realized that USSRs was much higher than most developing countries

    • No, life expectancy was used to show that life was better in Russia under the Soviet Union. Which is only true if you look at the direct chaos after the fall, but the comparison is much, much less rosy when you zoom out a little and realise that under modern Russia living standards actually increased, whereas they stagnated under the Soviet Union.

      I argued that the Soviets were already behind most of the world, and that their stagnation was indicative of worsening living standards. Developing countries did not show such stagnation unless there was either severe civil strife or external factors (like the fall of the Soviets) impacting them.

      And sorry for saying this, but I think it’s kind of a given that as the world’s number two superpower, it’s kinda expected that their life expectancy is higher than developing countries in Africa. I don’t see how that’s this supposed slam dunk you’re pretending it is. “Yeah life in the Soviet Union was better than in Chad”, no shit Sherlock. But life in Chad is actively improving, which the Soviets failed to do. It’s an enormous nation filled with natural resources, the Soviets not improving living standards in such conditions is almost an achievement.