Eh, guess I'll take the opposite opinion of you and u/acp_k2win because I firmly believe that freedom of speech can prevent most problems, including takeover by communists, when society hasn't already been taken over to the degree that it self-censors common sense discussion. I say can because the pen may fail just as easily as the sword, but that doesn't mean it's not a powerful weapon. As you pointed out, communists know that very well and are masters at using language in a deceptive way to push their ideology. (In fact I've heard someone describe Marxism as a type of perfectly designed mind-virus - it appeals to our souls in the same way a religion does, tapping into a primitive human need to impose order and harmony to stamp out sins like greed that cause suffering.)
That doesn't mean that words can't fight it in the early stages. Our words aren't to convince the communist, they are for the weak and young that typically fall prey to the communist's promises. You need to propagandize children in a way that shows them exactly what communism is, the evils it brings, and why. You can't just say it's evil, you have to explain why it sounded so promising and how flavors of Marxism (critical theory, etc) can be applied to all aspects of society - and then deconstruct it, with all the negative examples of its implementation and a healthy discussion of economics demonstrating how it's a complete fantasy in the first place. Then you won't have college students thinking it's the new hip thing that just hasn't been tried yet. Someone seriously promoting it must be seen as a joke, or a danger.
It's missing the mark to assume "looks like that whole individual freedom thing doesn't work so well" when we haven't even done the most basic of anti-communist teachings, and we've actually had the opposite with generations of students being taught "communism light" at best.
Eh, guess I'll take the opposite opinion of you and u/acp_k2win because I firmly believe that freedom of speech can prevent most problems, including takeover by communists, when society hasn't already been taken over to the degree that it self-censors common sense discussion. I say can because the pen may fail just as easily as the sword, but that doesn't mean it's not a powerful weapon. As you pointed out, communists know that very well and are masters at using language in a deceptive way to push their ideology. (In fact I've heard someone describe Marxism as a type of perfectly designed mind-virus - it appeals to our souls in the same way a religion does, tapping into a primitive human need to impose order and harmony to stamp out sins like greed that cause suffering.)
That doesn't mean that words can't fight it in the early stages. Our words aren't to convince the communist, they are for the weak and young that typically fall prey to the communist's promises. You need to propagandize children in a way that shows them exactly what communism is, the evils it brings, and why. You can't just say it's evil, you have to explain why it sounded so promising and how flavors of Marxism (critical theory, etc) can be applied to all aspects of society - and then deconstruct it, with all the negative examples of its implementation and a healthy discussion of economics demonstrating how it's a complete fantasy in the first place. Then you won't have college students thinking it's the new hip thing that just hasn't been tried yet. Someone seriously promoting it must be seen as a joke, or a danger.
It's missing the mark to assume "looks like that whole individual freedom thing doesn't work so well" when we haven't even done the most basic of anti-communist teachings, and we've actually had the opposite with generations of students being taught "communism light" at best.