Am I A Socialist?

Hi,

I recently started a series of Weekly Socialist vlogs on Youtube, my first one being about globalisation (a bit off topic for socialism, I guess) and have had a lot of people telling me that my views are really not very socialist.

Here's the link to the Youtube video: 

I'll also give a transcript for the 'Socialist' bit, omitting the intro:

Anyway, the first thing I wanted to talk about is globalisation, and, more specifically, the increasing Westernisation of foreign countries. In my opinion, it all comes down to this sort of cultural laziness that has descended in the west. It has come to the point now that I, as a middle-class teenager, would barely have to lift a finger to be able to eat well, and live in general comfort. Now, don't mistake this for some rant on how we should return to a stone-age style society in which we are all entirely independent and self-sufficient. That would be ridiculous. But the situation that we find ourselves in raises some serious issues. Vegetarianism and vegan-ism are two examples of this. I, personally am not a vegetarian. I don't have the energy or passion for it. But it seems to me that I, as part of the middle class, am able to buy and eat pork from a pig that has been fed, raised and slaughtered, and I could have all this for a nominal price. Is that OK? To live in a world where animals are slaughtered for me and I don't have to so much as hold a knife.

Now, I'm aware that, from a middle-class carnivore – well, omnivore – this is a tad hypocritical. But this isn't my main reservation – what I really object to is the way that we have “expanded” into other, poorer countries to accommodate this need. What's worse is the name we give it – not globalisation, necessarily, but development. Those who defend globalisation always refer to the good that it has created, the jobs that have been created, the money people have earned, all the success stories that have come out of our involvement in these countries. We have been the crutch, they say, that has helped this country off of it's feet and towards the realms of western affluence. But at what cost? And can we honestly say that this would not have happened in its own time, and in a more supportable and independant? For a country to have been forced to become so heavily dependant on the West is not development. It is imperialism. Imperialism of the worst kind – silent imperialism that has been dressed up under the name of development. You would have to be incredibly naïve to actually believe that we did it all solely for the betterment of these other countries and not to feed our own cultural laziness. We have lied not only to these other nations, but to ourselves as well, trying to justify our imperialism. But you can dress a pig up as a human being – you can dress George Bush and David Cameron up as human beings – but sooner or later, people are going to realise. It is still imperialism. We are still exploiting poorer countries to support our sloth and idleness.  

Thanks,

David