TRIGGERED: Anti-Socialist Parody of ‘Monopoly’ Board Game Enrages Leftist History Professor
A parody of “Monopoly” that pokes fun at the failed economic policies of socialism has triggered a university academic who took to Twitter to demonstrate his lack of self-awareness and humor.
Nick Kapur, who works as an Assistant Professor of History at Rutgers University–Camden, bought the game, Monopoly Socialism just to criticize it on social media.
I bought a copy of Hasbro’s mean-spirited and woefully ill-informed “MONOPOLY: SOCIALISM” board game so you don’t have to – a thread 1/ pic.twitter.com/YhZWDjkAnj
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
First, he was triggered by the game’s tag line.
From the tagline “Winning is for capitalists” we can see right away that this game is not going to be friendly to whatever it deems “socialism” to be.
Because as we all know “socialists” never play sports or participate in any sort of competitive activity, like board games. 2/
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
Then, he was triggered by the imagery used on the cover.
Interestingly, the design of the game features the red socialist rose… do ordinary people who presumably hate “socialism” really know what this symbol even is? 3/ pic.twitter.com/pWU3Ho83JO
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
He was confused by the implication made by the game’s player icons, which imply that socialism holds back technological progress.
The player tokens include a typewriter, an old-timey phone, a pocket watch, a phonograph, and a CRT television set, presumably because “socialism” is so incredibly outdated? 4/ pic.twitter.com/8R9HoiGO5H
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
Kapur was offended by the thought that schools and hospitals run by government could possibly be criticized.
Spaces on the board include a snarkily named hospital and school, because apparently schools are supposed to produce losers and hospitals are only supposed to help some of the people. 5/ pic.twitter.com/gcg3bUKrU1
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
He was angered by the game’s digs at veganism and health food fads.
There are also tons of references to health food and veganism, despite the lack of any clear connection to socialism, apparently because what they share in common is that they are odious things that are fun to mock. 6/ pic.twitter.com/tKzkpQWZ36
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
Kapur felt that someone should have told the game’s creators that environmentalism is a sacred cow.
It’s also crucial to mock environmentalism because, haha, as we all know environmentalism is stupid and hilarious. 7/ pic.twitter.com/dhXb29ANQR
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
He went on to criticize the game on technical terms, apparently not being able to realize that the game is a parody meant to be tongue-in-cheek.
It goes without saying that this game is entirely uninterested in trying to understand what socialism actually is and how it might function. 8/
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
For example, there is a community fund, and if a player doesn’t have enough money to pay for something, the community fund automatically pays the difference. Which seems kinda socialist at first glance. 9/ pic.twitter.com/R7uTUFcfeC
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
The simple points that socialism is predicated on graft and tends to run out of money are completely lost upon him.
But the community fund is gleefully and deliberately designed to be constantly running out of money. At this point, the only way to fill it back up and keep the game going is for players to donate money to it voluntarily. 10/
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
So this is not really a socialist model. It’s more of a billionaire philanthropy model.
It’s akin to conservatives constantly saying, “If Warren Buffett likes taxes so much, why doesn’t he just donate to the IRS?” 11/
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
And then confusedly, when it’s time to pay taxes, the taxes do not go into the community fund, but rather are paid *from* the community fund to a private bank! 12/ pic.twitter.com/3TcDI0t882
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
He went onto post more tidbits from the game and complain further about it.
Similarly, when you pass go, you get a $50 “living wage,” which was presumably reduced from the usual $200 to emphasize that “socialism makes everyone poorer” or somesuch. 13/ pic.twitter.com/tvEqdf2z5F
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
But then when the minimum wage is increased, this wage doesn’t actually increase, but instead, once again for no reason the community fund pays money to a private bank. 14/ pic.twitter.com/8LBOk00laB
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
Likewise, because “socialism” allegedly hates people doing well, a card lets you confiscate wealth from someone with some sort of vote. But then, rather than actually redistributing that wealth to those less well off, the wealth is simply destroyed and removed from the game. 15/ pic.twitter.com/6WwHZLKppG
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
He concluded his lengthy rant by saying that the original game of Monopoly is dumb and played out anyway, because it’s not modern and European enough.
I guess maybe in this golden age of “Euro-style” board games like Catan, nobody under 60 plays “Monopoly” anymore? Maybe Hasbro actually knows its audience, and that audience is just hate-filled Boomers raised during the Cold War and triggered by whatever people under 40 do? 20/ pic.twitter.com/DLZtZEaJOY
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
Judging by this other Hasbro Monopoly game called “Monopoly for Millennials,” the answers to these questions are yes and yes. 21/https://t.co/vOUKadboLI
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) August 21, 2019
Unfortunately for Kapur, his Twitter thread may have backfired as it alerted many interested consumers to the game and will likely end up boosting its sales.
Damn! I think you convinced me to buy this now. Game seems pretty damn funny
— Stanley Cup Champion (@fanofblues67) August 21, 2019
Me too. I just bought 3 copies. It’s available at Target.
This thread is great because the descriptions Nick Kapur is providing are hilarious, and he doesn’t even realize that it’s a spot-on description of what socialism actually is, as opposed to what millennials wish it was.
— Dave (@heyyoudvd) August 21, 2019
Done! You just sold another Monopoly Socialism board game. @Hasbro thanks you! pic.twitter.com/0pXQESSaCA
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 22, 2019
Thanks for the recommendation. Looking forward to buying it for all my nephews and nieces this Christmas.
— G*yPatri*t (@AmericanHomocon) August 22, 2019
I didn’t know this existed so thanks for the tweet. Buying it!
— ????????????????????????????????????????.???????????????????????????????????????????? (@NickMilnerPhoto) August 21, 2019
I’ll still buy it.#SocialismSucks
— David Vainqueur (@True_Canuck1) August 22, 2019
Kapur, who is the author of “Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo,” is probably perturbed by the fact that far more people will play this parody game than will ever pick up his book . Monopoly Socialism is available for sale for $19.99 here.
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