There are a great many mysteries around the universe, and one of them is how socialism continues to be as popular as it is amongst the general populace. We live in an era where the story of our history as a species is literally at our fingertips, and yet there is an inordinate amount of people who think that the ideology that killed millions (and still kills to this day) is a good idea.

Wherever socialism or communism goes, starvation, disease, murder, and despotism follow. Whether it be Soviet Russia, North Korea, Venezuela, or China, we see the horrors of a state where the government controls all or most aspects of society. In many instances, we see the people lash out against it in some form or another.

For instance, it’s currently happening in Cuba where we are seeing citizens take to the streets to demand freedom and an end to the communism they’ve been ruled under for so long. They’re so into the rejection of their current system that they’re willing to become violent with police and wave the American flag around. The American media is doing its best to do damage control and put the protesters intentions in a more COVID-19-driven light, but the cat’s out of the bag and there’s no putting it back in.

The Cubans want an end to communism. Full stop.

I’m not going to get too far into the rabbit hole on why socialism can’t work on an economic level, because there are way smarter people out there who can explain it far more eloquently than I can, but the truth is, I don’t think I have to. If I pick up a hot coal and it burns my hand, I don’t continue to try to pick it up thinking “this time, it’ll be fine.” The same can be said with socialism. It’s not just going to stop being a harmful system.

Besides, whenever anyone points these failings out, the would-be socialists scream that it “wasn’t true socialism,” when it really was. The socialism we see play out in the nations that used it and failed is the logical conclusion of socialism based on our compunctions and drives as an egocentric species. The “true socialism” that these people reference is idealized. On paper, socialism works great, but so do many plots in fantasy novels. Despite my greatest wishes, pegasi and magical swords aren’t real and neither is a human being that puts away all self-interest or tribal affinity.

To illustrate my point, I created a video about the fragility of socialism and how an entire society could collapse because one dude wanted to date a pretty girl.

As I say in the video, socialists aren’t unlike flat-earthers. They believe in something that just can’t be, and the insistence that it can is in defiance of all common sense and fact.

What’s more, even the socialist heroes that these would-be socialists look up to are even more bourgeoisie than many of the millionaires and billionaires they claim to despite. In truth, people like Bernie Sanders, Patrisse Cullors, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and even the “okay boomer” girl are all just really good salespeople. You buy the lie that they sell, and they turn your support into donations and power. You get to support a failed system while going nowhere on your liberal arts degree and they get to tell you you’re fighting the good fight from their very expensive lakefront vacation home.

(READ: There’s No Such Thing as a Socialist)

If socialism is so great, how come some of its greatest proponents live like the people they tell you to hate?

I’ve never seen any socialist confront these ideas. Nine times out of ten they engage in some sort of what-about-ism where half the claims they make about capitalism are drenched in half-truths or all-out lies. Even the countries where they introduced a survivable amount of socialism have introduced a massive dose of capitalism to keep it afloat, but they don’t want to acknowledge that either.

But despite all of this, the inescapable truth is that socialism and communism has been tried and it doesn’t work. Capitalist countries are playing around in space now while socialist countries are struggling to make toilet paper a common household item. One is clearly better than the other and yet the fantasy that the one that constantly features breadlines is the healthier options persists.

It’s time to embrace reality and ditch socialism. It doesn’t work. It never has. It never will, and you’re wasting everybody’s time.