Socialism is, in my opinion, one of the most widely believed fantasies among grown adults. Just like Santa Claus, unicorns, and a flat Earth, people who think socialism can work are believing in something that can't actually exist except in a magical world.
But it continues to have a wide swath of believers, including people in Hollywood who have completely forgotten what it was like to live in anything like normalcy.
Take Marvel actor Mark Ruffalo, for instance. He's a man who is constantly making an ass of himself with his out-of-touch political opinions. Naturally, Ruffalo couldn't help but give us another one while speaking with Rainn Wilson of The Office fame.
Ruffalo lays down the tired "We have enough to spread around" talk and effectively makes the argument that it takes bravery and a little pain, but we could spread the wealth around so that everyone has the same abundance enjoyed by billionaires.
Wilson makes the argument that we've never tried living up to the promise of "E pluribus unum" or "out of many, one," which Wilson seems to be treating like a Rorschach test. How this phrase relates to socialism is something he doesn't elaborate on, but the term is not meant to mean what Wilson seems to think, which sounds closer to "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."
But then Ruffalo makes a weirder statement.
"It's physics," he says. "Things have got to come to a point where there's so much movement... It's chaotic, it's chaotic, boom! Something new comes."
Mark Ruffalo goes on an insane rant about replacing capitalism with socialism.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) October 12, 2025
He says that our current system isn’t working.
It’s amazing how many of these celebrities think they know how to make socialism work even though it never has and only causes misery.
(soulboom on TT) pic.twitter.com/yHQ9RZ6Dta
Ruffalo is effectively slapping lazy science on a magical concept, which is a habit of fiction writers to make their fantasy world sound a bit closer to home, so the reader can slide into the concepts a little more easily. It's a great strategy for fantasy writers, and since Ruffalo is a fantasy actor, it makes sense he'd do this.
You see this kind of dressing in other ways, too. Incoming New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani adopted the phrase "Democratic Socialism," which is just socialism with the word "Democratic" attached to it. There isn't really anything different about it from regular socialism at all. Zohran put up political-sounding window dressing, Ruffalo put up scientific window dressing, but both are absolute nonsense.
Read: Give a Socialist Mouse a Cookie
But if we're going to play the "Say science words to promote socialism" game, then let me play too. Instead of using physics, I'm going to use biology to explain why we, the human species, cannot have socialism or communism.
To quote myself from an article I wrote in June:
Now, [socialism/communism] is a great system to live and work by... if you're an ant.
Hive species don't have egos, an acute pack mentality, or even an overarching sense of self-preservation. They are born with the wiring to serve the hive to such extreme measures that the self is a tertiary concern. You are to begin working the moment you're able, and die the moment you can't. You will not be mourned. You will simply be replaced.
Humans don't work like this.
We are advanced apes with egos, a strong sense of independence, and a driving need to advance the self and the tribe. The "tribe" and the system aren't to be confused. The tribe can take multiple forms, such as a group of peers, friends, but the most common one is family — and the immediate family to be more specific.
Read: Communism Won't Ever Work, Because the Human Species Isn't Built For It
I often say that there's really no such thing as a socialist because there can't be. The human race cannot work with the system because the system cannot work with humans. The only kind of socialism you may find that does kind of work exists on the familial level, but even that is fueled and kept stable by capitalist practices.
At the end of the day, socialism is more of a virtue signal than it is a political system. Ruffalo and Wilson can smile and excitedly discuss a socialist future behind beautiful piano music to sell it emotionally, but I don't see either of them giving up their wealth and comfort. Socialists demand a lot of money from others while hoarding their own wealth for themselves, and I've also noticed that the richer a socialist is, the further up the term "rich" gets pushed.
They would reject socialism if they truly had to suffer it, but they'll never have to, so they can virtue signal about it to the sound of applause from their peers and fellow flat-Earthers.
