Welcome again to everybody! Make yoursmellf at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is our weekly discussion thread.
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Wake up
Capitalism still exists
What a shit start of the week
Sometimes I forget to count my blessings and I get caught up in focussing on this marxism stuff too much, and it can wear me down. I find participating in a society that I just can't get behind extremely frustrating and if I then also forget to touch grass, things start to look greyish in my mind.
It is a nice week. I am healthy. My party is having a festival this weekend. It's going to be great weather all week. I am in a good spot. I should just keep that in mind as well.
uncritical support for the DPRK in its heroic struggle to liberate occupied Korea from the genocidal American empire
“Russian people are warmonger creatures”
But if I say that about the reptilian Anglo menaces, suddenly I'm a genocider who wants yacub's spawn forcibly removed from the country
Weird how they can only parse how fucked a comment is when it's aimed at them
In one way they're consistent because they love landlords, slaveowners, fascists as long as they're in a united front against the accursed gommies.
I literally only disagree with two of those. How the hell is the final level “two individuals didn’t kill an extremely specific and high number of people.” Even if you’re not a “tankie” it should be obvious that this could the claim could be eliminated on technicality (Stalin killed 45/55 million instead), or just a basic recognition that an individual can’t be solely responsible for millions of deaths. Even if neither, some of those people were Nazis, and it’s good to kill Nazis.
This has to be satire. 70 and 150 are too specific to be genuine
I haven't read a Marx text in a while and I kinda forgot how frustatingly difficult he can write. At least Lenin figured you can at some form of humor to your text without them becoming goofy.
Plus I always struggled more with the philosophical parts of Marxism versus economics, science and things about the state etc. No idea why I started with the philosophy stuff first now.
Marx is far more difficult for me to read through than Lenin, which is why I have read little from him directly so far. What are you reading now? I am going through capital volume 1 at the moment.
Marx is difficult I think because of his background and who he was and who he intended his works to be communicated too. He was purely an academic speaking in academic language writing, in most cases for other academics. Thats why if you read his personal letters, he seems to speak more like a human would, and if you read his publications intended for reading by everyone (like the communist manifesto) he does engage in allegory and imagantive writing to accent his points (...there is a spectre haunting)
Meanwhile Lenin had to be able to communicate with the educated russian class, but also the rank and file of the revolutionary army as well as the Russian serf class; he knew most of his writing had to be understood on the terms of the less educated as a whole class but intended to educate everyone to the level that they could understand him removed from western academic language, to his benefit I think; detatching from liberal academic language is a revolutionary thing in itself.
Materialist philosphy is so cool honestly, I read a great materialist theory on reincarnation recently that argued since our conciousnesses are material things that we can be sure exists, as we pilot one, our conicousnesses themselves where made by material conditions and those conditions will repeat given an infinite amount of time.
Which means we're all trapped in this infinite conciousness loop called reality weeeee.
Isn’t that just the “if you have infinite monkeys banging on typewriters you’ll eventually get Shakespeare” thing, though? Not that consciousness can’t be revived, but it’s pretty unlikely for the same one to form again.
but it’s pretty unlikely for the same one to form again.
But it already formed once, why is it unlikely it would happen again?
Its more if you consider infinitie, you get the heat death of the universe then persumably a 'reset' of conditions with another big bang, repeat on an infinite timeline and eventually the same conditions that make you repeat. A materialist look on this would consider this 'copy' of you the same if everything that happened prior to you becoming you happened again.
there are similarities and it deffo takes some inspo from it; but it also is an interpetation of re-incarnation/meta-physics that tries to incoperate modern understandings of physics into its analysis which makes it a little different; I suppose the difference and what makes it materialist vs Nietzch is that this theory is open and will adapt to new devolopments in physics + our understanding of the edge of the universe, and also that some of its assumptions like 'material circumstances created your concisousness' rather than it being something else.
What philosophical stuff by Marx are you trying to get through?
It wasn't too overphilosophical by Marx per se. I was reading on Marx' and Engels' critique of Hegel and it send me down a rabbit hole of Hegel, Kant, Marx and some rando's at 10 in the evening after working 9.5 hours. Some things are easier on a clear mind.
At least Lenin figured you can at some form of humor to your text without them becoming goofy.
Part 3 of the German Ideology has some amusing roasts of Stirner.
In the USA labor Day has quasi been appropriated as yet another pro military/police day, but labor is never really celebrated in the USA for some reason 🤔
Ironically May 1st labour day has a lot of history in the US (was even started there by some accounts), but now some of the amerikkkans I know call May 1st a commie holiday (tongue in cheek but still).
To me, Amerikan May 1st is just another Hallmark holiday I don't celebrate because there is no loyalty to Amerikans in me anymore. If I had anything of worth to sell for citizenship elsewhere, I'd have done it by now.
Its where I show my loyalty to my fellow prolitarian
using my incredible investigative prowess I have determined that this is likely a place in China
Nu uh in DPRK there is no vegetation. The population is only given USA flags to eat as their sole source of sustinence. Quite tragic 😞
It is a very crunchy image. They don't have many pixels in North Korea y'know
This is clearly on the Chinese side of the border though. No Korean writing in sight.
And that's why there's still enough resolution to read the sign 🧐
There is no English on that sign. Did you get a Covid vaccine, by any chance? Maybe your translation chip is starting to work. It's powered by a motor like you get in battery-less wrist watches so you have to jump up and down a lot to get it to turn on.
Hey now I know propaganda when I see it. No CCCP bot is going to trick me into doing exercise 😡😤😤
https://inteltoday.org/2019/08/18/cia-declassified-mao-tse-tung-workout-routine/
There is a bizarre editorial introduction, which reads:
While Stalin’s secret police had set up a special department to analyse Mao Tse Tung’s faeces in order to construct his psychological portrait, the CIA was trying hard to get inside his mind.
If this is true, you don't want to be following the CCCP plan!
Still, the full text of Mao's plan seems to be in the article. I'm unsure if it's untampered.
They led that article with the most interesting part but then never followed up on it. How did Stalin get Mao's poo and how did he do psychology on it?!?!?
Also Mao's workout routine seems like a strict downgrade to just playing Ring Fit Adventure. Or like, the group stretching in Animal Crossing. Seriously, hitting yourself over and over? Just tell me to kms next time Mao sheesh
I'm sorry but "yoursmellf" made me laugh so hard. Im such a child x)
Harvested my first tomato from my indoor plants today. It was the size of a marble, but tasted pretty good.
Tomorrow is our party's festival. It's at the beach, with thirty degrees. Should be a big party, excited for it.
Seeing baby lefties disregard theory because its not "accessible" is such a fucking privileged statement. I will accuse you of being lazy, because that is what you are, lazy. Millions of people in past movements could read theory just fine. If a peasant in agrarian Russia or China can make the effort to read theory, a cracker in 21st century suburbia USA definitely can. Its not ableist, I'm autistic too, don't try to lie like that to me, it only takes a bit of effort and some scheduling. Some people have a harder time, I can recognize that, but then you must try other venues. Audiobooks exist, and so do translations of all prominent works in almost every single language. Its extremely accessible, its just that these newbies have the attention span of a squirrel on crack and heroin. They are too lazy and terminally online to make the effort, because most live comfortably enough that they can afford to ignore it.
Never tolerate this attitude, its dangerous to any movement.
I get your point. Counterpoint. Theory is correct. It should be explainable in a concise way. Yes, a big theoretical framework is good to know. Howevever especially as a starting point we should be able to get any particular point of theory examined in a few sentences.
A lot of baby leftists in the modern age are extremely lazy. They can't process anything unless it's spoonfed to them in the form of a video. You can point them to all sorts of articles and books, but the none of that will change their mind unless it's in a video.
none of that will change their mind unless it's in a video.
Then it is anti-materialist to favor the book over the video to reach them.
Insisting that everyone, particularly anyone with ADHD can just do something if they just "take some effort" or "some scheduling" is absolutely ableist.
I can only intentionally read theory on meds and meds are very much not easily accessible.
I've been diagnosed with adhd and autism, I get it, but i'm able to get by, even without meds (hawaii does not have good healthcare access). Audiobooks are my icon. Although I do understand the harshness of my statement shouldn't have been as sweeping as it was.
i'm able to get by, even without meds
conversely, i haven't been able to get through a book in over a decade. i have a little over 100 tabs open in my current browser window right now. i have read probably 10% of each one of them, maybe, except for the ones i'll "get back to." it has been months since i first opened them. i have never looked at them. i will never get back to them.
not everyone is as functional as you are and no amount of forceful rhetoric can fix that. natural ability aside, folks educated in the US may very well have worse reading comprehension than any "literate" peoples in human history. if they learn from videos, make videos. if they learn from memes, fuck it, make memes. if their education is incomplete, then complete it. mastery of a concept should include the ability to break it down to the point that a child can understand it.
yeah, the response im getting to this is making me change my view. I took my frustration out on the wrong people and in the wrong way.
it's understandable. i just try to think of our situation as playing the hand we're given.
if a peasant in agrarian Russia or China can make the effort to read theory,
This is a vast wrong picture of the past, Orientalist and not aware of the material and social conditions and structures which surrounded the spread of the theories as well as their status relative to other means of knowledge and entertainment (as well as media).
I do agree it is dangerous, but where are the union and socialist schools? Where are the groups making stuff accessible and connecting current situations and experiences to it?
https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1007824
There's some fuckery going on in Georgia. The one in Caucasus, not the one in yankeeland.
Parliament is trying to impeach the president, but the president went "whatever" and went on a European tour
I started dating a partnered poly guy a while ago when I wasn't in the place for a really serious relationship, but eventually got more stable and developed more serious feelings. I don't consider myself poly but have grown a lot during this relatjonship. Now his girlfriend is increasingly resentful of me and has actively started antagonizing me out of jealousy. She has several other partners and they and my bf get along well, but now says she is into 'parallel poly' and does not want to interact with me at all. This feels very hypocritical/cake-eatery/'rules for thee and not for me'. It puts me in a crappy space because our social circles interlap significantly and it makes my relationship with our bf and shared friends more difficult.
I could use advice finding the appropriate way to share this realization with my bf because I recognize my bias and conflict of interest.
Theoretically if she doesn't get along with you that's fine. Not everyone likes everyone. However she should be cool about it. This seems uncool. It seems like she is resenting the increased amount of his time and space you are occupying. Depending on how everyone is about everything I'd ask your boy to work on it. Then just sitting down and the three of you talking it out. Especially if you are new to poly they owe it to you to help work through issues as they come up.
Maybe instead of c/dating c/nonnormativedatingadvice could exist?
I would say part of 2LGBTQIA*+, but doesn't quite feel queer to me. Still very real struggles and contradictions in the topic.
Did you know that as bigamists aren't allowed entry in the USA?
Planning to Practice Polygamy in the U.S. Makes U.S. Immigrant Visa Applicants Inadmissible. Anyone seeking an immigrant visa (lawful permanent residence or a green card) who plans to come to the U.S. and practice polygamy is considered inadmissible (barred from U.S. entry). (See I.N.A. Section 212(a)(10)(A).)
This of course also has Islamophobic connotations, but not only those.
Especially when you go to poly munches it can feel very middle class. There isn't a particular reason for it to be queer as such but it just isn't part of the cis comp het system. So we would have several very tedious struggle sessions about it for sure.
That is an intresting contradiction. Pretty much every one of our oligarchs is openly polygamous. So in the way of patriarchy polyamory being a feminist alternative to polygamy is frowned upon by society
but it just isn't part of the cis comp het system
Absolutely agree and the middle class thing isn't wrong. Though funny enough before it became more mainstream known many places in which good munches and workshops in my city happened (often under labels somewhat different to polyamory) they were from leftists, sometimes feminist, sometimes autonomous somewhat anarchist groups. So your point about a feminist polyamory which is an alternative to both the official and inofficial polygamy (think Elon Musk or Donald Trump) as well as the patriarchial polyamory which is exclusionary in terms of gender identities in practice does really vibe with me.
it just isn't part of the cis comp het system
Absolutely.
There would of course be challenges brought in in addition to other points that poly means exclusion of neurodivergent people, not only due to sane-ism, but due to the non materialist idea that enough communication and talking about problems does fix them as example.
I would also like to know this. There appears to be an autobiography written in English but not one written in Spanish. At least I couldn't find it. Suspicious.
Thoughts on "evolutionary economics"? Haven't read much about it but it kinda seems some sort of whitewashing off marxism.
