Cowbee

@Cowbee@lemmy.ml

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⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The one good thing about all this⁩ ⁨⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
No problem! 🫡
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A bit of salt makes it taste more savory⁩ ⁨⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:
In my experience, when communities don’t make an effort to hash out important questions and form a principle line to follow, they fail to quell the more socially reactionary among themselves.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A bit of salt makes it taste more savory⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:
Hey, found this comment from searching my name (I’ll fully admit that I do so from time to time, out of morbid curiosity). I’ll clarify 2 things:
1. I only have 2 accounts. @Cowbee@lemmy.ml and @Cowbee@hexbear.net. I swap between them, but take care to never mix upvotes (I keep my Hexbear upvotes pretty purely on comms on Hexbear and Grad, and use Lemmy.ml for everything else).
2. I do push Marxism-Leninism. I’m a Marxist-Leninist, I don’t attempt to hide that. My goal is to create more comrades and to develop a more “correct line” among comrades on Lemmy. That’s the big purpose of my Lemmy.ml account in general, my Hexbear.net account is more for relaxing, talking abojt video games, or following the news. Helps me compartmentalize. I wouldn’t call it pushing shit, but I do push Marxism-Leninism, and do so openly.
I can also address @SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world’s claims. The “alt” they can’t see me on is my Hexbear.net alt. I cannot mass downvote them with it both because we cannot downvote on Hexbear, and because I can’t even see Lemmy.world accounts.

I cannot verify that others are not using alts to up or downvote comments, but at the same time I don’t think anyone can verify that the reverse is true, either, except perhaps admins looking at up and downvote history.

What this means is that SoftestSapphic has nothing more than a gut feeling asserted as an unchallengable truth, the idea that the “tankies” are using deceptive measures to manipulate public opinion. Moreover, said user regularly gets banned for general hostility even on non-Lemmy.ml communities, just check their modlog. No proof is ever offered for their claims, but they will certainly parade their theories around in an attempt to discredit me, which is why I am even responding in the first place.

Hope that answers everything!
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The one good thing about all this⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:
It’s a direct comparison to what calling the PRC “West Taiwan” means. It means you uphold the Nationalist Kuomintang as the wrongfully overthrown dictatorship that should have never lost the Chinese Civil War.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The one good thing about all this⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:
No problem!
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The one good thing about all this⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:
It varies by instance, some are more Marxist, some are more Anarchist, some are more liberal, some are blends of 2 of those. However, the 2 biggest factors are that the Developers are Marxists and thus Marxists have been building communities here from the beginning, and the rejection of Reddit, a highly corporatized social media platform, in order to jump to a smaller FOSS platform, fits neatly with general anticapitalism.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The one good thing about all this⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:
No?
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The one good thing about all this⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:
That’s kinda like if the Confederacy, upon losing the Civil War, fled and occupied Cuba, and was propped up millitarily by, say, the UK as a millitary foothold to keep the US in check back when the UK still had Imperialist chops, then saying the Confederate-occupied Cuba is the real US.

The fact is, the Communists and Nationalists had a 2 decade long civil war, and the Communists won against the Nationalists, who then fled to Taiwan, where the Nationalists have maintained that they are the legitimate government of China.

As with any revolution, such as the French, American, Vietnamese, Russian, Cuban, etc, I don’t think it makes much sense to declare the French Monarchy, British Empire, French Colonialists, Russian Tsarists, or fascist Batista regime the “rightful” rulers of the countries the people themselves overthrew, and that extends to China.

As for Taiwanese people, the overwhelming majority support maintaining the status quo, with few wanting hard independence or reconcilliation. This may change now that the US is pivoting away from them as well, but both the PRC and ROC seem to be content to maintain the uneasy status quo for the time being. War would be devastating for Taiwan in particular.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The one good thing about all this⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:
That’s kinda like if the Confederacy, upon losing the Civil War, fled and occupied Cuba, and was propped up millitarily by, say, the UK as a millitary foothold to keep the US in check back when the UK still had Imperialist chops, then saying the Confederate-occupied Cuba is the real US.

The fact is, the Communists and Nationalists had a 2 decade long civil war, and the Communists won against the Nationalists, who then fled to Taiwan, where the Nationalists have maintained that they are the legitimate government of China.

As with any revolution, such as the French, American, Vietnamese, Russian, Cuban, etc, I don’t think it makes much sense to declare the French Monarchy, British Empire, French Colonialists, Russian Tsarists, or fascist Batista regime the “rightful” rulers of the countries the people themselves overthrew, and that extends to China.

As for Taiwanese people, the overwhelming majority support maintaining the status quo, with few wanting hard independence or reconcilliation. This may change now that the US is pivoting away from them as well, but both the PRC and ROC seem to be content to maintain the uneasy status quo for the time being.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are most people here left-wing?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:
I’m a Marxist-Leninist, so yes. I think you’ll find most people on Lemmy in general fall into the major categories of “Liberal,” as in the US Democrat style, Anarchists, and Marxists. Different instances lean in different directions on this, with overall few outright conservatives.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨glorious stock⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:
JDPON Don fulfilling his duty to the Global South by tanking the US Empire from within 🫡
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:
Kinda, along with essentially seeing it as charity, and not one of the Empire’s instruments of exerting soft-power and as a front for funding millitant groups to support US interests without deploying the US millitary. Like, there is spending on developing hospitals, and good has been done with USAID, but that has always been the cost of using it for the purpose of funding pro-US millitias and fomenting regime change, and the new admin seems to not see it for that.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:
The US Empire failed to raise successors that understand how it works, and thus they raised a generation of “true believers” in the myths and lies the more competent generations of leaders spread to legitimize their policy. Look at the defunding of programs like USAID, which has historically played a critical role in US-sponsored regime change, now seen as “woke” by the current admin.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Germany right now⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:
I think that’s unique analysis, for sure, but I’d keep it to Capitalism. Historical movements recognized as fascist, such as Italian Fascism and Nazi Germany, arose specifically in decaying Capitalist economies where a millitant working class was growing, and the fascists slaughteted the Communists and Socialists. I recommend reading the first chapter of Blackshirts and Reds (though the whole book is fantastic).
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Germany right now⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:
Fascism is generally Capitalism’s immune system as it declines, meant to violently root out leftist opposition as workers begin to protest their conditions.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Germany right now⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:
Yep, people love to reflexively defend NATO, as it’s very effectively pitched as merely a “defensive alliance” when it has always served as a coercive arm for the US to pressure its geopolitical adversaries, especially the Soviets, hence why they worked with the most effective anticommunists, the Nazis. If you don’t play along with NATO, then they pull Operation Gladio on you.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Germany right now⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:
Yep, prominent Nazis were even given leadership of NATO, such as Adolf Heusinger. The Soviets ended up being far harsher to the Nazis, hence why so many fled to Latin America to get away.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Germany right now⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:
Being anti-fascist is a good thing.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Germany right now⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:
Germany was never truly de-Nazified.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When we explain to other people how our capitalist system works and they recoil in horror⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
There’s a difference between saying we should work towards getting rid of the necessity for Markets, and saying we need to do that instantly, today. Black Markets didn’t kill the Soviet Union, but they did highlight flaws in how it was run and where it was lacking. That’s a separate conversation that we can have, if you want, but is largely unimportant.

The thing is, over time, markets centralize through firms outcompeting and absorbing or eliminating smaller firms. This increases barrier to entry as it is more expensive to compete on even footing. Marxists don’t want to abolish markets simply by decree, but developing to the point that they no longer make sense.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When we explain to other people how our capitalist system works and they recoil in horror⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
Trade isn’t the same as a market, necessarily, and markets aren’t the same as the specific Capitalist iteration that depends on the M-C-M’ circuit where commodities C are produced with money M in exchange for greater money M’. When Marxists say they wish to abolish markets, they mean so by stating that they wish, rather than production being handled through competing entities where that M-C-M’ circuit applies, we instead fold all of these entities into the public sector and democratically plan them along a cooperative basis.

Early on, there would presumably be labor vouchers, which differ from money in that they would be destroyed on first use. A sort of credit for work, for use in the only “store” that exists. Social services and safety nets would be deducted from your “pay” and be free at point of service. Things like that, and this doesn’t really constitute a “market” in the normal sense of the word. Eventually, these labor vouchers would likely be abolished once they became unnecessary.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When we explain to other people how our capitalist system works and they recoil in horror⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
I mean, you’re almost speaking of the exact system Marxists want to work towards, just with the caveat that Marxists think Markets are only useful tools in less-developed and less-critical industries temporarily, before public ownership and planning becomes more efficient, and that the spread in difference between “luxuries” decreases over time as productivity improves to account for that.

Have you read Marx, or Marxists?
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When we explain to other people how our capitalist system works and they recoil in horror⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
My favorite bit is that she’s well known for her exaggerations about the DPRK as
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When we explain to other people how our capitalist system works and they recoil in horror⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
It’s not unheard of, but it’s incredibly ill-defined and means a million different things to a million different people. Socialists are, as a rule, democratic, so “Democratic Socialism” is similar to stating “Anti-Capitalist Socialism.”

As a consequence, Democratic Socialism seems to mean anything from the Social Democracies in the Nordic Countries to Socialism but with a democracy structured like the US or Western Europe, as opposed to Soviets or Worker Councils or Trade Unions.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When we explain to other people how our capitalist system works and they recoil in horror⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
I don’t think everyone believes that, there are many Anarchists that don’t agree with Marxists, and there’s broad diversity within Capitalist thought, Anarchist thought, and Marxist thought.

The reason why you may be seeing more Marxists is generally because Marxism has played the most widespread and significant role as an alternative to Capitalism in modern history.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Reddit Sub Ban Wave⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
If “tankie” means general leftist, ie Anarchists included, then maybe. If “tankie” means Marxist-Leninist, then that’s Lemmygrad.ml
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Reddit Sub Ban Wave⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
The two biggest spaces for trans users are lemmy.blahaj.zone and hexbear.net, hexbear is larger but is explicitly Communist/Anarchist, while blahaj is more liberal/progressive.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
Yes, this is a positive result, or at least it detects signifiers for pregnancy. You should take more tests, but they won’t disqualify the fact that these signifiers are present now. I would speak with a doctor to see if you can get a more accurate test (these could be wrong, don’t think that if you retest and you only see 1 line that you’re “safe”), and discuss potential next steps if necessary.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Has the USA turned into an oligarchy?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
The USA has always and forever represented the will of the Bourgeoisie. The issue we are seeing now is further and further separation between the Proletariat and a smaller and smaller concentration of the Bourgeoisie due to Capitalism’s centralizing nature. The silver lining is that this same centralizing process makes Socialism even easier to implement once the Proletariat siezes control, as these large intricate networks have already developed their own infrastructure for planning that can be folded into the Public Sector, the hard part is getting over that threshold of power.
⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Communism⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:
Frankly, this is wrong. I am not trying to be rude here, so please don’t take it that way, but as you admitted in the original post you aren’t very informed on this subject to begin with. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend reading my top-level reply to this thread as well.

First, to get the obvious sticker out of the way, the Russian Federation is undeniably Capitalist, Socialism was dissolved and the former state was sliced up and sold for parts at garage sale prices to wealthy Capitalists. The USSR was dissolved in the early 1990s, 3 decades ago, and with it the Socialist economy was also dissolved. An estimated 7 million people died due to the sudden destruction of the economy and the utter crumbling of previously government provided services, like free healthcare and education, a process known as “Shock Doctrine.”

Secondly, Fascism and Communism. You really need to read the book I recommended, Dr. Michael Parenti has an easy to read writing style packed with wit and rigorous historical analysis, however I will respond as best I can to the points you yourself brought up.

It is correct that both Fascism and Communism have an “in-group” and an “out-group,” but if you don’t actually see which group is represented and which group is oppressed by which system, you come to false conclusions. Fascism’s in-group is undeniably the national bourgeoisie, the Capital owners that profited immensely off of the various fascist movements, such as Ford, Hugo Boss, Krupp, many of which exist to this day in some form. The out-group is also undeniably the proletariat, the working class. Often times, somewhat due to the Nietzchian influence, ethnic groups such as Jewish peoples and Slavic peoples were targeted, along with any organized members of the working class, especially Communists. Fascism is a sort of “immune system” for Capitalism.

What about Comminism? Well, it’s the exact opposite. Communist movements have historically come from the Proletariat (as well as the peasantry, especially in China where there wasn’t a large Proletariat at the time of its revolution), and have served the Proletariat greatly. The oppressed class is the Bourgeoisie. What this historically has translated to is AES states (or “Actually Existing Socialism”) working towards huge literacy programs, massive education expansion, rapid industrialization, and generous social services. The USSR, for example, provided completely free healthcare and education, and had lower retirement ages than the United States, the social safety net actually inspired FDR’s New Deal as a means to prevent revolution within the United States during the Great Depression.

Moreover, the USSR and the Nazis saw the vast majority of the fighting in WWII. 80% of Nazi deaths came from the Eastern Front, it was the strategy of the West to let both the Nazis and the Communists fight it out and grind each other to a pulp. Truman spoke this of the strategy:

If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible, although I don’t want to see Hitler victorious under any circumstances.

Ultimately, the real issue here is trying to dress up a massive difference as a small one, and using it to equate two polar opposites. Again, I highly encourage you to read the top level comment. No, AES states are not and have never been perfect, but they have also been in no way shape or form comparable to fascist states, in who they serve or how they functioned, and to equate them is a massive error.

Let me know if you have any questions!