cabbage
@cabbage@piefed.social
- Comment on A Day in the Life of an Enshittificator - Norwegian Consumer Council 2 days ago:
It’s an actual government agency, just that it’s not under political leadership. It operates as part of the state.
- Comment on Are there any easy ways and methods for actually studying socialist theory and such? 2 days ago:
I just remembered this amazing book: Why Not Socialism by Gerald A. Cohen.
Super nice and easy read, fantastic introduction. It has been years and years since I read it but I highly recommend it as an introduction.
- Comment on Are there any easy ways and methods for actually studying socialist theory and such? 5 days ago:
I’m a bit sceptical of people who are too into “socialism as a government type” - they tend to develop fundamentalist ideas about what the perfect society should look like, and which means are justified in order to get there. Usually all means will be. To me socialism is at its best as a critique, allowing us to understand what’s going on in the world and how to fight it piece by piece instead of trying to construct some ideal society based on a feeble understanding of reality.
- Comment on Are there any easy ways and methods for actually studying socialist theory and such? 6 days ago:
I guess what is considered easy is very subjective. I seriously think Marx’ Manifesto of the Communist Party is not a bad place to start. It’s everything Capital is not: short, easy to read, somewhat superficial.
I’d say the historical analysis is at the core of marxism as much as the economic one, and it’s summarized perfectly right from the start:
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.
Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes.
Make sure to take a second to reflect on this and the Soviet Union and the failure of Marxist-Leninism. It was not the end of history, but another common ruin. Which brings me to the biggest problem of studying socialist theory: The line between theory and propaganda is often blurred. The Manifesto of the Communist Party itself, thought-provoking as it is, is a pamphlet made for wide circulation, and more propaganda than academic work. Marx’ understanding of history revolves around how proletarian revolts such as the Soviet Union go wrong and end up reproducing existing power structures. Yet many of today’s self-proclaimed Marxists are somehow blind to this and end up tricking themselves with all sorts of mind games.
That’s why I think it’s important to start with Marx himself. Understand his view of history and his criticism of the economy, and reflect on what it means for what you see in history since it was written. It still holds, though the theory itself has become weaponized in the very historical and economical dynamics he is describing. If you understand this independently you’re less likely to become a sucker who falls for propaganda.
And of course, Marx wasn’t a god, and he didn’t get it all right. I personally think the main problem is his understanding of history as having an “end” (a teleological account) - Marx believed every class revolt would lead us slightly closer to a classless society, and that eventually we would get there. This builds on Hegel, who had a similar understanding of history rooted in religion rather than communism. I think this is plain wrong - things very well might just get worse, and there is no end of history. But that’s me.
Of course one shouldn’t focus only on Marx, but I feel like he’s important enough that it’s worth taking him seriously. And with all the stupid takes people have on his work, I think it’s a good idea to go straight to the source.
- Comment on Former Prince Andrew Arrested in Britain Over Epstein Ties (Live Updates) 1 week ago:
Considering the scope of what we’re learning about Epstein and his circles, yes, I am Indeed not happy at all with “just a prince”.
The system still protects its own, I can’t help but feel Andrew is arrested not for raping children as much as for not being well liked and/or powerful enough to have friends in high places to protect him.
It’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than this before I’m even remotely happy.
- Comment on Former Prince Andrew Arrested in Britain Over Epstein Ties (Live Updates) 1 week ago:
What I’m bitter about is that this piece of shit never had any power to begin with, he’s just some non-heir piece of shit royal.
By all means, lock him away, but start doing the same to the men who have actually been powerful in their lives.
- Comment on What are we being distracted from? 2 weeks ago:
You’re being distracted from actually doing something.
A constant stream of awful bullshit, right to your screen. The feeling of doing something by shouting into the abyss.
Trump doesn’t care if you see pictures of him raping children or learn about all his corruption unless it is transformed into actual political action. Taking to the street, organizing, running for office, supporting those who do.
Everything is a distraction from action.
- Comment on What should I NOT do in front of rich people? 2 weeks ago:
For real. Whenever I eat (Italian) pizza normally around a bunch of freaks using knife and fork I just silently rejoice about my superior cultural capital.
And if OP is American, chances are those people don’t even know how to use a knife and fork properly.
- Comment on Why are americans taking health advice from a former heroin addict ? 4 weeks ago:
Yeah, “from a guy with a dead worm in his brain” would make for a better question.
- Comment on Videos Show Moments in Which Agents Killed a Man in Minneapolis 5 weeks ago:
US Border Patrol, not ICE.
It’s probably important to remember that ICE is not the only fascist paramilitary that needs to be abolished.
- Comment on If the United States of America was renamed, what should it be? 5 weeks ago:
Go back to the original European name - Vinland/Vineland/Wineland. Though that might have been in Canada, technically.
Better yet, find some pre-Columbian name for the land that was used by the actual locals. I’m sure there’s plenty of alternatives, and some of the most beautiful state names in the US came about that way. Maybe some Native American name for the Mississippi river could be a good starting point.
- Comment on How do you fight doomerism/pessimism in these trying times? 5 weeks ago:
A piece of American optimism:
America has been awful since the start, in one way or another. It was never going to change because the majority population was either comfortable enough, or scared enough of the minorities that they would accept a certain discomfort as long as their fellow man had it somehow worse.
Right now nobody is having a good time over there. We’re approaching a breaking point. And that’s scary, but it’s also an opportunity to build a better world on the ashes of the old. We are on the verge of huge changes.
Change is no guarantee for improvement. Americans should not only protest the regime, but start preparing to rebuild. Get smart. Read your own history, especially the parts you’re not proud of. If you don’t know or fully understand those parts you will never manage to build wide alliances. Read postwar history, read about the French revolution and it’s messy aftermath. Read Arendt, read Rawls, read Steinbeck and Locke. Prepare yourself to grasp this historic moment. You have an opportunity unlike anything since the 18th century to change America for the better. Don’t waste it doomscrolling. Don’t think you know enough already. Prepare yourself to be the kind of person who is needed once the regime falls.
European optimism:
After the events of the last few weeks I think a lot more people are fed up with this fascist bullshit, and it seems even Eurosceptics now believe we need to stand together in solidarity across the continent. It’s a new European moment, and the American hegemony has been broken. I’m feeling genuinely optimistic.
The protests in Minnesota also fill me with joy. I sincerely believe things are beginning to crack. Trump, Putin, and Netanyahu are all in extremely fragile positions, and dictators have famously poor life expectancy. Change is gradual, then sudden, and the destinies of these despots are intertwined. The darkest hour is right before the dawn.
- Comment on Why are they different shapes? 5 weeks ago:
Or Vietnam!
- Comment on To Their Shock, Cubans in Florida Are Being Deported in Record Numbers 5 weeks ago:
I am sure there are plenty of good people in the American Cuban minority just as there is anywhere, and it’s as awful for them as for anyone else. But yeah, a lot of people are having a leopards eating face moment, and it’s difficult to feel sorry for the Rubio types out there.
- Comment on With what's happening to Grok AI (generating nonconsensual images), how do you think AI would be taken care of? (repost!) 5 weeks ago:
A lot of it will correct itself once the bubble bursts and AI companies have to be profitable. AI needs to be regulated and all that, but also importantly it needs to not be subsidized. Make them pay for the environmental cost of computing. Subject them to the same laws you would anyone else - don’t allow crazy data centres that steal people’s water and electricity.
Then again, even when it becomes more expensive than it is now creeps will still pay to have non-consensual content produced. So regulating the fuck out of the industry is also essential, but I honestly doubt we’ll make much progress before after the crash. The EU is making some decent efforts but it’s also too afraid of missing out on the slop bubble.
- Comment on I CAN'T go outside without permission - is there any way I can help fight for a better world from the comfort of my bedroom? 1 month ago:
- Be informed. Read books rather than endless snippets of doom. Arendt, Orwell, Graeber, Steinbeck there’s plenty of options. Avoid spiralling into ideological rabbit holes - reading Marxist scholarship is good, exclusively reading Marxist scholarship is deeply concerning.
- Share quality content on the open web where fascists cannot sensor speech. Focus on building communities.
- Encourage others by being kind and supportive, and understanding of differences. Inspite of popular opinion there’s still a big gap between centrists and fascists—welcome the centrists with open arms, take their points seriously, and debate on reasonable terms. You can both learn something from each other—just because you understand the contours of the system of oppression it doesn’t mean you’ve got it all figured out. Remain humble.
- Take care of yourself, if it feels heavy maybe make some tea and craft something or read a pleasent book.
That would be my advice, I guess. In general I think there’s more positivity to be found in long-form content, as people have had time to think about issues beyond the initial shock and disgust of the state of affairs expressed in daily news and short form content.
- Comment on Trump Threatens to Take Greenland ‘the Hard Way’ 1 month ago:
Historical footnote: It was actually Norwegians who settled in Greenland, not Danes. Greenland only became part of Denmark-Norway when Norway was forced into a Union with Denmark for 400 years. In the span of those 400 years the current population of Greenland settled the island, and the one Norwegian settlement left probably due to bad crops or something. There’s no sign of conflict.
In 1814 Denmark-Norway was split up after the Napoleonic wars, but Greenland remained in the hands of Denmark, despite it never having been Danish and the Norwegian settlement being long gone.
Currently the Danes are spending quite a lot of money on welfare in Greenland, which is not yet very wealthy in its own right. There’s a lot of bad things to be said about Denmarks Greenland policy, and their historical claim to the territory is a complete joke, but for now they are providing a decent enough service to the people there.
That Denmark’s claim is a joke of course does not help the case of the US one bit. It belong to the Greenlanders.
- Comment on How to get greasy spots out of wooden cutting board properly? 1 month ago:
Maybe fighting fire with fire and setting the whole board with olive oil now would help at least hide the spot.
- Comment on Say, the country/countries you have citizenship in, decided to not want you anymore and threw you to some random "3rd world country", how do you survive? 2 months ago:
I guess this is where the insight that you should judge a society by how it treats its weakest comes from. That’s a problem with OP’s scenario, as you’d be thrown into a completely foreign context without access to the more family and community-based security nets that are essential in poorer parts of the world.
I have travelled to some not very wealthy regions to small communities that can only be accessed by a 4x4, horse, or motorcycle (or by foot, as I prefer), and seen severely handicapped people in such places live what at least appears from the outside to be highly dignified and decent lives as the community works together to take care of them. It’s not at all obvious that they would be happier in a western city. Once anyone needs professional medical care or expensive treatments it of course becomes more clear-cut, and if you’re an outsider (or just unlucky) you’re of course out of luck.
Taking away enforced regulations on housing, employment, and banking makes things easier for me, not harder
In the short run, maybe, but sawing off the branch one is sitting on is dangerous business. :)
- Comment on Say, the country/countries you have citizenship in, decided to not want you anymore and threw you to some random "3rd world country", how do you survive? 2 months ago:
Yeah, in general if you have a good starting point anywhare not affected by tyranny, war, or genocide you’ll be alright. Behind a veil of ignorance there’s a whole lot of developing countries I’d go to before I’d risk being poor in the United States.
- Comment on Say, the country/countries you have citizenship in, decided to not want you anymore and threw you to some random "3rd world country", how do you survive? 2 months ago:
I wonder what people in this thread think the third world is, and what they imagine living there is like.
It’s not like there’s a clear answer. I guess technically Sweden is a third world county, while North Korea is second world. And America is as first world as it gets, and it’s a fucking shithole.
- Comment on Is it a bad idea to learn Russian because of everything? 2 months ago:
Learning the language is not a political statement, and you’ll outlive Putin. Besides we’re not solving anything by refusing to communicate with each other. If you want to learn Russian, learn Russian. Just be careful not to fall for the propaganda.
- Comment on [deleted] 2 months ago:
Don’t forget to report, if you have good reason to believe you’re seeing a bot that is not properly marked as such.
- Comment on Why do .ml users get a bad rep? 2 months ago:
I think instances with ideological underpinnings is fine, and maybe inevitable. The crucial thing is that they need to be honest about it, so that those not interested can go elsewhere.
The problem with lemmy.ml is that it pretends to be a catch-all instance when it’s in fact very much not, and that it doesn’t tell users up front what it’s all about. Both Hexbear and Lemmygrad are better in that respect—at least they’re honest.
- Comment on Why do .ml users get a bad rep? 2 months ago:
The admins over there have some profoundly questionable views, which tends to push away reasonable people and attract bootlickers.
The problem is not the users as much as the site itself and its admins. I wish reasonable people (not bootlickers) would stop using lemmy.ml and go somewhere better. It’s biggest function right now is to scare away good people who would have been happy elsewhere.
- Comment on Why isint lemmy more popular? 2 months ago:
I think whoever wants to promote anything on the fediverse should probably just pick an instance they enjoy and promote that, without caring to explain how it’s all part of a federated network or whatnot.
- Comment on Why isint lemmy more popular? 2 months ago:
To be fair, telling people it was founded by Motorhead fans is a better selling point than that it was started by Marxist leninists.
- Comment on What browser(s) should I use? 2 months ago:
A proprietary source chrome based browser that is. But nevertheless one that seems to superior I’m considering seeking refuge there until Servo is ready.
After a few months in LibreWolf I still don’t feel at home.
- Comment on Americans are holding onto devices longer than ever and it's costing the economy 2 months ago:
Confirmed—only journalists would have the audacity to place spaces around an otherwise fine em-dash.
- Comment on Americans are holding onto devices longer than ever and it's costing the economy 2 months ago:
I would have little respect for a journalist who didn’t know how to use an em-dash, so I don’t think that proves anything. But I agree that there is a lack of coherent thought throughout, though that’s something humans are also fully capable of.
But yeah, fully agree. Never mind that network connection speed is not really the relevant bottleneck for most office situations these days. If Germans are less productive due to technology it’s because they still use freaking fax machines over there, not because employees are stuck with five year old smartphones.