silentjohn
@silentjohn@lemmy.ml
oh, hi Marx
he/him
DSA ✊
Ally 🏳️🌈
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 1 day ago:
DSA uses the Dem ballot line because there’s virtually no path to victory as a 3rd party. That doesn’t make them Democrats.
Dems and Reps are virtually the same. They both serve capital and corporate interests. The same billionaires funding the Reps also fund the Dems. Nothing has materially improved in decades. In fact, the complete opposite has happened: things have gotten progressively worse every year no matter if the guy in charge is blue or red. But sure, Dems are “winning” the culture war.
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 2 days ago:
yes, broadly dems fight for lgbtq … when it’s beneficial to them. For most Dems, lgbtq rights are just a bargaining chip, and not embedded into the platform as it is for DSA, for example.
“Corporations are fine with exhibiting symbolically pro-queer behavior—perhaps sponsoring a gay pride festival or lobbying the Governor of North Carolina—but only when it’s marketable”
“The rights of queer people do not depend upon the whims of capital. A broad coalition of the left can fight against the advances of the religious right. We must reject organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, who are funded by and work closely with capital to preserve the capitalist status quo. In doing so, queer people must build alternative organizations that fight for our rights from the perspective of the working class. Only by combating capitalism, and continuing to build a socialism infused with queer radicalism, will queer people dismantle the oppressive structures which harm us.”
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 3 days ago:
Really? You’ve been to DPRK? Surely you’d be able to refute these claims then.
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 3 days ago:
Because the Capitalists and billionaires told you to?
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 3 days ago:
I’m more just shouting at clouds than at you specifically. Cheers! 🥃
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 3 days ago:
Could you explain what you actually want
Simply put: I don’t want billionaires controlling every single aspect of society, as they do now.
If you’d like to read more, I agree with all of this.. I also agree with all of this.
what you could see realistically happening if the fascists won?
Arguably, and I would, the fascists are already in control. Just think of the tech enshittification at the hands of technofascists. Think of the endless wars; how much say in those wars do you truly believe you have? Think of the military budget outspending every single other country combined. We are the most powerful and richest country in the history of this planet … and 50% of americans can’t afford a 1 bedroom apartment. Americans can’t afford groceries. Real wages have been stuck in the 1970s. We are bankrupting ourselves with medical and student debt. Nobody can afford a house. Kids still in cages, guantanamo bay still operating, ICE record funding every year,
How much say do you have at your job? Unions are being squashed and suppressed. Have you attended a pro-gaza rally lately? How did the police treat you?
…I want a better world in which the 99% actually have a say, actually have a better life, and we don’t have 1% of people hoarding all the power and wealth of the world. This IS possible.
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 3 days ago:
JFK passed the equal pay act. LBJ passed the civil rights act.
You’re skipping why those passed when they did. Postwar US was in a red scare, Communism spreading across Europe, fear of uprisings at home, and that fear forced progressive concessions. The one era of capitalism people romanticize is that one, and it was shaped by fear of Communism plus massive grassroots working-class movements. JFK and LBJ didn’t pass those laws out of kindness. Cities were burning, people were organizing at rates this country had never seen, demanding better material conditions.
Clinton passed the violence against women act
This law was very limited and a classic neolib policy. It did not, in fact, dismantle any systems of oppression. It was another concession to the feminist “radicals” of the era.
In Texas, my grandmother wasn’t able to have her own bank account without my grandfather signing a permission note until John Connally, a Democrat, passed the Marital Property Act of 1967. My mother never had that problem because a Democrat changed the conditions for women in this country.
Democrats didn’t do this though. That’s my whole point. Sure they may have signed the law, but the pressure and the framing came from socialists and activists, through fear of revolution, strikes, boycotts. Yours is a standard liberal talking point, and it whitewashes history and erases the struggle that was actually fought for.
Do I want a true left to rise in the United States? Yes. Do I think the Democrats have any hope of fixing capitalism? No. BUT, this victory is sweet, and I’ll be raising a glass to the Democrats today anyway.
On this we agree. Victory was sweet yesterday. I’m mostly celebrating. But we need to continue to organize and fight for what we want. Capitalists and billionaire oligarchs will not just give us what we want out of the kindness of their hearts. That’s simply not how any of this works. Don’t become a “If Harris won we’d be at brunch” kind of person.
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 3 days ago:
“tankie” is pejorative term used by fascists and libs for Socialists and Communists. the people who use the term tankie unironically often denounce many or all existing Socialist states (Cuba, China, DPRK, etc) as “authoritarian”.
I repeat: You have a very warped view of what Socialists believe in.
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 3 days ago:
“tankie” is pejorative term used by fascists and libs for Socialists and Communists. the people who use the term tankie unironically often denounce many or all existing Socialist states (Cuba, China, DPRK, etc) as “authoritarian”.
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 3 days ago:
We have plenty of wins, built on the hard work of working class Americans door knocking, phone banking, canvassing, signature gathering, etc.
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 3 days ago:
You have a very warped view of what Socialists believe in.
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 3 days ago:
This is very incorrect.
- Comment on Lemmy users logging on to level set the Blue Wave enjoyers 3 days ago:
As “one of those people” you are talking about, we’ve been here before. Yes, it feels awesome to get such a decisive victory over the republicans. I’ve seen this before. Over and over again. The pendulum has swung back to the left. But, just because we voted in a bunch of Dems, hell even a bunch of Socialists, that doesn’t mean they will, or even can, fix the most broken parts of this system. Democrats have enabled and even facilitated some of the worst aspects of what we’re seeing right now from Trump and Republicans. I mean, you yourself even admit it: “I don’t have a lot of faith in democrats to actually get the shit done that they need to”.
The difference is, we know what needs to be done. A really famous guy wrote about it over a 100 years ago. Having Blue majority didn’t improve anybody’s material conditions in the past. Why would it now? Yes, they’re “less bad”, but Dems are still pretty bad. What makes this time different?
I love the outcome of the election. It was a bloodbath. But I’m not deluding myself that wholesale change will ever come from national electeds. Defeatist? Maybe. I’m just tempering my expectations, even from DSA endorsed winners.
this post sums it up best imo. Prove me wrong. Prove all of us MLs and “tAnKiEs” wrong. Prove to us that voting can and does work, that we can materially improve people’s situations without protest.
- Comment on Do you cheat in games? 3 days ago:
Single player games, it’s to be expected. Some games even build it in. Multiplayer, you have a special circle of hell just for you.
- Comment on Why DDG is the superior serch engine 2 weeks ago:
Yes I’ve tried it. I’m simply saying it’s not just “not google or microsoft”. If one’s goal was to avoid MSFT completely, then something like Brave Search would be preferable to them. If your only goal was privacy-respecting search, then DDG would suffice.
- Comment on Why DDG is the superior serch engine 2 weeks ago:
It uses bing’s search index though…
- Comment on We thought it could never get better than this 2 weeks ago:
Please take the billionaire technocrats away…
- Comment on Data Center Opponents Stage 142 Protests Across 42 States 3 months ago:
What do you mean “they don’t work”? $130 Billion worth of data centers have been blocked by protests this year alone. Congress is drafting anti-data center legislation. Governors are passing moratoriums on DCs. Public sentiment has never been lower for AI/FLOCK and datacenters.
- Comment on SpaceX stock tumbles 16.4%, shaving off most IPO gains since debut 4 months ago:
“consumer protections” don’t allow you to make any money off IPOs. You’re free to lose as much as you like though.
- Comment on Has anyone else noticed the strong pro CCP and anti-west vibes here? 4 months ago:
I’m very in favor of personal freedom
And what “freedoms” do you enjoy in the USA / The West (yes I realize you said you’re from Africa)? The freedom to choose between two capitalist/fascist warmongers every 2-4 years in your elections? The freedom to have the police state protect private property over humans? The freedom to wage wars on the global south? The freedom to fund and aid in genocide? The freedom to be overworked and underpaid while billionaires extract every ounce of wealth from countries and workforces? The freedom to go into lifelong debt for basic human rights (housing, health, education)?
The majority of Chinese actually believe that China is more free than the United States … this is more important than whatever a Western-funded “Freedom Index” claims.
decreasing wealth inequality
The CPC (not CCP) lifted 800 million people from abject poverty and have effectively eliminated extreme poverty in the country. China also has higher home ownership rates than the US, higher effective literacy rate, lower infant mortality, lower rates of suicide and gun violence, lower obesity, … While billionaires exist in China, they do not (and cannot) control/influence government, and corporations do not extract wealth from key industries.
- Comment on Has anyone else noticed the strong pro CCP and anti-west vibes here? 4 months ago:
That’s why I came to Lemmy. Sure open source and decentralized and all that too. But somebody on reddit described Lemmy as “Leftist Reddit” and I said count me in!
- Comment on Indie Video Game ‘Mina the Hollower’ Sells 300,000 Copies in Three Days 5 months ago:
This game slaps!
- Comment on there's a Costco at the other end 5 months ago:
This is literally what Grant Park at the north end in Chicago looked like until they built millennium Park
- Comment on .ml has got to be the only place on earth where I'd get downvoted for a comment like this 5 months ago:
Look, you’re doing it!
Addressing your points from a perspective of an ML?
That’s the whatabout campism it is refering to!
Interesting. You never mentioned “whataboutism” in your “tankie” description, and you were allowed to insert whatever convenient definition you saw fit. I can see the goalposts are moving now that I’ve addressed your original points directly. Convenient that we’re never allowed to explain our position, lest the term “tankie” be thrown at us and summarily hand wave away anything we say.
Just introducing what a tankie means to regular people
Again, since I’m usually the one the term is being used against, I think I know what most “regular” people think the term means: which is usually just broadly anti-ML and anti-any-established-socialist-state because they’re [ignorantly and incorrectly] viewed as “Authoritarian”.
I think we’ve exhausted this debate here.
- Comment on .ml has got to be the only place on earth where I'd get downvoted for a comment like this 5 months ago:
people who are extremely anti US
The US has committed way more atrocities than either of those countries you listed. We literally just kidnapped a democratically elected leader without any due process a few months ago and everybody just plum forgot about it. We’ve started countless wars. We still have Guantanamo Bay operating. We orchestrated the genocide of millions via the Jakarta Method. We sanction and embargo countries with the EXPLICIT purpose (as admitted by the CIA) of inflicting as much human misery on the populace as possible. Our history with genocide of Natives, slavery, jim crowe, prison slavery … I’m sorry but the USA fucking sucks. I say that as a citizen who thinks we deserve better. The world deserves better. If that makes me a “tankie” … so be it. I will continue to fight for what’s right.
to the point that they choose to ignore or excuse all the crimes against humanity caused by other Imperialistic nations. Ex. Russia, China
Russia … ehh, I always argue that most Communists, because we are anti-imperialist, can see the reasons for Russia doing what Russia is doing, which is broadly reacting to NATO expansion. What I mean is, we can acknowledge how problematic Western Imperialism and NATO expansion close to Russia (or anywhere, really…) is. Nobody is really pro-Putin, very few. He’s a capitalist. We don’t like Capitalists.
It’s like the Cuban Missile Crisis. It’s always framed as “big, bad, and evil USSR puts nukes in Cuba because they’re big, bad, and evil!”. Nevermind that the US put nukes in Italy and Turkiye first, and rejected any peace talks with USSR. We can see the nuance and understand why Russia is doing Russia things.
As far as China … so many sinophobic arguments are easily debunked.
term has another meaning. You shouldn’t ignore it
I’ve been called a “tankie” far more than I’d like, I’m well aware of the meaning levied at me by ignorant people.
- Comment on .ml has got to be the only place on earth where I'd get downvoted for a comment like this 5 months ago:
Not sure if you’re referring to me, but I’m a card-carrying Communist and I’d hardly consider getting fed Western propaganda from a Lemmy Lib as “getting owned”. I’ve already blocked him and moved on with my life…
- Comment on .ml has got to be the only place on earth where I'd get downvoted for a comment like this 5 months ago:
I ain’t reading all that. Free Palestine.
- Comment on .ml has got to be the only place on earth where I'd get downvoted for a comment like this 5 months ago:
especially those who support or defend acts of repression by such regimes, their allies, or deny the occurrence of the events thereof.
Who defines “acts of repression”? Capitalists? Western Imperialists who commit acts of repression daily? It’s not a good faith argument. Many of the “acts of repression” usually listed [by western media, western/capitalist countries] can almost always be debunked or explained with nuance. For example the comment by the other user that “Xi is literal dictator” … I can’t even take this comment seriously.
It’s only ‘ignorant and combative’ in the same way that people call right-wing authoritarianism fascism
It’s ignorant and combative because it hand waves away all successful socialist states (China, Cuba, etc) without any nuance.
Not to mention socialism isn’t apart of the meaning at all as you’ve described it.
Socialism and Communism are one in the in the same according to Marx. As we use the terms today, from actual Socialists, is that Socialism is a beginning, transitory state before full Communism. This is the general agreed upon consensus at a high level. Among non-Socialists or Liberals, Socialism is usually interpreted as a “safer, more desirable, version of Communism”, whatever that means. As such, using the the term “tankie” insults Socialists and Communists alike, as we’re all working towards the same goal.
I also find it funny that your source for the meaning of tankie is from lemmy.ml
Where was I supposed to find a succinct rebuttal to this other than the people against whom the term is used? Wikipedia? Fox News? Where? Talk about bias…
It would be like if I corrected someone on the meaning of the term “Jew” by sourcing Mein Kampf.
False equivalence and you know it.
- Comment on .ml has got to be the only place on earth where I'd get downvoted for a comment like this 5 months ago:
ad hominem.
- Comment on .ml has got to be the only place on earth where I'd get downvoted for a comment like this 5 months ago:
That is not at all how it’s used.
