#Political discourse

[anarcho-commeownism]

I don't know if you know this, OP, but people can't educate themselves about shit they've never heard of before. If someone spends their entire life with the truth being obfuscated and LIES being spoon fed to them, they won't even have a position to begin from. Like, I need to emphasize this: there was no lack of information, there was an abundance of LIES. People typically don't see the need to fact check information they learn in school, which makes this censorship and propaganda all the more insidious.

Let me use an example I saw happen recently. A young woman apologized for voting for Trump and explained that she regretted doing so. Now, this woman is in her early 20s, and went straight from high school to motherhood. She has a husband, two kids, and lives in a trailer in a rural area. Her priorities are getting food on the table, keeping her kids safe and happy, and making money at her minimum wage job. She has a phone, yes, but she uses it to look up recipes, to call her family, to text her friends, to post pictures of her children on Facebook. And yes, she's in a bubble of ignorance. She trusted Donald Trump when she saw him on the news saying that he would bring grocery prices down, because she doesn't have a TV herself and only sees the news when Fox News is on at her parents' house. This is a young woman who not only never had a chance to educate herself on current politics or even the world around her, but had absolutely nothing around her that would even indicate she needed to.

There are people that are uneducated. There are people that cannot read. There are people that cannot just pick up a book and read academic texts. There are people that do not even know that there is a world outside of their bubble of local propaganda. This isn't just an American thing, either. The working class around the world struggles with this.

You know how we help with this? It's not by being bitter, scornful, or mocking, that's for fucking sure. Someone has to educate ignorant people. Education isn't just something you can do on your own. It is a collaborative effort. You know what the Black Panthers did when people couldn't read? When people weren't adequately educated? They taught them. They taught them to read. They read books aloud and helped their community overcome the illiteracy and lack of education that was forced upon the black community.

Nowadays, yes, we have phones. But they had libraries back then, too. They had plenty of things to read all over the place and hell, bonus points, they didn't have TikTok tl;drs and AI propaganda all over the internet. This isn't to gloss over the fact that the black community was and still is particularly oppressed when it comes to education, but working class individuals of all colors and cultures are ALL prevented from accessing adequate education to some degree, as a means of keeping the working poor uneducated & stationary in their class position.

Do not blame people for being uneducated. Even if someone refuses to learn, it is often because of cultish ideals being thrust upon them their entire lives & a steady drip of misinformation and propaganda.

You personally do not have to educate them. You personally do not have to do anything. But don't scorn those that aren't as knowledgeable as you are. Rugged individualism is a hallmark of capitalism. Don't let that become a tenet of any leftist thought.

we need to legalise learning for adults

[lordnot]

PSA:

As it becomes increasingly clear that Kamala Harris will be the Democratic candidate for President, we will no doubt be deluged with a new type of psyop known as information. Examples of information may include:

Her policy positions

Quotations she said and the context in which she said them

The impact of her decisions on other people's lives

Stay vigilant! Remember that if the information has not been properly vetted by the Harris campaign, it is not Official Propaganda and is not to be trusted!

[xiranjayzhao]

I do not believe that anyone who takes "the US has always been a bully, especially to the global south, and if you are only now starting to be ashamed of it then you need to read more into its history" as a personal attack is actually "fighting for things to be better" like they claim, because you need to have an awareness of reality to fight effectively.

If I saw someone say "Canada is a genocidal settler-colonial state and always has been" you're not gonna see me go "NOOOOOO THERE ARE GOOD PEOPLE HERE WHO ARE ALSO OPPRESSED AND TRYING TO FIGHT"

I would just agree because it's true. It's neither a personal indictment nor a demand that I leave when I didn't choose to be here. It's just a demand of awareness.

[lordascapelion]

Starting to think there’s an inverse version of an echo chamber where you’re exposed to differing viewpoints but it’s the most extreme, poorly articulated version of those viewpoints.

Let’s call it the Straw Dome or the Scarecrow Arena or something equally stupid

[boymanmaletheshequel]

[your-worst-boy]

It always totally baffled me how there could be people who, with complete sincerity, thought "awh, I can't vote for Bernie?...damn. guess I'm going Trump then." Because...yknow...they're literally the antithesis of one another lol.

HOWEVER...I just connected the dots recently:

They think Bernie is a centrist lmao.

They think the Democrats are the "radical far left," & that Bernie is the rational centrist guy. And their reasoning is "he's one of the biggest critics of democrats!"

Bernie is far left lmao. He's your scary socialist boogeyman. He's like almost all the fucking way on the other side of the spectrum as Trump. U.S. Democrats actually skew center-right on the political spectrum, when compared to other governments globally.

But they have no fucking fluency in political labels, & they don't talk to actual leftists (not liberals) who have LITERALLY BEEN CRITICIZING ESTABLISHMENT DEMOCRATS FOREVER, so they assume Bernie must be the rational solution to these "radical leftists."

I'm sorry conservatives but if you like what Bernie was campaigning for, you liked leftist/socialist policy lol. I hate to be the one to break it to you. But I also love to because yall actually proved what I already suspected: most people, when you don't attach a political label or buzzword, want leftist policy.

[a-very-tired-jew]

Whenever I make a post about how something is a Russian front, purposefully pushes Soviet and modern Russian propaganda, or something to do with them and their allies then I inevitably get people accusing me of not being a Leftist. But it's always from accounts that are self identifying Leftists and Tankies themselves, and it leaves me astounded. Since when did being a Leftist mean you had to be some flavor of communist? Since when did it mean you had to believe in Soviet and modern Russia (and their allies) propaganda and revisionism? Since when did it mean you had to be that annoying person who decried everything Western Civ because "something something Imperialism and Colonialism" and then fully embraced authoritarian regimes and their rhetoric?

Hell, I've seen self identifying Leftists on this site either deny that the Holodomor occurred or if it did it was the Ukrainian's fault. I've seen Leftists identifying persons and groups openly state that the Ukraine should just surrender and that it's their fault for the current war with Russia. I've seen them make every excuse under the sun for their authoritarian blorbos all because they are the "opposite" of the "Western Hegemony".

And listen, I'm as critical of the USA and its past atrocities and current actions as anyone. But taking an oppositional stance to the USA, its actions, and proverbial hegemony does not mean fullthroatedly denying the atrocities, propaganda, and actions of other countries. It does not mean fully embracing oppressive authoritarian regimes and their various ideologies and rhetoric.

It's honestly coming off that being a Leftist no longer means progressive ideals with left wing socioeconomic beliefs, but instead means that you just take a default stance of supporting anyone or anything that is in opposition to Western Civ labeled countries and their allies while espousing some form of communist rhetoric flavored with bits about resistance and revolution.

It doesn't matter that the government, organization, or person that they are supporting stands opposed to all the socioeconomic and cultural ideals the identifying Leftist states they believe in, as long as that entity is opposed to Western Civ then they support them.

I know the path that got us here, as we can see the evidence of it in many of my other blog posts. But I'm still flabbergasted that we're here.

[anqueerism]

youre asking americans (people historically oppressed by the british) to actually care about the tiny nuances in your shitty accents and not make fun of you despite the fact that yall are, historically, the most oppressive people on the planet. do you hear yourself?

Hey so fun fact, classism isn’t okay no matter who you point it at ! I never said that the British Empire or the English royal family were not horrific colonial bloodthirsty pieces of shit. They are. Believe me, most English folk hate our own govt and royals just as much as the rest of you.

But there’s a difference between mocking the systems of power and the people in charge in this country who have colonized almost the entire planet and oppressed literally everyone they came into contact with and being a fucking asshole and punching at people who are ALSO being oppressed.

That’s the whole fucking point of the post! Do YOU hear yourself? Pull your head out of your ass and get some class consciousness maybe

Also “tiny nuances” mate, the nuances are fucking massive. You’re just an ignorant cunt.

@velvetvexations you’re an American, care to comment?

[personal-blog243]

If any conservative/republican leaning people see this:

What is one policy or one thing about the “other side” that you actually like or agree with???

[flyhalf16]

Andor and Sanitizing Revolt

I keep seeing conversation around the second season of Andor and specifically the Ghorman massacre as if it somehow treats revolt and (anti)imperialism any different than other Western media. And I can't say that I agree. I mean, it's made by Disney.

Andor demands that the victims of imperialism be the perfect victims for their rebellion to be in any way, shape or form justified (in the minds of the western audience).

After Maarva's speech on Ferrix, it was the Empire that made the first move against the crowd of people who were attending the funeral. During the Ghorman massacre it's yet again the Empire that escalates a protest towards violence. There is barely an instance of the rebels being the ones that cast the first stone. The violence we see onscreen is always reactive and as a retaliation to imperial violence.

Which is something that happens. The Empire constantly enacts violence against the ones they oppress, either as a way of maintaining order and/or as a way to fuel their propaganda and vindicate their oppression.

This would all be fine and fair if the Empire started yesterday. But it didn't. The oppression has been going on for (give or take) over a decade. And Andor doesn't seem to really engage with how that might erode someone's humanity and moral compass. At least not on a makro level. It's only ever a handful of people and Cassian that seem, to some degree, be desensitised to using violence from the get-go.

Ghormans being the 'first' to attack wouldn't invalidate their cause and make it unjust. It wouldn't really be unprovoked violence. It wouldn't make them terrorists and it wouldn't mean that any would-be retaliation is then an act of defense from the Empire. That nuance is lost when Andor makes you watch a scene that clearly defines the bad guy and then the perfect victim, who is allowed to retaliate after they've been actively (physically) victimised.

I've seen some people talk about how Andor opened their eyes and made them more compassionate towards the current real life American imperialism and the genocide of the Palestinians, or gave them a new critical perspective... to which I can only say, good for you, it's better than nothing, but also how embarrassing to need star wars media to hold your hand and guide you to a logical conclusion through a metaphor.

[wilhelmwrobel]

This is your sporadic reminder:

✨ For Republicans the concept of free speech isn't about discourse but about overriding consent ✨

They don't care about people being allowed to express their opinion. They care about an audience being forced to listen to them, no matter how vile they are. Keep that in mind when they talk about free speech.

[krissthinktank]

Acting like racism is not indicative of your character because you did 30 years ago, but you are 80, so you were like 50 when you did the racist things that you did is so crazy. He's like a tik toker with a Viagra prescription.

[xiranjayzhao]

This is why I'm side-eyeing people from the US who are only NOW acting like their world is being shattered lmao the racism and superiority came out real quick

(I am NOT talking about you if you already lost faith in US institutions way before. I was also not asking anyone to leave or do anything impossible. Literally just asked them to look more into the US' imperialist history)

Resources:

- Blowback (podcast, season 1 is about the Iraq War, season 2 is about US aggression against Cuba, season 3 is about the Korean War, season 4 is about Afghanistan, and season 5 is about Cambodia)

- The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World by Vincent Bevins

- The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein

- Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman & Noam Chomsky

- Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II by William Blum

[illegal-prime]

Normalize updating laws and regulations that are no longer fit for purpose.

Normalize working with powerful enemies to find a solution where everybody wins.

Normalize mutual compromise.

Normalize collaboration over opposition.

Normalize civil discourse on divisive issues.

Normalize good faith and the principle of charity.

Normalize discussion of specific social, political, and economic issues.

Normalize advocacy for specific and implementable policy reforms to to tackle said issues.

Normalize imperfect solutions.

Normalize civic engagement.

Normalize public sector action.

Normalize incremental success.

Normalize improving society instead of destroying and rebuilding it from the ground up.

NORMALIZE PROGRESS!!!

[troythecatfish]

[your-worst-boy]

Oh, and look! In this fucked up mirror we're living in...the Democrats didn't do anything to stop it back then, either.

reminds me of this all time classic a la Elizabeth Warren