#end state fascism

[padawan-historian]

Ten years from now when the world has its Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Palestinian Genocide, we will remember the death politics that Israel, the US, Britain, and Germany committed to preserve their imperial impulses. They are not democracies, they are death factories.

[zigcarnivorous]

Hello, 👋

I hope you're well.

I humbly ask for your support by reblogging this post on your account to help save my family. As newcomers to Tumblr and GoFundMe, we are in desperate need of your kindness and support. 🙏❤️

My previous account was deleted, and now I'm reaching out, seeking your help to share my new account. Our sole hope is that your generosity can help my family endure this merciless war. 🙏🌹

Thank you sincerely. 🌹

https://gofund.me/e089ccce

Hello @m8hammed , I will do my best to share your campaign 💚 I have shared your pinned post, and I encourage my friends to take a look at your pictures and learn your story. And consider that a high number of notes isn't always a good thing for the tangible goal! Much like how a campaign will stagnate right before its goal, it's as if people see a large number of notes and assume everyone else is helping.

The only way to be sure someone helps is by helping :)

So please be a helpful compassionate soul and follow my friend @m8hammed and learn the names and dreams and hardships of his family.

Move forward in the world with good intention and care and you are always on the right path🙏

I am sorry this world is cruel and stupid. I am sorry you must implore petulant strangers on a cheap web site for relief. Many citizens of the empirical core believe themselves to be benevolent, good people yet have a wicked greedy little heart that only has love for themselves. These are people who complain about the price of gas to a person with a photo of their bombed, burnt car on their wall, man! PLEASE😭

Please feel free to send an ask, I may not always answer them all, but I do try to reblog a post from you when I see them! God be with your family and bless your health and see your goals met with perfect speed my friend🙏🫂💐💝❤️🖤🤍💚

[magistralucis]

I think cryptofascist is one of the most illuminating ways to play Disco Elysium. Not to mention one of the hardest, and the most tedious. If you want to be a fascist and hide it, you have to remain in Kim’s good graces, and fascist dialogue options are usually Kim-alienating options. You have to know this game inside and out if you want to avoid his disapproval; it’s not enough to know Kim’s likes and dislikes, you straight up have to memorize entire dialogue trees, and think very carefully about when to send him away.

But at that point, it’s not really a game. When you want to bid Kim goodnight, which horribly unhinged dialogue options you want to pursue, which ones to avoid when you’re with Kim, who you can or can’t risk visiting, which days you wish to spend alone, conversations which may only be open for a certain time... all of this must be planned in advance, and played out perfectly. Kim can’t get away fast enough from an open fascist, but a cryptofascist only has one or two chances to send him away; if you want another chance, you have to drop the mask in the church, which defeats the point of going crypto in the first place. And at any point during the game, a single failed check might foil your attempt to keep your views under wraps!

This is not fun. It’s work, you really have to work to conceal your hatred. There’s nothing special waiting for you, there's no cryptofash achievement. If your fascism points are too high Kim calls you out at the end anyway, so it’s not even like you could hide forever. And I think that’s brilliant design. That is more or less what it’s like to be cryptofash in real life, thinking the horrible things but knowing not to say them around others. Paying lip service to other views so you can be accepted by the crowd, being exposed to views unlike your own... which you forcefully and consciously have to reject, just so you can keep marinating in your own hatred. Because you care so much about what other people think of you, like you’re aware your views are horrible and that you look horrible, but you simply can’t stop wanting to be liked. Because you have to be cool.

Inauthenticity in its finest. It’s no way to live, but HDB can live it. Honestly, it’s not that far from how he lived before. If you pull off this build without losing Kim’s trust, you end up with a HDB who’s poison to the entire world, except to the single person he latched onto. Sure, everyone knows exactly what you are, but what do they matter? As long as the Kim you bewitched dances with you, thanks you for saving him at the tribunal, will agree to work at your station when the case is over and done...

Until you scare him away too, you charmer! It’s only a matter of time.

[artufex]

Living Up to the "Leftist" Part of My Blog Title, or: Late Stage Capitalism Steals Utility from Us

TLDR: Marx was right. Capitalism's focus on profit maximizing has infiltrated everything, makes products worse, and makes us unhappy and more mistrustful of each other.

I hate how late stage capitalism incentivizes everyone to monetize everything.

I was trying to listen to an album I bought on my computer and Windows' modern Media Player doesn't let you skip tracks or play whole albums. Like, WTF? I have to go back to the legacy player to play music albums. Who would want to lose that feature? What does the new player even do that makes it worth using?

I know the legacy player is there and it's still free, but I wonder, then, what's the point of the shitty modern player? It seems like it would only drive you to either a better open-source or a better paid alternative.

So going back to the legacy player in all of its Windows 7-era glory reminded me of how we used to get extras like minesweeper or solitaire or that awesome pinball game in XP as part of our purchase. Now, the pinball game is gone, and you have to watch ads to play solitaire or pay a monthly subscription to avoid the ads they force on you, no way to just pay a finite amount for stuff.

I miss Web 2.0 when there were like a million different websites and you could find so many different communities, when Google search worked and wasn't just a vector for search-engine-optimized ads.

I remember going to one of a million different Flash game websites and playing games that people just made for others to have fun. I miss going to websites that would do cool services for you, like letting you turn your handwriting into a computer font for free.

Now, I'm not saying there's any problem with wanting to make (or actually making) money from your work, of course not, but I think there is a problem with every interaction with another person or their work needing to be some kind of monetary exchange. I think Marx has a specific term for this, but it's been a minute since I've reviewed him.

Anyway, part of the reason that all changed was because of capitalism's drive for endless profit leading to corporations nickel-and-diming everything they can, like Adobe not letting you just buy and own Photoshop for one purchase anymore, or AAA game companies not allowing you to own everything in a video game after paying your $60 or $70 or whatever the sticker price is.

Along with that nickel-and-diming came squeezing more and more profit by paying workers less and less, making our jobs more precarious so we have to have a side hustle, we have to scrimp and save and we have to use social media to gather fans whose attention we can monetize through ad revenue and selling merchandise.

Because our sense of security is so unstable, because so much has been robbed from us, because we have decaying--and in the U.S. basically nonexistent--social safety nets, we are constantly having to look out for scams, to ask each other for mutual aid, and being forced apart. Like Marx argued, capitalism is alienating: It alienates us from each other, it alienates us from ourselves, and it alienates us from the joy of creative labor. (I might be forgetting a fourth kind of alienation. Again, it's been a minute since I taught theory.)

In the past, like my childhood on the internet mentioned above, people did things--and they still do things--for free because we like making stuff, thinking up ideas, and showing off our stuff and sharing our ideas with each other. That's why social media is popular: we're a social species! Marx argued our species-being, our human nature, is to work: is to create, to labor more than what is necessary for the propagation of ourselves and our species. That is, we do more than just eat, sleep, and fuck. We draw, sing, write, dance, play, talk, make longwinded blog posts at 12:35 in the morning instead of sleeping, etc.

People did this "free labor" more often in the past because people had a greater sense of security. They had this greater sense of security because their basic needs were being met. In Marxian terms, they were earning enough to meet their means of subsistence.

And with that greater sense of security, borne from having their base needs met, came more trust in broader society. It's less risky to trust people if your needs are secured. It's also easier to trust people won't scam you because there's less incentive to scam if they are secure.

But now that we see our institutions failing, crumbling around us while the state bends to the will of capital and ignores the will of the majority of the population (weed legalization? minimum wage increase?) people come to feel they can't trust those that are different from them. Social order and social bonds become weaker and, again as Marx predicted, capitalism is sowing the seeds of its own destruction.

I started writing this to complain about how Media Player sucks, and of course it's because of capitalism. I hope I did a good enough job of linking the two. It's not just an aphorism to say "capitalism caused it". I could go more into how capitalism uses the state to prop itself up and this merging of the state and business exacerbates fascism, but I'll save that for another post.

[typicalsimswhore]

Here is what progress looks like:

Personal Growth -> Community Wellness -> Societal Change -> World Peace

Take advantage of the resources around you, and let's create change together.

MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES:

Beyond Blue (AU)

Headspace (AU)

American Counselling resource

Lifeline Australia #: 13 11 14 (or text 0477 13 11 14)

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Crisis Support Line (13 YARN) #: 13 92 76

Suicide and Crisis Hotline (US) #: 988

How to Journal - Calm Blog

COMMUNITY RESOURCES:

Find a Community Centre QLD

Find a Community Centre NSW

List of Community Centres VIC

Community Centres SA

Community Centres in the US by state

Australian Unions Website (Union Resources)

US Union Resources

Socialist Alliance Educational Resources

Socialist Alliance Website

Transition Network Website

What is 'Community' and why is it important? (Article, really good read)

"Social change requires that we rewrite our communal narratives. Social change is change in community." -Toby Lowe, Professor in Public Management

[nando161mando]

We voted for change and ended up with the same crap. How is this democracy?

[mossycircuits3]

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A post shared by Chicana in the City ™️ (@chicanainthecityseries)

this is why we must resist now, and why its so critical that there is extreme danger if we do not succeed in keeping the momentum. If we do not take up this opportunity, there will be more cop cities, the cops will be more organized, they are getting more funding already, and they will be much less likely to miss.

[padawan-historian]

In 10 years when we have Remembrance of the Palestine Genocide and we hold conferences on cultural fascism and necropolitics, I want y'all to remember that, across the world, black, brown, and beige children always suffer and suffocate under the weight and white gaze of imperialism.

So long as imperialism reigns, none of us are free.

[shortsweetespresso]

okay, but on a serious note, as someone with a degree in history, this is a terrifying event. not only is this showing that our leaders and former leaders are not safe from an attack, but this attempt also happened against a former president that may will use this to his advantage. this man, a former REALITY TV STAR, knows how to play a crowd. he knows how to put on a show and manipulate people to be on his side. he already has an insane fan base who has ALREADY incited an insurrection attempt on the very government they CLAIM TO LOVE.

history loves a martyr, and a living martyr can make things worse. whether this was real or staged, it will be treated as real by every single news source that matters unless proven otherwise -- which could end up being proven years down the line. the right are already using this as a reason to vote for trump. I can't scroll through my facebook without people in every single group I'm in discussing this. all press is good press, especially to the right wing where they can spread their propaganda.

this night is going to be in history books. unless the American people come together, and EVERYONE who can vote against trump, votes for Biden (god help us), this night may very well be listed in the reasons fascism came to take hold of the United States.

you can read the reasons why World War I and II happened, and you can see the clear picture as all of those reasons are laid out in front of you.

Not to fear monger, but World War III's causes are already being laid out in front of us clearly, unless we can work together to stop it. Ukraine, Palestine, and many other places are already the places of first conflict. take a look around. read the news from all angles.

Vote. VOTE. V O T E. FUCKING VOTE. Biden is the much lesser of two evils, and it literally hurts to say that the president currently funding a Palestinian genocide is the better option, and the fact that I HAVE to vote for him in order to keep trump out of power is breaking me and everything I am inside. biden is funding it -- yet trump said he would help israel "finish the job"

donate to Palestinians. donate to the people of Ukraine. vote democrat in the 2024 election.

I'm sorry that this is not the most eloquently written tumblr essay, but I am terrified.

[christinareedy-love]

So this is some very very very bad and evil sh🤬t. We, the people, need to fight this & take our country back. Women need to stop being pick me's while throwing each other under the bus. Stop hating yourselves & be smarter than a trump supporter.

We need to mobilize humanism as fast as they are mobilizing their movement.

[sunbentshadows]

Been mulling over the news today. But not about Biden, nor Harris. Not the breathless coverage of media-spinning-this-as-another-losing-move-for-Democrats.

I've been thinking about the right-wing in this country. The Republicans. You know, the group the coverage SHOULD be about. Especially as they've fallen into a fascistic cult of personality and vindictive cruelty-as-politics.

What is the Republican platform now? It used to be fiscal conservatism and 'business-interests' (at least on the surface), deregulation, less governmental power. Now it's, well. Trump. Sure. But what are they fighting for? "Get their guy in the White House"?

Well yes. But no. The Republicans are desperately trying to hold power. The power to dismantle the rights of every person in the country who isn't a white-male-Christian-business interest. One of Their Guys.

Why? Why so much now?

Because they're fucking UNPOPULAR. The country doesn't support them! If the entire country voted, the right wing would not meaningfully exist in the US political sphere.

Think about that for a second. REALLY internalize it: If everyone in the US voted, period, full stop. The right would be gone. The Republican party, as it is, now, would be a fucking joke.

So of COURSE they're swinging towards fascism. In a two-party system, a political party's only meaningful directive is survival of the power of their party. The very existence of Project 2025 is proof - it is the last, dying fucking breath a party that has TWO options to stay alive: Fascism and minority-rule, or change.

And they're sure not picking fucking change.

That is what we're up against.

If I could ask ONE thing of any person in the US who desperately wants to keep their human rights, who understands a loss in this election is likely the end of US-democracy as we know it - it would be to point the narrative towards the utterly vile platform of the right wing. Talk about it to everyone. Don't normalize it! Don't EVER say "That's just what Republicans do so it's normal". That's what they want.

If we win the branches of government - if we could make it 10% easier to vote. 5% easier to vote. That could swing elections and politics for a generation. We can even dream bigger: Ranked choice. Mandatory ballots. National holiday voting day.

And Republican strategists know this!! They're so terrified of it they're willing to dismantle the fundamental tenets of the United States of America to prevent it!

PART of why I'm so frustrated with the constant circling-on-Democratic-candidate is because it entirely misses the point. The choice is between a party trying to enshrine minority-Christian-Theocratic-rule in the country for generations - or, you know.

A middlingly-charismatic Democrat.

And, judgement-free - if you had a MOMENT of weighing the 'good' of those things, that's the fucking problem. These things are not remotely equal. The coverage of this political moment is like the coverage of climate change, and it gets into EVERYONE'S head - "The world is ending. But are hot summers REALLY that bad? Experts weigh in!"

The breathless both-sidesing of the current political moment is so appallingly, atrociously irresponsible I hardly have words for how fucking livid I am.

Vote.

[beauzos]

been rereading The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert Paxton-- great book by the way, should be required reading tbh-- and he stated that some of the elements that are generally necessary for fascism to proliferate in a country are polarization, deadlock, mass mobilization against internal and external enemies, and complicity from existing elites.

one can't help but think that's exactly what the U.S. is dealing with right now, and explains a lot about why fascist/fascist-adjacent political leaders are gaining so much traction. fascism does not take root in countries that are stable, and they take advantage of liberalist states (liberal in the more antiquated, non-American sense, the laissez-faire center-right type) that are completely breaking down and, due to its liberalist nature, cannot or does not actively fix its issues.

in addition, fascism also tends to get into the government because conservatives will almost always get into bed with fascists before ever considering allowing leftists to gain control of the government. leftism tends to become extremely popular during these periods as well, thus resulting in major polarization between leftism and fascism and conservatism, and conservatives will select fascists as partners in the misplaced assumption that they will be able to keep fascists leashed.

[ursie]

Brennan’s statement on Palestine :

[ ID: Statement from Brennan Lee Mulligan, on Instagram. It consists of three black squares with plain white text. The text reads as follows:

"I'm calling on my government officials to immediately demand a ceasefire and de-escalation in Gaza.

I applaud anyone and everyone calling for peace, with the understanding that real peace only exists if it deeply and honestly accounts for and fully ends violence in all its forms. Real peace addresses and corrects wrong-doing in the past and guards against it in the future. It goes hand in hand with justice and requires truth, restoration, reconciliation, reparation.

Peace cannot co-exist with collective punishment, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement. It cannot co-exist with blockades, embargoes, or with 2.2 million people, half of which are children, trapped with no hope of escape or political recourse. it cannot co-exist with murdered journalists, bombed hospitals, or years of protesters being shot and killed at the border. it cannot co-exist with illegal settlements, segregated roads, and the silent, imperial chill that settles over the gaps in the violence - the unspoken geopolitical consensus that a group of people need to unflinchingly accept permanent subjugation and occupation.

My hear breaks for every Israeli person who lost loved ones during the attacks of October 7th. It breaks for every Ukrainian person who has lost their loved ones. It breaks for every Congolese person who has lost their loved ones. I do not speak on behalf of Palestinians now because some lives are worth more than others. I speak on their behalf because I, and all Americans, have a responsibility to pressure our government because we are responsible for this. Some have said that this situation is complicated. The Unites States government clearly disagrees. It has definitively, categorically, militarily chosen a side, and I do not agree with that decision.

In wiring this, I have been wrestling with what I am sure many people like me wrestle with: There is a powerful narrative surrounding violence in the Middle East that asserts and ever-moving goalpost of self-education and study in order to even be qualified to have an opinion. As someone with a love of research, I have at times in my life fallen into the trap that I am not educated enough clever enough, or aware enough to have a worthwhile perspective, and that three more articles and two more lectures and one more book will do the trick. Unfortunately, democracy doesn't work that way - we, the citizens of any democracy, cannot possibly be experts on every aspect of the policies of our governments, and yet if we do not constantly weigh in an make our voices heard, the entire experiment falls apart. Not only do people constantly doubt themselves and the things they can see with their own two eyes, but old shortcuts for political action can fall apart as well: This specific issue exists along a raw, charged and unique faultline in American Politics. Nobody I grew up with has ever challenged me on my support for abortion rights, LGBT rights, Black Lives Matter, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, none of it. The people in my country who would despise me for those positions are, for all intents and purposes, strangers to me. But there are people who I've broken bread with and shared honest affection with who will see the words I've written here and incorrectly conclude that I do not wish for the security, dignity and happiness of them and their loved ones, and that breaks my fucking heart. Full-throatedly condemning the actions of the Israeli government while battling rampant anti-semitism at home is an urgent moral necessity, and doing so is made unnecessarily challenging for the average person to navigate by the pointed obfuscations of cynical opportunists, bigots, and demagogues on all sides of the political spectrum who see some advantage in sowing that incredibly dangerous confusion.

So, I'm calling my representatives. I'm having hard conversations with friends and family. I'm here, talking to you. I should have done it sooner. If you're Israeli and hurt by this statement, know that I want freedom, dignity, security and peace for you, and that every ounce of my political awareness believes whole-heartedly that the actions of your government are not only destroying innocent lives, but doing so to the detriment of you and your loved ones' safety. If you're American and feel lost and confused - I understand and empathize. This, the whole country, only works when we get involved. I am constantly haunted by the specter that maybe I missed some crucial piece of information on this, or any, important world event. I'll just have to make my peace with that self-doubt and trust my gut by going with Jewish Voice for Peace, Amnesty International, the Geneva Conventions, the United Nations, etc. And if you're Palestinian and reading this: I unreservedly support your right to life, to freedom, to happiness and human flourishing, to full enfranchisement and equal rights, to opportunity, prosperity and abundance, to the restoration of stolen property and land, and to a Free Palestine." End ID ]

[thatdogmagic]

The first official step towards banning any and all LGBTQ+ art and literature has been taken.

This is what hypersexualizing queer topics was always leading towards. Expect this to be the signal flare that gets some state legislature barreling forward to enact this exact measure, solely so the bill can be struck down, challenged legally, then taken all the way to SCOTUS.

...

Repeating what I said on Twitter: This is a good time to remind people that just being LGBTQ in this moment in time can be considered an outright radical act, so anything less than going all-in on the life you want to lead is fucking pointless.

Put another way, if you're putting actual time and energy into respectability shit right now, do everyone *and* yourself a huge favor, and stop wasting your time.

You can't fucking negotiate with Christian Terrorists.

...

EDIT:

To be perfectly clear on this -- I made this post in the interests of calling attention to its inevitable end result. I thought (wrongly) it would be taken as a given/it would be implied that I fully think the bill, and any bills like it, are a bad thing, period, end of story. SESTA/FOSTA was a fucking disaster. Anything that further criminalizes sex work and pushes for divorcing people from their bodies/sexuality is just plain wrong.

I will be blunt, though, and say that the people saying 'it won't go that far' need to look again at Evangelicalism, and how far it's willing to go. The fall of Roe was orchestrated over decades of bills exactly like this, field tested in state and federal legislatures, over and over again. It starts here, but it ends with something far worse. And in this case, it's starting with an easy target: sex work. And as with Roe, it will inevitably wash up on the shores of even The Cishets, while the ruling class continues to do whatever the fuck they want, with whomever the fuck they want.

Now is absolutely the time to push back against this shit. Failing to do so just emboldens the people who introduce bills like this. Harsh backlash is needed, right now, against the rising tide of Christian Fascism/Terrorism, and if you happen to think otherwise, then, I'm sorry/not sorry: you're just not paying close enough attention.

EDIT: this is many many months old and it's going around again so I'm locking RTs, eek