https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/the-think-tank-behind-australia-s-changing-view-of-china-20200131-p53wgp

PS, seems like Western “independent” advocacy groups has little more than zero effect on you. No one is immune. Thinking so is childish. Goodbye.

oh no, not lennybird’s respect :((( please, repost everywhere.

and since when is criticizing the states of China or Russia, eastern propaganda?

I’m arguing for the least worst? I’m sorry, who said that they would “would rather live here than fucking Iran, North Korea, China, or Russia”? When did I say that one is a “better” place to live? I am not interested in such shallow analysis. No one “chooses” to live in either USA or Iran. Hypothetically choosing between imperialist blocs does not help anyone but the ruling class. It is always in my, and the working class’s imo, to oppose especially your own nation’s class oppressor first and foremost. And as the hegemonic state, the US is quite the oppressor to much of the world. This ofc does not excuse other imperialist actions by other states, but am merely stating where my own practical responsibility lies. You seem to think being critical of the US, to the appropriate degree, the highest degree, is somehow an allowance for other states to commit crimes. The question is immaterial; rights under US capital are contingent and conditional, just as they are under Chinese state-capitalism. Domestic minority rights that we do have are structurally dependent on the exploitation of global south. How can we enjoy a “safe” liberal democracy at home while our tax dollars bomb hospitals, subvert elections, install dictators? You do know how Iran got to become the theocracy it is today, right?

You must analyze materially, not morally. Why is the US defending Ukraine? To “defend democracy”? No, to weaken a rival imperial power and secure energy corridors. Why is China trading with Iran? To secure oil for Chinese industry. The conflicts on the global stage run on capitalist, inter-imperialist incentives. Ranking genocides to show how the US is actually not that much worse, is immaterial.

The “genocides” you list, while I will not deny outright and are certainly concerning, have many red flags and leave questions unanswered, mainly due to how vague and biased much of the research is (Adrian Zenz is quite the character). But whether US interests are exaggerating these reports or not, there is plenty to criticize China for, using a state-capitalist structure to suppress labor and rely on growth and extraction, as well as their expansionist, bourgeois nationalism in Taiwan. Same goes for every capitalist state, like Russia and the incentives of their oligarchic class to defend against NATO encirclement and secure Black Sea trade routes. But these critiques are independent from US propaganda, and does not make Russian invasion or Chinese oppression more commendable. And again, much of these criticisms of other states can be similarly made right back at the US, and arguably amplified, given the global scale of US military and financial hegemony.

Your immediate whataboutism pivot to other “genocides” makes me wonder, how recent did you acknowledge the Palestinian genocide?

Out of curiosity, what’s ur take on the US and Israel? Is the US funding and aiding a genocide?

Sure, if the USA as the global terrorizer police and hegemon wasn’t a giant elephant in the room. That is the point u are choosing to ignore.

Symfonium really is so good, solved a bunch of headaches I was having

Nonfiction:

First pass: Slow, deliberate, digest each word. A simple annotation system. ! for passages that are thought provoking. Arrow for major details and connections to other details. ? for… Take a guess.

Immediately after the chapter/section: jot down what u recall (thesis, conclusion, details, dates, names). Summarize. ~10 minutes

Day or two later: Flip thru your annotations, look thru your notes. Fill in the gaps.

Repeat if desired! Our neural pathways must be well-trodden, but it can be optimized! Open to revisions 😤

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Imo, mandatory reading. Incredibly informative, enraging, and educational. Very “readable.”

Oh my bad, swag!! I’m diving head first now, and have been reading a bit about BSD? I’ve heard cool things but also some… weird(?) things too, do u know anything about that?

Make the plunge my friend, u could dual lot TWO Linuxi instead ;)

Idk, it’s kinda always going to be propaganda when there is financing involved, no? Not all propaganda is bad, it’s the interests behind it and how that financing is structured, like if it is a grassroots donation based media outlet (Democracy Now!). Correct me if I’m oversimplifying, but in the ideal sense, a PSA by the state for folks to wash their hands with soap is “good propaganda.” When the state is not a tool of the proletariat, when the state tells its citizens to be wary of their own vaccines (that had to pass their own regulations), or when the state spreads the notion that another state is committing genocide (to distract away from the genocides that our state commits/is implicit in), then it’s the bad kind of propaganda. In that sense, I think it would be good to have more anticapitalist propaganda! More art, music, documentaries, etc. Call it PSA if that sounds better lol

Privacy isn’t keeping everything about your life secret from everybody. Its about having control over who in your life gets to know what. Its the pretext for honest communication. Extreme surveillance will lead to people self-censoring themselves to please the fascist state.

Competition?? Under capitalism?? Disgusting!!!

From what I read thru some of the devs posts and drama on Lemmygrad, hexbear, etc, it’s complicated. Like, not super important for 99% of ppl to care about. My takeaway at the end was, yes the devs and the mission for Lemmy (and federation in general) is an inherently anticapitalist, or at least anti-monopoly, venture. Many first adopters were infosec/IT folks, ppl who could help build and give feedback, ofc, and were also ideologically aligned/adjacent. Basically, devs said that for this platform to have a chance at growing and being an alternative to privately controlled platforms, it can’t just be a politics debate playground; they wanted, needed, liberals to join and make their own instances, and help it grow. Which is happening and good!

I suppose this is a PSA as to who is building the true (imo) private* free speech digital platforms. It’s not liberals.

🫪 I am in enemy territory /s

Yes they (we) can be annoying, no lie there.

But are folks aware of who is building Lemmy? Like, who the devs are, their goals, etc.?

I think the main obstacle is finding the energy to do this. All of the energy that is accessible to us on Earth comes from the Sun, in one way or another (deep sea critters notwithstanding). If this robot can die, which it would have to for this to be indefinite, then it’s possible (eventually it would run out of iron, technically) if it could recycle old parts.

Ofc, a fossil fueled process is not indefinite, it would have to use a combination of clean energy to get through all the unique challenges of each method.

Honestly, this is kind of a first principles thermodynamics problem that applies to humanity in a similar way, one we are not answering with sustainability in mind… No way around the Laws of Thermo!

Right, I’m not saying she somehow was working behind the scenes to provoke an attack, just that at a time when she was being pressured by people like Milton Friedman to privatize-max, she couldn’t just make British taxpayers buckle down for austerity for seemingly no reason. The war then became a “good” reason to justify people contributing to the war effort. At least that’s my understanding from Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/01/us-feared-falklands-war-documents?intcmp=122http

You do know the only reason Lemmy exists for you to freely speak on, is because of explicitly anticapitalist devs toiling to combat the gross shit for-profit digital platforms are doing? Just making sure.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/01/us-feared-falklands-war-documents?intcmp=122http

Above and beyond to prevent war is a misleading simplification…

“I’m not gonna engage in the theater”

Proceeds to make it more and more theatrical with every word

^^