General Discussion Thread - Juche 112, Week 50
General Discussion Thread - Juche 112, Week 50
Welcome again to everybody! Make yourself at home. Happy Hanukkah. In the time-honoured tradition of our cult, here is our weekly discussion thread.
● Matrix homeserver and space
● Theory discussion group on Matrix
● Find theory on ProleWiki, marxists.org, Anna's Archive and libgen
I work at a Union and I STILL feel hesitant to call in sick lol what an amazing system we live in
Which, of course, is not a problem at all. But after years of working in a sigma grindset environment you have to rewire your brain a bit.
I hope you all have a nice week :D
The same phone brand both @Aru@lemmygrad.ml and I am currently using lol
, I think grain eater is making a joke about @Oppo@lemmygrad.ml I have a pink case on it
Indeed
Whos a good dog
I got a cold I think, which sucks.
Also, I'm getting increasingly done with the football (soccer) world in The Netherlands. One of the players of the women national team said she'd love to be a manager in men football and some talking heads are saying that it would be ridiculous to have a female coach at a male team. Like, Sarina Wiegman won two European Championships and two second places are the World Cup. Surely she can be a better manager than many male trainers. The football world is sick.
Sorry that I gave you my cold.
Idyllic
Vịnh Hạ Long?
I didn't realize that lemmy.world had actually reached the point of being worse than reddit ever was.
at least there are a few Marxist subreddits left, there doesn't seem to be anything like that on lemmy.world and similar instances
How? Just how is that even possible
It's gone full Blueanoning, Russiagating, Biden Worshiping mad
Liberals, not even once. All the fascism of "honest" right wing conservatives, with even less self-awareness and rampant messiah complexes, so there's not even the hope of them toning their behavior down nowadays.
I used to agree with the whole "if fascism comes to America, it'll be wrapped in a flag and holding the bible" bit- and it still holds halfway true- but honestly? Nowadays it seems just as possible if not more so that it'll be wrapped in a rainbow flag (nothing wrong with that, I'm trans- but it's just tokenism if anything, rainbow-washing) with a slew of token POC figureheads, and crying out its need to defend against fascism... the "more POC/trans/disabled/women drone pilots" meme is in full effect nowadays with the "centrist"-fascists.
I can't believe i didn't know this before.
If you are cooking scrambled eggs, you must add either butter/cream/yoghurt when you are beating them or it will end up dry af. With greek yoghurt it tastes great, creamy texture and its even higher on protein.
For example 3 eggs and a spoon of yoghurt.
Milk also works. Adding yoghurt is a nice idea though, I should try that some time.
I didn't know that either. I've never made scrambled eggs and only very rarely had them.
yea, i always avoided them because plain scrambled eggs fucking suck. With this minor adjustment it's much better and higher protein.
I got a dope as hell tattoo of a very cool and sweet Chilean riot dog a couple days ago! It's my first tattoo and it is very itchy. I am very paranoid about taking care of it right now, I can't wait for this phase to pass. :)
Negro Matapacos?
Yes! The tattoo is loosely based off this art.
Don't worry it will pass and eventually you will lose the nervous 'but what if I touch it/hit it/scratch it' phase as well
I have no time for my research project.
I want to define exactly to what extent the state is present in America. If the state is defined as the only legal perpetrators of violence, and gun ownership is prevalent to such an extent in the US, then what does that say about gun owners?
Similarly, why is a larger percentage of white men more likely to own guns compared to non-white men?
Like, we know the answer from theory, but what are the laws and regulations that led to this result? Who had put these laws into practice? How does this criminalization used to segregate the populace and enforce privilege?
The civilian gun owners aren't part of the state; civilians can exert violence in many ways, not just guns, but it's not legal outside of special circumstances (even if the law isn't applied equally in practice). As for why more white men own guns, using black men as an example, one reason is that they've been unable to access guns until relatively recently and even when they could legally acquire them, it was either very difficult in practice or caused them to be targeted by the state (especially in revolutionary groups like the Black Panthers)
In general, I would agree with you, but I think it’s a special case in the US. I would argue that with the way that gun ownership exists in the US, that civilian gun ownership is part of the state, as much as propaganda is a part of the state. As in an oligarchy, it would make sense that the government wouldn’t comprise of the entirety of the state.
There is a reason that gun ownership is mainly attributed to reactionary elements. This is intentional, resulting from the propagation and polarization of gun culture across party lines, and the subsequent rejection of gun culture and gun ownership by the opposing party. This results in the means for violence being concentrated in the most reactionary elements of society.
The state, through propaganda and law, has essentially set up this reserve militia as a reserve bulwark against progress. We have seen that it’s these reactionary forces that are the most willing and most able to use violence.
It’s not just gun ownership, but rather reactionary adventurism in general that’s not only encouraged but funded and protected by the state. (Like with the libs of TikTok bomb threats) I would go so far as to say this parallels what we saw in Italy before WWII, and the start of an official fascist regime.
But of course, this is just a framework for my research, and a lot of these claims are something I would still need to prove or deny. But this is a trend that I’ve been noticing recently.
Interesting topic.
If the state is defined as the only legal perpetrators of violence…
Is that the right definition? It could be a good place to start. You might want to look up John Austin. This article may be useful: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/legal-positivism/ If Austin is useful, you might want to check exactly how he reflected Bentham and then see if Marx said anything about that part of Bentham. Marx wasn't generally kind to him lol.
If you find this legal view of the state and keep reading you may come across Kelsen. If so, or if you're otherwise interested, have a look at Max Adler, The Marxist Conception of the State: A Contribution to the Differentiation of the Sociological and the Juristic Method. It's an old text but may be useful.
Otherwise, is the state the 'only legal [perpetrator] of violence' or does it have a monopoly on violence? Is there a difference?
I've yet to read it but Ralph Miliband's The State in Capitalist Society could be useful, too.
If you are going down a legal path, Pashukanis and Renner may be essential reading. Even anti-communists treat them seriously. I'm unsure if he's an anti-communist, but Fuller's Morality of Law relies on Pashukanis. Fuller was involved in one of a few great debates in jurisprudence in the twentieth century. His was the Hart-Fuller debate. Hart being the arch-positivist. You'll see him mentioned in the Austin article cited above, along with Kelsen (Pashukanis gets a line about some Marxists rejecting positivism).
(For those who are just passing by, legal positivism is basically the idea that there is a difference between what law is and what law ought to be. I.e. law doesn't necessarily tell you what is moral and law doesn't necessarily have to be moral.)
this guy is head of research at openai. also the head is making tweets criticising american left for not supporting israel
ah yes, a 10 story mansion
IDF-supporting nazis must not know what buildings look like, there's no way you can look at that and think that those buildings used to be "palaces"
🤣
I tried playing "Last Train Home". I couldn't, it was too stupid for me. It got me interested in the [Russian] civil war though, anybody got anything good to read?
Lol yeah, I dropped that game after the first mission. The rest of it didn't seem interesting either.
I should actually just work on my epubs instead of wasting time with games.
Apparently Fujimori got released today lol
This is why we should execute fascists when we have the chance.
How many pricks do you think she had to suck off for that to happen? That fascist interloper.
There's been a video posted by Shariy (Ukrainian liberal journalist, currently in opposition to Zelensky) with a deputy in Zakarpatye tossing live grenades into a government session. Anyone has more info on this?
Just typed a post complaining about personal life, but then I clicked the wrong button and now the post is gone. No energy to type again. I don't feel well and I really need more sleep. Much work tomorrow. I wish students were allowed to take days off. Impatiently counting time towards the winter holidays cuz I really need a break.
At least I am enjoying this song by the Moranbong Band. Very beautiful singing and lyrics. (The video that I linked has subtitles in several languages.)
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
About one hour ago I finished reading an article titled ‘Is it ‘anti-Semitic’ to acknowledge that Arabs are Semites too?’. It mostly quibbles over how misleading terms like ‘antisemitism’ are, but it gave me some food for thought on something that the author had the opportunity to address but managed to miss.
Anti‐Arab and anti‐Jewish sentiments overlap in numerous ways. There are not only some similar stereotypes—that they’re unfair merchants interested in world domination—but fervent Judeophobes also tend to hate Arabs, often seeing them (and other races) as ‘pawns’ in Jewish plans. Admittedly, it is unlikely that anybody would mistake Ashkenazim for Arabs, but it is very tempting to think of anti‐Arab racism as not only an Arab but also a Jewish concern, because often such attackers are just as willing to target Jews as well; Judeophobia is not far off.
I am planning to read The Arab and Jewish questions: geographies of engagement in Palestine and beyond, because I have a feeling that I may be onto something here, but presently it sounds like I’m grasping at straws. I have a lot to think about; maybe these two prejudices are more closely related than they look.
I potential found a(nother) book to work on, "Russian Justice" (Mary Callcott).
Ever since last year, the buses around here have all had their LED signs (the ones showing the number and route) cycle between the actual info and "STAND WITH UKRAINE" every few seconds constantly, they're still doing that
Yep, this is Klanada alright lol [insert Hexbear's "canada flag burning emoji" here]
That sucks- not seen that bad where I live, but instead I get to walk by "stand with Ukraine," "close the sky" and "at what cost NATO" signs every time on my way home... they're also the most inauthentic, probably/definitely astroturfed signs at that, like I think it was meant to look like stencil graffiti art, but they did it on wooden boards that have been secured onto this one building, like as if whoever it was that doing it was (a) definitely the buildings' owner and (b) wanted the signs, but didn't want it to look "ghetto" or have to be washed off the building after the fact
I want to gouge my eyes out every time i have to interact with a whitexican girl 😩
I tried making a new... I'm not sure what to call it, but its the first page that shows up on my EPUB. Thoughts? Ways it can become better?
I also made individual pages for the books on the website: https://comlib.encryptionin.space/epubs/this-soviet-world/
They are kinda hidden, since nothing links to them currently, but they exist.
I've watched too many slander memes and now the normal version of industry baby is too slow to listen to
test
Edit: I was testing to see what happened if you deleted a comment by accident (the delete button is now very close to the edit button and I'm clumsy) and it's easy enough to 'undelete' the post.
test confirmed
perfect :D
Stomach has been upset af for nearly a week now, was hoping it was just something I ate but at this point I’m annoyed it hasnt gone back to normal. Could be stress and too much caffeine maybe, hopefully if I take it nice and easy this weekend I can avoid having to actually figure out whats wrong
Just finished finals, will have to wait to see how I did but I'm pretty proud of how it went.
Permanently Deleted
This is gonna sound ridiculous but idc
So I am a bisexual male who is more attracted to women in general. As any communist should, I recognized how reactionary male heterosexuality, especially in a patriarchal society is. But I didnt know shit as a kid so back then I would get off to whatever porn and I really think that screwed up my brain and made it a daily compulsion. Now thankfully I never got into anything extremely fucked up, just "vanilla" by societal standards(in a society that is heavily misogynistic). How do you cure this? Like it genuinely scares me even though I am now able to recognize it all as removed, I lose that ability when I masturbate. So that means theres a possibility those disgusting desires can overpower my rationality at certain times and cause me to harm other people. That hasnt occured yet fortunately, but what if it does? I really want to completely kill it, not just suppress it.
This is either a bit, or you're suffering from mental illness. Please talk to other queer people in real life before making up wild proclamations about the essential moral character of sexuality, but don't do that before talking to a therapist and working out your personal issues. Your self-hatred isn't politics.
and surely there is a way, I dont believe the sexuality is not a choice shit, if I wasnt a communist theres no way I would have sex with a man. So there is surely some other way to get rid of heterosexuality?
You don't believe that sexuality isn't a choice, meaning you believe that it is a choice? It's definitely not. And there's no reason a communist can't be heterosexual; that just means that you haven't been -- or at least aren't aware of ever having been -- attracted to someone of your gender (yet; you can't be sure that it'll never happen or that it hasn't happened without your knowledge)
