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Dying at the Black Panthers, principled Marxist-Leninist Maoists, being portrayed as "democratic socialists who wanted a government like Canada's." Let's check the tapes.
I mean, I guess it's better than being called terrorists...
Not the first time I've read that Davis quote, and I still love it. Really inspiring.
User banned (1 month): misrepresenting prior bans, conspiracy theories
Glad to be back after somehow dismissing the claims of a Cuban protest movement that has now been shown to be an outright social media operation.
I think I'm not gonna be posting much here anymore. Been, "banned," one too many times for defending homeless people, class consciousness over identity politics (like the PKI and Panthers), and now actual revolutionary Cubans. It's a joke.
I think I'm not gonna be posting much here anymore. Been, "banned," one too many times for defending homeless people, class consciousness over identity politics (like the PKI and Panthers), and now actual revolutionary Cubans. It's a joke.
User Banned (2 weeks): conspiracy theories
Yeah the Cuban protest movement as an organic "revolution" didn't hold up very long, seems to have been largely manufactured by the US government and media. I hope for the best for the Cuban people and whatever kind of state they determine is the best fit for them in the future. But, as someone who has decades of experience living in one, I would not recommend "capitalist oligarchy".
Sadly the reflex of a lot of people, mods included, is to accept the starting narrative that gets press as ground truth, or as close to it as can be reasonably expected at the time of printing, and well... knees start jerking when one goes against that grain. Which isn't to say we shouldn't, but I hear you that it gets really old, especially when most of that "most contingent" seemingly take few lessons from the literal or proverbial retractions that follow the "oops, turns out this was not accurate, didn't mean to spread propaganda in our newspaper!".
I've been feeling nostalgic for Call of Duty-style FPS campaigns, which I haven't played much of since MW3 (only exception being Infinite Warfare which was absolutely the best CoD campaign ever made), so I got a free trial with Gamefly so I could play some of the newer campaigns (MW2019 and BOCW) and, I know they've always been pro-America Imperialist propaganda, but sometimes I miss the ignorance of my youth because I can barely stomach the game's stories this time. From 2019 trying to whitewash the "Highway of Death" as if it wasn't entirely based on a war crime the US committed, or one of the main characters raging against having their "hands tied" (lol), to BOCW basically idolizing Reagan (although I've heard you can side against the US by the end, so 🤷♂️), it's getting pretty hard to reconcile my ideology today with the story beats of the modern military shooter. Just finished the 2nd mission in BOCW where we're back in Vietnam shooting Vietnamese by the dozens and I just felt sick the whole time.
It's hard to be a fan of military shooters and a socialist I guess.
It's hard to be a fan of military shooters and a socialist I guess.
I haven't played it, but the that black ops game had Yuri fucking Bezmenov doing voice overs on the trailer.
I don't know if people here know who he is, but here are some highlights -
"Instead of thinking they are stinking".
Right wing humor and wit is universal, it transcends geography and history, from Mike Huckabee to the streets of Moscow.
About that, I have been out of the loop for a while since I was banned as well for standing up against people talking shit about the socialist ideology in the Cuban protest thread that they had absolutely no bloody idea about, what has happened since? The news about the Cuban protests seemed to have fizzled out.
Lol, damn, it's worse than I thought.I haven't played it, but the that black ops game had Yuri fucking Bezmenov doing voice overs on the trailer.
I don't know if people here know who he is, but here are some highlights -
"Instead of thinking they are stinking".
Right wing humor and wit is universal, it transcends geography and history, from Mike Huckabee to the streets of Moscow.
Only the finest, most upstanding defectors here.I haven't played it, but the that black ops game had Yuri fucking Bezmenov doing voice overs on the trailer.
I don't know if people here know who he is, but here are some highlights -
"Instead of thinking they are stinking".
Right wing humor and wit is universal, it transcends geography and history, from Mike Huckabee to the streets of Moscow.
The SOSCuba hashtag was started by a bot account in Spain.
The Cuba Protests REVEAL Social Media Manipulation in Latin America
Social media bot campaigns are all the rage across LATAM. SOSCuba save us now!Follow my Twitch: https://twitch.tv/BadEmpanadaSupport me on Patreon: https://p...
youtu.be
Probably should let the people know in that Cuba protest thread who was SO sure that this was the "will of the people".The SOSCuba hashtag was started by a bot account in Spain.
The Cuba Protests REVEAL Social Media Manipulation in Latin America
Social media bot campaigns are all the rage across LATAM. SOSCuba save us now!Follow my Twitch: https://twitch.tv/BadEmpanadaSupport me on Patreon: https://p...
It was a really interesting thread. Lots of posters crying, "whataboutism," when people pointed out that Cuba's so called authoritarianism never came close to the US'.
A lot of pinkwashing too. The Night of the Three P's was brought up without the context that the raids were actually counter revolutionary/anti-gangsterismo raids. Counter revolutionaries and organized crime regularly worked together with the CIA to terrorize revolutionary Cuba following 1959. The raids were an attempt to reign in external imperial pressure through these avenues. The posters also forgot to mention that trans people have the ability to receive HRT and top/bottom surgery without any difficulties. That doesn't exist in the US.
Also an interesting revelation that ERA has slowly become anti-intellectual when saying that you read socialist theory is "lol worthy" or "I studied the ways of the blade energy". Suddenly I guess political science is just for nerds.
One of the reasons socialism appeals to me IS because it has a lot of theoretical and philosophical ground behind it. Many people are liberal, right wing or likewise all because they looked out the window and said "the society works for me and I have an iPhone so therefore this MUST work long term". They have no long term thinking, they have no theoretical or critical thinking of their capitalist lifestyle. They just accept "it works" with no basis. Socialism at least examines the societal system and culture, drawing conclusions of how it affects people's lives, what it costs and what it will lead towards.
The behaviour in that thread frankly was just fucking embarrassing.
Yeah it's been eye opening. I've been doing a lot of reading about the Indonesian Communist Party (the PKI) and their successes in ignoring identity politics full stop. Instead the PKI focused on meeting people where they were. They made it clear they wouldn't sacrifice their ideology or belief in equality for all people (including LGBTQ), but they wouldn't shame others into adapting the PKI's beliefs. They just helped people and hoped they would vote for them later. In fact the PKI had their own grocery stores, trade schools, comedy shows, dance parties, language schools, etc. Prior to Sukarno's switch to Guided Democracy, the PKI was the most popular party in Indonesia.
The PKI's strategy showed that one of the better ways of gaining popularity among voters is to focus most of their political energy on helping people and very little energy on electoralism. I think a similar strategy could work here, because it bypasses the defense mechanisms of normal people. They don't want to hear another sales pitch on why they're wrong or why they should feel bad. They just want help, and if someone can help them, they generally don't care if that person/party is an anarchist or a communist.
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"Whataboutism" is a dumb term popularized by a dumb Tory for dumb reasons, not sure who got liberals to love it so much (was it Rachel Maddow? I'm gonna blame Rachel Maddow, never trust a person with a who applied to a Rhodes scholarship, let alone someone who got it) but it's main and probably only function in modern discourse is to scream it at everyone who point out American exceptionalism on any level.
It's also sounds amazingly stupid, like some made up word a kid will come up with. But that's the famous conservative wit for you.
Whataboutism is a dumb, but extremely powerful phrase. It allows people to completely dismiss arguments made by anti-imperialists as nothing more than distractions from real arguments (like the need for regime change or how authoritarian a supposed regime is).
Calling anti-imperialism, "Whataboutism," allows conservatives and liberals to completely ignore context based arguments and simply focus on fake black or white issues. You're not allowed to discuss the imperial context as to why there is supposed authoritarianism or actual poverty. There can only be one framing of discussion and that is through a western imperialist lens.
Calling anti-imperialism, "Whataboutism," allows conservatives and liberals to completely ignore context based arguments and simply focus on fake black or white issues. You're not allowed to discuss the imperial context as to why there is supposed authoritarianism or actual poverty. There can only be one framing of discussion and that is through a western imperialist lens.
It's not even that it's powerful phrase on its own, it's just that the media persuaded people here that it's a Logical Fallacy, which as we all know, is a terrible crime against the sacred rules of Debate Club. And listen, once you violated Debate Club Rules your opinions are null and void and you should not be allowed to speak.
It's funny how recent that shit is too.
It's funny how recent that shit is too.
I guess it found a resurgence in 2016 with Russiagate. I definitely used it a shit ton whenever someone questioned the credibility of the US intel community.
"The Iraq War was an aberration, the US intel community is trying to save democracy and you're just spreading whataboutism. The real argument here is whether Trump is an agent of a foreign power."
It's a simple and liberally credible way of ignoring critiques of reformed neoconservatism/third way liberalism.
"The Iraq War was an aberration, the US intel community is trying to save democracy and you're just spreading whataboutism. The real argument here is whether Trump is an agent of a foreign power."
It's a simple and liberally credible way of ignoring critiques of reformed neoconservatism/third way liberalism.
It looks like people are tired of eating bans and thread activity has slowed to a crawl.
Yeah, not trying to have a visit from "a moderator".
jumpin on to ask for this as well; lurk and follow the thread but rarely post, do enjoy following the discussions tho!
I know I'm not exactly a regular poster in this thread, but I do read it and try to keep up with the existing discussion. In the end, I think this forum is just not a friendly place for leftist thought and/or discussion. I find myself really trying to avoid political discussion at all, because I know there are people ready and waiting to pounce on that "report" button. For such an ostensibly "progressive" site, Era is very devoted to defending the machinery of liberal capitalism. It's unfortunate, but I just look for other places to discuss issues with fellow leftists.
Ultimately this site is liberal to its core, both in terms of political discussion and the discussion regarding video games. As I've said before, it's inconsistent which types of state violence and violence towards the state are deemed acceptable to discuss and encourage, and there are plenty of bad faith posters and barely-hidden reactionaries waiting to pounce on any discussion adjacent to socialism. I have no interest in being redbaited so I just decide to only discuss things I feel comfortable with.
If there's a discord link, I'd be interested - thank you 🙂
I'm a dirty Socialism OT lurker and I noticed the two recent bans in this thread (from another thread that I chased up to here, classic).
It's definitely less and less worth the effort to have any sort of position on this forum, better to just let the broadly liberal centrists run with the ball if you don't have the patience / whatever you need to engage. I started on gaf with the gaming side but got fed up with it and migrated almost entirely to OT. Now I'm leaning back into gaming where I still find many viewpoints annoying but less maddening lol. Probably because I have more personal experience with the industry, so I have a more firm understanding of how things "actually work" vs. my only relatively recent (last 5-6 years) "radicalization" 😬
I still like browsing the site, but I appreciate this thread and it's clear that it's not super welcome.
I'm a dirty Socialism OT lurker and I noticed the two recent bans in this thread (from another thread that I chased up to here, classic).
It's definitely less and less worth the effort to have any sort of position on this forum, better to just let the broadly liberal centrists run with the ball if you don't have the patience / whatever you need to engage. I started on gaf with the gaming side but got fed up with it and migrated almost entirely to OT. Now I'm leaning back into gaming where I still find many viewpoints annoying but less maddening lol. Probably because I have more personal experience with the industry, so I have a more firm understanding of how things "actually work" vs. my only relatively recent (last 5-6 years) "radicalization" 😬
I still like browsing the site, but I appreciate this thread and it's clear that it's not super welcome.
I'd like an invite to the Discord if possible too, I think I asked last year but never heard back but yeah this site isn't very fruitful for discussion which is why I've been coming here less and less and barely posting. This OT and all of you are pretty much the only reason I still come back lol
Not that I'm the most frequent poster here anyway, but by a certain point it becomes exhausting to engage. I was more active during the primaries last year and in hindsight, it was a big waste of time. That said, personally I like to still hang around Era and post when I can, but I can't blame all the leftist posters who got fed up and left.
My biggest problem is all the doomposting on Era. Anything bad that's happened since the spring is met with "humanity is fucked" and "nothing's gonna get better if we try". The reluctance to volunteer for even something as simple as a petition feels like an insult to the lawmakers trying to make things better. It's as if everyone forgot about success of last year's BLM AND being able to get Trump out of the WH.
And yes, I'd like a discord invite.
And yes, I'd like a discord invite.
What success last year? Cops are getting more funding than ever. Biden's foreign policy from Trump has barely changed, won't even entertain supporting a public option during a global pandemic, and rushed to re-open the country before getting an acceptable vaccination rate.
That isn't to say we shouldn't try to make things better - but I don't think the last year is exactly a great example of that.
It's easy to only see shit that happened last year. While it's important to acknowledge it and how to improve from there, we can't just brush aside the positives.
The BLM protests have radicalized millions towards the left. Media creators and even major businesses stood in solidarity. That's a VERY GOOD look for our reputation and we can further leverage that to recruit more to our cause.
America has a far better chance of improving now after Trump lost the WH AND the GOP lost majority in the House and Senate. If we didn't fight to GOTV, Trump and the GOP would have probably tripled the body count.
For the sake of those who are working to make things better and for our own mental health, we need to at least talk about our wins.
OP
OP
I actually don't totally agree with this. It can be useful agitprop.
I don't believe it did on the issue of policing. The vast majority of people still love the police. If the goal was defunding/abolition of police, it's far from being met. Even if we want say that the goal was major reformation, most people don't seem to be for that either.
I'm not sure media creators and major businesses made real changes.