It's ok to be angry about capitalism

[Agema]

What strikes me is the difference in how they dealt with dissidents. I'm sure the Tsars were not all puppies and rainbows(Lenin's brother was executed for instance) but exile to Siberia seems to have been a common punishment. Not fun at all, but remarkably lenient compared to the Soviets torturing people to death in Gulags, or whatever Beria was up to.

I'm not sure Stalin and Beria were much different to psychopathic, oppressive, out-of-control tsars or nobles. It's not like you have to look that hard for equivalents in tsarist times who committed atrocities - just they generally had less technologically advanced tools and systems.

The USSR was potentially better for non-Russians. After all, the Russian Empire was an imperial project for the benefit of Russians, who exploited the areas they conquered whether Ukraine, Caucasus or Siberia as brutally as any empire did its subjects. The USSR at least viewed non-Russians as full and equal citizens in a joint project.

 

[Silvanus]

that would have been very painful to the people of Ukraine

And you care very much about what's painful to the people of Ukraine, don't you? That's why you offer apologia for the targeted destruction of their civilian energy infrastructure every winter, or the mass kidnapping of their children.

We've got post-historical genocides going on.

Indeed--- several with the active participation of the neo-Nazi mercenary companies on Russia's payroll!

 

[Seanchaidh]

And you care very much about what's painful to the people of Ukraine, don't you? That's why you offer apologia for the targeted destruction of their civilian energy infrastructure every winter, or the mass kidnapping of their children.

More than you; I want to see an enduring settlement that respects the dignity and fundamental security of everyone involved, which means no more trying to use Ukraine as a bulwark for US/UK imperial ambitions to threaten other countries; you want Ukraine to conquer Crimea and the Donbass at any cost in Slavic blood over the objections of the people who live and lived there. I don't think I've said anything about those other topics other than that disabling the power grid is something that the United States has done routinely (and for example in Iraq far more thoroughly) in its wars over the past decades and that it'd be wise to take claims of kidnapping (as opposed to evacuation from a war zone) with a grain of salt; there's a war on and the mainstream media and political establishment is very much on one side of it, so expect there to be lies and half-truths aplenty for the purpose of vilification and dehumanization. There is no particular indication that Operation Mockingbird ever stopped, so sources foreign to the US and its servile 'allies' may be compromised as well.

 

[Hades]

More than you; I want to see an enduring settlement that respects the dignity and fundamental security of everyone involved, which means no more trying to use Ukraine as a bulwark for US/UK imperial ambitions to threaten other countries; you want Ukraine to conquer Crimea and the Donbass at any cost in Slavic blood over the objections of the people who live and lived there

Ok. But all that requires a peace on Ukraine's terms which you seem not to want. For the peace to be enduring Ukraine must either be in NATO or thoroughly intertwined with the west. Otherwise Russia will just dominate them politically before just invading again a few years later. After all NATO wasn't the issue, but Russia's hunger for land and imperial status.

And that's only about making a new war impractical. To truly make it lasting Russia must disarm and be denazified from top to bottom. A new war is inevitable as long as Russia is fanatically trying to reclaim its ''imperial glory'' over the objections of all the neighbors they need to bloodily invade to get that ''glory'' back.

So far all your suggestions seem to completely ignore the dignify and fundamental security of Ukraine.

 

[Silvanus]

More than you; I want to see an enduring settlement that respects the dignity and fundamental security of everyone involved, which means no more trying to use Ukraine as a bulwark for US/UK imperial ambitions to threaten other countries

"Dignity and security!" What a fucking joke. Russia wants it conquered, a fifth of its land seized, regime change, its people ethnically cleansed, operating as an outpost of Russian interests and unable to determine its own international memberships or trade. They bombard its civilian infrastructure every winter, endlessly target their hospitals and generators, in the hope that the death and devastation will force capitulation. "Dignity and security", don't make me vomit. They want them either dead or under heel.

; you want Ukraine to conquer Crimea and the Donbass at any cost in Slavic blood over the objections of the people who live and lived there.

The only power here that has conquered Donbas and Crimea by force is Russia, and it is Russia that continues to massacre the populations there. And they have literally never expressed interest in being annexed into Russia; the last and only time they voted, they voted for independence from Russia.

 

[BrawlMan]

Fuck Rockstar.

​

 

[Agema]

Two interesting articles about poverty in modern America.

tl;dr that changes in how much stuff costs, and changing requirements of what essentials are as society has moved on have left official poverty measures hopelessly outdated. In essence, that the poverty line is far, far below where it should be to represent an equivalence with poverty in the 1960s. And thus why so many Americans feel poor.

Part 1: My Life Is a Lie - by Michael W. Green
It Works, If You Work It.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Two interesting articles about poverty in modern America.

tl;dr that changes in how much stuff costs, and changing requirements of what essentials are as society has moved on have left official poverty measures hopelessly outdated. In essence, that the poverty line is far, far below where it should be to represent an equivalence with poverty in the 1960s. And thus why so many Americans feel poor.

Part 1: My Life Is a Lie - by Michael W. Green
It Works, If You Work It.

Those numbers don't make sense. I literally just did my benefits for the year and it's $42 every 2 weeks for health insurance (I do put another $42 into the HSA but I don't have to) so if you do the math on that for the year, I'm paying $1,008/year, not $14k. Even if the guy is calculating what the employer pays for your healthcare (which is $300 every 2 weeks for me), that only comes to over half of his calculation. Also, outside of major cities, houses don't cost on average $450K. The reason why it costs so much to live in a major city is because they usually have ridiculous zoning and regulations that makes building nearly impossible (that wasn't present in the 1950s and that's what he's comparing it to) so the reason for the higher prices is demand completely outstrips supply. And for college, there's no reason not to start out by going to a cheap community college for 2 years (or more to figure out what you want to do because you probably don't know at 18), then transfer to a 4-year school and only pay essentially half the overpriced cost of those schools.

People are generally really really really bad with money, that's probably the biggest issue. Here's a very simple example, according to JD Power, the average cell phone bill $141/month. How?!?! I have T-Mobile and I have the plan that's $15/month. I pay $180/year for phone service and the average person pays $1,680/year...

https://www.t-mobile.com/dialed-in/wireless/average-phone-bill-per-month

 

[BrawlMan]

South Park on Saudi Money
​

 

[BrawlMan]

Campbell's sucks.
​

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

Let's fuck over more countries for oil! Let's fuck over their sovereignty! Let's export more war to their kids! Let's keep killing for the markets ain't free if you wanna hoard the spoils on this hierarchy!

Hi. Are we at war with Venezuela yet? Because from our vantage point (several weeks ago) it sure looks like the Trump administration wants to do a war. Let's look at those "drug boats," the administration's lack of any legal justification for attacking them, and why inflicting violence abroad is a harbinger of violence to come at home.


Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
0:50 - Why are we doing this?
16:35 - Little Marco’s Big Oil War
22:53 - Hegseth and Trump Love Ruining The Millitary
37:14 - The Boomerang Effect
43:02 - What Happens If Trump Goes To War

That pro American opposition lady has a truly unsettling psycho joker like face in her chat with cocaine junior. I need some second opinion validation on this cos I feel crazy already seeing her always be this way, ignored far right rants and praising of trumps war crime murders of fisherman while the Nobel fucking peace prize is handed to her as if it's an anti-democracy coup hall pass wtf we just doing this out in the open and the press refuses to give a fuck outside of occasional aesthetics hashing their buzz?

 

[BrawlMan]

​

 

[Gergar12]

​

No, that's an oversimplification. Everyone needs to make money. It's the only way to not get crushed by the system. I don't agree with wealth hoarders, but the idea that greed is the problem is weird. It's the baseline; if you aren't greedy in a country like America, you will get stepped on. Do I like using TikTok to get job hunting tactics or research something to then google no. But I have to do those things. There's a median amount of greed; also, if you don't want greed, we need a social evolution. Some people are greedy due to being nepo babies, but many people due it out of trauma, and greed doesn't always come in the form of money; it can sometimes manifest in accomplishments.

Jonny Kim - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This guy is likely the closest thing to a role model/mentor/someone I wish to be, but his father was abusive to him, and so he accomplished a lot due to this. Just replace Jonny Kim with billionaires like Trump was ostracized by NYC elites for being a landlord(somewhat), or Carlson, who was rejected by the CIA, and had his show shut down on CNN. Granted, I think both of them are dangerously unfit, but they don't come from a vacuum. Also, telling an many immigrants in the US who likely got picked on in school, and made fun of for being different,t not to be greedy is bad advice, in this economy, being greedy is even more important than ever.

 

[BrawlMan]

It's the baseline; if you aren't greedy in a country like America, you will get stepped on

And that mentality is why things are so fucked up in the first place. Greed may not always be bad, but unchecked and unnecessary greed fucks everyone over, aside from those at the top most of the time. Plenty of countries proved you don't have to step on people just to make your cash. All you're doing is preaching the bullshit shit heads execs with too much power shoved down people's throats.

 

[Gergar12]

And that mentality is why things are so fucked up in the first place. Greed may not always be bad, but unchecked and unnecessary greed fucks everyone over, aside from those at the top most of the time. Plenty of countries proved you don't have to step on people just to make your cash. All you're doing is preaching the bullshit shit heads execs with too much power shoved down people's throats.

The social democrat or democratic socialists* revolution isn't coming. In the US, we will be lucky to get our student loans forgiven, let alone get a public option, let alone get universal single payer healthcare, and free college.

The dynamism of the US and the geopolitical protection that comes with it come with a price. Freedom isn't free.

 

[BrawlMan]

Whatever you say; don't care, and you're clearly not the expert you think you always are.

 

[Thaluikhain]

The dynamism of the US and the geopolitical protection that comes with it come with a price. Freedom isn't free.

What, extreme wealth disparity is necessary for international success? The US isn't as dominant as it once was, and wealth disparity has only gotten worse.

 

[Gergar12]

What, extreme wealth disparity is necessary for international success? The US isn't as dominant as it once was, and wealth disparity has only gotten worse.

No but greed is.

Edit: If you know your history every successful hegemony based empire that’s has been number one has been ruthlessly greedy. The British were greedy, The Germans were greedy, the Spanish were greedy, the French empire was greedy, the Roman’s were greedy, Han China was greedy. And there’s been lots of wealth disparity in all of them, you may as well try to change human DNA. After we hunted animals to when we farmed we have all been greedy.

 

[Gergar12]

Whatever you say; don't care, and you're clearly not the expert you think you always are.

Not an argument.

 

[Agema]

No but greed is.

Greed isn't necessarily the right word.

They competed: they sought their best interest, in many cases at the expense of others. The truth out there is that the world is full of competition. At a national level, a country may need to compete just because other countries will, and the consequences of being outcompeted could be anywhere up to being conquered.

But greed isn't the same as competition or success. It can even be the enemy of success.