In the United States, for over a hundred years, the ruling interests tirelessly propagated anticommunism among the populace, until it became more like a religious orthodoxy than a political analysis. During the Cold War, the anticommunist ideological framework could transform any data about existing communist societies into hostile evidence. If the Soviets refused to negotiate a point, they were intransigent and belligerent; if they appeared willing to make concessions, this was but a skillful ploy to put us off our guard. By opposing arms limitations, they would have demonstrated their aggressive intent; but when in fact they supported most armament treaties, it was because they were mendacious and manipulative. If the churches in the USSR were empty, this demonstrated that religion was suppressed; but if the churches were full, this meant the people were rejecting the regime’s atheistic ideology. If the workers went on strike (as happened on infrequent occasions), this was evidence of their alienation from the collectivist system; if they didn’t go on strike, this was because they were intimidated and lacked freedom. A scarcity of consumer goods demonstrated the failure of the economic system; an improvement in consumer supplies meant only that the leaders were attempting to placate a restive population and so maintain a firmer hold over them. If communists in the United States played an important role struggling for the rights of workers, the poor, African-Americans, women, and others, this was only their guileful way of gathering support among disfranchised groups and gaining power for themselves. How one gained power by fighting for the rights of powerless groups was never explained. What we are dealing with is a nonfalsifiable orthodoxy, so assiduously marketed by the ruling interests that it affected people across the entire political spectrum.
I remember when saying that centrism was “genociding half the group” was a joke/criticism, but somehow it got lathed and now every lib is just saying it unironically.
And if we’re very well-behaved, we might get lucky enough to hear Biden tell Netanyahu that he’s very disappointed in him before sending him another couple billion in unconditional military aid!
I’d definitely describe myself as a communist, but I do realize we never had a proper communist state on this planet, just authoritarian states that acted like communists to win over the workers. Capitalism needs to be regulated as fuck to create a fair society, so for now, I strive for socialism, because I understand going straight to communism probably won’t work.
Sorry if this was uncalled for, I just wanted to show there are sensible communists who don’t excuse Russia and China for the shit they’re pulling. But neither do I excuse the west for a lot of shit we are pulling.
Chauvanists like this will spell out China’s economic system and reasoning for taking the path they took, and then immediately denounce them for doing exactly what they claim to want. And while they might claim to criticize their own government, they will then turn around and feed you lines that come straight from the state department not-immune-to-propaganda
A Buddhist was saying to me that anything bad that happens to someone is deserved because they must have had bad karma as a result of having done something bad, either in this life or a previous incarnation. I don’t believe in any of this personally, but I think it would be helpful to understand the idea of karma a bit better,...
The first thing to note is that Buddhism is a broad term that contains a lot of different belief systems. It is also plagued by poor translations of terms that don’t translate well into English, especially without looking meanings of the original terms.
Imo, your friend has distorted and misrepresented Buddhist teachings in order to justify not changing their behavior regarding meat-eating.
I’d challenge the use of the term “deserved” altogether, and I’d say “caused” might be a more accurate interpretation. Karma is not about an intelligent, all-powerful being passing judgement and smacking you down. It’s sometimes referred to as “the law of cause and effect.” It’s described as a function of the universe, the same way that physical laws makes objects fall to the ground when dropped. The exact way in which this works is up to interpretation. More secular-minded Buddhists might point to logical and observable consequences to explain it, while more spiritually-minded ones might argue that it’s more of an invisible, unexplainable force that carries over between lifetimes.
To use an example: a child that is fed a hamburger by their parents does not have knowledge of the animal’s suffering that was required to make it, nor do they have agency to control their diet or to prevent the animal from being harmed. But, an animal is still harmed through the process. The intent and agency of the actor are not important in the same way that it doesn’t matter if a ball on top of a slope is pushed or knocked over. It would only really matter if you’re dealing in terms of judgement.
It is not your responsibility to enforce karma on others. Karma isn’t a positive or negative force, and just because something happens that doesn’t make it good or fair or deserved. Rather, the idea is to navigate the world in such a way that you minimize undesirable consequences. Buddhist precepts are a list of guidelines that are intend to do just that, the precept about nonviolence being the first. The idea is: “Bad things seem to happen a lot when people go around killing living beings so it’s probably better to not do that, generally speaking.”
You are correct that your friend’s interpretation and worldview is a mess of contradictions that could just as easily be used to justify harm to humans, and that they’re blatantly violating the first precept. But I would argue that they’re not accurately representing Buddhist teachings, and their views shouldn’t be held as representative of the belief system, though admittedly, like I said there are a lot of different traditions and beliefs.
NATO is seeking to take control of decision-making powers on future aid packages — normally led by the US — in an effort to limit the impact of a potential second Donald Trump presidency on the ongoing conflict.
This is wild. It’s bad enough that the US president has the power to start wars wherever he wants with no congressional approval. But now they’re trying to make it so that the only people with the authority to withdraw from a conflict are unelected NATO officials accountable to no one.
Dronies will support this, because they love endless war across the globe and want to remove any potential for popular support to achieve peace.
Psychopathic framing. “Look how efficiently we’re killing people!”
Also great example of conflating states with people. Maybe Ukraine still wants to fight, but Ukrainians are being conscripted against their will. In the same way, wearing Russia down may serve the interests of the US government, but it certainly doesn’t benefit the American people in any way. The best thing for the Ukrainian people would be to stop the killing at any cost, even if it meant territorial concessions. They could’ve saved countless lives if they’d done this from the start, and eventually that’s what’s going to happen anyway, but unfortunately countless people have died and countless more will before the ruling class decides to stop forcing the poor into the meat grinder.
How the fuck is my life supposed to be better because of dead Russian soldiers?
Define your variables. Wtf is “b,” the number of votes candidate B would have, plus one for no reason? Why is candidate T getting t votes and not t-1 votes? Terrible math, try again.
Despite some tough odds pitted against them, the campaign team for President Joe Biden believes they can “flip” Florida to his win column in the 2024 presidential election, due to a number of issues they think will resonate with voters in that state, particularly abortion rights....
They’re desperately trying to find somewhere full of boomers so the genocide issue doesn’t kill them but there’s no way the Florida boomers choose 99% Hitler if 100% Hitler is on the ballot.
Joe Biden is “only” Genocide abroad, and probably less of it.
Therefore, a vote for Joe Biden is a Vote against genocide.
No, it doesn’t matter that he’s an active participant in the apparatus that’s creating the genocide, because if he’s in office there’s less genocide. Which is the important part, and pretending otherwise is sophistry. If you abstain from voting, you are increasing the likelihood of more genocide and if you discourage others from voting, you are an active participant in the overall social apparatus that is probabilistically increasing the amount of genocide.
The utility calculation is dead simple: more votes for Biden in key states makes more genocide less likely, and discouraging people from voting for Biden makes more genocide more likely. Therefore, discouraging people from voting for Biden is a pro-genocide strategy and voting for Biden in battleground states is an anti-genocide strategy. You should vote for Biden unless you live in a solid blue state, and even then it’s not a bad idea.
TLDR: if you encourage people to not vote for Biden, that’s supporting genocide. Accelerationism never works for us.
So is he going to do anything material about it? Or is he giving that statement to the press and then immediately calling up Bibi to reassure him it’s just for show? I have a feeling I know the answer.
It turns out that accommodating spoiled aristocrats who order shit they don’t need from halfway across the Earth on a whim has a cost, and let me tell you: that cost isn’t coming out of the executives’ salaries!...
full textI firmly believe that being terminated for cause or marked “ineligible for rehire” should carry lifelong consequences, regardless of the circumstances, and be treated as a felony (just as a dishonorable discharge from the US military is felony-equivalent). Being fired for cause is a serious matter that should not be...
Loss of Rights: Individuals who are terminated for cause should lose their right to vote and bear arms, similar to the consequences of a felony conviction. They should also lose the right to both Federal and private employment, as well as recourse to any form of welfare or charity.
As only the opinion of the employer matters here, there would be absolutely no right of appeal for these consequences once the employee has lost their job, no matter the circumstances.
db0 admins have gone full McCarthyism (lemmy.ml)
obligatoryI don’t know if this is the right community, if it isn’t warn me and I’ll move the post!...
Picture of an average Hexbear poster, 2024 (colorized). (hexbear.net)
keep arguing with forum users (hexbear.net)
sopranos-poker you regret one bajillion percent of the posts you don’t send. keep arguing
I'm freaking VOOOOOOTINGGG!!!!! (hexbear.net)
lemmy.world/post/14915539
Found on boomerbook (midwest.social)
Why there is so much communist propaganda on lemmy? - Lemmy.World (lemmy.world)
cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/2423375...
In Buddhist view: If all misfortune/suffering is deserved due to bad karma of past actions in a prior life, why advocate ahimsa/nonviolence?
A Buddhist was saying to me that anything bad that happens to someone is deserved because they must have had bad karma as a result of having done something bad, either in this life or a previous incarnation. I don’t believe in any of this personally, but I think it would be helpful to understand the idea of karma a bit better,...
Friendly reminder (hexbear.net)
I know we stopped saying "unlimited genocide on the first world" after getting scolded but "death to america" just isn't satisfying
Hexbears can have a little genocide, as a treat?
How Does Hexbear Feel About Outdoor Cats? (hexbear.net)
Should we build cat huts on the savannah?
Yes... Ha ha ha... YES! (hexbear.net)
Zelenskyy straight-up said Ukraine is going to lose if Congress doesn't send more aid (www.businessinsider.com)
I Think I Am Committing Voter Fraud (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
Biden Campaign Memo Claims Florida Is “Winnable” Though Polls Say Otherwise (truthout.org)
Despite some tough odds pitted against them, the campaign team for President Joe Biden believes they can “flip” Florida to his win column in the 2024 presidential election, due to a number of issues they think will resonate with voters in that state, particularly abortion rights....
This is a real photo - Lemmy.World (lemmy.world)
A vote for Genocide Joe is a vote for Genocide
Biden 'outraged' over Israel strike on World Central Kitchen staff in Gaza (www.bbc.co.uk)
The US president accuses Israel of not doing enough to protect aid workers and civilians....
A Spectre is Haunting Hexbear (hexbear.net)
The spectre of LIBERAL SOCIALISM...
Happy Trans Day of Visibility (and Easter)!
Something something egg hunt trans-hatch
An under-examined cause of inflation: unconditional returns
It turns out that accommodating spoiled aristocrats who order shit they don’t need from halfway across the Earth on a whim has a cost, and let me tell you: that cost isn’t coming out of the executives’ salaries!...
Are we the baddies? (i.imgur.com)
How Israeli settlers are expanding illegal outposts amid Gaza war (www.aljazeera.com)
Archive link...
"You should lose your rights to vote & bear arms if you're terminated for cause." (hexbear.net)
full textI firmly believe that being terminated for cause or marked “ineligible for rehire” should carry lifelong consequences, regardless of the circumstances, and be treated as a felony (just as a dishonorable discharge from the US military is felony-equivalent). Being fired for cause is a serious matter that should not be...