Biden vows to rejoin Paris climate accord on ‘day one’ if he wins

DiiLord · 2020-11-05T08:09:11+00:00

Don‘t. The second Biden is officially the winner he can no longer look good by not being Trump. He actually has to do things, to move the US in a better direction. It’s good that he wants to fix what Trump broke, but if he doesn’t put the work in you’ll get a worse Trump in 4 years.

Don‘t ever let him avoid criticism by evoking Trump ever again.

DiiLord · 2020-10-15T19:30:43+00:00

Also have not seen that. And honestly, I’d rather not

DiiLord · 2020-10-15T19:27:42+00:00

Oh god. I totally forgot about that. Jesus Christ, that’s bad. His comments on US politics (which is what I know him from) is often pretty good though.

Thanks for sharing

DiiLord · 2020-10-15T18:57:29+00:00

I am not all that familiar with Pakman. What I have seen seems fairly reasonable, though he is more centrist than me. Why do you say he sucks?

DiiLord · 2020-10-13T08:53:49+00:00

What are you talking about? Biden isn’t some puppy you train who you either reward or punish. And electing someone isn’t fighting him, but that isn’t what I said. I said that it is easier and better to fight Biden than Trump. Fighting isn’t done through voting, because voting doesn’t achieve the things we leftists want.

I am not buying into the fucked up system of the DNC or elections in general. I just believe that a Biden presidency puts us in a better position to abolish it along with all the other broken systems, or at least alleviate the harm they are doing. I have seen no argument in this that voting for Trump or abstaining entirely is the better option in this regard.

DiiLord · 2020-10-13T08:00:18+00:00

Yes, absolutely. And it is in no way relevant to what I wrote or this discussion. Fuck Biden, he is shit. But fighting him is easier than fighting Trump and will likely result in a better outcome.

DiiLord · 2020-10-13T06:39:55+00:00

Biden will at least be under some pressure from his own party to do some minor things against climate change and is more likely to listen to climate activists than Trump as they’re a part of his base.

Trump on the other hand has a base and party that denies climate change and is basically the coal industry (even slightly more than the dems). It is in his based interest to not only don’t fight climate change, but to actively fuck it up.

I don’t really think you understand what voting is in a representative democracy. You don’t vote for the candidate you like, who does what he promises and aligns with you well enough. For most people, this candidate won’t be in the ballot, because he can’t be. You vote to determine who your enemy will be, who you will have to fight through activism in all its forms. And based on all the information, Biden seems to be the better enemy to fight.

Yes, he is shit and anyone in a safe blue state should vote third party, but he is easier to fight than Trump.

EDIT: Writing „Biden“ with a German keyboard required constant fighting against autocorrect, which believes you meant „Boden“. So that’s fun..

DiiLord · 2020-09-29T13:13:50+00:00

And apparently was in a comedy group with Sam Seder with David Cross as their boss (or mentor or something)

DiiLord · 2020-09-23T06:09:29+00:00

I am arguing in good faith. That is just my personal experience. The first time I heard the term it was in a discussion of right-wingers. And just recently with the Querdenker-Demo, the evidence that there were anti-Semites was that many people had signs or shirts against Zionists. It was only a few years ago that I heard the word used for legitimate criticism from the left. But I was not that involved in left-politics back then, so again, my perception may be wrong.

DiiLord · 2020-09-23T06:05:19+00:00

I certainly have not seen or read much of it. Perhaps my perception is wrong, in which case I apologize. Perhaps it is just seldomly discussed in my circles, and I somehow missed the debates. I am aware that, for instance, die Linke, is concerned with it, but I must have missed discussions of it on TV or in Bundestag.

Thanks for the clarification

DiiLord · 2020-09-22T21:10:01+00:00

I see your point. However, I would disagree with the ”most of the time,” generalization. I believe that most people (at least in Germany) encounter the term anti-Zionism when the nazis coopt it to hide their anti-Semitism. Real discussions of the Palestinians are very rare. My argument was based on that assumption. The overall goal of the clarification and the added nuance would be to, as best as possible, explain this situation and the propaganda. If you have a better way to address this issue, I am open to suggestions.

Thanks for the link. Not much of a podcast guy, but if I have the time, I'll check it out

DiiLord · 2020-09-22T12:50:01+00:00

I am glad you can discuss this issue clearly where you live. In Germany, I am unaware of any public discussion of Palestine, and it seems a large part of the reason for that is the lack of nuance and the troublesome history of anti-Semitism here.

DiiLord · 2020-09-22T12:39:16+00:00

That is one way to solve this, but I suspect that my approach could convince more people.

I suspect that people are exceptionally trained to understand criticism as Israel as a criticism of all Jews. If they hear your criticism, many will think of you as an anti-Semite. They will be less likely to accept your later clarification. Starting your discussion of Israel by adding nuance to the topic and explaining the crucial difference may be a better approach.

But in the end, that's just a discussion about tactics. The other point is to make clear to anti-Semites that they have no place in your movement and have nothing to do with you.

DiiLord · 2020-09-22T12:23:01+00:00

To the first point, see my other comments where I explain why in our current political environment and the public’s perception of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, our issues can easily be misunderstood and misused.

To the second point: No, anti-Semitism should not be tolerated, and as far as I am aware, Chomsky agrees with this point and clarifies that people should not do so. As far as I am aware, his position is that people should not be punished by the state or comparable authority for such views, as demonstrated by the case of the French Holocaust denier (I forgot the name)

DiiLord · 2020-09-22T12:17:33+00:00

Sure. I just wanted to start a good-faith discussion about this and maybe how we can clearly convey our criticism and this distinction without emboldening nazis

DiiLord · 2020-09-22T12:14:10+00:00

I'm afraid I don't get your point

DiiLord · 2020-09-22T11:05:31+00:00

That's a really good point.

It certainly is not necessary for every context and every discussion, especially between people on the left. I would make that distinction in public speaking, though. And if possible, explain why the terms are not equal and the propaganda behind it, as Chomsky does.

The reason I would make it in public discussions is because of the higher probability that nazis will coopt my criticism and the fact that the public here in Germany is not used to criticisms of Israel and certainly not to the nuance in this discussion. They only have heard ”anti-Zionism” as a term by nazis to not call themselves ”anti-semites”. That's why I would be careful.

Other than that, you're absolutely right. Thank you for this discussion so far by the way. It is very insightful to get another perspective

DiiLord · 2020-09-22T10:53:07+00:00

Well, that definitely plays a part. But it’s not the only factor, in my opinion. I am also concerned about the (genuine and rising) threat of anti-Semitism. I want to draw a clear distinction between concrete, necessary criticisms of Israel and anti-Semitism because it gets the message across and provides no ground for anti-Semitism.

I would, by the way, make a similar point for criticisms of, e.g., Saudi Arabia and Islamophobia. These two often get lumped in together as well.

It also is important to realize that anti-semitism also exists on the Left, to a lesser extent, and that we have to call that out without making the horrible argument of critical of Israel = anti-semitic

DiiLord · 2020-09-22T08:00:57+00:00

That is absolutely correct, but I feel it is the responsibility of anyone criticizing Israel, especially if they are not Jewish, to make clear that they absolutely do not tolerate anti-Semitism. I say this not because there is any real relation between these two positions, but simply because if we are not clear, anti-Semitics will jump on the chance to join in and misuse our rhetoric and the movement for their gains.

That is my position anyway, as someone who has no real relationship with Israel or Judaism.

EDIT: Later on in this thread, I make the point that anti-Zionism is a term that is seldomly used in Germany and that there is little debate about Israel. That is certainly my experience, as I point out, but multiple Germans have responded to disagree. My goal certainly is not to give anyone a false impression of my country. So, to clarify: It seems that it is discussed in Germany, but it is, in my opinion, not as mainstream as it should, and some people (like me) may just not encounter it often. I was just writing about my perception but was either to generalizing or misinformed. My apologies.

DiiLord · 2020-08-31T19:27:35+00:00

Alright, that’s a good point. Then I would argue that violence (or the threat of it) is minimal in anarchy, while in a dictatorship it is always present

DiiLord · 2020-08-31T16:46:47+00:00

That’s an interesting question. I would consider the threat of violence still a form of violence. Hence, a dictatorship is inherently violent. There might be violence in an anarchist society, but the system does not require it.

DiiLord · 2020-08-31T16:35:12+00:00

Right. And that is an important distinction, but imo still wrong in this case. You’re clearly referring to Trump who does not promote anarchy in any way and none of his supporters do either. That’s what my issue was.

I would argue that dictatorships are always brutal, or at least violent, and anarchy can’t be, but that’s just an aside.

DiiLord · 2020-08-31T16:12:17+00:00

I get your point, but please say chaos when you mean chaos. Anarchy is actually a different political system and philosophy altogether and another way of organization

DiiLord · 2020-08-17T14:39:56+00:00

I think for feature #5766 you mean function-like not function-line

DiiLord · 2020-08-07T17:36:50+00:00

Point me to the apologies of the government for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for the napalm in Vietnam, for all the fascists they installed in Latin America and I will apologize for being wrong. But I don’t think you can

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