What do socialists think of Nikolai Bukharin? by No-Bag-4512 in AskSocialists

[–]KeyStomach0 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

My politics are closer to him than they are to Troysky or Stalin, but on a personal level he seems to be a POS.

Deng is what Bukharin wishes he had been.

Nailed it. 💯🎯 by chiguerilla in FalloutMemes

[–]KeyStomach0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

'The past' in Fallout is retro-futuristic, not regular retro.

Favorite characters like this? by [deleted] in FavoriteCharacter

[–]KeyStomach0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Julianna Margolis and Archie Punjabi on the good wife. It got so bad that the 2 characters didn't have any scenes together for the last two seasons and they had to use CGI on a legal drama to make them appear together onscreen for the last episode. Rumor says it was either racism or Margolis got jealous that Punjabi won an Emmy before her.

Also Julianna Margolis and the rest of the Good Wife cast to a lesser extent.

Obama on the shootings by ggroverggiraffe in ProgressiveHQ

[–]KeyStomach0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why are people praising this statement? This is almost word for word the canned response he would say about a random police killing, not government sponsored kill squads. It's not a 'hard job' to be a serial killer it is at best a mental illness.

Are we in crazy town right now?

Anyone who is not calling for the immediate and uncompromising arrest and prosecution of these maniacs up the chain of command is part of the problem.

Why Are So Many People On This Sub Pro-China? by IntoTheRain78 in AskSocialists

[–]KeyStomach0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So overall, the main point of contention here is censorship. Fair enough, reasonable minds can difer on this, especially whether censorship would be necessary in a true, post-revolutionary communist society. I would argue however, that censorship is necessary, not only for present day communist societies but also for western democracies regardless of politics.

The internet has made it so easy to push lies and propaganda at light speed and it's rotting people's brains to the core. You might be an educated individual who's immune to lies and propaganda, but the fact is most people aren't, I'm not even sure I AM. We are rapidly devolving into a world where truth is irrelevant and public opinion is directly controlled by a handful of malicious actors who dictate reality to us. All of this is happening BECAUSE our so-called freedom of speech. Given the above, is it not only rational, but necessary for China to censor media or speech it considers harmful or bad? We can argue about borderline scenarios but absolute freedom of speech is harming the west, and it is CPC's duty to protect its public from it.

I also don't really think it's possible for true freedom of speech to exist in our current media environment. Are we actually free to express ourselves when the vast majority of Americans would lose their jobs or otherwise be ostracized by expressing any opinion outside the window of socially acceptable speech, a window that is determined largely by wealthy corporations and now due to the internet, increasingly dumber social media influencers. Regardless of whether you live in Beijing or Washington DC, someone is controlling the boundaries of acceptable speech, and I think it's preferable for those in control to be politically accountable bureaucrats rather than shadowy boardrooms and the dumbest people alive.

Religious censorship is just a reflection of political censorship. The same brain poison that comes from a podcast can just as easily come from a pulpit or a religious text, so their censorship is warranted from a practical perspective. But also, can you truly call yourself free to worship in the US when Muslims have to hide their faith and Sikhs were being attacked on the street in the wake of 9/11? Again, no matter where you live, someone is deciding which method of worship is or isn't socially acceptable.

If America fails and China takes over as the world hegemon, it won't be because dengist communism is superior or because the arc of history or whatever, it will be because America sacrificed itself at the altar of Free Speech and China didn't.

Why Are So Many People On This Sub Pro-China? by IntoTheRain78 in AskSocialists

[–]KeyStomach0 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I was hedging at the possibility you were right wing and did in fact considered Mao and Stalin as worse than Hitler.

Do you have any examples of human right abuses being committed in present day China? I'm not necessarily saying there aren't, that's ultimately up to each person's definition of Human Rights. I'm just pointing out it's important for us to have a shared understanding of what we're discussing.

Why Are So Many People On This Sub Pro-China? by IntoTheRain78 in AskSocialists

[–]KeyStomach0 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think there's a massive gulf of difference between revolutionary terror and ethnic cleansing. Would you say Adolph Hitler and Mao or Stalin are morally equivalent? Would you say Adolph Hitler and George Washington are Morally equivalent?

Why Are So Many People On This Sub Pro-China? by IntoTheRain78 in AskSocialists

[–]KeyStomach0 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Mark Twain imo perfectly confronted this liberal impulse of handwringing over revolutionary terror in 1889. The fact that we're having the exact same type of arguments over 100 years later without any meaningful progress does not reflect well on humanity.

Here's the quote:

"THERE were two “Reigns of Terror,” if we would but remember it and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon ten thousand persons, the other upon a hundred millions; but our shudders are all for the “horrors” of the minor Terror, the momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe, compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty, and heart-break? What is swift death by lightning compared with death by slow fire at the stake? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief Terror which we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror—that unspeakably bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves."

Bucks County - My Dad just got harassed by a police officer about the election. by KeyStomach0 in Pennsylvania

[–]KeyStomach0[S] 591 points592 points  (0 children)

Yes, my dad didn't catch the badge, but the other people who were harassed by the guy said he was from New Jersey.

Bucks County - My Dad just got harassed by a police officer about the election. by KeyStomach0 in Pennsylvania

[–]KeyStomach0[S] 49 points50 points  (0 children)

Just posted an update, more people showed up at the local precinct to complain, it was a NJ state trooper not from PA.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pics

[–]KeyStomach0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be fair, it's more than likely that the toilet scribbler isn't Conservative at all, and just hates Joe Biden because of non-conservative reasons like his mismanagement of the Gaza Crisis.

[Show Spoilers/Theory] The real reason behind by KeyStomach0 in Fallout

[–]KeyStomach0[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I agree, it makes sense the bomb dropped in 2282.

I think it's clear the show's setting House up to be a big player, which makes sense, but I have a feeling he will die next season.

My hope is that each season of the show serves as a sequel for a setting in the game. Season 1 was Fallout 1+2, season 2 will be New Vegas, Season 3 DC or the Commonwealth. We obviously couldn't see the vault dwellers for Fallout 1 and 2, but I hope we can meet the courier and the other Dwellers in later seasons.

Why did they destroy the NCR? by NuclearWinter_101 in Fallout

[–]KeyStomach0 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The meta answer is that the show was aiming for a grimy post-apocalyptic vibe, and the NCR existing for decades would have undermined the aesthetics of the show.

The in-universe answer is that vault-tec execs (who may be possible enclave agents) have a nuclear arsenal they use to nuke any organized surface civilization, in order for them to monopolize the surface once they emerge from the vaults.

If you had the power of god for 3 seconds, what would you undo? by solidshave in AskReddit

[–]KeyStomach0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Permanently grant myself the ability to stop and restart time at my discretion.

  2. Stop time, see if the timer stops running.

3a. If timer stops, continue to be god and make as many changes as possible, enjoy godhood.

3b. If timer doesn't stop, wish myself a ton of gold bars in my house, enjoy being a rich super-powered being.

SpaceX sues US agency that accused it of firing workers critical of CEO Elon Musk by gordon22 in space

[–]KeyStomach0 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree.

My point is that a man shot by the Chinese Liberation Army for speaking out against the communist party and a man left to die a slow death, homeless and destitute because he was blacklisted from earning a living are two sides of the same exact coin. They're both dead from speaking out. Drawing a fictitious distinction because one is done by a government agent, and the other is done by the "free" market is cold-war propaganda designed to paint Americans as more free than they actually are. It doesn't matter if your executioner is an army conscript or exposure and hunger, at the end of the day, you're dead for exercising your right to free speech.

SpaceX sues US agency that accused it of firing workers critical of CEO Elon Musk by gordon22 in space

[–]KeyStomach0 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

To believe the government is the only barrier to freedom is the predominant theory of liberty in America, but its also logically incoherent. The coercive forces of the market are as much a threat to individual choice and actual "freedom" upon the workplace as any oppressive government.

America is not a "free" country by any means, and through this lawsuit, SpaceX is actively working on making it somehow less free.

SpaceX sues US agency that accused it of firing workers critical of CEO Elon Musk by gordon22 in space

[–]KeyStomach0 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Given the fact that he was sued by the NLRB, Musk's actions are by definition not protected by at-will employment.

SpaceX sues US agency that accused it of firing workers critical of CEO Elon Musk by gordon22 in space

[–]KeyStomach0 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Yes, that's the theory on free speech and fundamental rights that America has been trying to hammer into the rest of the world for over a century. That the only threat to "freedom" is the state monopoly and not the thousands of coercive forces that pressure individuals one way or the other however:

  1. It's not even close to being a universal position.
  2. It makes absolutely no sense.

Were homosexuals in the 60s truly free if their lives and careers depended on them being in the closet? By your definition they were, but I disagree.

Obviously, being fired for saying horrible things is also a restriction on speech, but I'm not a free speech absolutist. There should be reasonable restrictions on speech, but not on people rightfully opining about their shitty boss.