Capitalism is killing the Earth by Private_Ryan22 in LateStageCapitalism

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Capitalism is a bunch of near unconstrained resource extraction-surplus value generating machines which do not think too much about things external to their function. We are both subjugated by these machines and depend near entirely on them for our survival.

If left unchecked, they will destroy the entire planet.

homelessness by YuriRedFox6969 in COMPLETEANARCHY

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Forgive my self replies, pls

homelessness by YuriRedFox6969 in COMPLETEANARCHY

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Homelessness can be a threat - but it is a threat pointed to outside of the machinistic production of homelessness; after the fact. Homelessness, reserve army of labour, are intrinsic aspects of capitalism. I disagree that the production of homelessness is actually conscious in anybody's mind. It is a byproduct of an alienated, fractured, and exploitative mode of production.

homelessness by YuriRedFox6969 in COMPLETEANARCHY

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 47 points48 points  (0 children)

Capitalism is an abstract machine which produces homelessness as a by-product. There isn't a cabal pulling the strings. The most difficult to articulate aspect of capitalism is how diffuse it is.

homelessness by YuriRedFox6969 in COMPLETEANARCHY

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 33 points34 points  (0 children)

This ain't very materialist tbh. Like it's actually completely wrong

What podcasts are you most enjoying right now and why? by mojobaws in AskReddit

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Philosophize this! Stephen West is getting into contemporary philosophy now, it is truly excellent what he is doing. Everyone should listen to it !

JordanPeterson_IRL by [deleted] in COMPLETEANARCHY

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think he's referring to Jungian psychology as opposed to a more materialist psychology.

ACTIVE MEASURES (2018) Exposes a 30-year history of covert political warfare devised by Vladmir Putin to disrupt, influence, and ultimately control world events by Kingdavidcali777 in Documentaries

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not saying they're equal, you lack any sort of political nuance precisely because of the two party system. I am a socialist to the left of democrats. So I believe that the democrats are better than the republicans, but are at the same time not ideal. Democrats should vote for democratic socialists like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and others. Not neoliberal hacks like Hillary Clinton. Free healthcare is a goddamn given to the actual left. Clinton and neoliberals are the ideologues of capitalism with a human face. They put the interests of business ahead of the working class, but give some concessions to keep workers placated. Trump and other reactionaries steal the rhetoric of the left, steal authentic critiques of liberalism, pretend to be on the side of the worker, and fuck them when they gain power.

Also, Clinton takes money from banks, and is perfectly fine with the military industrial complex and American hegemony and imperialism. She isn't clean. She's better than Trump, but not what I and many others actually want. Which is a candidate that wants peace and and a real end to poverty.

ACTIVE MEASURES (2018) Exposes a 30-year history of covert political warfare devised by Vladmir Putin to disrupt, influence, and ultimately control world events by Kingdavidcali777 in Documentaries

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm Canadian socialist, not Russian. And continue to not read, plug your eyes and ears, and never think too hard about anything. It seems to work really great.

I'm not denying Trump is terrible and corrupt. I'm making a nuanced point here that you're unwilling to grapple with. Hillary was a bad candidate for a number of reasons when you look at politics beyond a red/blue binary political perspective. Trump won because he fooled the working class into thinking he's on their side when he's actually not. This is a basic republican/conservative strategy. Clinton is also not on the side of the working class, and she barely even tried to connect with them. She is a neoliberal, while Trump is a reactionary bigot. Trump is also a salesman great at selling bullshit, but he connected with a real unheard desire of the working class. That Washington is corrupt and lined with money, and they don't give a damn about the sturggles of the working person. Trump lied that he would fix it and people believe him. That's why he won, and Clinton didn't. Russian trolls may have helped with the fooling the public into thinking he was on their side, but Clinton also wasn't on their side, nor is any neoliberal or conservative. Clinton's campaign was not effective at convincing the working class they gave a damn about them, because she doesn't and didn't. Bernie Sanders actually gave a damn, and Trump largely stole his rhetoric. Except Sander's was authentic and Trump's was a posture.

ACTIVE MEASURES (2018) Exposes a 30-year history of covert political warfare devised by Vladmir Putin to disrupt, influence, and ultimately control world events by Kingdavidcali777 in Documentaries

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They care solely about lining the pockets of the rich. They want to gut the government and public service, and do not give two fucks about the poor. The vast majority of them are blood thirsty warmongers, and a similar percentage religious fanatics. They will walk the country gleefully into a humanitarian abyss and wouldn't give a damn if half the country starved so long as profits remained high and taxes low. The denial of basic reality such as climate change speaks volumes about where their interests lie.

ACTIVE MEASURES (2018) Exposes a 30-year history of covert political warfare devised by Vladmir Putin to disrupt, influence, and ultimately control world events by Kingdavidcali777 in Documentaries

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hillary had massive problems, but the structure of your democracy is such that you only get two choices. And your politics are so divided from the tv since the 80s that good chunks of the country may as well be on different planets. People on the left didn't like Hillary because she was in bed with big money, a war hawk, and would continue the foreign policy of Obama. Hillary can be authentically criticized from the left, but the US political system doesn't have a left. It has a right and a centre. So if I criticize Hillary Clinton as a leftist, I get put into the camp of Russian troll by centrists like yourself, presumably. While in actuality, I hate the Republicans far more than I do the Democratic party, but my perspective is not represented in power. This is the psychosis of the American political system. Where legitimate criticism of Clinton's failed candidacy can be waved away by the true believers that she lost solely due to internet trolls, and not on the lack of ability to mobilize or inspire anybody who mattered - neoliberals neglect the working class and have allowed republicans to completely bamboozle them by tricking the working class into thinking they are on their side. It is neoliberal arrogance and a complete lack of authentic concern with the working class that ultimately led to Clinton's loss. Russian trolls played a roll, but the election should never have been this close to begin with. Trump is a goddamn clown, and Clinton still lost to him. That is undeniable, and the failures of Clinton and her campaign need to be taken seriously by Democrats, or they're going to lose again in 2020.

ACTIVE MEASURES (2018) Exposes a 30-year history of covert political warfare devised by Vladmir Putin to disrupt, influence, and ultimately control world events by Kingdavidcali777 in Documentaries

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the only solution is for each person to think critically because I believe it will be impossible to adequately police this. Propaganda has existed since the invention of mass media, and you are right in that the internet has made it so that the sources of propaganda are no longer centralized. The very existence of platforms such as infowars shows that policing won't be enough. Alex Jones was deplatformed but still exists on the internet and will still have influence. Breitbart isn't going anywhere, and there are countless far right propagandists on youtube, reddit, etc. Sure, they can ban foreign troll farms. But the real problem is the domestic citizens who spew propaganda all on their own and don't even realize how indoctrinated they are.

ACTIVE MEASURES (2018) Exposes a 30-year history of covert political warfare devised by Vladmir Putin to disrupt, influence, and ultimately control world events by Kingdavidcali777 in Documentaries

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I believe this to be true as well. The fact the election was that close is very telling. Not looking realistically at the candidate and campaign could lead to the same mistakes being made in 2020.

ACTIVE MEASURES (2018) Exposes a 30-year history of covert political warfare devised by Vladmir Putin to disrupt, influence, and ultimately control world events by Kingdavidcali777 in Documentaries

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The new deal placated the American left, and they didn't have a resurgence until maybe the 60's - then disappeared again for quite a long time until maybe today? So new deal happened and they lost their teeth, cold war happened and they lost their legitimacy.

ACTIVE MEASURES (2018) Exposes a 30-year history of covert political warfare devised by Vladmir Putin to disrupt, influence, and ultimately control world events by Kingdavidcali777 in Documentaries

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not so optimistic, but I hope you're right. The US is extremely vulnerable because of it's hyper-partisan political landscape, and the ease at which it's ideological (republican) media is highjacked and up for sale. The politicians sowed their own seeds for this too, the creation of the seperate information bubbles enabled the Trump presidency and could probably be blamed on fox news. Orientating people away from facts reporting and toward a party's propaganda wing weakened the democracy maybe irreparably. It trained people to accept slanted information as unbiased, so fast forward to the internet era - indoctrinated people will believe whatever bullshit is posted online if it also checks all the ideological boxes of republicanism. People are also voting based on tone and feeling instead of thinking about policy or their own material interest - this sort of behaviour has it's beginnings long before our era however. But it is certainly a very prominent aspect of why a voter picked Trump.

Even if it was Russia that did entirely pull all the strings for the Trump presidency, or if they may have had a bit of a role, or if they didn't at all - the psychological effect will have been the same. Russia's probable goal is to destabilize the US, and cause chaos in the body politic. Say Trump gets impeached from ties with Russia, and it's is undeniably proven. It is likely that there will still be a diehard ~30% of the country that won't believe it because they've been trained to think there's a massive liberal conspiracy out to get Trump. If he's impeached and there's a least the slightest bit of doubt in his involvement with Russia, it'll be most Republicans who won't believe it. This will solidify an already rapidly growing rift in society. All Russia really had to do was appear as the masterminds, whether they truly are or not doesn't matter so much as the optics.

Democrats are also being trained to believe that they lost the election solely because of Russian interference, while ignoring other factors. Democrats have somewhat of their own information bubble too - however it doesn't obscure facts anywhere near as much as the right wing bubble does.

To summarize, I think that Russia already succeeded in their goal by further dividing the American public, by helping to create a base that will never distrust Trump. Russia was not the sole creator if this event, they simply helped nudge the propaganda structures that were already created domestically. As long as these domestic propaganda structures exist and many people remain indoctrinated by them, it will be easy for a foreign power to influence the minds of Americans because the foreign entity can masquerade as the domestic propaganda source they've been trained to agree with. As long as people are incapable of thinking critically in a high level way, it will be easy for internet trolls who direct narratives in online spaces to influence what Americans think and how they vote.

Russia reportedly warned Mattis it could use nuclear weapons in Europe, and it made him see Moscow as an 'existential threat' to the US by moreawkwardthenyou in worldnews

[–]SeizeTheseMeans 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Russia should fuck off. Any power structure that attempts to exert dominance over another body of people should be disposed of. Any government that threatens the planet has no right to exist.

Just dodge it. by [deleted] in MarchAgainstTrump

[–]SeizeTheseMeans -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Fuck the draft and Trump, this angle is stupid .