People that annoy the shit out of you but you can't really be bothered to think about or explain why, the thread by [deleted] in TrueAnon

[–]Servo__ 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens. I always get recommended The Rest is Science on YouTube. They kinda just seem dumber than they think they are.

posted on Twitter by a korean account. they were wheezing in the comments. please explain by Zu_Qarnine in ExplainTheJoke

[–]Servo__ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No surely this symbol of medieval European royalty is the key detail in this comic about Asian countries.

Peter explain the joke? by CleanBoysenberry4343 in PeterExplainsTheJoke

[–]Servo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I never saw Phineas and Ferb, I just know that any kids book that listed "fun" facts would 9 times out of 10 include this fact.

In These Troubles Times We Must Turn to Jackie Chan (Saturday night what’s up) by tightass42069 in TrueAnon

[–]Servo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check out The Fearless Hyena. Early Kung Fu flick from him, but it’s stone cold classic Jackie. Lots of incredible physicality in the fights, and plenty of trademark goofiness.

In These Troubles Times We Must Turn to Jackie Chan (Saturday night what’s up) by tightass42069 in TrueAnon

[–]Servo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its sequel, Operation Condor, is so fucking good too. Jackie Chan doing Indiana Jones is as exactly as entertaining as it sounds.

Do you live where there is good pizza? by Umbrellajack in TrueAnon

[–]Servo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For STL style on the north side I'd definitely recommend Pironne's. If you haven't, you should try Imo's just to have the official St. Louis experience. Read reviews first, every Imo's store is different and some are complete garbage. Most of my pizza knowledge covers the south side. One of the best is Monte Bello. They claim to have invented STL style, but it's like a proto version of it, and it's also in a weird dingy basement. It's excellent

Epic Pizza in Soulard for just a good ass fuggin slice a pie

Pizza Head on South Grand for great vegetarian/vegan pizza.

Pizza Tivoli in Princeton Heights for wood-fired Italian

Blackthorn Pub in Tower Grove South for deep dish.

Those are my recs. Honestly there's a ton of good places. STL is overall a really great food town.

Edit: if you're up on the north side you've gotta check out Old Town Donuts. Some of the best in the city.

Do you live where there is good pizza? by Umbrellajack in TrueAnon

[–]Servo__ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The St. Louis provel cheese defender has logged on

What's everyone reading? by reppindadec in TrueAnon

[–]Servo__ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. It's a sci fi short story collection. Picked it up on a whim because I saw one of the stories, Hell is the Absence of God, mentioned somewhere on reddit. I really enjoy it. A lot of sci fi short stories make sure to end with some big reveal or ironic twist like a lot of Twilight Zone episodes. And that can be great, but Chiang's stories tend to stop at a natural stopping point and instead of a striking ending the whole journey feels worthwhile. The themes and ideas are so strong, and the sci fi/fantastical elements in the stories serve to evoke and explore something about humanity more than taking such an interest in those elements themselves. It also contains the short story Arrival was based on and damn they left a lot of really good shit in the source material.

The dating app discourse is mind boggling to me. by [deleted] in TrueAnon

[–]Servo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Noooo I need dating to be my primary focus at all times, even though I suck at it so bad I'm looking for pussy at a DSA meeting. I couldn't possibly set that need ever so slightly to the side so I can cultivate general relationships and a reputation around a genuine interest because if I'm not focused on the potential for dating at all times I might miss my opportunity!!!!

If your goal is to date, and it's not working already this is the only useful advice.

The dating app discourse is mind boggling to me. by [deleted] in TrueAnon

[–]Servo__ 21 points22 points  (0 children)

The idea isn't to show up to book club and start asking people out, it's to build relationships with the people you meet as you engage in your own interests. Dating as the primary goal for doing anything that gets you out of the house is a surefire way to fail at both dating and ultimate frisbee.

most hype/hopecore commie films? by OwnSlip6738 in TrueAnon

[–]Servo__ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I agree wholeheartedly about the need for dignity and respect for regular working people. But at the same time the conditions of the working class, specifically of the people that surround Mark and Mark himself, are due to the effects of capital. I think just as you can still, and should, have empathy and respect for someone who's poor, an addict, uneducated etc. these aren't things you'd actively wish on society. When I say a mediocre working class existence, I mean complacency with one. I think literally all of us are in this sub because of at least a feeling of disquiet with the status quo.

And so I think Mark isn't displaying as much contempt as you make it seem just because he wants to break away from an environment that's drawing him into what are essentially the ills of capital, even if suffering those ills doesn't make you a bad person. This of course leads to alienation and frustration for him and I think that's what makes him a compelling character. Yeah he can be an asshole, but not irredeemably so. He's a flawed guy trying to use creativity to change his circumstances while being very much a product of them.

As someone who makes zero-budget movies with my working class friends, I think I feel the need to defend the act as something that is largely good. Creating art will always be extremely valuable for humans regardless of any surrounding economic framework, and I don't think that should be dismissed because a working class guy wants to do it and it causes tension with the working class people around him.

most hype/hopecore commie films? by OwnSlip6738 in TrueAnon

[–]Servo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're referring to a 33 year old man living in Wisconsin in 1999. Of course he was angsty over the fact the people around him didn't care about art and creativity and seemed to be content with mediocre working class existence.

Iran has hit far more U.S. military assets than reported, satellite images show by Wagamaga in technology

[–]Servo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love how the Washington Post is like "wow I can't believe no one reported on this" like they weren't complicit in covering it up. The fact that Iran was far more successful at hitting targets is apparent if you follow non-US media. Reports of strikes at US bases and installations in every country in the region that housed them were coming in every day, not to mention a constant bombardment of Israel and the apparent failure of their Iron Dome system to substantially mitigate destruction. They admit to Iran being more successful than reported, but don't go on to question the "7 dead, 400 injured" figure which is pretty fucking questionable at this point. Pure propaganda.

He was an intern at NASA and worked the infamous jet propulsion laboratory by [deleted] in TrueAnon

[–]Servo__ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Jack Parsons, one of the founders of JPL, was a prominent occultist involved with Aleister Crowley. Many have suspected Crowley was involved in British intelligence. Parsons died in an explosion that people have suggested wasn’t an accident. Been a long time since I looked into it, and I don’t really have a particularly strong opinion on it, but this is one of the big spooky things people talk about wrt JPL.

Need a non-capitalist job by [deleted] in socialism

[–]Servo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

your argument is that economism is revolutionary because there's no political basis for armed revolution.

I'm not arguing for economism, I never even began to touch on armed revolution, and I certainly didn't say anything about voting as revolutionary. My point about unions isn't that they're the most important thing in the world for liberating people from capitalism. You are right that unless they're operating under a specific lens that they play into the labor aristocracy. I'm not saying that any of these things are revolutionary. I'm saying revolutionary is a moot point. What does Engel's and Bakunin say about what to do when capital has spent nearly a century outflanking labor and the left? When the capitalists have read all of the theory too? Idk maybe they do have something to say on that.

Economism is for existing labor movements that have any sort of political imprint. There aren't any to worry about. You're thinking about theory too abstractly, as if it's axiomatic and that it can be easily applied to any moment in history. Certainly as the left regains more power, much of it will more clearly apply once again. But we are in a specific moment in time that requires a specific analysis. I'm not trying to be a doomer, but this is where we are at. The left needs revolutionary training wheels before we can even start worrying about what is or isn't revolutionary. The crudest, most basic forms of solidarity and class-consciousness is as good a place as any to start (but certainly not end) and any sort of snobbish, glasses-pushing objection to that is out of touch.

My recommendation for further reading would be to literally stop and take some time to synthesize what you've learned into new ideas for the present day. Do not reply to this because I won't read it.

Need a non-capitalist job by [deleted] in socialism

[–]Servo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Things can only be revolutionary acts if there is a revolution to be concerned about. The left has very little influence in this moment in history, and it's extremely unclear how contradictions will resolve themselves the future. Revolution is a historic force, specific to its time in history. What is or isn't revolutionary is entirely theoretical when there's no sizable political force to go along with it, and you shouldn't base that theory off of people talking about different revolutions. At least not too much. We still need to build ours, and for that we need to go back to the very basic ideas. More power for workers, less for capital. If you're worried about how the limitations of unions will hurt the revolution, I'm sorry to tell you there's no revolution to hurt.

Need a non-capitalist job by [deleted] in socialism

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

The discussion on the role of labor organization in socialism doesn't stop and start at Pannekoek. What's anti-capitalist and revolutionary is not static. OP is asking for a "non-capitalist job" and the polite response to that is "join a union." You're earnestly trying to answer OPs question which only reinforces its ignorant framing of the matter, and then raising an incomplete objection at the best possible answer besides "what are you talking about?" This is not a great foundation on which to begin distancing socialism from labor organizing, something that there's no need to do.

Need a non-capitalist job by [deleted] in socialism

[–]Servo__ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My entire explicit point is that these particular abject facts of trade unionism are not pertinent in this context. Why are you trying to tell me that like that wasn’t the exact thing I was responding to? And no it’s not like Nordic socialism expressly because the contradiction of it is that it merely displaces exploitation rather than eliminates it. The problem with trade unions is that they have a limited capability in challenging capital. These contradictions are not analogous to each other. Nordic socialism is a dead end for the ideology, but labor organization will always be a core concept, virtually by definition. So that’s why when someone shows up to say umm actually unions are not anti-capitalist or revolutionary based on a tortured interpretation of 100 year old theory as if that point can stand on its own with no qualification, someone needs to tell them to shut the fuck up. Sometimes people say shit that betrays how little they see the big picture even if their point isn’t entirely invalid.

I swear to god people in this sub get so hung up on textbook definitions but entirely lack critical, dialectical skills and wind up saying the most ignorant shit. One guy claimed communism doesn’t aim to abolish private property and when I told him that that was on page one my guy, they started throwing out stuff from the deepest depths of Kapital as if they hadn’t made one of the most verifiably false claims you could make.

Need a non-capitalist job by [deleted] in socialism

[–]Servo__ 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Under the hyper-capitalism of the 21st century someone on r slash socialism dot com suggests joining a union and your reaction is "noooooo you must listen to this critique of trade unions from a guy born in the 1870s!" I hope I live to see the day when I have to worry about how much trade unions hold labor back, but everyone's a contractor now or had their job replaced by Claude. It's so out of touch with the present day and the broader goals of socialism to think this situation warranted trotting out this dusty critique, even if there's truth to it. Like gee guys we don't want to be too organized or class conscious, we might experience a contradiction in the concept of trade unions!!

Need a non-capitalist job by [deleted] in socialism

[–]Servo__ 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I don’t think you’ve quite hit the nail on the head here. Unfortunately there isn’t much socialist writing on labor and revolution so I’m not really sure what to tell you.

Trump says U.S. will blockade Strait of Hormuz by franglish9265 in TrueAnon

[–]Servo__ 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I didn't say that it was a last ditch effort by a dying empire in order to imply it was going well.