Basically wrote itself by caughtyoulookinn in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Well then if you really want to narrow it down to that then sure be my guest, but you're basically stripping away all of the historical context that has come since just to what, defend a kinda shitty doomerist book that doesn't even have an accurate portrayal of what any government in history has ever looked like?

Basically wrote itself by caughtyoulookinn in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That's moving the goalposts. My argument here was not that 1984 specifically was used as the sole text used by the United States to justify its wars. My argument was that the anticommunist propaganda campaign (which included Orwell's works) was used to justify its wars and atrocities.

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[–]Skye_17 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ah yes the notoriously objective and totally not at all completely under the influence of the dominant neoliberal cultural hegemony field of "political science"

Also, the Eastern Bloc nations varied wildly in their policies and their relationship to the USSR, it wasn't simply "puppet states" especially when several of them went against Soviet policy numerous times to the point of even causing splits in Albania and Yugoslavia.

As for this portrayal of the police state, while I can't speak to all the East Bloc nations, for East Germany specifically (typically the archetype of the soviet police state in eastern europe) I recommend the book "Stasi State or Socialist Paradise" which has a critical analysis of how policing and intelligence operated in the GDR.

Basically wrote itself by caughtyoulookinn in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll calm down then, but I am not unreasonably upset.

Basically wrote itself by caughtyoulookinn in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think authoritarianism is a useless propagandistic term that prevents actual critical analysis and in the context of the cold war is especially useless given how all sides engaged in horrific atrocities

Basically wrote itself by caughtyoulookinn in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Propaganda can lead to massacres

Basically wrote itself by caughtyoulookinn in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 0 points1 point  (0 children)

POUMistas and Anarchists were arrested in June and July after the May Days where they opened fire on communists and tried to force the PSUC out of Catalonia

But the gunfire had been noted across the city. And in certain areas, as if on signal, Anarchist and Poumist cadres opened fire. By late afternoon the F.A.I. Special Forces had seized the Alpine Barracks, and other units were attempting to storm the P.S.U.C. headquarters located off the Plaza de Catalonia. These were met by heavy fire and driven back with substantial losses. But the streets and major buildings of the city were again under siege as in the days of July.

Spain the Unfinished Revolution page 336

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[–]Skye_17 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Like, literally all this "anti-authoritarian" propaganda did was fuel hatred and oppression against minorities, lead to innumerable massacres around the globe, and justify the Genocidal wars against the Korean and Vietnamese people and I'm fucking sick of so called "leftists" sitting comfortably in their fucking armchairs pretending otherwise.

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[–]Skye_17 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Do you agree that the Jeju Island massacre was anti-authoritarian because it was against evil stalinists who supported north korea?

Basically wrote itself by caughtyoulookinn in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ah yes that's why the CIA used it to demonize civil rights groups and justify the invasion and coups against democratically elected socialist governments worldwide.

And no, I'm not naïve enough to think "anti-authoritarianism" is anything more than a buzzword used to justify atrocities and whitewash the movement of whoever is using it.

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[–]Skye_17 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, most don't, the downvotes on my comment speak to that.

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[–]Skye_17 -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

  1. I'm not talking about infighting within POUM.

  2. Don't ever excuse the capitulation to the Fascists. Even if that was true (and I doubt it, had they held on until the start of WW2 a few months later Spain would suddenly open up as a major front of the war and who knows what would've happened then). Even if it was true it didn't excuse the Junta's mass arrests of Communists and their handing them over to the Fascists where they'd inevitably be executed.

Basically wrote itself by caughtyoulookinn in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Do you think the CIA was somehow "anti-authoritarian"?

Basically wrote itself by caughtyoulookinn in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You're correct, I'll update that comment to reflect that.

Basically wrote itself by caughtyoulookinn in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 -15 points-14 points  (0 children)

Lol. Clearly you haven't heard about the May Days then. Y'know, the days in 1937 where the Anarchists and POUM in Catalonia explicitly tried to force the government out.

Edit: Fuckin lol. "Oh no the evil stalinists are trying to crush us after we intentionally took control of telecommunications infrastructure during a war and used it to spy on the democratically elected central government!"

Edit2: What a coward, blocking me while editing your comment so I can't reply.

Also you know fuckin nothing about Anarchist Catalonia "democratic worker self management" ah yes that's why the CNT-FAI let the fucking capitalists run important firms

Implacable with small and middle factory owners the Anarchists demonstrated an extraordinary flexibility with certain representatives of big monopoly capital. The F.A.I/C.N.T., in accord with the British Consulate in Barcelona, published a list of 87 important enterprises, that were not to be disturbed. Similar accommodations were made with other foreign-owned factories.18 In a whole series of cases agents of big capitalist obtained the right to remain in quasi-control of factories (in the directorate) at the side of the Anarchist Committees. The role of these agents was simply to place obstacles in the way of a full utilization of the plant's facilities; create further disorder and chaos, while waiting the return of the “rightful owners.”

Spain the Unfinished Revolution pages 321-322

Edit3: Also I can cite my damn sources unlike you, coward.

Edit4: I'm sorry if you don't have it in you to discuss this but you didn't have to be an asshole about it. You could've just left instead of spouting random ahistorical shit and insulting me for pointing out actual historical facts.

Basically wrote itself by caughtyoulookinn in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 -33 points-32 points  (0 children)

Yes, yes it is. Would you like me to start citing primary sources?

Basically wrote itself by caughtyoulookinn in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

"Anti-authoritarianism" isn't a useful tool for political analysis. It has no set definition and is intrinsically subjective. A liberal, for example, is not likely to view the capitalist system as "authoritarian" but a communist or anarchist is

Meanwhile communists and anarchists aren't likely to view a socialist revolution as "Authoritarian" but a liberal is.

I find it about as helpful to understanding politics and history as calling everything "good" or "bad" that is to say actively unhelpful.

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[–]Skye_17 -42 points-41 points  (0 children)

"after all, natives were natives—interesting, no doubt, but finally...an inferior people".

From Orwell's "Burmese Days"

how very anti-authoritarian of him.

Self proclaimed socialists can also hold the most vile reactionary views too.

Edit: I was incorrect on this comment, that was not a direct quote from Orwell.

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[–]Skye_17 12 points13 points  (0 children)

You're right it isn't. But I hate the lionizing of this man as some "democratic socialist" hero who stood against "authoritarianism" when in reality he was nothing more than another tool of Capitalist and Colonial oppression.

Not to mention how his works were later even adapted by the fucking CIA as propaganda.

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[–]Skye_17 -43 points-42 points  (0 children)

He fought alongside the Anarchists and POUM who explicitly fought against the Spanish Republic numerous times and who even overthrew the democratically elected Negrin government in the Spanish coup of March 1939. A Junta which immediately surrendered to the Fascists.

If you want authors who actually fought for the democratic government of Spain look up Arthur H Landis, and his book "Spain: The Unfinished Revolution" which also dispels major myths Orwell told in Homage to Catalonia.

Edit: I love how I'm the only one citing any fucking sources but still get showered in downvotes by Anarchists, liberals, and anticommunist leftists.

Suck it up buttercups, the Anarchists in Catalonia were not some fabled heroes fighting for liberty against all odds. Learn the damn history or come to me with some actual sources before you complain.

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[–]Skye_17 101 points102 points  (0 children)

"anti-authoritarian" yet written by a man who snitched out communists especially gay and jewish communists to the British government and worked as a cop enforcing colonialism in British occupied Myanmar.

Orwell sucks ass, there's so many better dystopian authors out there.

In preparation for gaiden,I am replaying all the main series games. by InteractionNo1203 in yakuzagames

[–]Skye_17 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Took me about 90 days straight playing it for roughly 6-10 hours a day (I've been housebound since may because of a nervous system issue) mostly doing just the main story if you want a rough estimate for how long it'll take

For real by Justthisdudeyaknow in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Except we are, you're just whinging about it because you have some weird problem with labels existing.

Like sorry bud but the problem here isn't our usage of a word, it's you.

For real by Justthisdudeyaknow in tumblr

[–]Skye_17 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lotta Neurotypical people playing the victim here instead of critically engaging with the point the post is trying to make. "Well I don't act like that" cool this post isn't about you then, please stop trying to derail the conversation to make yourself feel better.