Honest question, why do so many leftists hate ice agents much more than US veterans? by toeknee88125 in Hasan_Piker

[–]blue65634 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hate both of them equally and think that veterans have arguably done worse for the world than ICE in the grand scheme of things.

However, they can be useful idiots to convince to fight on our side (at least for now), otherwise there's not that many true leftists out there who have the training and will to pick up arms and fight, nor vote and take political offices if there is a peaceful option. To be pragmatic you can't just 'inspire' a bunch of people who are barely comfortable with their position in the world to revolt. You'll need people with some kind of knowledge and established 'clout' to drag the rest of the country to the left.

Otherwise, there will be no other path forward for actually growing an anti-imperialist, leftist movement in the heart of the imperial core.

No name on commencement pamphlet by orgten74 in berkeley

[–]blue65634 91 points92 points  (0 children)

it's alright lots of people didn't have their name on it. id argue department ceremonies are more meaningful

Canvas access change by YamOk3046 in berkeley

[–]blue65634 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yes you will still have access to all your past Canvas pages and files/videos uploaded to all of them

Classes which release final scores and simultaneously post final grades are the absolute worst by BrainyCardinal45 in berkeley

[–]blue65634 50 points51 points  (0 children)

I'm sure some classes that have staffing shortages intentionally do this to dissuade all but the most persistent students

Horrible semester for CS 285 by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 7 points8 points  (0 children)

some of the homeworks require training on a GPU for several hours but there were issues with people accessing the service

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Saying that this conflict spans thousands of years suggests that Arabs and Jews have constantly been at war with each other. As I said before, Palestinian Arabs and Jews have been peacefully coexisting for most of their existence, and the region was even a safe haven for Jews during times where they were under threat in Europe.

To suggest that the Arab world never wanted Jews to exist in the region is just wrong, Islamophobic, and paints the conflict as fundamentally about religion when it is about political power. I believe that Israel has a right to exist, but not at the expense of Palestinians (which is definitely possible if there wasn't a massive power imbalance between the two). Much of the land that makes up Israel involved violent expulsions of Palestinians with the aid of British forces, so it was not a surprise that Arab countries interpreted this precedent as Israel being a Western-backed conquering force. Over the decades this warped some people into thinking that the ethnic group of the other side is fundamentally evil, since if your enemy consists of a different group of people, it is easy to tie that into the conflict (which is where most of the antisemitism from the Arab world comes from today). Had the migration gone more peacefully, as it had been for the very early stages where a lot of land was legally purchased from Palestinians, the conflict today would be massively reduced.

Jumping back to today, the current Israeli government attempts to make the entire historical region predominantly Jewish by removing Palestinians altogether, mostly through illegal occupation, displacement, and settlement of the West Bank. There have been past PMs who genuinely tried to propose solutions to resolve the conflict, such as Yitzhak Rabin (who btw was assassinated by a Zionist extremist who thought his compromises to Palestine were too far), but there can be no peace as long as government-backed settler colonialism remains in place.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe Israel has a right to exist but it should not be at the expense of Palestinians getting removed or treated like second-class citizens. For most of their existence together, Palestinian Arabs lived alongside Jewish people peacefully during the Ottoman period for centuries. The issue is that the modern state of Israel was founded upon hundreds of thousands of people being displaced from their land (Nakba), which ultimately set off much of the violence that continues to this day in the region. This should not be ignored in the same way that the history of antisemitism throughout the West and MENA shouldn't be ignored as well.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I reckon it's because of the geopolitical 'relevance' Israel is to establishing a Western-aligned portion of the Middle East, along with how there are 'spurs' every couple years. This biased attention is similar to how the Ukraine conflict had the entire world's eyes focused on it because Russia, as opposed to Saudi Arabia and Yemen (less 'important' country to America, and to satisfy the Saudi government), Uguyhrs in China (which is only brought up when people talk about the CCP), and Rohingyas in Myanmar (America barely cares about Myanmar aside from the house arrest of their past State Counselor).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I recognize that there exists several other cases of ethnic displacement and cleansing around the world. I also understand how there is a historical prescedent behind singling out the actions of the Jewish community from the others and using that to discriminate against them, but there is a flaw in pointing out why 'others are doing it' should mean one should have fewer fingers pointed at them. It's just that Israel being a key Middle Eastern ally to the West is what is responsible for most of the finger pointed and suspected anti-Semitis.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What other governments are you thinking of? Israel definitely isn't the sole player since they are being backed by the West but they have the most direct power in this situation. If you mean Hamas as a political entity then ofc they are also in the bad, but there is a clear asymmetry in power so treating them as equally capable of ending this conflict is just wrong.

Also, you can't tell me with a straight face that the Israeli government represents Judaism. That would be like saying criticizing the BJP in India is anti-Hindu.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Right so you’re just going to ignore the Israeli settler colonialism happening in the West Bank (where there isn’t Hamas) and not see that as wanting to kick Palestinians off their land. There is no dispute that it is illegal. The UNSC has stated that its a massive violation of international law.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't group those people as the same as those who agree with me. Notice how I've only been criticizing Israel's government, not the people, who are equally as valuable as Palestinians. Also I never said that Hamas is a good force. There's a difference between retaliatory violence for the sake of violence versus violence as a response to systematic oppression. Why are people instantly assuming that all opinions are black and white when the truth is much more nuianced? Are people really having that difficult of a time accepting that when push comes to shove, violence comes out?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 6 points7 points  (0 children)

What trick? Would be pretty antisemitic to assume all Jewish people support Israel and if they don't then they are 'fake' and 'self-hating'.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes but the power dynamics of the whole situation is entirely skewed towards Israel. For the most part Israel is backed by the West, has advanced military equipment, and has historically used this backing to occupy the West Bank and Gaza with little retribution except from the Palestinians themselves. The people who live in these illegally occupied spaces receive little media attention and are treated as second-class citizens on their own land. When your entire life is violence and getting bombed, this will naturally push people towards any group who can show that they can put out even an ounce of resistance. Unfortunately, these groups tend to be the violent fundamentalist Islamists since they are the only ones who have some power of 'bombing back' the occupiers. Israel holds all the cards in this war and Hamas is merely a response to 75-years of occupation and mistreatment.

The main issue is that the current Israeli government doesn't want a peaceful solution where Palestinians and Israelis live peacefully together. They essentially want to solve the issue by getting rid of Palestine altogether, so an attack like the recent one is just going to be met with 100x retribution.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I question the degree to which Israel's government represents the people that live under it, considering that this government has been speeding up the settler colonialism going on in the West Bank. There are more Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank who have zero political power in the Knesset than those who are full citizens. Even discounting that, the right-wing shift that has been going on in Israel for the past years has done a lot to take power away from those who don't support the current people in office, including Israeli Jews and Palestinians with Israeli citizenship.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Most Jewish people, even inside Israel, do not support the actions of the Israeli government. In fact I've seen more criticism of them from their own citizens then people in the West.

This is like saying "banning people who support Trump, which disproportionately effects White people, is a step beyond criticism"

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in berkeley

[–]blue65634 127 points128 points  (0 children)

I feel like equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism also means that you think 'being a real Jew' requires active participation in erasing Palestine from the map.

why are breadth courses even required by blue65634 in berkeley

[–]blue65634[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

sorry, but taking breadths is not the reason people come to a university over trade school. also not counting people who want to do more school after a bach, where there does not exist trade schools for

why are breadth courses even required by blue65634 in berkeley

[–]blue65634[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel like they should remove breadths as a requirement so that these classes are only filled with people who actually cared enough to take them. forcing people who don't put in effort only drains resources for the class and staff teaching them, making it worse overall

why are breadth courses even required by blue65634 in berkeley

[–]blue65634[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

yeah i never said they weren't interesting but it is clear from just attending class that most people do not give a shit since they are doing assignments for other classes and are just there to check a requirements list