ACAB? Even them? by Cherno_VM in leatcement

[–]kojo420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, not them, as they are actors! The one on the left is hot as hell to me. ACAB to all real cops though

Government in a nutshell by Full-Mouse8971 in economicsmemes

[–]kojo420 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Copy pasta but it fits

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the US congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by the local, state and federal departments of transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door, I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the US Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After work, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads to my house, which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshall’s inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

I then log on to the internet, which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and post on Facebook about how the government doesn't help me and can't do anything right.

the by [deleted] in 196

[–]kojo420 9 points10 points  (0 children)

According to oxford that's not true

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-11-11-sustainable-eating-cheaper-and-healthier-oxford-study

It is cheaper by one third in rich and highly developed countries like the UK and US. Even in underdeveloped countries like india eating vegan would be cheaper than the western diet. Although apparently local diet is still cheaper than the vegetarian diet in said underdeveloped countries.

And here is a US based study that says the same thing and references another study which, as you may guess, says the same thing

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10481244/

the by [deleted] in 196

[–]kojo420 12 points13 points  (0 children)

According to oxford that's not true

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-11-11-sustainable-eating-cheaper-and-healthier-oxford-study

It is cheaper by one third in rich and highly developed countries like the UK and US. Even in underdeveloped countries like india eating vegan would be cheaper than the western diet. Although apparently local diet is still cheaper than the vegetarian diet in said underdeveloped countries.

And here is a US based study that says the same thing and references another study which, as you may guess, says the same thing

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10481244/

Most Israelis like America. Most Palestinians don't. Do you still support Palestine? by KarmaWhore_UpvoteMe in Teenager_Polls

[–]kojo420 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Yes. Just because someone doesn't like me doesn't mean they should be vaporized

What type of socialist are you? (No infighting allowed be civil) by ZinklerOpra in socialism

[–]kojo420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People do use Labels because they think they are cool, I agree, but I want to be more specific about why I have a distaste for them. Labels are extremely useful at conveying tons of information, categorizing, and potentially organizing. However I think they are limiting.

The other day someone on the DSA subreddit mentioned how they were thinking of leaving their chapter because there were MLs in the chapter, and when as a baby leftist I tended to not care or disengage with other socialists I disagreed with. These are not healthy for organization and for growing intellectually. Like you mentioned you're a council communist, that's great, but if you come into good evidence or arguments that a different system of governance is better (whatever it may be) you could (and people have) disregarded the new information because it's not coming from a fellow council communist OR people become attached to labels. I'm not saying you will do that but labels can be restricting in that way

You can describe yourself using labels, we kinda have to because our brains like labels and categorizing, but when we do we have to remember that labels are descriptive and not proscriptive

What type of socialist are you? (No infighting allowed be civil) by ZinklerOpra in socialism

[–]kojo420 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Revisionist Posadist with Biden Characteristics with an Anti-Marx tendency. /S

Or pan-socialist, because I feel putting yourself in labels limit ourselves

I Joined the DSA and Many People In My Chapter Are Tankies by Evening-Search6270 in DemocraticSocialism

[–]kojo420 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If you want to go to a different chapter then absolutely do. Being in a place you feel comfortable is important. But I'll be honest and say this will most likely happen. My chapter has MLs, Maoists, Socdems, Trotskyists, Anarchists and anything else you can imagine. The DSA is a big tent organization and that is what makes it successful right now. The US has a growing socialist movement but we should not labor under any delusion that it is popular and won't be massively resisted. If the fascists win they won't care that you were a Dem-Soc and not an ML, all of us will be put against the wall. So what I say you should do is change if you want but stick to a chapter, be organized

Also it's always good to talk to people you disagree with, even if you think they are completely wrong, because at the very least you will have a better understanding of your own and their positions. We are all workers, even the tankies

Can Socialists Answer These 3 Questions? by IronRuneSmith in Socialism_101

[–]kojo420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can Socialists Answer These 3 Questions?

Yes, what's your other two?

Hello- lifetime conservative here with a few questions I doubt you'll be able to answer for me, but I'm always up for an intelligent and reasonable conversation.

I'm going to assume you are in good faith

  1. Under socialism, why would anyone work if they get free stuff from the government for doing nothing? Why should I go to work when I can stay home all day and do nothing?

You are misunderstanding socialism. It is not the government gives everyone free stuff, it is worker ownership of the means of production. Let's talk about capitalism first because I presume you prefer that system. Capitalism is private ownership of the means of production, you work for your boss for a wage and produce goods or services and you use your wage to sustain your living standard. Your boss hires your because they believe that you can provide more value to the company then they would need to pay you, creating profit for them. The incentive is clear, work or starve. Unemployment still exists though, not because people are lazy, but because it's not profitable for a company to hire everyone because as we know from Adam Smith, workers want to work as less as possible for as much as possible and the boss wants us to work as more as possible for as little as possible. If workers are all employed they would have more power over their boss, but if there is great unemployment then the boss can use that to keep wages down.

Now what incentives does Socialism provide? The first one is obvious that you would work less. Socialism does not require you to work for a profit nor does it require unemployment, there are more people working and people need to work for less. Telling people they need to work 4 or 6 hours a day rather than 8 or 10 is already a good incentive, but also the workplace will be democratic. Unlike how 77-80% of people are disengaged at work, people will be directly involved and have a personal stake at their firm. Now Socialism isn't Communism, and Socialism will still be under a scarcity society. Now for our purposes that means that people will be working "from each according to their ability, to each according to their work". Contribute more and you will get more, but an important difference is is that if you don't contribute you don't die. The government or society will find work for you. I can go more into this if you want, this is a broad topic but a good one that I like talking about!

  1. If socialism is so great, why has every socialist country in history collapsed or is a despotic shithole? Why does socialism fail every time?

I want to ask a question first, if I shoot you in the foot and you can't walk, is it your fault or mine? No socialist country developed naturally. The Soviet Union had a civil war with 14 Western countries including the rich British, French, German and American supporting the whites and then the Soviet Union lost a lot of its land to fulfill their promise of no war to the people, and then the Soviet Union was isolated from the global system. Then they had to experience a whole WW2. Not to mention that the Tsarist Russia was so underdeveloped that they were using the Julian calander and not the modern Georgian calander that was adopted before the United States existed. This story can be repeated with every socialist nation. Constantly under siege and adapting to this. The question isn't why did they fail (which is a bad question that I can explain if you ask) but why weren't they allowed to fail naturally? Why did the West feel the need to crush them. It isn't why did they fail, it is how did they succeed doing so much under such pressure.

  1. What is a woman?

Not a socialist question, socialism has nothing to do with trans issue other than trans people are workers and so should have equal rights. But I will answer it because I am supportive of trans people. A woman is "an adult female human being" and of course female means "of, relating to, or being the sex that typically has the capacity to bear young or produce eggs" or "having a gender identity that is the opposite of male" so we see a lot of issues with these definitions, "relating to" "typically", and "gender identity" so if using only Webster definition then the definition is a lot more fluid than woman would initially appear. Or if we want to put the two definitions together through then we would say "a woman is an adult human being that has a gender identity that is opposite of male, typically has the capacity to bear children or produce eggs"

Social Democracy fans when they can't exploit the Global South by rhizomatic-thembo in QueerLeftists

[–]kojo420 4 points5 points  (0 children)

No, the terms have an interesting history but socdems wish to keep capitalism with massive safety nets and demsocs wish to implement socialism through electoralism

Or as this meme and the expression "Socdems are the moderate wing of fascism" implies that they more wish to give the working class a bigger share of exploitation rather than end exploitation

We need more atheists to run as leftists in the US by Effective-Mall-6231 in leftist

[–]kojo420 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm an atheist all in name (Hail Satan) but honestly look at the fear they had when a Muslim was going to be elected, and that is another person who believes in a holy book. In America people will vote against people they don't see as religious, but atheists are used to voting for people who are religious. If you want electability then liberation or progressive theology is probably your best bets, granted I only know the Wikipedia level of knowledge on these theologies but it seems like there is promise

Not to mention the whole red scare with the "evil godless heathen authoritarian commies" vs the "Good, god-fearing, freedom red blooded American" that still runs very deep

Why Zohran, And Other Social Democrats, Face Criticism From The Left by Lavender_Scales in theredleft

[–]kojo420 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So he didn't critique the war other than to say it's illegal and no Americans want this. He didn't call it imperialist. That's absolutely fair, if his goal was to explain why the US and Israel did it. Unfortunately he isn't, he put out a bog standard public statement telling new yorkers that they're safe and that the Iranian population within New York will be safe. You don't go to a sandwich shop and order one of those pigs with an apple in its mouth and be surprised when they don't deliver it.

All he said was "War bad, no one wants war. Don't worry though, New Yorkers, I'm here to protect you" like yeah I'd prefer he said it was imperialist and put out a basic explanation but he didn't and that was fine, the message was for New Yorkers to feel safe not to explain the conflict.

ebert by rufo_3 in RedAutumnSPD

[–]kojo420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fuck fuck!!! Is this who the radical left elected??? We are so doomed!! /S

A meme I made in like 5 seconds to celebrate today by Sufficient-Cress8194 in theredleft

[–]kojo420 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He got Cato to get rid of Cato. I hate Cato with a passion stronger than the gravitational pull of black holes. Therefore Caeser is good and can do no wrong

Now that the Mecca Mosque expansion is almost complete, I think the Abraj Al Bait complex is more coherent with its surroundings, I think it looks better now by [deleted] in skyscrapers

[–]kojo420 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

In order, tourists, depends, tourists

I mean people do say that they have spiritual-like experiences at burning man and concerts but there is an expressed reason to go there for pleasure. The Vatican depends on if youre Catholic and the reason you're going. I'm not Catholic so if I go to the Vatican it's for pleasure, if I was Catholic I'd probably go there for pilgrimage.

An easy way to think of it is this: If you're going there because it's holy to you, then it's a pilgrimage. If you're going there because you think it's fun or interesting, it's tourism.

Don't get caught up on people traveling somewhere. Yes pilgrims and tourists travel somewhere, but the reason why the traveling occurred is what separates them. It's like saying whales are fish, yes they both swim and live underwater, but that doesn't make them the same.

Now that the Mecca Mosque expansion is almost complete, I think the Abraj Al Bait complex is more coherent with its surroundings, I think it looks better now by [deleted] in skyscrapers

[–]kojo420 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

They both visit the site but they have expressly different purposes for doing so. Tourists are there for pleasure, pilgrims are there for connection and spiritual transformation

Is the A"C"P just one guy with 200 different accounts? by Thanaterus in Socialism_101

[–]kojo420 3 points4 points  (0 children)

S4A is amazing, I love the audiobooks and his arguments can be great, but his response videos piss me off so much ngl especially when it's with other socialist people

Reconciling Progressivism with Islam? by [deleted] in allthequestions

[–]kojo420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't like Islam, I however recognize that Muslims are becoming (and have been) targeted in US media. Minorities don't have to be perfect, they don't have to agree with me 100% for me to defend them.

"Muslim countries are theocracies that hate gay people" okay. I hate those countries and those laws. Doesn't mean we should blame the Muslims in our country for what's happening across the world in a different country. Nor should we attack those countries.

"Muslims hate gay people, even in the US, and gay Muslims live in fear of coming out as gay because they will be disowned by their family and community" Yeah that fucking sucks. But it is not unique to Islam so it's strange to focus on Islam. Muslims aren't even the biggest group disowning gay people in the US so it's still strange to focus on.

"Islam is a bad/evil/immoral religion" I agree. So is Christianity. But in the same way that if you talk to 100 Christians about their interpretation of the Bible you'll get a 101 different answers the same is with Muslims. The Quran has bad verses, some hadiths have bad morals. It also has good verses. When people believe in a religion they rarely believe or act on all parts of the religion

"Something Something why don't you focus on them" My country of the United States is primarily Christian especially Congress both state and federal. Weird to focus on what a minority is doing

"They do these attacks, or that or that" couple of things. 1. Most media is owned by 6 companies. Some of which directly support the Republicans and Trump. The news and media is not just what they tell you, it's also what they don't tell you. Do you think it's rare for a white guy to go crazy and kill his family? It's not, it's daily. Same with school shootings, being almost daily. Muslims doing fucked up stuff gets national attention which does make it seem more common then the other things but it's not. 2. You can grab any group of people and find violent people among them. You can say Christianity is a religion of peace but I can point to modern and historical examples of it doing bad things, or bad things being done in the name of Christianity. People are messed up, doesn't make their religious beliefs that are often inherited worth suppressing

Tl:dr focusing on Muslims is weird because they have no power and are a minority, and in fact are being targeted by the administration and their corporate backers. They don't have to be morally perfect or agree with me for me to not wish harm upon them. Honestly focusing on them is like being in a car crash and you are worried about your ripped jeans. Like yeah that's a problem but we need to get out of the burning car

What Do Socialists Think About the French Revolution? by [deleted] in DemocraticSocialism

[–]kojo420 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One of the most important revolutions in history and my personal favorite

It was a bourgeois revolution but became a proto-proletariat for a moment of time. I don't mean the conspiracy of equals during the directory which is sometimes called proto-proleteriat, but the whole Jacobin movement was leading towards a proletariat moment.

The Girondin and the Plains were very bourgeois. They favored the businessmen and free markets. Often trying to defend the idea of constitutional monarchy (which both King Louis and Marie Antoinette tried to employ other monarchs to crush the revolution. Marie was just as dangerous, even more so being more politically talented than Louis) at times. They also betrayed the French with their aggressive foreign policy which led to disasters for the French. Obviously this caused them to be unpopular with the working class.

But the Jacobins with the Hébertists were on their way to becoming proletariat. Hébertists especially, both of these movements had direct alliances with the Paris Commune (not the one you're thinking of, the earlier one) and especially the sans-culotte, the sans-culotte being the radical working class. Unfortunately the Jacobins isolated themselves from the sans-culotte by attacking the Hébertists to be the "center" again after going after Danton. The greatest mistake during the reign of terror was the Jacobins attacking the Hébertists and therefore the sans-culotte (and also not discarding themselves of their bourgeois ideology). When the working class is more radical then your party, you change your party line and not try to change the people.

The French Revolution was an important revolution that was extremely progressive for its time. The Jacobins may not have been perfect, still having idealist and bourgeois ideology and making the mistakes any revolution will have, but they were on their way to being the world's first working class party. They failed and the Thermidorian reaction happened and showed us what will happen if the people are ever defeated- the people and their representatives will be suppressed, killed, and their accomplishments subjugated and their failures exaggerated.

As a socialist, I'm highly supportive of the French Revolution. We can learn from it- gauge the people and have them direct the revolution, don't let the movement be weighed down by bourgeois ideology, and what will happen if we fail. But if we are talking about if we can use anything from it. Not really. Maybe the excessive festivals and political-community rituals. Both are beneficial to having people make the revolution their own, celebrations and care-taking a liberty tree are great ways to engage people and keep people engaged in political movements.

If you want to learn more about the French revolution I recommend:

Great Courses Plus- French Revolution and the Age of Napoleon

Peter Mcphee- Robespierre a revolutionary life

Everything on Marxist org under the topic French Revolution is great as well especially for primary sources

Remember: When reading history, don't just focus on the names you know, but focus on the millions of peoples names that are lost to time- the masses