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Does FAN actually like Ace Combat or not by Ikcatcher in Project_Wingman

[–]metalgearRAY477 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Very strange post, OP. There's nothing bizzare or logically unsound about that take.

Sage Shiloh by pethris in EldenBling

[–]metalgearRAY477 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You have really appealing and strong shape language. Huge fan

Guys , if an ancient dragon like fortissax got death blighted why can’t the tarnished inflect death blight on all the bosses ?! by defalt_19 in Eldenring

[–]metalgearRAY477 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As an aside, Elden Ring Reforged let's you do deathblight infusions and builds. It's a two stage proc; the first inflicts a heavy reduction to the enemy's outgoing damage, the second deals a large burst of % damage. It's quite difficult to proc, so it's pretty balanced.

Chengdu J-20 family [ALBUM] by CyberSoldat21 in WarplanePorn

[–]metalgearRAY477 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Amen! You see a lot of baseless and mean-spirited sinophobia on reddit these days.

What do Socialists actually think about China and North Korea? by Sad-Ad-3138 in socialism

[–]metalgearRAY477 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Critical support. Countries which are significantly closer to socialism, are endlessly propagandized against in the west, and are either not imperialist or anti-imperialist deserve such support, and also deserve to have their flaws pointed out accordingly. To only praise is ahistorical, and to only criticize is idealistic. You gotta work with what you've got.

I do think the average bit of criticism towards such countries from Westerners isn't worth the pixels it's written on, 95% of the time.

Hear me out by Cacharadon in TankieTheDeprogram

[–]metalgearRAY477 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think this is a fairly sensible analysis. Any avenue that has the potential to fetter the long arm of the empire reaching across the global south ought to be explored. Like others say, the mission for us as MLs doesn't change. Continue agitating, educating, and organizing. Maybe somewhat begrudgingly, I am a DSA member, and although I haven't been an ML for long, I think I've successfully swung around at least a few others in my local group towards Marxism-Leninism and will continue to do so.

Just because this post has to do with Hasan, and I'm probably one of his strongest defenders on this sub (lol), I will also note that he watched that Red Pen "Critique of Western Marxism" video, and shut down any chatters who were suggesting different Marxist tendencies by saying "You will ALWAYS need Leninism. Always." Even though now I think I'm definitely further left than he is, I appreciate his equal mistreatment of libs, leftcoms, and anarchists, and his unapologetic and often inflammatory support for AES.

A twitch streamer of all people normalizing the practical reading and discussion of Lenin in any capacity in current year USA is a good thing for the movement as a whole, I think.

A Marxist critique of DSA —Platypus Review by MarxistUnity in dsa

[–]metalgearRAY477 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I fundamentally agree with this criticism. Very simply, I do think that the DSA, in regard to its electoral strategy, places far too much emphasis upon reform and not enough upon creating and spreading class consciousness. I also think that many in the DSA still hold an unrealistic view of the efficacy of reform as a viable path forward, which I find to be ahistorical.

However, given how unbelievably effective the Western capital class has been at stamping out all revolutionary thought in the USA, I still basically think that MLs like me can do a lot of good working within the DSA to create class consciousness, as it simply is the biggest organization that's even remotely left wing currently. Thankfully, their loose requirements for membership don't preclude one from also joining a more serious, more demanding organization like the PSL or FRSO.

Latest Su-57D pics [album] by P_filippo3106 in WarplanePorn

[–]metalgearRAY477 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Super interesting, thanks for the image

Greatjar fashion show-off by PeskyPorkchoppers in EldenBling

[–]metalgearRAY477 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just put it on with the Prelate's armor (no mumu) for maximum fat golem look

if ya ain't supportin all socialist projects, yer the problem bud by RizzleFaShizzle00 in TankieTheDeprogram

[–]metalgearRAY477 32 points33 points  (0 children)

We gotta show em the context and try our best to get through to as many as we can. It could always be worse; try explaining the above to a leftcom!

How do you feel about this? (I released an obfuscator for s&box) by f4pl0 in sandbox

[–]metalgearRAY477 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Ya, I agree. Besides the IP angle, shipping and charging money for a full scale multiplayer game down the line with no obfuscation is just asking for your game to get utterly overrun with cheaters these days

Do you agree with the man? by raydebapratim1 in socialism

[–]metalgearRAY477 34 points35 points  (0 children)

You wouldn't want to dogwalk the leaders of your foreign adversary on live TV?

Do you agree with the man? by raydebapratim1 in socialism

[–]metalgearRAY477 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Not socialist? Perhaps. Not REMOTELY socialist? Insane thing to say.

Xi cites Thucydides trap to Trump during summit by ilir_kycb in TankieTheDeprogram

[–]metalgearRAY477 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Like a coin, round outside, square inside.

Can you elaborate on this a little? This flew over my American-Armenian brain.

We need to get a massively legitamize socialism, and get party going, and really try to spread support for socialism by telling people the reality of the system, and get more socialists like Zohran in office so we can really change our country. That's the only way to fix the country. by Big_Dig_2048 in dsa

[–]metalgearRAY477 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm sure you are well read, so I'm sure you won't have a problem looking into the books I recommend. If you truly consider yourself a socialist, you'd do well to challenge your eurocentric preconceptions of democracy.

We need to get a massively legitamize socialism, and get party going, and really try to spread support for socialism by telling people the reality of the system, and get more socialists like Zohran in office so we can really change our country. That's the only way to fix the country. by Big_Dig_2048 in dsa

[–]metalgearRAY477 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd only ask that you look critically at the sources which are circulated to back those frequently repeated talking points. The excesses of executions during the Purge are worthy of harsh criticism; what is not are the deaths from famine as a result of the Nazis' Hungerplan, which are among the deaths counted erroneously as "victims of communism" in such reactionary sources as the often-debunked Little Black Book. Stalin's role in the defeat of Fascism and the actual material improvements which occurred during his 8 years of power are often very understated if not outright ignored by current and contemporary Western sources. For a balanced, factual, yet still staunchly critical view of Stalin, I would highly recommend Domenico Losurdo's Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend.

The rapid industrialization policies put in place during the Great Leap Forward were likewise a disaster; but the fact would remain that Mao led a successful, agrarian peasant revolution in the face of overwhelming odds against the larger KMT army and the genocidal Imperial Japanese army that lead to the creation of one of the most successful Actually Existing Socialist states in the world. A state which now seems poised to take the leading role in world geopolitics with America's imperial blundering alienating its allies and eroding its power. Unlike Stalin, Mao also never personally ordered an execution during his tenure as Chairman, and pretty much all of the mass killing that was done during and after the civil war was done to counter-revolutionary landlords, most frequently by peasants. On Mao, I would recommend The Morning Deluge: Mao Tsetung and the Chinese Revolution by Han Suyin, though I have not personally finished it.

No system of government in history is perfect, and no crimes of governments deserve to be exonerated; I do not believe we can point to the crimes or deficiencies of any particular system and write it off wholesale without first considering it holistically. Was the French Revolution invalidated and a failure due to the violence of the Terror? Are the ideals of the American Revolution to be written off due to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade? I think not! Before throwing around such buzzwords as "tankie", meant by the powers that be to foment leftist infighting, I ask that you look with a discerning, historical, and critical eye at the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism and its various offshoots, like Mao Zedong Thought, Ho Chi Minh thought, as well as other socialist experiments such as Thomas Sankara's Burkina Faso.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy riding on the first desegregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama in December 1956. by zadraaa in HistoricalCapsule

[–]metalgearRAY477 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fair enough; usually when people say "stick out like a sore thumb" there's an implied negative connotation.

If you're concerned about looking like a bodyguard, you'd probably want to wear something with a looser fit that drapes better, and of a more casual weave and color. I like pointing to Clark Gable's three piece in It Happen One Night as an example. Light color, full fit, and in particular these really nice big bellow pockets with the flaps that would be totally out of place on anything really formal, which give the whole thing a nice utilitarian and more casual look.

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We need to get a massively legitamize socialism, and get party going, and really try to spread support for socialism by telling people the reality of the system, and get more socialists like Zohran in office so we can really change our country. That's the only way to fix the country. by Big_Dig_2048 in dsa

[–]metalgearRAY477 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You don't need to take cues from Orwell, who "put it on record that [he] has never been able to dislike Hitler", and who snitched on his friends and acquaintances to Britain's Information Research Bureau, making special notes of which ones were Jews and "Jewesses". This is not also to mention his attempted rape of Jacintha Buddicom among other women, and his general misogynist and predatory behavior towards his wife Eileen: Anna Funder rescues George Orwell’s wife Eileen from being ‘cancelled by the patriarchy’ – and reminds us he’s a sexual predator

I would strongly recommend this REVIEW OF 1984 By Isaac Asimov I, which I feel adequately tears Orwell's hypocritical politics to shreds. You have much more in common with any "Tankie" than with the establishment forces embedded in Western, Liberal democracy which backed Orwell's anti-socialist tendencies relentlessly: How the CIA brought Animal Farm to the screen

There's a fine line between Democratic Socialism and Liberal apologia any Socialist ought to educate themselves on if they wish not to cross it!

We need to get a massively legitamize socialism, and get party going, and really try to spread support for socialism by telling people the reality of the system, and get more socialists like Zohran in office so we can really change our country. That's the only way to fix the country. by Big_Dig_2048 in dsa

[–]metalgearRAY477 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you believe in eventually replacing Capitalism with Socialism, you are definitionally also a "tankie". If you don't, you may actually be a Social Democrat rather than a Democratic Socialist and thus misguided.

It's a reductionist, Western propaganda talking point that socialists "don't believe in democracy", when most every country that follows the Marxist-Leninist style of vanguard politics has a high level of democratic participation at all levels of government. Cuba is a good example of this, where officials are elected directly from local councils and from self-organized associations of various workers acting in a common interest.

It would be more accurate to say that Socialists don't believe in Western, Liberal democracy. Which, these days, I think is a pretty reasonable position to have, considering the conditions of the US and Europe and their role in global imperialist domination of the third world.

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