Welcome again to everybody! Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
● Matrix homeserver and space
● Theory discussion group on Matrix
● Find theory on ProleWiki, marxists.org, Anna’s Archive and libgen.
● Audio versions by Socialism For All
gawd i hate orange site with every fiber of my being
Also NK already has anime. Squirrel and Hedgehog slaps and it’s from the 80s. I’m also pretty sure NK must have furries as a result
i keep seeing merch and sports gear that college students are wearing here with america and taiwan flags attached to them. in japan btw.
First they give you the bible, and by the time you finish reading it they’ve stolen all of your land.
I had a discussion on trans people with my family in law today and it got really nasty. As in, I walked out of the room out of madness nasty. Screaming nasty. I’m not proud of it but I snapped when I heard the ‘rapist toilet’ argument come up again.
Good on you for arguing though
Yeah. Just a shame I let myself get angry. But if they conceil their arguments behind a thin veil of ‘concern’ while the arguments contain the words ‘mental disorder’ and ‘rape’ and ‘but our current heteronormative society mag not be ready’ even I seem to have my limits.
I hope it does not affect the relationship with your girlfriend
I was going to say “should we ban poc from going to the bathroom because racists are scared of them” then I remembered they’ll probably say yes
You see, we need to have a discussion about that. And when the white people feel comfortable enough, maybe we will allow them.
Major support if you grabbed the person making that “argument” and throw them in a toilet.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the carnation revolution in Portugal. Libs seem to have forgotten what the revolution supported.
And now they are talking about celebrating another date, 25th november, which marks the end of the revolution and the start of the turn towards capitalist western succdem government. Dudes really love discrediting actually liberating movements
yep, what a time to be alive.
It’s unfortunate how forgotten this piece of history is outside of Portugal. I also find it funny that I’m the only person in my family that “celebrates” this day.
Yep, April 25th marks the day when the Portuguese working class, with the MFA (movimento das forças armadas) took down fascism and almost made Portugal a socialist country.
I just noticed the text in the post am I the weekly general thread? @graineater
what do you mean, there is no mention of you in the post
I can’t believe you are gaslighting me
I only use LED lights
Hey why is there a secret link in this post? For how long have you been doing this
clearly you have hacked into the Lemmygrad server and manipulated the database
It’s Kings Day in the Netherlands today. I’m against the monarchy so I’ll not wear the royal color Orange when I go outside. For me it’s just an excuse to go party, but this year I’m less in the mood than usual
I always feel like a sour twat in my communist anti monarchist vibe this day. Luckily i live in Belgium now.
Got in a discussion on Reddit about sex work and the whole white, male ‘WOMEN SEXUAL LIBERATION REEEE’ crowd came crawling out of their basements to downvote. To them, sex work is this perverse fantasy of a white woman being empowered instead of the reality in which 99% are human trafficking victims in horrible conditions.
Obligatory recommendation of “prostitution and ways of fighting it” by alexandea Kollontai
I’m “softer” (lol) on sexwork than most marxists are, and I think it tends to be unfairly demonized, often into SWERF territory.
Of course it’s not that simple or black and white, and nobody should be pressured or coerced into sex work, and it is a genuine horrific travesty that many women find themselves in because they need to make end’s meet, and this is especially true among women and afab of color.
I’ve spoken to women who are prostitutes and who are also marxists and are genuinely empowered by their work, and have their own thoughts and perspectives that deserve respect and consideration, though since I do live in the global north/collective west, I can’t even imagine how bad things are for women who are forced into it, even after reading about, especially in the global south, and the global north too.
Not that it particularly matters, nor is there likely anyway of measuring the statistics, but I’d be woeful of saying that 99 percent of sexworkers are trafficking victims.
But I don’t mean to completely disagree with you, and the percentage is definitely way more than most expect.
99% was a bit of an exeggaration but over here in Belgium it is estimated that around 85% of the people in prostitution are actually trafficked into it. And then there are some people who fall into a grey area of being semi forced into it and then we have a tiny minority who do it out of empowerment.
I used to work with human trafficking victims and almost everyone of them used to be a sex worker. There seems to be this liberal fantasy in which sex work is one of the highest tiers of womens liberation but the reality is just so far removed from that, that we need to abolish this system entirely.
That being said, I am not going against sex workers who do speak up for better conditions and rights, etc. I support the sex workers struggle against the system of course. I have nothing against a free sexual spirit, I am all for it. I just do hope we, as a society, manage to move past viewing sex as labour in order to keep existing.
Are conservatives actually also libs? Yeah they’re also proponents of capitalism and idealists, but are they just conservative liberals? I can see how they would be, cons also believe in nebulous ideas like human rights, they just don’t even pretend that they should be extended to the out-group.
yes, both “liberals” and “conservatives” in USian terminology are liberals
I don’t mean Dem/Repub. I was more just curious if there was some philosophical backing, like a (even more) conservative Bentham. It didn’t seem correct but I also didn’t want to call a Republican a lib and have them somehow know that no no I’m wrong cus reasons. Idk
I wouldn’t worry about that. Most libs don’t read theory and the ones who do openly admit to one label or another. Classical liberal, neoliberal, etc. Conservative liberals like to be specific about which one they are. ‘Progressive’ liberals are sometimes specific – that’s mostly the politicians, the policymakers, etc.
The average voter, including the academic liberal, tends to be general and to use the word in this fluffy way that somehow means progress but without stopping global exploitation. These are the ones who can themselves liberal and think they know what it means but completely fail to understand the implications. They’re at most danger of cognitive dissonance because there’s no way to square the contradictions. That said, even ‘conservative’ liberals tend to dismiss accusations of their racism; there’s almost always a ‘but …’.
Neither the classical liberal nor the neoliberal nor the social democratic Keynesiam liberal care much about the out group, though. It’s all there in the main works. They just don’t like being called out on it. But you try to explain how all those cheap items end up in the western supermarket and reverb the most progressive liberal will start hand-winging.
Roughly, a liberal is someone who believes in the right to private property and prioritizes individual rights over collective rights. I’ve never heard of a conservative (in the context of capitalist countries) who didn’t fit this definition
Got a couple questions for the e-bike users. We got some here, I think.
Are they usable in winter? Not california winter, proper winter. Knee deep snow, - 30C, the whole nine yards.
How much space are they taking up? I understand there are foldables, but they still look big-ish.
Depends on how your local roads/side walks/pathways are maintained. If the snow is cleared, e bikes work just fine, but your range will be hurt a bit. A bad headwind will also mean your range goes down a lot (wind seems worse in the winter where I am, but that could be some sort of confirmation bias). The times I’ve biked through Blizzard conditions/extreme wind and cold I was very glad to have the e assist on the bike. Those days are rare though, and the primary consideration in my mind is how well things are maintained the rest of the year.
That being said, a path that hasn’t been cleared in days is basically unusable for any bike. Maybe a fat-tire bike could work, but I don’t have experience with that.
In terms of space, I use my bike all the time so I’ve made space for it in my apartment.
Maybe is should ask, what type of ebike are you looking to get? There is quite a range of types. Mine is basically just a normal bike with a motor assist.
what type of ebike are you looking to get?
That’s what I’m trying to determine. Most likely something beyond simple assist, and more along the lines of “moped that I could pedal if the battery dies”
Iowa ebike user here.
They’re “usable” to a certain extent, but range is cut by the cold and the wind on your skin is murder. Also, of course, you should never ride if there isn’t sand on the ground for your tires to grip or (even better) you have studded tires - even the smallest patch of ice can be disastrous.
But you can totally do it. I got some strap on arm guards for my handlebars and my helmet has a visor to block the wind, works pretty well.
Thank you! What’s your bike model, if you don’t mind me asking?
Magnum Peak! Kinda heavy, I use it to mostly ride gravel roads. Great for rural commuting.
Boss make a dollar
I make a dime
I scroll lemmygrad
On company time
Praxis
I hope you all have a nice week :D
You too!
I can dig it!
You too comrade ! 🫡
😌👍🏼
You too oppo!
I’ve been blessed
You 2 oppo!!! :D
Me destroying bourgeois propaganda 💪💪💪
As always, death to the Zionist entity
I moved this weekend and I am sore as fuck now. Always a stressful thing, moving. But it was worth it I think. It’s a nice new place. Life is sort of tiring at the moment and I hope things get better soon. At least it is supposed to be better weather soon. Can’t wait to start my herb nursery on my new balcony.
I hope everyone has a nice week.
Now that you said “I hope everyone has a nice week” did you prepair the capybara video for @graineater
My capybara collection is still in a box somewhere. I have to unpack it still.
