Moving back to the cities lol. Raising the rents and pricing poor, black, and brown people out of their homes. Replacing community structures with mixed-use developments full of corporate chains.

In a way, settlerism recycled.

Yeah, not impossible to analyze for sure. But also, the analysis like you pointed out is a lot more complex. But ultimately, people in the US are subjected to a lot of the harsher effects of capitalism than elsewhere in the Global North. There’s no right to healthcare, insane educational debt, waning home ownership and childbirth, little worker protections or benefits, mass shootings and executions by police just about every day, and we’re all seeing our money being stolen in order to sponsor a genocidal apartheid state. There are a lot of things encouraging Americans to become class conscious, which can ultimately lead them to an awareness of their own settlerism if they follow that consciousness with theory.

Whereas in Israel, the populace is pretty overwhelmingly racist and genocidal and that doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon. If ever.

How much choice does a chronically ill desk admin have when their healthcare is tied to their job at a financial firm? How much choice does an individual dock worker have when it comes to loading weapons onto cargo ship?

Biden’s presidency definitely revealed that.

Yes, first world workers are complicit. That’s just a fact. They benefit from exploitation of the global south in various ways (i.e. cheaper prices on imported goods). Many make their living through assisting imperialism. That doesn’t mean that the first world working class isn’t also exploited or coerced into complicity. It also doesn’t mean that imperialism is in their interest. Obviously, socialism is in their interest. Multiple things can be true at once.

Yep. Honestly, there’s a lot of reaction that’s based more on emotion than fact coming from all sides of the left. It seems like the Pal resistance and Palestinians in general acknowledge Assad as an obstacle to Western imperialism but don’t hold him in high regard as an ally. We’re all aware of the who-must-go meme, but really this regime change felt like a matter of time given how persistent the West has been towards Syria, which has already been in a state of chaos for so long. It makes sense that the resistance isn’t exactly supportive of him.

America is also heavily populated with those who were the descendents of enslaved people and those who were themselves the victims of US imperialism, whether indigenous or immigrant. While there is the US government and a dangerous faction of US white nationalists, the people themselves are a whole lot more complex than the Israeli populace. Time will tell when more things come to a head here, but there’s more reason to be optimistic about the American working class than other countries in the Global North.

The important thing to keep in mind for anyone discouraged from this event is that this does not change the prognosis for the US. The empire is decline, no doubt about it. We all knew that it would be violently lashing out and causing more destruction and instability on its way out. But the US and Global North neoliberal governments in general simply cannot resolve the internal contradictions they have created.

It’s literally the same emotional reaction that critics of the Iraq War were receiving. If you were against the Iraq War that meant you apparently loved Saddam Hussein and “weren’t listening to Iraqis.” Apparently only Syrians are allowed to have an opinion on Syria because they’re Syrians – irregardless of their ideology.

Bad faith actors on social media are using this as an opportunity to divide the anti-imperialist movement by, once again, appealing to identity politics.

If Biden has revealed anything about the office of the US presidency, it’s that the president doesn’t actually seem to control much of anything. The president can be a walking corpse and the state handlers will continue to follow the script.

If geopolitics is actually their interest, I share John Mearscheimer’s lecture on Ukraine with them. It both helps that he isn’t a communist and that his analysis and breakdown is accurate and accessible.

I used to have a few Dutch friends. It was jarring how cavalier they were about Black Pete and how in denial they were about the racism associated with the tradition. A very similar mindset to white Americans who think it’s okay to dress up like Pocohantas as a costume.

Especially as a Chinese person. Chinese-Americans and other East Asian demographics are gonna have a seriously bad time this decade in America. They are in a similar social position as Jews were when the Nazis were gearing up for war against the USSR.

Not that every other marginalized group isn’t also in peril in the US. Of course they are. But I don’t think anyone is prepared for what the bipartisan US ruling class consensus against China will lead to.

Honestly, imo they lost the election before Gaza even entered the mainstream conversation. The Dems the past 4 years have exhibited nothing but betrayal after betrayal of their constituency. From record deportations of immigrants, to crushing labor strikes, to escalating the trade war with China, to deceiving the public about COVID relief, to bungled natural disaster responses, to lying about Biden’s obvious cognitive decline, etc.

Gaza was just the nail in the coffin.

So goddamn maddening how these people don’t pay attention to anything except for vibes. Liberals are gonna continue to get us all killed.

Have you tried MeetUp? Might very well be able to find people into your niche.

Yup. Welcome aboard comrade. Try not to let it break your sanity.

Absolutely frightening. This technology will eventually trickle both abroad and even be encouraged to use by US police forces.

Not only that, but artists absolutely embue elements from their subconscious into their work. When we talk about the author’s intention, what we’re really talking about is their ego’s contribution to their work. They can give their works meaning that they didn’t consciously intend or even that they disagree with.

Yep. It is almost impossible to exist peacefully here unless you make at least twice as much as the average working person and happen to be born white.