“Something caused it to change” isn’t the same as “it changed itself by living the way it once did.” I know that’s granular, but that distinction is important.

You don’t need a source. Just point out that Norway’s economy isn’t any more separate from Britain’s economy than Nigeria’s economy.

If they had a little awareness, they’d notice how closely these fictional atrocities committed by foreign powers mirror their firsthand knowledge of atrocities committed by their own governments.

Not me dusting off my (REDACTED)

DiaMat takes a long time to come to grips with because we are consistently made to think in non-dialectical and non-material terms. We are taught to conceive of systems as being created by a higher power with objectives in mind. Your heart is there to pump blood and your lungs are there to take oxygen into your body because if they don’t your cells can’t respirate and they will die. Plants bear flowers so pollinators will move gametes from plant to plant. It’s not true, but it’s the way we’re taught to think.

It makes no more sense to say “this young man is strong and healthy so he can work for his boss and fight for his country. This young woman ovulates so she can bear children for her husband.”

If you understand that these statements are nonsense, it shouldn’t be difficult to understand that banks are not there to provide loans and credit, that groceries are not there to feed people, and that factories are not there to produce material goods. They aren’t there to make capitalists rich either. This is just a reframing of the same unscientific thinking

The unscientific way of thinking says “the system is the way it is because that’s the way it works. If it didn’t work this way, it wouldn’t exist.” It’s completely circular.

The scientific way says “This system is this way because existing the way it used to caused it to change into what it is now. Existing in its current form will cause it to change further in the future.”

“Won’t someone rid me of these turbulent forests?”

The way this is being framed as “law enforcement” is wildly chauvinistic. What laws? I know I should be jaded and cynical and know to expect this nonsense, but I really didn’t see that one coming.

Economy bad —> less consumption —> economy bad —> less consumption —> economy bad…

People saying that China “capitulated” to global capitalism or whatever can start apologizing now.

“Some are saying the color of your skin can help determine whether or not you can make your mortgage payments! For those with bad credit, it could be a blessing.”

My money is on Trump shooting a couple missiles at them, declaring victory, and bouncing out. Has this man ever committed to anything?

It’s sexual harassment and misogyny and exploitation unless it’s in its purest form. Thank you! I do not get this at all.

Thank you, sister

THANK YOU! The way people suddenly act like it’s fucking normal is absurd! Who trained these dogs to bark like that?

Thank you, I don’t agree but I hear what you’re saying. I wanna clarify I’m not interesting in judging sex workers. I’m just gonna speak on a couple points.

Selling my body and selling my labor are two completely different worlds. The factory managers are only interested in my ability to perform a series of discreet tasks to keep the line moving. They don’t care how big my tits are, because that’s not part of the job. It’s about my work, not my body. This is not a superficial point. I hope this is obvious. Do I really need to explain that this is safe, dignified, and secure, and sex work isn’t?

About the cotton picking thing, my people have for several generations been forced to the absolute margins of society. We were barred from all traditional occupations for our nonconformity. We served as erotic curiosities and human sex toys for misogynists and rapists not because we organically loved doing it or thought it was a good idea, but because we needed to in order to survive and there were very few other options. We endured decades if not centuries of horrific violence and humiliation from people who hated us for even daring to exist, but were more than happy to get off by using us as sex slaves and beating us to vent their shame after the fact. Yes, it is like picking cotton. This is a dark chapter of our history. And even now, you and other queers (I see the pronouns) reflexively associate ourselves with weird kinky sex and the associated puritanical reactionaries who hate us for our alleged perversions.

You are a human being. You deserve decent work and to live in mainstream, polite society, and your sexual life is not for display or critique. Have some pride.

Extremely overlooked. Thank you for pointing this out.

“Stupid poors keep buying avocado toast! Save your money!”

Alright, done.

“Wait no the economy”

I didn’t mean to imply you held beliefs you didn’t. You’re just losing me on the point about education. They didn’t join because of deception or disinformation, they joined because they wanted what the military offered them. This is not someone you can “educate” into different behaviors, right? What would you even tell them?

You’re ignoring the role of pro-military culture, militaristic propaganda, higher ed incentives, medical coverage incentives, housing incentives, peer pressure, hero worship, etc.

You and others are the ones ignoring this. You can’t pretend that soldiers are blameless victims of a machine while acknowledging they participated voluntarily and received payment and credit for doing so. This is what makes them morally culpable.

If I work in a factory that makes bombs that kill people, I have an ethical responsibility to strike or quit. How is this same dynamic gone for people who drop them?

The Nazis declared war on the United States along with Imperial Japan, so during and after the Second World War, opposition to Nazism was an issue of patriotism. A lot of the contemporary understanding of fascism was propagandistic and untethered from reality. Many today still attribute Hitler’s ideology and policy to atheistic secularism, even though this is just untrue.