Lex Luthor

See, I think he looks more like the dopey buzzard from Looney toons

Thanks for the insight, appreciate your input!

What didn’t you like about Ubuntu? Im still kinda hesitant, I like the idea of an arch based distro thats a little easier to use, I mean ive never used arch so I dont really know, I would just like to be able to spin up or install whatever I want without being gatekept out of seemingly anything I try that isn’t just install program, run program. I’m comfortable with terminal but I dont wanna get stuck in config hell like every time I wanna do kinda basic shit for anyone tech-savvy and experimental minded

That’s a real simplification of DuBois who conducted incredibly detailed analysis of all the different classes created by and affected by chattel slavery, civil war, reconstruction, and counter-reconstruction. His argument isn’t that whites aren’t worth engaging with, its that capitalism is the cause and primary beneficiary of racism, and its mostly that reconstruction was not a failed project (a common chorus of his time), but a sabotaged project. He analyzed the conditions of white workers, but didn’t make judgments like this.

“Convincing” poor white farmers was accomplished with the institution of slavery itself. It was economic hardship that convinced them. But rather than address economic conditions, the Guardian thinks we should write these people off. Basically its cheaper to just let people be exploited and to keep their racist views, than it is to actually combat racism, to help people, which has a liberalizing effect on the population. The Guardian takes it for granted that the Democratic political party is just doing the right thing, and MAGA people are hateful. And tbh, many of them are. But its interesting that rather than describe actual conditions and propose any positive way forward, the plan is to change nothing. This is the Democratic Party status quo in a nutshell. And it needs to fucking end, or something must be done by a political movement other than the democrats

The Guardian is just stating an elitist, divisive, liberal capitalist opinion, and then hiding it behind a veneer of legitimacy. More people should actually read Black Reconstruction in America, than pay attention to The Guardian.

Thanks!

Ive been using fedora, my first distro, for about 5 years. I’m about to switch because it just doesn’t do some things I want, or not without a ton of config. I got it because it came up as “best distro for coding” when I googled it, and I was just beginning to code.

I can’t imagine its that much better than like Ubuntu though, which is what I think I’ll switch to. Meanwhile there’s several just complete and total roadblocks ive hit because of the distro. Kubernettes and Docker just doesn’t work for me. I was trying a teat install of CiviCRM and never got past the download. Recently, when trying to install Graphene on a new phone, Fedora in fastboot just refuses to recognize it. In the process of trying to work around this limitation, I somehow removed myself from the sudo su group, and fixing it has been a chore.

Its like every time I want to do x, it isn’t supported. Coding and developing on it is fine, for my personal projects. If I wanna do anything more than run a script though, its been nothing but hardship.

Its been a pretty good distro for me, but I have a dislike for extended config and sysadmin tasks and troubleshooting, and on my personal projects I keep hitting roadblocks over and over on Fedora. Open to other suggestions, but Ubuntu seems the most straightforward

I didn’t mean it to be condescending, you said you’d never seen it, so I said it. It was kind of a joking, cheeky way. I didn’t mean it like you’re stupid or incapable of understanding it. It was a failed attempt at a joke, and once I saw the down votes I realized the joke didn’t land.

No I didn’t back it up but that ship has sailed. I dont really care to prove to you my position now, I’d rather just apologize for how my comment came off.

I can see it, thanks for your response! I also consider myself a humanist. I’m glad we could connect, and that this post opened up such a good discussion.

See ya around!

US intelligence warns spoon found in kitchen

Hi, read the next sentence:

quantum computing is also a grift

My friend, a gifted and somewhat eccentric/obsessive mechanic, just got a job at a recording studio that produces records. The set up involves, among other things, a large boiler that produces pressurized steam, that is used in pressing the records. He is quite impressed with the fact that a blast of steam could “blast away your flesh down to the bone.”

He sent me a photo of the shop, which I assume is somewhat smaller than a large industrial producer that printed hit records back in the day. Still, its a lot of equipment, a major investment, just to pirate the vinyl records in order to…save money? Stick it to the man? Also, a high level of technical skill just to do it, ntm when one of these things breaks. I’m sure some whacko attempted it, maybe even succeeded in a limited way, but it is just not a very pirate-able medium.

Its def true what you say about online spaces. And sorry to hear that exposure to these conditions have lead to you putting your “walls up”. Sorry if I was too quick to judge, its so easy to forget that a lot of well-meaning leftists feel really threatened online, esp from aggressive ultralefts, “Tankies”, etc.,

I’m not real concerned with ideological struggle, my reading of history is that this stuff works itself out as conditions become more clear and the class becomes more organized. Like, I def try to educate people, and I think people who are so severely “radicalized” are usually stuck in online echo chambers, which conditions people to experience an ick response when encountering this or that talking point. I think its probably unhelpful to associate everyone who glazes the CCP as a Russian agent or whatever, esp since doing so is a structural advantage to the ruling class capitalists, as it divides workers along lines that are, imo, pretty abstract.

the best way to get people to chill is ask about what kind of work they are doing IRL, like are they in a book club, or a political sect/party, do they go to protests, etc., that will usually tell you whether someone is actually salvageable or not. I know so many people who started off having a lot of “Tankie” sympathies, myself included, who eventually chill, and its because they start doing work in their communities. A random young person who decided that “more left = more good” isn’t doing as much harm as certain youtubers and streamers who have hundreds of thousands of followers and who are basically paid to be left opportunists.

I’m very adamant that ideas don’t spread like “memes”, in the Richard Dawkins sense, like person to person. Most people dont get infected with bad ideas by just being exposed to them. Ideas spread via hegemony, which means people with political and economic power control the systems in which ideas spread, and exert indirect control over the masses via these social structures. So attacking/banning some random tankie online does very little. The fact is, social media algos identify people with left-wing sympathies and then feed us deranged, ultraleft content creators, while the algos also identify political moderates and feed them right wing punditry. People believe ideas that validate their own lived experiences, and the fact that peoples experiences are validated by ultraleftism/Stalinism/left authoritarianism is a structural problem that stems from lack of political education and hegemony.

So imo its better to try and connect with people, which can be hard cuz some people are hostile no matter what, but in that case we just move on and try educating someone else, and try to keep it cool. If someone has a spicy “take,” it could be partially because they, as I think we all tend to do, get some kind of stimulation/validation from having people argue with them. Its usually better to ask questions, take notes, and do a little research. But like you said, this is easier in real life organizing than online where attention spans are nil.

I do think its more interesting to be like “why do you believe that?” Ask for some evidence, and if they provide it, maybe ask where they first encountered it

I believe that a miniscule minority of these ultralefts/Tankies are actual bad actors. There is plenty of valid reason to adhere to certain ideas – some people are a little contrarian, the soviet union and ccp amassed a great deal of influence, both direct and indirect; as well as so many intellectuals who can be very convincing with their arguments. Most tankies are just referencing arguments of Rockhill/Furr/Losurdo, and if you’ve never encountered these academics their ideas can seem totally bonkers. But if you read them, even if we criticize them, and we should criticize everyone and everything, especially ourselves, its clear why their ideas have so much purchase among ultralefts and apologists. imo the key isn’t to win a debate, although I love a good debate, but to initiate new avenues of criticism for people to begin questioning our own ideas.

Or at least thats my take

They actually did, in many cases. The best defense against infiltration is democratic decision making and deep roots in the lives and activity of members. Obvs if someone was exposed as an infiltrator with undeniable evidence, they were burnt; but most often that doesn’t happen and the infiltrator tries to instigate splits. Infiltrators often move into leadership positions where they can squash dissent. You can’t do anything to prevent infiltrators, you can only educate, develop critical thinking and organize democratically.

Some parties even mockingly welcomed their police infiltrators and informants at the beginning of their meetings, because they managed to neutralize the effect of infiltrators by making it easier for members to speak up, and have the observations and concerns of members lead to tactical shifts in the org. Your approach would shut down dissent because, as you’ve demonstrated here, you reactively paint anyone who voices a dissenting opinion as a bad faith actor. Your whole attitude is a siege mentality that sows division and paranoia, it is a short, straight road to sectarianism and authoritarian leadership.

Guess what? Wreckers can and will always make the case that freedom and democracy aren’t being observed, some entryist tendencies even use this as a tactic, if not a strategy. The answer is to be more open and considerate, so that when such concerns are brought up in bad faith, members shut them down as unproductive and impractical.

Do some practical work rather than fighting ghosts online.

Stop restricting my freedom to self-medicate by making up people to get mad at /s

Wait till you find out about Gabriel Rockhill

It was Ice-T

Calling Kirk’s murder a “debate loss” is so fucking funny. Esp the discourse around debate celebrities in general.

I can’t fucking stand Slavoj Zizek but the way he broke Peterson’s brain by just agreeing with him back when people gave a shit and JP was at the height of his chud intellectual celebrity – so much so that he spiraled into benzo addiction and dropped from the public spotlight for a year and a half was hilarious.

But the phrase, “he will never recover” is so prevalent in these asinine YouTube debate wank spaces. And yet truly, thankfully, CK will never recover

I just watched Pluto in the last few months, one of the best Anime I’ve ever seen.

A lot of the “communist canon” is made up of 50 - 70 page long pamphlets. Basically long enough to read in one or two sitting, and then discuss with other workers since reading circles were really popular during the early communist movement.

Glad you found it! Makes me wanna carry some copies around with me to put into little libraries!

A few pamphlets I’d recommend would be Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, which is about Historical Materialism, Wage Labor and Capital which is a brief primer on Marxist economics, and The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon which is about the ascention of Louis Napoleon in France and incidentally contains about half of Marx’s most famous quotes. It also describes conditions where the liberal democracy that was won decades earlier started backsliding into authoritarianism and semi-feudal social relations, and echoes many of our current conditions.

Awesome, why did you decide to read it?