Don’t forget all the stuff surrounding Chechnya. Claims that the Chechens were poor conscripts who were more likely to defect, or that story about the Chechen general whose plane was destroyed. Meanwhile, the Ukrainians were posting Islamophobic stuff like how they were greasing bullets in lard, and libs in those forums told them they shouldn’t post about it because it was bad for optics.

They can propagandize all they want and scratch their heads at why reality never lines up with what they’re taught. The contradictions will eventually break the West, one way or another.

Truly, genius praxis.

I could write a damn thesis on everything wrong with the ATLA comics and LOTR. Lake Laogai aside, the original series was pretty good, though. Except the “we shouldn’t kill fascists” stuff at the end 🙄

I think the idea behind the series was that since nobody knows anything about Spartacus, it’s just as likely he was motivated by vengeance rather than altruism. Americans love their anti-heroes, because we’re taught to distrust anything good.

Having seen the TV series, I can verify it’s mostly just about revenge. There’s some stuff in the later seasons about liberation and whatnot, but it’s kinda got this weird “we’re stronger than they are” undertones rather than any kind of humanism. It is oversexualized and full of gratuitous violence. I can’t remember much else beyond that, but Spartacus developing into a rebel with any higher motivation than revenge takes a long time. They also reference the “I’m Spartacus!” thing, but in the series it’s a tactic to sow confusion during the rebellion: he and the other gladiator rebels perform raids in different areas, proclaiming themselves Spartacus so the Romans aren’t sure where the leader of the uprising really is.

It’s really tragic comparing the two side by side. I think the series is fine enough for what it is, or a guilty pleasure, but it definitely doesn’t do justice to the film or the man.

I like my tree nuts, but why they have to make it so unethical to enjoy…?

Is that why pistachios are so goddamn expensive for the past few years? Or was that going to happen anyway?

I second Florida.

The older I get, the more I wonder why no one ever thought to run this experiment again, or use it as a model for similar ones. Or, if they have, why does no one talk about it? It just feels very… propagandic. Like, a strawman argument for individualism being the highest virtue and citing one teacher’s nonscientific social experiment as evidence.

You would think, but it was only five days - and the fifth day was him revealing it was Nazis all along: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave_(experiment)

I watched it when I was in school years ago, but iirc, it doesn’t. From my understanding, the guy who did it pulled the plug after 4 days because he didn’t like how many people actually joined the group when he told students to recruit. His language was fascistic, and he had students salute fellow members, but nothing he did was expressly fascist as far as I could see. He encouraged group calisthenics, standing taller, a sense of community, etc.

Tbh, it always gave me the same energy as “authoritarianism bad”. As a message about how easy it is to potentially build a fascist group in American schools by influencing children, it’s a good cautionary tale, but even as a kid I didn’t understand why they didn’t just use the experiment to go a different direction with the lessons. Like, yeah, you could organize impressionable people to be fascists by spouting some stuff about unity and community then introducing bad shit later, but you could also… not introduce the bad shit?

I should rewatch it before I pass a final judgment, though. It’s been a hot minute.

EDIT: I totally forgot the part where the group’s mission was to “destroy democracy”, lol. But in this context, he associates democracy with individualism, and his system with strength through “discipline, community, action, and pride”. I still don’t understand how American schoolchildren supposedly leapt from normal kids to Brownshirts in 4 days with such a vague concept, or why so many were interested in joining a group bent on destroying “democracy” or “individualism”.

Got in an argument with an anarchist who was pro-Zapatista and called me a redfash tankie. I doubt this will sway him in the slightest.

It might help to use examples of some of what Zionists have done to Jewish people in order to demonstrate that it’s not Jewish people that are the issue - it’s a white settler state that happens to be majority European-Jewish trying to justify its colony while serving the interests of the US and Europe in the region. Anarcho-Bolshevik recently posted something about the Iron Dome misfire that has links to a number of shit Israel’s done that’s been harmful to Jewish people.

And if they somehow take that as a justification to hate Jewish people because a handful are exploiting their own people, then they’re probably dumb (can’t see that’s what happens all across the world, throughout history, and isn’t a racial or culturally exclusive thing), or just looking for something to justify their hate. In either case, it’s probably a wasted effort to convince them, but by pointing out their flawed logic, you might convince others who are listening to the convo.

I guess the Ghost of Kyiv defected or something.

When I started dating my girlfriend, it was rocky at first. She was really misinformed on a lot of stuff regarding communism, and to be honest, I hadn’t made a serious commitment despite calling myself one for years. She helped improve my views on certain topics I had bad takes on, and I did the same with her. Idk if she’d call herself a ML, but she’s pretty damn close, and I’m a better communist overall in large part because of what she helped me understand. We have great political discourse now.

TLDR: I did, but now she’s communist too :)

I still haven’t found a spirituality that suits me, but I’m glad to hear that you have. I honestly wish there were more spiritual comrades around. Obviously we’re materialists where it matters, but some comrades can be a little dismissive of the mystical and spiritual even when it’s not being used to influence policies.

If we’re timestamping WWIII based on current events, where the US isn’t even at war with rival superpowers but simply ravaging the world through proxy wars, attacks on smaller countries, and coups, then we might as well say WWIII started during the Cold War when the US began doing all this in the first place. It’s really all just been one long war of the US trying to maintain the European hegemony it took over after the other “World Wars”. Of course, the definition of World War has always been kinda odd, anyway, lol.

I admit I know very little about it. What is it?

Mad respect to my comrades taking the time to try to engage and educate the liberals who literally refuse to have a positive thought about China. I’ve never seen one of them actually read an article or respond to the best points; usually they just find what they perceive is the weakest or most controversial argument and focus on that. Anything to deny the fact that sinophobic bias and believing propaganda is 90% of their reasoning for their shit takes. Still, I’m proud of the people in the community that still actively try to educate. I wish I had that patience anymore.

I never thought of it like that until seeing your comment. “Discipline” always makes me cringe because it has connotations like the issue is me, that it’s an internal or personal failing, that I’m not trying hard enough, etc. Thinking of it as “resolve”, though, really does make it feel more like I’m surviving, I’m pushing through, I’m overcoming. Be it a mental block or all the external bullshit we have to endure. I think I’ll quit thinking of it as me lacking self-discipline, and try thinking of it as building greater resolve now. Thank you :)