#i am not a socialist

[cashthecomposer]

I think one of the biggest failings of the anti-socialism argument is the existence of artists.

People often say that under socialist ideals such as a universal base income, people would just stop working, because without a paycheck as compensation, there's no incentive to work. But then you have artists, who spend years studying and honing their craft, creating and working, for no guarantee of compensation. You have singers and actors and dancers, who train their bodies and minds for a particular skill, again, with minimal hope for a reward. Not to mention musicians, writers, etc...

If you think for a few seconds, you realize we have a surplus of people working for no reason other than to create something. To produce a result, not for monetary gain. They are working for the sake of the work itself, and that is the primary motivation. This extends beyond the arts- look at home gardeners and cooks, parents, folks who sew, etc. We're doing necessary things for the sake of the work, because the work must be done, because we like the work, because we want a challenge... for whatever reason, but a reason directly related to the work.

A lot of people work jobs that make them miserable because they need the money, and they'd rather do something else. I would love to work at the local bookstore, but I can't live off minimum wage, so instead I teach, while the guy I spoke to working there said he'd love to teach, but he doesn't have the degrees needed to qualify. My mother loves serving coffee and chatting and tbh would love to be a barista, but if she goes to work she'll not be able to get her retirement account money, while the barista at my favorite coffee shop wants to spend a few months at home raising her pre-preschool toddler, but can't afford it. My insurance adjuster would love to do work in chemistry research but can't afford the expense of grad school yet, while a friend of mine in a local lab is burned out and would rather go do some mindless work but can't leave because of student loans.

The truth of the matter is that people enjoy being productive. But the 'right' ways of being productive are the ways that cause debt and unhappiness, that force you into one path, and to stay there forever. And god forbid you do something creative- you're going to have to do something else instead if you want to pay rent. Fostering discontent keeps the masses suppressed, and that's all there is to it.

Next time someone says that 'people don't want to work', point out all of the poor people out there having kids despite their economic situation. Being a parent is a full time job and then some. Point out the millions of authors who will never be published, but who keep writing anyways, and their agents, whose job most of the time is to believe in unproven individuals. Point out their hobbies, their loves, their joys, and that they bring no gain except the profit of work's results.

Fuck capitalism. Go draw a picture.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

anyone else have multiple traumatic memories associated specifically with holidays/family vacations? because that is a topic I never see discussed in all the So You Had A Shitty Childhood, Now What? self-help books i've been reading. but for me, it was a significant thing. and the more i think about it the more it seems like this would be an (unfortunately) common experience. would be grateful to hear if this matches other peoples' experiences...

[khizuo]

the whole thing about israeli settler "leftists" not being truly "left" due to them upholding their illegitimate settler state is also true for usamerican "leftists" who don't fight for the full decolonization of turtle island btw

[communistkenobi]

It’s so funny when liberals lecture communists about not knowing how anything works, that we need to grow up and face the real world etc, while publicly demonstrating that their political imagination is so deeply impoverished that they genuinely believe the only thing the leader of the most powerful country on the planet in all of human history can do is block a slightly more fascist guy from taking his place every four years

[hiseyeisonthesparrow]

[through gritted teeth, with fists clenched]

When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed, when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, COUNT YOUR MANY BLESSINGS, NAME THEM ONE BY ONE, AND IT WILL SURPRISE YOU WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE-

[lem0nademouth]

i used to say i would never openly declare myself zionist or antizionist or nonzionist for my own personal sanity and safety but were a year into the simchat torah war and i’ve come to the conclusion that i’m tired of self righteous goyim using Zionist as a scarlet letter and i will no longer indulge their violent fantasies of Glorious Revolution so here’s an explanation of my stance re: zionism

in simple terms, i believe in labor zionism. this is the movement that created kibbutzim, and is also sometimes called socialist zionism. the focuses of labor zionism are the healing of eretz yisrael (the physical land) through jewish labor and the equitable distribution of resources among Israelis and Palestinians. most if not all kibbutzniks are labor zionists and this ideology has become synonymous with the Israeli peace camp. the ultimate goal of labor zionism is the reclamation of indigenous jewish land and peaceful coexistence with arab peoples (both Palestinians and our neighbors in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt). various methods of achieving this goal are “redemption of the soil” ie a focus on returning to being an agrarian society, agreement on a two-state solution, and doing mitzvot as a part of daily living. kibbutzim are obviously the biggest manifestation of labor zionism today, but mutual aid is also a major aspect of labor zionism. mutual aid in israel may look unfamiliar to westerners because it isn’t a massive organized fund, but rather a societal norm - for example, one woman i follow on instagram has a chronic illness and occasionally needs IV fluids, so the nurse in her neighborhood comes to her house and gets her set up with saline so she doesn’t have to leave her young son at home in order to get treatment, and in exchange the nurse takes a few pieces of the woman’s handmade pottery. to labor zionists, an ideal society is one in which we take the lesson of avraham and sarah’s tent to heart; our homes are open to all who wish to enter and we are welcome into each other’s homes in kind. labor zionism is explicitly anti-war and anti-violence, instead seeking peace through understanding and compassion for our Palestinian neighbors.

if you read all that and still want to call me a bloodthirsty genocidal maniac, i think you might have a judeophobia problem.

[whispsofwind]

I know they are jokes but I still utterly disagree with the people in the Dickens December tag going "Scrooge has a point/Scrooge is a mood" etc.

Because the problem with Ebenezer Scrooge is not that he dislikes Christmas and hates people forcing it on him, or that he refuses to give money to an unknown charity banging at his door.

The problem with Ebenezer Scrooge is that he is everything wrong with capitalism.

Scrooge doesn't refuse to participate in charity because he thinks it's a sketchy business and social problems should be addressed systematically at a higher level: he simply thinks any charity is a waste of money because to him, the problems are already taken care of. Poor people should be in prison or put to work, sick people should be in prison or in hospitals or even better, should be dead, and at the end of the day it's not his problem because he worked his whole life and he is perfectly fine and people die every day, so who cares.

And Scrooge doesn't shut down Christmas because Christmas is an over saturated, inescapable commercialised hell that he doesn't believe in. He hates Christmas because he dislikes anything even vaguely joyous, because joy doesn't bring money, or even worse, it requires money to be spent.

The only thing that counts to Scrooge when the reader meets him is to make money, and that drive shuts down any compassion in his heart. The more money he makes, the more miserable he becomes, and the more miserable he is, the more money he wants. Christmas is just a symbol of how utterly devoid of... Well, anything, Scrooge is.

Love is ridiculous, anything that makes anyone happy is useless because it distracts them from earning more money, and if you are poor it's your fault for not working hard enough.

And that's why the contrast with his nephew and employee in these first 3 entries work so well: because here's a man who married for love, and is as warm and ruddy as a candle in winter, and here's a man who would stop to play with the children in the street on his way home, just for the joy of it.

And then there's Scrooge.

[daftmooncretin]

the perfect job for every supernatural character in fanfiction is in fact park ranger. dean should be a park ranger. cas should be a park ranger. sam should be a park ranger. jody, claire, kevin, charlie, bobby, gabriel, eileen, mick davies and rowena should be park rangers. jack should be a park ranger in training. stop making them cops in fanfiction. dean hates cops. fuck cops.

[palmtreepalmtree]

I keep having the same conversation with different people, which is some version of 'if only the democrats had done XYZ that appeals to my specific demographic echo-chamber.' I'm sure there are valid points to be made, but as one of those generation straddling xennials or whatever, I think there's a lot to be said for the fact that we don't always hear what other people in other groups are saying. Maybe it's a thing that you think would dramatically motivate your cohort, but it is also deeply alienating to a different part of the voter base. And if your cohort is not of a demographic that usually turns out in large numbers to vote, it's hard to expect any campaign to prioritize your priorities. It's a bit of a catch-22.

I mean *deep, soul-wearying sigh* a lot of this is just a two-party problem, isn't it? I'm fucking tired.

[bookmothic-dyke]

Just to clarify for anyone here on my blog of reblogs, shitposting, mental break downs, selfies, and occasional coherent ideas.

Im a socialist.

I think capitalism as it exists and has existed is inherently exploitive, harmful, and stupid.

So like, yeah. That’s it.

Anyways, go unions!

[qoldenskies]

You appeared like a month ago out of nowhere and now like everybody I follow is recommending your fanfics. Are you some kind of psyop or something

qolden was actually a social experiment to see how intense i could get when writing angst before people actually physically found my address and came to my house to start beating me with hammers

[arctic-hands]

This has been said a thousand times before, but Labor Day in the U.S. is so dumb. Retail laborers and food staff still have to work on it to cater to white collar workers who got the day off to shop those sweet sweet deals

[thepersonperson]

Ngl your post summarises so well why i love sukugo and why im so insane about them

Like of fucking course those two would work together when Sukuna deeply does not care about any social rules to ever exist. Of course they do when Gojo is confronted with someone gay for him and not hiding behind anything. This is not survivable and i love them and care them. I even had written in the notes for my fic about Gojo being the person who generally prefers to keep things as they are but i couldnt actually formulate why i think that. You are so smart your analysis is so wonderful

This is also why I like Sukugo a lot. It's not just that Sukuna matches Gojo's freak, he enables it. Encourages it even. Makes it worse. Sukuna's existence is a twisted opposition to Jujutsu Society. It's very hedonistic, sadistic, and selfish but by golly it is rebellion.

The flattery is also appreciated, but please understand that I am very stupid and am capable of making mistakes. Alternate perspectives like yours are just as valuable. Which is why I'm shoehorning your tags on this post into this ask. (They are great tags and everyone should see them. Also I don't know how to respond to them otherwise.)

#yeah youre right # sorry i got time to think about it #and im kind of writing gojo rhe same but a vit more influenced by sukuna lmao #tbh as the person coming from a post soviet country #i honestly cant like #fully agree with everything due to just #like i understand that what people want from socialism isnt what was in soviet union #but its still very much hard to accept that anyone could want what we went through lol #when i tell you that socialism actually pitted everyone against each other isnt not a joke #but i understand what you lead into and yeah yeah true

#tbf to gojo he really tried even if his method ultimately failed #like he had genuinely tried to do better for the kids that came after him despite the desperate lack of empathy of understanding of others #and himself #like i can appreciate the desperate desire to make change for the better

#and yeah geto was so horribly jealous its insane #of anything really #i also kinda really think geto has the mentality that after toji gojo is different? #that the boy he knew died and this is someone else #and what he does it ultimately for the boy he loved and for the boy who survived through changing #it also may be a bit of a fucked up coping mechanism how to deal with it all and differentiate what gojo was to him and is

#but yeah i was thinkinf about it and talking a lot #they were so badly exploited as children #we know its better with gojo than it was before #but then also if gojo takes on the hardest missions for the students that means he’s not present to teach its a fucked up circle #he doesnt understand enough to be a full leader to make a rebellion but he is trying god damn #but yeah the only way he could articulate what he’s actually feeling is through battle which is sad

#i take the way he stopped looking for exciting battles growing up is him growing up #like sending yuuta for cursed tools. he made his peace that he cant just chase men while he needs to take care of the kids #idk its all deeplt fucked up and im very sad for them

That's a fair criticism and even better commentary. I understand the aversion to some of the words I'm using to describe this. It's just that I don't know how else to effectively communicate what I think is the main issue. I do appreciate you're willing to hear me out on this though! (You're applying Umineko's "Without love, it cannot be seen." which makes me very happy.)

I'm US based which is a hypercapitalist hellscape, so when I talk about socialism it doesn't mean "do exactly what the Soviet Union did" (that would be very bad) but instead some of the ideas behind workers rights are good and desperately needed to curb stomp the type of labor exploitation they're experiencing. (Like unions for better pay, hours, and working conditions.)

Theory is useful because it give you the words to describe exactly what's wrong and the ideas that can guide you towards productive solutions. I can say Jujutsu Society is bad because of labor exploitation from the higher ups and therefore unions would help mitigate their power because I learned about those things.

Gojo and Geto don't have those words or background so they see part of the problem but have no name for it. And because they don't understand why it's happening, their solutions are surface-level treatments that don't address the real source of their suffering.

Toji was a symptom of the problem. Geto saw Toji as the entire problem so he thinks eradicating anything like Toji is the solution. Gojo saw Toji as a symptom and a potential solution to the real problem—Jujutsu Society. He recognized that Toji being strong is what helped him escape this problem so he laser focused on it. If he and his students are strong, they can change things. What things exactly? Gojo doesn't have the knowledge or time to dwell deeper on it. To him strength=revolution. He neglects the need for mutual aid, addressing overwork, and limiting child labor because the words and framework to deal with that are missing.

Gojo can't really do anything other than keep things the sameish because he doesn't know how the better world he's seeking works. (Similar to how you recognized this flaw of his, but couldn't put it into words since you didn't have them.) He both does things better for his students and screws them up in whole new different ways as a result of this. It's very tragic.

And everything wrong with Jujutsu Society is still just a microcosm of Japanese work culture that leads to this exploitation in the first place. Nanami is the only character that makes this connection and he has no idea what to do about it other than work where he feels less bad about it.

It's kind of like knowing a grease fire is dangerous but not knowing how to put it out.

>Gojo throws water on the grease fire trying to put it out and makes it worse before he starts suffocating it with his body instead of a blanket.

>Geto tries to eradicate grease from existence not knowing that other types of fire exist.

>Nanami realizes oxygen and fuel are the source of fires but he has none of the tools to put them out or prevent them.

>Sukuna understands that letting the fire burn everything to ash means there will never be fire again. ...While ignoring this also means there will be nothing left in the aftermath.

If any of these people were taught fire safety (labor theory), their methods of dealing with the fire (labor exploitation) and preventing it in the future would be so much better.

Japan has some of the lowest union memberships and the worst working conditions amongst rich countries. JJK has a lot to say on the topic so I'm being very annoying about it because I don't see others talking about it this way.

[feralnightwing]

hey guys did you know that nightwing.

that dick grayson is. he is.

did you know nightwing is. he is so.

he is so pretty.

hmmngh

[perpetualstews]

Eleanor Marx, my favorite :)

[eowyntheavenger]

On one hand this is the most hilarious thing I've ever read, because this person has NO idea how the US government works. On the other hand this is deeply concerning, because this person has NO idea how the US government works. No, the president cannot just "get rid of" his political opponents, although that's exactly what Trump would LIKE to do if he gets back into the White House.