#that’s how you survive this capitalist country

[imightbeobsessedwithsocks]

Bare with me as I go on about my current hyperfixation Phineas and Ferb!

Okay so I love the idea that both the boys are time lords. That’s it

Also Doof and Perry are obviously besties. He helps him with his evil plans, borrows his shit at 3am, goes to space and Doof looks so happy to see him there! He’s probably been up there awhile and then his bestie shows up in the last place he thought possible and he looks so comforted in the moment. When Doof is having a day off he says Perry is welcome to stay there and relax.

The boys routinely create big contraptions and host large events with thousands of people. There’s no way most of the trízate area doesn’t know who they are. Which makes it 100x funnier that their parents don’t know and 1000x funnier Candace can’t bust them 😂

Perry is the most accurate adult ever?? Boss calls all hours of the night- on days off- on vacation. No leave days are approved. Even when he’s sick he goes in, gets called in for stupiddddd Shit.

Candace, I would go crazy too if I could never find any evidence of what I see is happening plainly before me. It happens now to me and I drive myself insane wondering if it’s real 😂 also she is a great example of an anxious woman in a relationship and Jeremy is a great example of a chill man in one.

Also I love that they have Ferb as a character. He chooses to stay quiet and talks when he’s around people he loves. And everyone accepts that he just doesn’t always like to talk. He’s not shamed or pressured to socialize he’s just him and they love him. In mind mind he is an Autistic and he has a great group of people around him.

ISABELLA AND THE FIRESIDE GIRLS!?!? I’m assuming the fireside girls program is like Girl Scouts and Isabella regularly says stuff like “girls turn to the page about (insert outrageous thing to be prepared for) in your fireside girls handbook” like those things are taught all over the country?

The tri-state area is just used to weird stuff falling out of the sky and there’s never any damage lol they’re like yay! A golf course! Yay! Steak! Yay! Like do these people really just accept this? Nobody wonders or looks for the source? And rn the answer is yes because real people do that too.

Also hate the episode they actually get busted in. Like if I found out my kids were really doing that I’d see if they want to be enrolled in a better school or college or help them cultivate their talent because shit they’re advanced. And they literally told them every day that’s what they were doing. And they were so encouraging and excited for them and with them and suddenly when they find out it’s real they get mad? Maybe watch your kids and trust the people you leave in charge. Pay attention to the news magazines and what’s actually going on around you… I’m disappointed in his parents

[theculturedmarxist]

In 2020, Robert Kuciemba, a woodworker in San Francisco was infected with covid by a co-worker after his Nevada-based Victory Woodworks transferred a number of sick workers to the San Francisco site for a few months. 

Through the proceedings of the case it turns out that the employer knew some employees might be sick but they transferred them anyway and ignored a San Francisco ordinance in place at the time to quarantine suspected covid cases.

Kuciemba was subsequently infected and he then infected his wife, who ended up in ICU on a ventilator.

The California Supreme Court just ruled against Kuciemba on the basis that a victory, while, in the court's words, "morally" the right thing to do, would create "dire financial consequences for employers" and cause a "dramatic expansion of liability" to stop the spread of covid.

There’s a few stunning details to note in this case. First, the court agreed that there is no doubt the company had ignored the San Francisco health ordinance. In other words, they accepted the company had broken the law. And then concluded “yeah, but, capitalism.”

Secondly, the case was so obviously important to the struggle between capitalism and mass infection that the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest business lobbying organisation got involved and helped the company with its defence. Remember, this is a tiny company in a niche industry. The involvement of the biggest business lobbyists in the country tells us a lot about the importance of the principle they knew was at stake.

Thirdly, the defence of the company is very telling. They said “There is simply no limit to how wide the net will be cast: the wife who claims her husband caught COVID-19 from the supermarket checker, the husband who claims his wife caught it while visiting an elder care home." 

Well, exactly. Capitalism couldn’t survive if employers were liable for covid infections contracted in the workplace, and the ripple effect of those infections. And they know it. 

This case is something of a covid smoking gun, revealing what we always suspected but had never seen confirmed in so many words: the public health imperative of controlling a pandemic virus by making employers liable for some of that control is, and always must be, secondary to capitalist profit. 

This ruling is also saying out loud what has been obvious to anyone paying attention for the last two years: employers don’t have a responsibility to keep your family safe from covid. You have that responsibility. And if you give a family member covid that you caught at work and they get sick or die – even if it was a result of law-breaking by your employer – that’s on you buddy.

It is the same old capitalist story: the shunting of responsibility for ills that should be shared across society, including employers in that society, onto individuals.

This ruling essentially helps codify workplace mass infection and justifies it as necessary for the smooth functioning of capitalism.

This is not new. This is where the ‘just a cold’ and the ‘mild' narrative came from. It came from doctors and healthcare experts whose first loyalty was to capitalism. Not to public health. To money, not to lives. Abetted by media who uncritically platformed them.

While this ruling tells us little that we couldn’t already see from the public policy approach of the last two years, it is revealing (and to some extent validating) to see it confirmed by the highest law of the land in the United States. 

[sudensk-the-stallionist]

Although i certainly find universal nuclear disarmament to be a morally correct and honourable goal, it's also very clear that a reasonable part of those campaigning for it are very entrenched in anti-communist views - focusing with much strictness on the development of nuclear warheads by the DPRK, China and Russia (which isn't socialist, but nevertheless). At best they criticize the gigantic war industry of the US, but only by liberal metrics of "we should only have the necessary" and stuff like that. However, it is also clear that the development of nuclear armament - although not the main priority - should, very clearly, be something that socialist states now and in the future must consider. Even if not full blown nuclear armament - at least ICBMs and others like it. For it is not a mistake or an insanity that the DPRK, for example, has developed nuclear warheads; it knows that it is the subject of constant international harassment and it is prepared to have what is, for now, the most powerful rhetorical weapon against this. Future socialist countries should, yes, follow this! And, you see, a big number of communists mainly in the West (and to great extents elsewhere) do not see military strategy and development post-revolution as important. And this is stupid! Foolish! Russia was the subject of an inter-imperialist gangbang from all sides, and it only survived to form the Soviet Union with the development of a strong, renewed Red Army, big in bulk and in equipment. And socialist revolutions in the future will also need to have this: they'll need a Red Army, Red Navy and Red Air Force. And communists NOW should think about how this needs to be developed and need to learn strategy and need to be active within military circles (although, of course, in the imperial core the military is a much clearer peon of international capital than in the global south, so things are harder in this stance). Socialism here, now and in the future will certainly be striked with the combined forces of capital tumbling down on any form of organized proletariat. This happens to countries contrary to the imperialist USAmerican order, socialist or not: it imposed a military dictatorship in Cambodia in 1970, it couped Chile in 1973, it annihilated Grenada in 1983, it helped oust Aristide in Haiti in 2004, it destroyed Libya in 2011 - not counting many others. This means that developing a strong, truly proletarian armed force and developing means to defend it long term beyond that - ICBMs, and, of course, following the correct Korean path, even nuclear missiles - are crucial for the establishment of socialist states. And only when socialism is triumphant or on its way to triumph may these rhetorical and physical defenses of socialism be dismantled. Or only if the capitalist world surrenders all of it at the same time. However, believe me: they won't. As such, i'd say that in the 21st century, Lenin's little formula can be adapted to: Communism is Soviet power + electrification + ballistic missiles, in a gross simplification. The basis, the development and the defense.

[read-marx-and-lenin]

Did you heard Kim jung-un speech to the military?

All blame for the tensions in Korea lies entirely on the shoulders of the ROK and the US. Yoon has taken a hard-line anti-DPRK stance and has continued the submission of the ROK to US imperialist interests while firmly refusing to break from the reactionary trend in the ROK whose vision for the reunification of Korea mirrors the reunification of Germany: a bourgeois-led imposition of neoliberal economic reform, the auctioning off of state property to the highest bidder, and the subsequent impoverishment and imperial domination of the northern half of the country.

The DPRK has only responded in kind to the attitudes expressed by the ROK and the US. As Kim mentions in his speech, the DPRK is preparing for war on its own soil. That is not to say it is unwilling or incapable of fighting the war elsewhere, but rather that if open war comes once again to the Korean peninsula, it will come because the imperialist forces bring it upon the DPRK, and not the other way around. The DPRK is not preparing to invade, they are preparing to be invaded. Why shouldn't they be, seeing how averse to diplomacy and negotiation the ROK and the US have been in the whole affair?

The US only wants one thing: the dismantling of the DPRK and the dissolution of the Worker's Party of Korea. The ROK is in full agreement with this position. They share the firm belief that communism should not be allowed to exist and that it should be stamped out wherever possible. This is the position of all bourgeois nations, but it especially pointed with regards to the DPRK, which has been horribly maligned ever since it managed to hold its own against the terroristic carpet bombing of the United States, and further isolated as it has managed to survive the collapse of the Soviet Union and major hardships that resulted from it without ever once budging on its anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist position. The only comparable country in that regard is Cuba, and they don't have half their nation occupied by a belligerent puppet government.

If the US wants to make any attempt at even feigning interest in preserving peace in Korea, they must put forward at the outset and without conditions the promise of military withdrawal from South Korea. So long as the US maintains its occupation of the South, there is no reason for the DPRK to have any interest whatsoever in diplomatic negotiations. So long as the US continues to demand full compliance from the DPRK without any concessions of its own, there is no reason for the DPRK to comply.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Degrowth basics

"The word degrowth stands for a family of political-economic approaches that, in the face of today’s accelerating planetary ecological crisis, reject unlimited, exponential economic growth as the definition of human progress."

What is Degrowth? | Caracol DSA

Why degrowth is the only responsible way forward | OpenDemocracy

Degrowth and MMT: A thought experiment

We Need A Fair Way To End Infinite Growth | Current Affairs

Degrowth: A Call for Radical Abundance | Common Dreams

Can degrowth save us and the planet? | Nottingham Trent

Defending limits is not Malthusian | Undisciplined Environments

Can We Have Prosperity Without Growth? | New Yorker

The Urgent Case for Shrinking the Economy | The New Republic

Giving Up on Economic Growth Could Make Us Cooler and Happier | The New Republic

A guide to degrowth: The movement prioritizing wellbeing in a bid to avoid climate cataclysm | CNBC

What is ‘degrowth’ and how can it fight climate change? | Popular Science

Enough for Everyone | Yes! Magazine

Toward a Post-Capitalist Future: On the Growth of “Degrowth” | Lit Hub

All we are saying is give degrowth a chance | The RSA

A pathway out of environmental collapse | newsroom

On Technology and Degrowth | Monthly Review

What is degrowth (and more importantly, what is it not)? | META

Green growth

"There is no empirical evidence that absolute decoupling from resource use can be achieved on a global scale against a background of continued economic growth."

Is Green Growth Possible? | Jason Hickel & Giorgos Kallis

The Myth of America’s Green Growth | Foreign Policy

The decoupling delusion: rethinking growth and sustainability | The Conversation

Is green growth happening? | Uneven Earth

Green Growth | Uneven Earth

The Delusion of Infinite Economic Growth | Scientific American

Degrowth is not austerity – it is actually just the opposite | Al Jazeera

A response to Paul Krugman: Growth is not as green as you might think | Timothée Parrique

Deceitful Decoupling: Misconceptions of a Persistent Myth | Alevgul H. Sorman

Degrowth isn’t the same as a recession – it’s an alternative to growing the economy forever | The Conversation

Degrowth and the left

"In the middle of an ecological emergency, should we be producing sport utility vehicles and mansions? Should we be diverting energy to support the obscene consumption and accumulation of the ruling class?"

The Left should embrace degrowth | New Internationalist

Ecosocialism is the Horizon, Degrowth is the Way | The Trouble

Degrowth: Socialism without Growth | Brave New Europe

Toward an Ecosocialist Degrowth: From the Materially Inevitable to the Socially Desirable | Monthly Review

For an Ecosocialist Degrowth | Monthly Review

Degrowth and Revolutionary Organizing | Rosa Luxemburg NYC

The necessity of ecosocialist degrowth | Rupture

Degrowth is Anti-Capitalist | Protean Mag

Degrowth Communism | PPPR (Part one | Part two | Part three)

Economic Planning and Degrowth: How Socialism Survives the 21st Century | New Socialist

Degrowth and the South

"Southern countries should be free to organize their resources and labor around meeting human needs rather than around servicing Northern growth."

Who is afraid of degrowth? A Global South economic perspective | IBON Foundation

The anti-colonial politics of degrowth | Jason Hickel

Unlearning: From Degrowth to Decolonization | Rosa Luxemburg NYC

Degrowth requires the Global South to default on its foreign debts | Resilience

Journals/Reports

Degrowth: a theory of radical abundance | Jason Hickel

A systematic review of the evidence on decoupling of GDP, resource use and GHG emissions, part II: synthesizing the insights

What does degrowth mean? A few points of clarification | Jason Hickel

Providing decent living with minimum energy: A global scenario | Global Environmental Change

Urgent need for post-growth climate mitigation scenarios | Nature Energy

Degrowth and critical agrarian studies | Julien-François Gerber

Decoupling debunked – Evidence and arguments against green growth as a sole strategy for sustainability | European Environmental Bureau

Incrementum ad Absurdum: Global Growth, Inequality and Poverty Eradication in a Carbon-Constrained World | David Woodward

Degrowth can work — here’s how science can help | Nature

A New Political Economy for a Healthy Planet | Jason Hickel

Planning beyond growth. The case for economic democracy within limits

Millionaire spending incompatible with 1.5 °C ambitions | Cleaner Production Letters

Is green growth happening? An empirical analysis of achieved versus Paris-compliant CO2–GDP decoupling in high-income countries | The Lancet

Books

Exploring Degrowth: A Critical Guide | Pluto Press

A People's Green New Deal | Max Ajl

Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World | Jason Hickel

Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job | Verso Books

The Future is Degrowth: A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism | Verso Books

The Imperial Mode of Living: Everyday Life and the Ecological Crisis of Capitalism | Verso Books

Marx in the Anthropocene: Towards the Idea of Degrowth Communism | Kohei Saito

Degrowth & Strategy: how to bring about social-ecological transformation

27 Essays and Thoughts on Degrowth | Giorgos Kallis

Videos

Yes To Limits To Growth! | The Other School

How Degrowth Can Save the World | Andrewism

How We End Consumerism | Our Changing Climate

Demystifying Degrowth | Rosa Luxemburg NYC

Degrowth is not Austerity | John the Duncan

Degrowth and Ecosocialism | Planet: Critical

Degrowth in 7 minutes: Fighting for climate by living better | Think That Through

The Future is Degrowth (w/ Aaron Vansintjan) || SRSLY WRONG

"Degrowth means power to the working class!"with Jason Hickel | GND Media

Others

degrowth.info

Degrowth Journal

Doughnut Economics

[wonnieluv]

I met you in the dark… you lit me up - p.js

Summary: The small cafe down the street became your safe haven from the busy life you’ve thrusted yourself into after moving to Seattle this past summer. It’s quiet, calm, warm… everything you could want until one day a cute guy with his guitar disrupts your peace and quiet

stranger!Jay x fem!reader,

warnings: none! mentions of loneliness but that’s about it

masterlist

June 2024 — you aren’t quite sure how everything happened… one morning you were chatting with your parents as they make you breakfast as they always did… the next thing you know you’re on a plane moving halfway across the country to a city you have quite literally never been to. You were never the adventurous type. Not in high school, definitely not in college, and, until now, not after college either.

Y/N L/N. In school, you weren’t the valedictorian, you weren’t even salutatorian. But you were smart. Just smart enough to pass under everyone’s radars in high school but get on the radars of some of the best schools in the country. After finally graduating with your masters, you’re now in your way to Seattle to start your first big job out of college at a major tech company. You were excited for the job but moving to a new city where you knew no one… it’s not an easy thing.

♡♡︎♡︎♡︎

November, 2024 — it’s been 5 months since your life was put into high gear. After you settled into your apartment you immediately started up wanted to get acclimated to your job as quick as possible. Your coworkers are nice and your boss is nice enough but the workload… it’s nothing you can’t do. In fact it’s actually pretty easy. So why are you so burnt out?

The real reason is you’ve been going on autopilot, working deadline to deadline. It felt robotic really but you don’t want to admit you’d fallen victim to the capitalist tech workforce. You brushed it off, it’ll go away eventually… right? (Spoiler alert it did not)

One random Sunday you decided you needed to stop spending your days off rotting in bed when the sun is actually shining (a rarity for Seattle in the winter you’ve come to discover). You found the quaintest little cafe down the street from your apartment. Entering the space, you hear the chime of the bell above the door and you’re overcome by the aroma. It’s coffee, of course it’s coffee, but it’s coffee and something else. It’s coffee with the perfect amount of cream and sugar and it’s so welcoming. The space isn’t very busy surprisingly so you head to the counter to make your order.

Ever since that day you began to come to the cafe every Sunday. You’d sit at your spot by the window next to the fireplace. Bathing in the aroma of the cafe and shamelessly watching the people as they pass the on the street and as November turned to December, you started spending more time there. It was always peaceful and never crowded, nice and quiet. A good contrast to the noise that seemed to always be populating your mind.

♡♡︎♡︎♡︎

December 15th, 2024 — You did it! You survived to the holidays, well… almost. Next Thursday you’d be flying home to spend Christmas and New Years with your family getting a nice break from work. This fast approaching break definitely reflected on your mood. You had an extra pep in your step and a smile on your face as you walked into the cafe for the last Sunday before you return home.

As you settle into your comfy seat by the window, you begin to hear light strumming on a guitar. You try to ignore it as it’s not super loud at this point and you prefer to just watch people outside with little to no noise from elsewhere. I mean… that’s what drew you to this quiet cafe anyways.

You were pretty successful in your attempts to tune out the guitar until the most honey-like voice drifted into your ears. Soft and warm, with a slight rasp to it. You couldn’t help but turn your head to face the voice.

The second you did your eyes were met with the face you weren’t expecting but you were entranced. You’d never seen this man in the cafe before. He had a strong jawline with fierce eyes that held a soft light to them that matched the words he was singing. There were maybe 3 other people in the little cafe besides you, but it felt like he was staring into your soul as he sang the song. You couldn’t pull yourself to look away.

As his song needed his eyes lingered in a prolonged eye-contact with you before he looks away

“Thank you” he says into the microphone before beginning his next song.

For the first time since you entered the cafe you didn’t stare at the window the entire time you were there. You kept your focus on the beautiful man playing his guitar with his beautiful voice. Without your knowledge, an hour had passed until he finally put his guitar down and got up. Him accepting a coffee and talking with the workers. You saw this as your cue to leave and get on with your Sunday.

As you pass their table to head for the door you try to eavesdrop on their conversation. Any clues to hopefully tell you more about this singer. You didn’t know why you wanted to know but you just had to figure out something.

“I was surprised to hear you were coming Sunday, the Wednesday night crowd wasn’t enough anymore?” You hear the owner chuckle as you pass

“Well you know how it is…” His response gets lost as you exit the cafe head full of thoughts

Wednesday nights huh?

♡♡︎♡︎♡︎

December 18th, 2024 — You were never the adventurous type. Not in high school, definitely not in college, and, until now, not after college either. You liked routines, you liked schedules. Knowing where you had to be and when. It was easy to plan your life around a schedule. Wednesdays were your nights where you’d get takeout and watch some shitty romcom in the solitude of your apartment as a celebration for getting halfway through the week.

So why were you standing outside the entrance of the cafe hoping a certain brown haired boy the chiseled jaw and beautiful honey voice would be inside?

You couldn’t even answer the question yourself…

As you entered the cafe, you’re shocked by the amount of people inside. The normally empty cafe was bustling. It wasn’t completely full but almost every table had an occupant with everyone chattering amongst themselves.

You forgo your coffee this evening and decide to plop down and the open table you saw. It’s towards the back, not your usual spot by the window but it’s in that general area.

Just as you settle into the atmosphere the crowd dies down a bit as you see the cafe owner head onstage with his microphone

“Welcome everyone! I’m so glad you could all make it out this evening” As he rambled on about the bad weather and the holiday spirit, you’re eyes wandered looking for the specific boy you sacrificed your romcoms for.

“Without further ado, the guy you all came here for, please welcome Jay”

Jay, So that’s this name…

You think to yourself as he walks onto the makeshift stage with his guitar in hand.

“Good evening everyone…” he begins softly.

“I know I’m here every week but it’s still touching to see how many people show up.”

All these people… are here for him…?

It’s almost mind boggling to you that that many people would gather in this quiet coffee shop to hear him sing but at the same time you understand it. He’s irresistible.

You’re brought out of your thoughts as he begins strumming his guitar. It’s not the same as any of the songs he played last Sunday. You zero in on him wanting to fully focus on him but to yourself surprise… you’re eyes meet his as he begins to sing

I met you in the dark, you lit me up

You can’t look away. He’s mesmerizing. His beautiful dark eyes are pulling you in

You made me feel as though, I was enough

You’re memorizing his facial features as if this is the last moment you’ll see him. His voice is so soft, it’s as if he’ll disappear at any moment

We danced the night away, we drank too much

I held your hair back when, you were throwing up

You look away for a moment needing to catch your breath. You’ve never met this man so why is he staring you down as if you’ve known him your whole life? Like he can see write through you. Like he can read your thoughts…

I knew I loved you then, but you’d never know

As his voice continued you opt to close your eyes and lightly sway in your seat

Darling your love is more than worth its weight in gold

You’ve never been at peace like this. His voice was like a ray of sunshine streaming through the window in the evening as the sky is the mist beautiful shades of orange and pink.

Just say you won’t let go, oh just say you won’t let go

As he finished the last few lines, the guitar begins to fade out you open your eyes again to clap with the rest of the crowd. You look around at all the warm smiles gracing peoples faces. You look back at him in awe. But to your surprise he’s already looking at you with a warm smile on his face. As your gazes meet he holds your gaze for a long second before looking around the rest of the crowd

“Thank you…” he says

The next 30 minutes continue with him gracing the audience with his beautiful voice. The small crowd cooped up in the little coffee shop shielded from the cold and rain of Seattle in the winter. Every now and then looking in your direction for a couple seconds but not like he did during the first song.

He finishes his last song with an applause from the audience. It’s now going on 9PM and you know realistically you should get going home but you can’t get yourself to move from your seat at the back of the cafe. You watch as the people begin to leave the cafe exchanging their goodbyes with friends as they part their separate ways. It almost brings a sense of loneliness.

You haven’t really connected with anyone since coming to Seattle. Your coworkers are nice but you can’t see that much of a friendship stemming from the business relationship you’ve got at the moment.

Maybe that’s why you’ve enjoyed the cafe so much. You’re around people again but you don’t have to worry about talking to them past the cashiers taking your order.

You’re so lost in your thoughts you don’t notice a presence next to you.

“Excuse me ma’am. We’re going to close up now” you turn to see the barista smiling at you. You take a second to look around seeing as you’re the only person left besides the workers and Jay

“Oh of course! I apologize. Have a good evening” you smile at the barista as you collect your things and head for the door.

You spare one final look at the man packing up his guitar before stepping out into the rain.

Did I say rain? Oh sorry. I meant thunderstorm. It seems in the quiet hour you spent within the cozy walls of the cafe, a thunderstorm had rolled in despite the fact that there was no rain practically all day.

You sigh as you put your arms up in a futile attempt to cover yourself from the never ending rain. Your apartment is maybe a 10 minute walk from the cafe so you aren’t worried. More annoyed than anything.

You step out from the overhang as you begin your walk home but for some reason, you feel no rain. Your hands are dry above your head, you don’t feel any droplets fall on you.

With a confused expression you look up to see yourself covered by an umbrella. As you look down at the hand holding it, you trace your eyes to meet the face of the owner and before you know it you’re eyes are locked onto those deep eyes that had you mesmerized just moments ago

“I- ummm. Thank you..?” It almost comes out as a question. Internally face palming yourself for letting your nervousness show

You hear a chuckle in response “Why are you trying to walk without an umbrella in this weather?”

“I forgot mine at home I guess…” you respond a little embarrassed

“You aren’t from here are you”

“That obvious?” You playfully ask

“Almost…” he starts “I also think I would’ve remembered a face like yours if I’d seen it here before”

You’re eyes shoot back up to his face in surprise but once you lock eyes again you look away in embarrassment

“Let me walk you home…” he asks softly. “The rain won’t be letting up soon and you’ll get sick without an umbrella”

“You don’t even know my name” you counter his offer

“Well that can be changed can’t it” he holds out his other hand that’s not holding the umbrella for a handshake

“Jongseong Park. But everyone calls me Jay”

“Y/N…” you shake his hand as you look into his eyes

“Well then… lead the way Y/N” You nod. Hesitate to turn away from his face and let go of his hand but you do anyways

The short walk to your apartment consists of you telling Jay your story and why you live in Seattle now and your plans to go got for the holidays and him telling you his story. He was born and raised in Seattle and currently works with his father but likes to sing on the side. It’s only 10 minutes but if felt like half and hour as you couldn’t stop smiling in his presence.

You stop outside of your apartment complex backing out from under the umbrella to stand under the overhang.

“Thank you… for sharing your umbrella and walking me back” you smile sheepishly at him

“No problem” he offers a soft smile

The two of you stand there for a moment neither wanting to walk away

“Give me your phone” you blurt

“Why…?” He hesitantly asks but pulls his phone out nonetheless

“I need to repay you for letting me use your umbrella but I can’t reach you without your phone number now can I” you reason. Trying your very hardest to play it cool but inside you’re dying as you hand his phone back.

“You make a point but I have to warn you” he begins “I drive a pretty high price” he teases.

“Well then… I guess I’ve got my work cut out for me” you tease back

You fall into another comfortable silence the two of you glance into each others eyes.

“I’ll see you around Jay…” you say softly

“See you around Y/N…” he responds with a soft smile as he watches you enter your building before heading on his way home.

As you enter your apartment you giggle to yourself feeling giddy about this new character you’ve just brought into your life.

Jay…

You say his name to yourself with a smile on your face. The rapid beat of your heart tells you that the boy who entranced you at the small local cafe may become something a lot bigger in your life soon.

And all of the sudden, you want to take the risk…

Part 2 is now up! Read here :)

[queercodedangel]

Squid Game Season Two Analysis: Capitalist Ideology, The Illusion of Democracy, and The Necessity for Revolution

Why the second season of Squid Game is a great follow-up to the first season and offers us an even more radical critique of capitalism and its supposedly "free" and "democratic" institutions.

(Spoiler warning for both seasons. I won't go into too much detail, but some spoilers for the bigger plot points will be present)

I really enjoyed the second season of Squid Game, so I was surprised when I learned that a good amount of fans of the first season did not feel the same.

Because of that, I wanna give my thoughts on the themes and messages that this season in particular offers us and why I believe season 2 is, in many ways, even more radical than season 1 in its narrative choices.

Season One: The Dehumanizing Nature of Capitalism

Season 1 did a great job as a more general critique of capitalism (with some elements that are more specific to South Korea). It showed us a story of impoverished people that are so desparate that they find themselves trapped in a literal game of life and death that forces them to not only compete with other participants who are in similar financial situations, but to sometimes even betray and kill them just to survive and possibly win the big money at the end of all rounds.

To make it all even more cruel: It is soon revealed that the whole game just exists for the entertainment of rich elites who change the conditions of the game as they please when they are bored.

Needless to say: The game in Squid Game is a pretty heavy-handed allegory for the predatory nature of capitalism and how it literally kills us. The creator himself has stated this multiple times, since there are still people who (willingly or unwillingly) deny this.

There are already plenty of great analyses of these aspects in season 1 (I really recommend the video on YouTube called "Squid Game: Ideology and The New Soviet Man" by Kay and Skittles), so let's move on to season 2.

Season Two: The Setup

Our protagonist is once again Gi-hun, the only survivor of all games from season 1. He is practically a billionaire since he won all the money in season 1, and could therefore live a pretty comfortable life.

And yet he is fixated on one singular goal: To track down the location where the games take place to put a stop to them once and for all. Gi-hun feels guilty to spend his fortune on anything else than this one goal, since it's a fortune that came from the deaths of his friends and countless other people.

Gi-hun eventually finds himself back in the game after every other approach failed. Unfortunately for him, the tracker that he surgically implanted in his tooth got removed while he was knocked out and transported into the game. He is once again forced to participate in the game, since his rescue team that was supposed to save him and attack the island on which the games take place cannot locate him as of now.

The Greatness of Gi-hun: Resisting Hyperindividualism, Cynicism and Capitalist Ideas of Worth

I really like Gi-hun as a character. He started out as a deadbeat dad who got into severe debt because of his gambling addiction. Gi-hun is someone who many people that are entrenched in neoliberal capitalist ideology wouldn't feel much sympathy for at first, as he's shown to be pretty reckless and just overall far from a noble hero when we first get introduced to his character in season 1.

If you're from the west (or a country like South Korea which has a similar hyperindividualist capitalist culture), then you are taught to see Gi-hun's situation as something self-caused, as something he freely chose to be in with his own bad decisions. Furthermore, you're taught to see his socio-economic situation as a direct reflection of his value as a person.

In the series itself, the Front Man, the VIPs and even some other players in the game reinforce this way of thinking. They constantly express the sentiment that the players in the game are "worthless", "scum" and "trash" that deserves to be "filtered out" (killed) because they are responsible for the situation that they are in and have no worth anyway, as their socio-economic status shows according to this logic.

Gi-hun is someone who rejects all of this.

In season 2, we see him more determined than ever to save as many people as possible in the game, and to ultimately put an end to the game itself. He does not believe in the narrative that people's worth is determined by their socio-economic status, nor that they are completely self-responsible for their situation and therefore deserve to be killed in the game.

Gi-hun calls the game out for what it is: A predatory and cruel tool of rich capitalists that preys on people's fears and vulnerabilities to encourage the worst aspects of people's personalities to flourish, all just for the entertainment of rich investors who see the players as expendable and enjoy watching them die and betray each other.

Gi-hun isn't particularly gifted or talented, he's not the exceptional, flawless individual that neoliberalism fetishizes. He can be cowardly, insecure, frightened and even selfish, as we saw in season 1 when he lied to the old man to save his own life.

But at the end of the day, he is someone with an unwavering belief in the worth and potential of people despite what his hypercapitalist neoliberal culture (and people deeply embedded into it) constantly tells him. He's someone who, despite all his flaws, risks his life and happiness for that simple belief.

Gi-hun is the antidote to a deeply cynical, hyperindividualistic and neoliberal capitalist society that conditions us to not believe in the worth and potential of other people beyond their wealth and social status.

The Illusion of Democracy: A deceptive Facade of Free Choice and Equality

Let's look at the game itself this season, since there have been a few changes to its rules.

In this season, the surviving players are given the opportunity to vote after each round to either continue into the next round or to stop playing and divide the money that has accumulated so far among each player that survived. The more players die, the more money gets added to the final prize and the fewer people need to share the total sum with each other, meaning each player gets more money in the end if the majority votes to stop playing.

The staff of the game keeps emphasizing how the players chose to be part of the game, how they always have the option to leave, how the game respects free choice and values democracy, how everyone is equal in the game, and how the rules are fair and universal.

Unsurprisingly, this is all nonsense.

The players are not even aware that they are playing with their lives at risk until after the first game, a game called "Red Light, Green Light", which has a high fatality rate because once the first player dies, the shock and sudden rush of fear causes people to panic, leading to more deaths.

The first season also showed us that the VIPs can change the rules and conditions of the game whenever they feel like it, even during a round.

Age, health, knowledge and experience with the particular games that are being played in each round can also make the difference between life and death. Sometimes the games also straight up involve a factor of luck that the players have no real control over.

Then there's also the fact that not every player is in the same situation. Some players, such as Hyun-ju or Yong-sik, are shown to have severely more debt than others and lost significantly more in their life, which means some have the privilege to be all set again after just one or two rounds (if the majority votes to stop playing) while others will have barely earned enough money to fix their life, and would therefore need to play more rounds to achieve that outcome.

Some also have family and friends that need them, while others lost everything and have no one to come home to. All these factors make them unequal and shape the way they vote.

So basically: The players are stuck in a game that they didn't even know puts their life in danger until after they played the first round. The only reason they entered in the first place was because of their precarious situation that varies in severity from person to person (which means some have the privilege to vote to end the game early with their financial issues fixed, while others do not). Some players have more advantages than others in each round because of age, health, knowledge, experience or even just sheer luck. And the VIPs can just change the rules of the game whenever they feel like it.

Squid Game tells us very clearly that it thinks very little of the rhetoric of "free choice" "free democracy" and "equality" in a structurally coercive, brutal and predatory system with fundamentally unequal conditions such as our capitalist society.

The Front Man: Cynicism, Vote Manipulation and Counter-Revolution

A key aspect of the second season of Squid Game is that the Front Man himself pretends to be a regular player; he participates in the games among Gi-hun and the rest as player 001. The Front Man deliberately gets close to Gi-hun and even manages to win his trust pretty easily with his down-to-earth and kind facade, making him involved in Gi-hun's every move.

The Front Man is, in many ways, the opposite of Gi-hun.

He is shown in both seasons to think very little of the players and humanity as a whole. He sees the participants of the game as worthless trash that deserves to get sorted out. The Front Man believes humanity is selfish, greedy and cannot be better than what it is right now, which makes the game a necessary part of the world to him.

The Front Man is thoroughly entrenched in the cynical, neoliberal capitalist worldview that sees humans as fundamentally selfish and greedy beings that only have themselves to blame for their situations.

It is noteworthy that the Front Man is very fixated on Gi-hun, and even seems to grow a liking to him because of his unwavering belief in the value and potential of people that he upholds despite all the horrors and betrayal that he witnessed. This suggests that a small part of the Front Man might still have hope that Gi-hun is right and wants him to succeed in his goal.

But at the end of the day, we see that his cynical and neoliberal view on humanity rules over what little hope in a better world he might have.

As such, the Front Man ultimately sabotages Gi-hun's efforts whenever he can. When the vote was tied after the first round, he votes to continue into the next round so that more people die, something Gi-hun fought to prevent by making it clear to the other players that more people will die if they continue.

But this is not the only time he manipulates Gi-hun's efforts: When Gi-hun organizes an armed resistance to finally put an end to the game itself for good, the Front Man betrays him in the last minute by kiling members of the resistance group and then shooting Gi-hun's best friend in front of him in order to emotionally break Gi-hun and make him lose hope.

The Front Man is not just a despicable antagonist, he also serves as a pretty blunt example of a member of the ruling class that rigs elections and destroys revolutionary movements from within, a strategy that imperialist powers such as the US have utilized many times in history already.

When Voting isn't enough: The Necessity of Revolution and Class War

Despite Gi-hun's attempt to end the game for good having failed (at least for now), I don't believe the message of Squid Game's second season is one of resignation. Not only is the game shown to be fundamentally unjust and rigged, but voting alone is also portrayed to not be enough.

Throughout the whole season, those who vote to end the game never succeed. This is not a coincidence. The game is designed to make it the less likely outcome not just because of the involvement of Front Man, but because the game preys on people's despair and precarity, all while also encouraging selfish, greedy and reckless behavior in its very design.

But even if enough people voted to end the game: The next batch of players would just be thrown into the same situation Gi-hun and the others just escaped from. A successful majority vote to leave the game would save many lives, but Gi-hun's fight would be far from over. His goal to put a permanent end to the game would not be achieved yet.

The staff of the game also makes a deliberate choice to put a big X or O onto the jumpsuit of each player depending on how they voted. This encourages players to define themselves as either Xs or Os, which leads to hostility towards the players of the other fraction.

This reaches a point where players of both fractions plan to murder the other fraction in order to secure the next vote for themselves.

But Gi-hun puts a stop to that.

He realizes it's a deliberate distraction so that people fight each other rather than the game itself. He proposes that the players should instead organize together to fight the real oppressors that forced them into the whole situation in the first place.

They are not Xs or Os. They are impoverished and desparate people who were manipulated to participate into a literal game of death that requires suffering, betrayal and murder for victory.

The message of Squid Game Season Two is one of collective resistance and revolution:

The institutions of a fundamentally rigged and predatory class system are not enough to abolish the system itself. Voting can be used as a form of damage control, but it cannot replace collective action and organizing.

Instead of fighting each other, we need to organize together to fight the system itself. It is the only way we can truly all be liberated from the death game of capitalism.

[femsolid]

https://www.tumblr.com/mbakwe-blog/45072537611/capitalism-a-bitter-sweet-love-story?source=share What do you think about the above?

Did you write it? I think it's capitalist propaganda from start to finish. And you don't even realise how offensive it is.

"capitalism isnt working nearly as well as it could"

During Covid, french billionaires made an obscene amount of money, while everyone else was struggling to survive. Bernard Arnault (Louis Vuitton) more than doubled his profit! He made 96.3 BILLIONS in a year, during covid, and became the richest man alive. For him, capitalism works a charm! And you're saying it could work even better?? You see, it works perfectly well for the rich and it doesn't work for the 99% of people left, exactly as intended. During every major crisis (war, illness, natural disaster, ecological crisis, terrorism) the richest get richer, the poorest get poorer, as intended. That's what capitalism is for. The hoarding of resources by a minority. In that regard, it's working wonderfully.

"We shouldn't force people to pay for being successful."

Exploiting the poor, including kids, profiting from modern slavery in non western countries or by using migrants, and becoming experts in tax evasion, isn't "being successful". Yes they should pay for what they did. They should be in prison.

"They weren't doing anything illegal to cause what happened."

Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's moral and we should keep quiet about it. We're not equal regarding the law: rich people get away with murder because they have money, poor people don't. And some things should be illegal. Like trading, which leads to this: women dying in sweatshops. That's murder. Yet no one's going to jail. Not to mention the assassinations and coups d'état and profiting from a fucking pandemic disaster.

"I mean if you were making lots of money and you really worked hard to get where you are"

Rich people don't get rich because they work hard. They get rich because of INHERITANCE. They come from, at the very least, a middle class background, they had money to begin with.

And how do you define working hard? To "earn" as much as Elon Musk, a minimum wage worker has to work millions of years, do you realise that? Is Elon Musk working harder than a nurse? Why is his work worth more than a woman protecting and saving lives? What exactly is one man doing, from 9 to 5, that's worth earning as much as millions of people at once? People who are working jobs that actually benefit our societies! If Elon Musk disappeared, we would be fine, better even. But if cleaners, doctors, teachers, factory workers, mothers or train drivers disappeared, we wouldn't have a society any more.

"I know it is hard to get in a position of power, but its not impossible if you work hard."

See above. The "American dream" is capitalist propaganda. Poor people work hard every day. To say that people are poor because they aren't working hard enough or haven't invested (the money they don't have) enough, or aren't smart enough, is neo-liberal propaganda. It's disgusting. It's insulting. It's classism. Homeless people aren't homeless because they didn't "invest wisely in the stock market" okay? Who does it serve for us to believe in this illusion of Meritocracy? It serves the rich, agitating a carrot in front of your eyes, so that you don't fight back.

"if you were making lots of money you're not going to take responsibility for those who cant do what you did"

Well they should, because they ARE responsible. If you don't understand the link between wealth and poverty, you don't understand economy at all. For some to get rich, others have to be poor. You need to get educated on class struggle.

"I believe no one is to blame for this economic crisis we went through"

Trading centres are big casinos playing with poor people's lives. The money isn't even real, but it can cause real jobs to be destroyed and real sweatshops to collapse on a thousand women in India. The people responsible for any economic crisis are those in power. Life isn't lalaland. Real assholes make real decisions that affect real people. The government, lobbies, banks, CEOs, etc. They have names and addresses.

"Everyone is naturally self interested."

No. You're just a right winger. Half of the population believes that we're all self interested, the other half believes in a common interest. Neo-liberalism isn't the only economic system available. And for a social species such as ours, that depends on peace and community to survive, capitalism is a deeply unnatural system. Case in point: we'll all die soon because a minority of humans are destroying our ecosystem to make more fake money to play in their big casinos with. It's an absurd system for absurd people.

"If you were making millions after working hard your whole life you wouldn't want to lose any of it."

Being rich is IMMORAL. As I said, you don't make millions by simply working hard. If that was the case, every mother would be a fucking billionaire by now. If I was a millionaire in a capitalist system, I'd be absolutely ashamed of myself, because I'd know damn well it'd come from the blood and tears of others. I WOULD want to lose all of it and I'd use it to save others, not to play in my big casino. And I'd apologize endlessly.

"You worked hard" 

No.

"you learned the skill,"

Like every other worker... or do you think you can drive a bus, install an electric system, repair a car, or care for a severally autistic child without "learning the skill"?

"and you most likely deserve every penny you make if you get to be in a position where you are rich and powerful."

No. See above. The best example of this is your own president. The man is a fucking idiot with no skill and a criminal. To get to a position of power you mostly need to be male and born in a wealthy family. That's about it. You don't "deserve" more money than anybody else.

"I just feel that you shouldn't be frowned upon because you achieved the rare phenomenon of "The American Dream"

Not just frowned upon, you should be in jail for slavery, tax evasion, the destruction of our ecosystem and murder.

So I think the link you shared shows the author's (you?) complete lack of understanding when it comes to what capitalism is, as well as an alarming inability to think outside of it, resulting in a display of typical capitalistic advertising.

[amnayel]

when i heard Leona sayings his plan of modernization/industrialization for sunset savanna in the bead brawl event I was so glad he wouldn’t become king bc I seemed like a TERRIBLE idea

especially for a country that people live in cooperation with each other and respect with the nature, his idea was bad in itself but in a country with this culture it was even worse

You CANT have progress without respecting nature, this is not progress, it’s trading the future for the present

A good life doesnt means a life full of money, it’s hard to say that considering most of us live in a capitalist country, but humans need food, shelter, art and other humans, not a new iphone. We believe we need money bc in the society where we live, money is the only thing capable of guaranteeing these things

But that’s not true for sunset savanna, they have the resources to guarantee a good life for everyone.

what Farene needs to do (and he apparently IS doing) is slowly working into distributing better the resources among the population to make sure that everyone can live well, without damaging the land

But well, that’s the result of Leona plan: abuse of the land that culminates into lack of resources and ends up with people dying of hunger and fighting to survive

His plan was idealistic and he couldn’t think about the consequences, although I thought it would work in a dream and I’m really interested in why it didn’t

I don’t blame him, he probably never got to understand this bc only farena got the heir education, I wonder if the reason why Leona dream became a nightmare is bc he internalized what people said about he never being able of being a king?

But im also glad that twst showed us how he actually was not fitted to be king, this is not a job he can get just bc he really wants it, people’s lives depend on it

although this was predictable considering book 2 and the lion king movie itself

[hadesoftheladies]

too many people view (uncritically, esp when it comes to feminism) separatism as this isolating, individualistic thing where people who don't want to participate just pack their bags and move to a far off country. that isn't what it is at all.

separatism is about re-centering the individuals of a certain community so as to strengthen the community. so that a community focuses its energy and resources on itself rather than on outsiders. it is, quite literally, about building and expanding community. it's not merely about escaping men or banning men, it is about relying on women, building a community of women, centering women, making it so that women are not dependent on men because women got them. you see how that's qualitatively different right?

like it's not so much about cutting off your father or brothers, but about spending deliberately more time fortifying your relationships with other women in your life. whether helping them out financially, donating books, giving advice, buying their stuff, giving energy.

when it comes to revolution of any kind, they die quickly without a strong sense and presence of community.

one of the biggest wrenches patriarchy has thrown into women's liberation is poisoning female community. consciousness-raising is difficult because every new generation of women is cut off from the one preceding it. younger girls are taught to resent women and view women with suspicion. they are male-centric in that they believe males will protect, love, provide for and cherish them only to have a rude awakening sooner or later.

bridging that disconnect is going to take practicing varying degrees of separatism. for sharing of knowledge between women and girls is hampered by male presence. you've all seen this happen. when a man or boy enters the picture, conversation between women is crippled. we start censoring ourselves.

censorship is a huge issue feminists face at every turn, and it's worse because we experience this censorship not just via government or public forums where men are in charge, but in our interpersonal relationships. and not just in our interpersonal relationships, but by our own selves. only female community brings out the honesty in us and gives us the courage to speak out and think freely. we all know this.

separatism is not only imperative to women's health, it is imperative to consciousness raising. it's not about living in a male free utopia but about centering women in all things so that women's community is strengthened and prepared to take on their oppressors and patriarchal society (and so that it survives retaliations). girls don't need to be totally isolated from males. they need to have predominantly female (not feminine) influence in their lives. they need to be in a place where they do not depend on males or cater to them. they need to be female-centric. learning female-philosophy and perpetuating authentic female culture.

that's separatism.

and the good news is that feminists are not the first oppressed group to employ separatism. black liberation movements employ this as well and are strengthened when they do. it's how they won some of their most vicious battles. lgb communities also utilize(d) separatism and it strengthened their communities. they had to de-center the narratives of their oppressors and rely on each other instead of begging their oppressors for scraps. they won because they gave themselves to each other as a community.

separatism works. over and over again. liberation takes time, but it has always needed separatism.

i just keep thinking about how communities can disrupt and change society, y'know? like how even in the throes of capitalistic/imperialist/white supremacist greed, small communities find a way to take care of each other financially and physically. culture predates economy, even while economy can beget culture or poison it. i love how small communities can just say "fuck you" to the presiding ruler and create within themselves micro-economies to keep each other alive. economy is just, after all, a social agreement/condition.

women are the ones who will liberate women. keep investing in that and it'll pay off.

[jadedbirch]

Well, I've seen the thing! Don't worry, I didn't pay for it. But if anyone is interested, here are my (extremely deep) thoughts about Formed Police Unit.

This is a movie that once again proves that China is incapable of subtlety when it comes to propaganda and self-promotion. Taking place in the fictitious country of "Santa Leonne", where the hard working salt-mining Proletariat has been oppressed by the two-headed monster of White Colonialism and Capitalist Greed leading to bloody uprisings, our Heroes arrive literally blazing the slogan CHINA IS HERE FOR PEACE. And it only gets sillier from here. At one point, a member of the FPU even says "Every life is equal and justice knows no borders!"

#AllLivesMatter? Sign me the fuck up 😂

I'm not going to talk about the "plot," instead I'm going to talk about how many times stuff happens to Wang Yibo's character, Yang Zhen.

(Spoilers under the cut)

1. He uses his helmet to cover a BOMB and when it blows up in his face says "I'm fine."

2. Then the vehicle he's in gets blown up and flips in the air

3. Then he gets shot

4. And blown up again

5. And then he drowns a little, but don't worry, he's still fine!

6. And then he gets a little bit tortured by some Evil Whitey.

Have I mentioned all of this happens in a typhoon?

Anyways, he obviously survives all of this because China Never Surrenders, and because his boyfriend Captain loves comrades him very much. In fact, their chemistry is so transcendent that the power of their gay love Chinese Bravery stops a sniper from fulfilling his mission of shooting the hostages they've been protecting. Long story short, Justice Knows No Borders, and therefore the good people of Santa Leonne prevail and are never bothered by evil Westerners meddling with their land ever again, or so we are left to presume.

But look, I'm sure you already know that Wang Yibo has intense chemistry with all his male costars. What I was NOT expecting was that the infamous and horrible blackface scene was COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY. They could've left it on the cutting room floor, along with poor Zhang Zehan's footage, and nothing about the plot would have been affected. It's really fucking pathetic that they chose to risk international goodwill for a 30 second nothing-burger 🤦🏻‍♀️. Get your shit together, China.

Was this movie worth watching? Honestly? Not really. But it helped to watch it with some like-minded Yibo fans who contributed much to my enjoyment with their own delightful shit talk 😂♥️.

I now leave you with this final look at the lovers comrades. Aren't they just 😍😍😍?

[possiblyunhinged]

The mere mention of identity politics makes everyone’s spine stiffen—left, right, middle, whatever. Both sides argue that the other’s gripes are unfounded. Very helpful. Very progressive. Very… Twitter.

Much like the word "woke," identity politics has been kidnapped, beaten up by the right, dressed in clown shoes, and paraded around as a cautionary tale. The left, naturally, responds by shrieking louder, flailing its arms, and punching itself in the face. But here’s the kicker: you can’t understand systemic prejudice without looking through the lens of identity. Equally, looking at it without understanding how capitalism sustains that oppression is just as nonsensical.

Take Luigi Mangione. Some left-leaning commentators have decided he’s only being fawned over because he’s a handsome white guy. Sure, fair. Privilege is a hell of a drug. And let’s be honest—if he looked like Boris Johnson, would my friends and I be sharing pictures of him in that cunty orange jumpsuit? Absolutely not.

But let’s not skip over the fact that this might also be the first time in decades that people have collectively agreed the U.S. healthcare system is more criminal than your average cartel. Mangione’s case has sparked wider conversations about how shamelessly the media and politicians protect their billionaire donors—while the rest of us have to grin and bear the cost-of-living crisis and the slow-motion collapse of our quality of life. Elon Musk, for example, isn’t worried about solving world hunger—unless it’s the million children he’s fathered out of wedlock. Very traditional. Much man.

This is one of those rare moments when class consciousness kicked down the door, barged into the conversation, and shouted: “Where have you been, dickheads?” And we should be listening. Classism is the vessel of systemic prejudice. It’s the golden goose that keeps laying eggs for the rich while the rest of us scramble over the shells.

Mangione’s privilege? Sure, it’s skewing the narrative—no denying that. But suggesting it’s the only reason people empathise with him is reductive at best and utterly clueless at worst. Maybe folks are just sick of billionaires treating us like extras in their dystopian fanfiction. Just a thought.

In the UK, the top 20% owns 63% of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 20% owns a paltry 0.5%. That’s not even enough to fill a trolley at Lidl. And yet, middle-class progressives sip their oat lattes and wax lyrical about privilege as if they aren’t sitting on a cushy safety net. I was born into a working-class family that fell into poverty when I was ten. Watching white, middle-class folks treat identity politics like gospel while ignoring class is like watching someone lecture you on drowning while standing in a lifeboat.

Classism is why kids from disadvantaged backgrounds are 19 months behind their peers by the time they finish school. It’s why 3.6 million children lived in absolute poverty last year. And it’s why those problems remain immovable—because fixing them would mean looking in the mirror. And let’s face it, blaming the "other" is much easier than self-reflection.

Dreaming of abolishing capitalism in the UK feels delusional. Especially when billionaires like Elon Musk are playing the world’s loudest violin, painting progressivism as socialism to protect their wallets. Musk isn’t doing this because he’s a genius. He’s doing it because he’s a hollow man with a God complex and unresolved daddy issues. But I digress.

Capitalism thrives on division. Nothing oils the machine faster than convincing us to turn on each other. And look, I get it—understanding identity-based oppression is vital. But when it devolves into a pissy shouting match? It’s just white noise. No learning. No change. Just people screaming into the void.

Surviving as a working-class person in a capitalist economy is engineered to break you. Now add some self-important pundit on telly wagging their finger at you for not being progressive enough. What do you get? Rage. Exhaustion. Division. If I hadn’t been so socially disconnected from the kids I grew up with—thanks, undiagnosed autism—I might’ve followed the same far-right pipeline they did. Why? Because they had fuck-all, and society kept telling them they were the problem.

My single mum didn’t have time to be an activist. She was too busy working three jobs, clutching her mental health by the throat, and keeping a roof over our heads. That exhaustion is the whole point. The system is designed to keep you too knackered to fight back.

You can’t separate identity struggles from class struggles. But ignoring class entirely? That’s how we end up here, with riots in the streets and Farage clones stoking the flames. Those riots weren’t populated by middle-class Foxes or Robinsons. They were predominantly white, working-class people. Why? Because class disparities breed discontent, and that discontent gets weaponised by the rich to keep us fighting each other instead of them. It’s the oldest trick in the book.

If we addressed class disparities—if we dragged billionaires kicking and screaming out of politics—it’d become painfully clear how class has been the boot on everyone’s neck. Instead, we squabble and point fingers while the top 1% buys up everything, including your grandma’s bungalow. This is no accident.

Politicians haven’t failed us. They’ve done exactly what they were built to do: oppress the majority, enrich the ruling class, and keep the boot shiny. By cutting class consciousness out of discussions on racism, sexism, and transphobia, we’re missing the plot.

[website-enjoyer]

Hey I read your post about stuff like UBI still relying on imperialist resource extraction, do you have any resources specifically related to what a healthcare system that isn't imperialist might look like? I've been trying to find some kind of resource about this for two days and haven't come up with anything.

At a certain point it started to feel like maybe there isn't a solution and due to the current Empirical Collapse Era, everyone living in the core is just Fucked and we're about to be sent back to the stone age once infrastructure collapses and we won't have any food, medicine, electricity, etc. And there's nothing we can do to meaningfully stop it.

So I really hope you can at least point me in the right direction cuz I'm really scared about everything happening lately

hi anon, sorry my little screed against social democracy was your wake-up call re: the blood soaking everything in society. it’s understandable to feel distress. yes, things might keep getting worse before they get better. that being said, let’s unpack this worry that there’s nothing we can do to prevent a total collapse of organized society.

there would be a dark comfort in this being the case, right? we wouldn’t have any responsibility to each other, to humanity, to our environment. no need to take action, to organize, to have a political project. nothing left to do but choose how to individually distract yourself as the world ends. doomsday prepping, apocalypse prophecies, noble savage tropes, brunch and cartoons as an act of resistance, getting high, etcetera. convenient, no? i’m not trying to ascribe this viewpoint to you, just pointing out where it leads in practice. it’s self-fulfilling. think for a minute about how people being oppressed by imperialism around the world right now might feel about this outlook amongst people in the core.

so what are the other options? for one, consider that capitalism could survive. food, medicine, electricity, and infrastructure could all continue to exist but in a society with much harsher conditions for the working class, deprived of imperialism’s bribery. this isn’t a question of infrastructure decay, it’s about the system of private property, wage labour, and commodity exchange. never underestimate capitalism’s ability to sustain itself. it’s crucial that in recognizing this possibility we find solidarity with the global working classes, rather than resorting to racist politics in reaction to “falling to their level”. this is what my original post was about. personally, the possibility of capitalist civilization continuing, being reformed, scares me more than any potential break from it.

global working class solidarity brings me to the second option: socialist revolution. when a society is organized around meeting working people’s needs rather than maximizing profits, things are possible that seem unfathomable to those who have only ever known capitalism. countries like cuba and north korea, despite constant imperialist violence in the form of sanctions, isolation, and military threats—and despite the many other contradictions arising from trying to survive in a global capitalist system—maintain universal healthcare systems which result in vastly better health outcomes compared to other countries at similar economic scales. socialized ownership of the means of production is a different game entirely than reformist forms of redistribution like UBI that leave society’s productive forces under the ownership of capitalists.

this requires a revolution. if we recognize revolution as a possibility, as our historical responsibility, what does that lead to in practice? organizing. this is how people under siege by the most powerful countries in the world have been able to build some of the most advanced healthcare systems ever to exist. this is how at the height of the cold war, the ussr was still able to play a primary role in eradicating smallpox globally. i leave you with a few very short reads: che guevara’s on revolutionary medicine, n.a. semashko’s the work of the public health authorities in soviet russia, and wu chieh-ping’s medicine and health: for workers, peasants, and soldiers.

[tamamita]

I'm all for self defense, for economic defense, for defense of human rights against the state, but if we, after a proletariat revolution, go on a massive killing spree, that's where this ends for me. Spilling blood is not good, ever, it always takes a massive mental and physical toll, and there are ways to redistribute wealth without murder.

The Reign of Terror ultimately led to the rise of Napoleon. The Great Leap Forward seriously hindered Mao's progress. Stalin purged so many people that minority countries like Lithuania were decreased in population for several decades.

I don't want to live in a world where I die just because my parents are mom and pop landlords who can never get their two tenants to pay their rent. If that makes me not a real communist, then fine. I'm just a disabled chick with no money who wants to live, and thinks you're being overly simplistic.

All of the arguments and criticism of various leaderships is for you to have, that's fine, but I do not agree with some of the sentiment given the historical facts behind various socialist nations and their success only to be undermined by a certain foreign actor, such as Cuba, Chile, Afghanistan and etc.

Either way, the fact that you believe people should be exploited to keep you alive gives a far more fascinating perspective on how exactly borgeoisie society works that your parents would have to exploit and blackmail people (who themselves are trying to survive) in order provide and sustain for you. There's something deeply wrong with such a political-economic system that allows for you to not receive the proper welfare and accommedation that every human should be entitled to. Once again, I am pointing to the free market, private property and its liabilities under a capitalist empire, because you're in this situation for a reason. Look at Cuba, a communist country, with one of the world's greatest universal healthcare systems with a track record for how it accommodates its disabled population

[demial4]

Someone's Thoughtful Take on Cosmo Canyon

from Here

"Note Ive never played the OG. I know of the OG so I can’t really make a comparison aside from what others have said and what I’ve seen in love playthroughs and commentaries.

Personally, I like the remake’s take. 

Let’s look at the game’s themes. Ff7 at the core isn’t about magic swords and defeating Sauron, it’s about economic ideas, imperialism, corporatism, selfishness, and honesty. 

 In canon, Shinra has waged war on the world. And has more or less won. Shinra dictates what people should buy and believe, it is capitalist in the worst sense. Shinra has separated people from the environment through building cities and creating a society based on material wealth and fame (recall how cloud and tifa’s village was excluded from shinra’s economy and only knew of the world via shinra’s propaganda). 

So what would people in reality most likely be? They’d be tourists and certainly the areas affected by Shinra realize they need to survive…by being tourist sites. 

In the OG Wutai did do that which is why yuffie rebelled. The remake seems to indicate that happened to wutai as in canon. 

There are questions of how countries/people affected by imperialism adapt, and becoming a part of the free market by advertising “happiness, freedom etc” could be one of them.

In the real world, we do have “spiritual retreats” and “gurus (looking at you Beatles and that guru from India)” for wealthy, bored folks. So the game is taking this fakeness, this desire to get quick answers without really becoming a true rebel, and showing it in the game.

Yuffie, being one who comes from a semi-nation that has been brutalized and humiliated by Shinra, is skeptical of the cosmo canyon. And why shouldn’t she be? Her nation has suffered many deaths, and the loss of their tradition slowly, yet these guys are sitting around “meditating” only to go home the next day to their peaceful lives? They can go home safely but everyday her people lose more and more of themselves. Plus she isn’t sure they are correct about the afterlife-I mean they don’t have good evidence so why should she believe them? She has lost people and she has never seen them again. It’s a very mature take on the world for a young teen like yuffie.

When tifa ends up trying to tell people about what she actually experienced in the life force, no one from the cosmo canyon aside from Guggenheimer (who initially dismisses her) tries to delve more into what she is talking about. 

Tifa is talking to people who can’t or won’t understand what she is warning about because they haven’t had the life experiences she has and I suspect the genuine desire to help the world change. 

Later on, in golden saucer, Tifa confesses to cloud that she feels so helpless when she sees how no one in the golden saucer is reacting to the new war on wutai."

from Here

[jeharrison]

What's happening with writers & the #WGA strike is a reflection of what's happening across all industries - CEOs and shareholders sucking the life out of people who make their products/provide their services for them.

This capitalist model of greed and excessive wealth for the sake of status and classism, the dehumanizing of lower class and now also middle class workers is a modern day crisis and a disaster that effects everyone.

More and more, every day people are struggling to simply survive. To eat. To keep their lights on and heaters running. And this isn't happening in some other country, its happening in your neighborhood, its happening to your next door neighbor.

So maybe TV writing seems like a trivial career and a lot of people are thinking "why should I care? Those writers probably don't know what its like to work two or three jobs and still not be able to pay their bills."

But this, like the arts often do, is a reflection of a wider societal problem. Because AI could be taking over your job next. The CEOs and shareholders at the top of whatever company you work for are sitting in their offices right now trying to figure out how to squeeze more work out of fewer employees and pay them even less than they already earn.

All so their company can boast a bigger billion dollar profit than they did last year, so the CEO can pay themselves a bonus on top of their $50 million pay check, so the shareholders who contribute next to nothing in running the company and producing the products can line their already bulging pockets.

So you've gotta ask yourself, what the hell is the point? Why are you working fourteen hour days and skipping meals and being chased by creditors for bills you can't pay? You want the answer? You just need to look up the cooperate ladder.

I'm just hoping that one day soon, we're all going to realize there's more of us than there is of them. And if we want our dignity back, if we want to be able to pay our bills and feed our kids, then its time the money starts flowing back the other way.