#you aren't a communist you're just self-centered

[bixels]

As cameras becomes more normalized (Sarah Bernhardt encouraging it, grifters on the rise, young artists using it), I wanna express how I will never turn to it because it fundamentally bores me to my core. There is no reason for me to want to use cameras because I will never want to give up my autonomy in creating art. I never want to become reliant on an inhuman object for expression, least of all if that object is created and controlled by manufacturing companies. I paint not because I want a painting but because I love the process of painting. So even in a future where everyone’s accepted it, I’m never gonna sway on this.

if i have to explain to you that using a camera to take a picture is not the same as using generative ai to generate an image then you are a fucking moron.

[ming-sik]

After finishing p5v12 I ended up coming back to the bbc sherlock hbomb video because it really is applicable in the sense that despite convincing me for a very long time that it wanted to be this grand, rich political drama with dense worldbuilding and character dynamics, AOB never actually was that. Like it just wasn't, its worldbuilding was always bespoke/fragile/contradictory, in terms of character dynamics it has barely a handful, even character motivations tap out at like five distinct ones, and its politics are just too simplistic to even conceptualize any political drama beyond "the wrong guys are in charge >:(". Certainly some of it was mismanaged expectations since AOB fans who predominantly are not worldbuilders tend to way overhype the complexity when there are 3/5 country gates without named destinations, but it has also been just depressing seeing my attempt to engage with AOB in good faith under the assumption that it was asking questions it would eventually answer(What happens to people with the Devouring who aren't Myne? What happens to orphans in the rest of the country? What's life like for Bosgeizlanders?) only for it to turn out that it just wasn't asking those questions at all and in fact I was projecting Kazuki setting up things to ferment and come back later when in reality they were just things that the audience was not meant to care about because they don't have anything to do with the protagonists.

It's not even the moment in the Wizard of Oz where the curtain falls away, it's just that at some point if you're interacting with a story under the assumption that "it gets good eventually" there is an event horizon at which point you must accept that it won't, which sucks because if it doesn't get good then the fact that it's been bad up until now is no longer acceptable. Not that it would be good if AOB's story didn't actually start until part 5, that would still be horrific pacing, but although only an incredible p5 could've rescued AOB from bad to a mixed bag, luckily we don't have to deal with that bittersweetness since its badness is pretty consistent throughout.

Am I a bitter hater? Certainly. They fucking feminized Myne. They took my beloved little self-centered bigoted shitheel and removed all of the personality that made that actually funny or compelling in order to leave her a fucking. Stepford child bride who still wants to purge all the foreigners but also her wedding vows are about embroidery and her reunion with her family is entirely about them teasing her for finally achieving heterosexuality. AOB has never been particularly kind to its female characters but what it's done to its protagonist is just depressing. The xenophobia itself has been well argued at this point. Should be noted that I am of course a rabid Communist and therefore believe that reformism is a doomed ideology, but even if I wasn't Myne's "reforms", if you feel like calling them that, do nothing to address literally any of the systemic injustices for peasants, the demographic I feel like our protagonist was originally from which was supposed to be important at some point. I had been falling off p5 generally because it just frankly got boring when all the interesting side characters went out of town, but I would actively say I dislike vol10/11 and hate 12. The xenophobia really is the killer it's very blatant, but I could go on like twelve discrete rants about the royalty scene alone, and then 12 is just a victory lap of the worst elements of the story revealing that this is all there ever was.

[qqueenofhades]

Uh, you see, you kind of also proved my point here:

“HOW DARE YOU CALL US ALL RACISTS AND TELL US TO BE QUIET??! Like my dude, my pal, my friend. That's quite a logical leap and represents the exact thing we're talking about here, so thanks for helping us demonstrate it.”

I specifically mentioned that I am not USA American. In fact, I too am from a country that used to be a part of USSR :) I just straight up don’t believe in communism and usually think that they are morons and should be socialists instead. And while I am white by American standards I am visibly identifiable member of an ethnic minority and I’ve experienced a lot of xenophobia in my life. I get it. I however don’t understand why did you pile me up with white american leftists, i did not live that white american life, come on.

I find a lot of American leftists annoying. Like yes a 22 year old self-proclaimed Stalinist is very alienating to me, a person who can be considered to be a victim of Stalinism.

However, that person does not have a political strategy! They are just a person, a very annoying one and one that I will consider to be malicious (because come on, Stalinism?????), and is probably abusive in online spaces, but all of that is just them being a bad or misguided person (or both). They don’t have a political strategy. AOC does, and the fact that someone wrote a propaganda piece that alienated someone’s dad is not the responisibilty of idk let me think of a username…. stalinspussykitty.tumblr.com, however vile this hypothetical person is.

The left is a minority in USA, one that has experienced a lot of prejudice, and as far as I know a lot of USA leftists are from marginalized groups. And people are largely alienated from the left because of the massive influence of the right-wing in USA, not because of loud and stupid kids.

Stupid kids are just stupid kids, and are not responsible for anyones fathers, that’s what I’m saying. I really do understand your frustration, but your argument reminds me of the “weird women alienate men from feminism” argument tbh

Okay, cool. We can agree on that much at least. But since I'm talking about this phenom in the American context, and by your own admission you're *not* American, we can also agree that there might be some cultural context to this that is specific to spaces that are American-centered and have direct impact on American politics, from which (through no fault of your own) you are at more of a remove. Likewise, "communists are bad, be socialists instead," is ALSO not going to be a winning message in America. It's just not.

Loud and stupid kids aren't the core problem with this or anything, and they're certainly (as my last post pointed out) not the biggest issue with a fundamentally racist, right-wing, reactionary country that casts every move toward the left as an existential threat. But because they claim, at least theoretically, that they want to help, they're not doing that and they're instead often-actively paving the way for fascism to get more of a foothold. The right wing is the biggest threat, but that doesn't mean I can't criticize other Americans for ineffective and often dangerous strategy, even and especially when they want to claim to be all on the same side as me.

[rametarin]

Why the alt right AND tankies favor Russia.

These two groups are nothing alike, and yet, a particular flavor of them both see something worth defending in Russia.

Big spoilers alert, but both these very different groups are despicable.

The more white supremacist elements are easier to understand, so I'll address those first. It's a granular spectrum between the white supremacists that are full blown, unapologetic white supremacists on the far side, and closer towards the center you have people that have been scarred and scared by the utter hostility of Intersectional Feminism that has made abundantly, absolutely clear that not only are white people evil, but that they should not perpetuate and be bred out, by any means necessary.

These ones see smug assed leftists crowing during speeches about how "Europe grows less andless white, and that's a good thing. :^)" while disparaging anyone that thinks otherwise as "just a Nazi," while they insist any white majority country or even community be made to take in, protect, finance and encourage them to not only become part of the community, but perpetuate their own culture instead of assimilate. And naturally, they feel a little slighted at the pivot away from "live as you will on your own times, don't hate people for their race or ethnic group or culture," when it's acceptable to hate on white people.

Is it any wonder then that a certain number of the population would see the hate levied against them by hard/radical lefts and see the modern industrialized world as not just hostile to them, as people, but that Russians propagandizing about how Russia is "anti-Woke" might be a good thing? Or how they may swallow pro-Russian propaganda? Or have trust approaching zero for anything left wing, approaching reactionary conspiracy theory given the penchant to lie in order to get, "baby to take their medicine. :^)"?

So this is how you get what would've been an unthinkable paradox just 40 years ago: Mom and Pop conservative republican types speaking positively of Russia and Putin and believing the absolute worst of democrats, liberals, and all kinds of leftists conspiring to make society as hostile and belligerent towards whites as possible, while putting those that are not (specifically, black people) on a pedestal. And Russia barely has to do more than highlight the things the academic conspirators on the western Left are either doing, or enabling.

In Russia they see the potential of a country where god and country are seen as positives and enshrined into the national fabric, where "LGBT+" is considered a brain disease or a moral failing and punished accordingly instead of institutionalized. Where they aren't punished and told that in accordance with "antiracism," if you're a white person you need to be taxed for the injustices and brutality other white people inflicted onto minorities, perpetually, and prevented from being able to access funds that help the poor due to your ethnic group, in the name of fighting "racism."

And it's hard to blame the fault in their logic. They're wrong, but also, this could've been avoided. It wasn't, because of the self-righteousness of the hard-left. Congratulations, assholes. You wind up making the status quo so toxic that you exacerbate borderline white people's dulling of senses due to fear and indignity so the dumber ones drift towards figures like Putin. By being such incessant douchbebags, you CREATED the population and mindset that voted for Trump out of desperation, when they otherwise would've ignored him as they did in previous generations of republican candidates.

So. That's the alt-right and the more far gone conservative republicans take on why they think Putin is their guy. What about Hard Leftists?

Those ones are easy. As the open and avowed white supremacists are to far-right ethnonationalism, there's a certain flavor of socialist/communist that idolizes the Soviet Union, specifically because it was Russia in charge and what it represented in the romanticism and fantasies of people that want something more Red Revolution. They're called Tankies, often, but don't necessarily have to be actual Tankies. They can be Russosupremacist explicitly, but not necessarily. The hard core crust, however, are these things.

These ones believe Russia still has the right and the pedigree to represent the idea of a socialist future, and Russia using the iconography as if they actually cared about it as anything but symbols of past Russonationalism/supremacy is both to attract this group and exploit their delusions.

So. Leftist Russia supporters can be hard socialists, or no different from just Russophiles and Russosupremacists, not unlike the way an actual blonde haired, blue eyed German might see the Nazi party as the right way. There's that ideological fringe, as well as a my-group-bestism bias.

And then there's a third type of Russian supporter. They can be socialist, hard-left affiliate, or not, but they tend to be things like South American or African dictators, and any that believe "the west" comprises a threat to their group's sovereignty and interests. They'll willingly drink the kool-aid of what Russia says and regurgitate it in a verbal, social, cultural war of information and romantic fantasies about what the truth is, and why. Their motivations are entirely selfish, but they've decided the global order of liberal democratic capitalist countries represents a danger to their ambitions. And they think they can either keep Russia and China at bay, or that they can somehow use them with impunity against American power to stretch their wings in their own back yards.

This third type covers people from India to parts of Africa, to Turkey and parts of Southeast Asia. And most of the OPEC nations.

And all of these people with their misc. selfish reasons or delusions for supporting Russia can eat rocks and shoes.

[cuntess-carmilla]

This is the past, present and future under ANY American presidency you dumb fuck. That was the result of the US staging a coup against our democratically elected SOCIALIST president, Salvador Allende. The propaganda they had to burn in a hurry to stay safe was communist and socialist propaganda. The people who suffered horrific torture, political persecution, executions and forced disappearances, taught and endorsed by the US, were Chilean leftists (confirmed OR SUSPECTED), poor Chileans, and Indigenous Chileans. The minimum confirmed victims of Pinochet's dictatorship is of 40,000 people.

This is what the US has done, is currently doing and will continue to do not just in the global south and the east, but within its own fucking borders too, to American leftists (the red scare, anyone?), Black Americans, Indigenous Americans, and non-white immigrants on American soil. You, as a republican, love and support all of the pain op and I are describing here and WORSE. Don't you fucking dare use us like this.

And in case it wasn't clear; you're right! This IS the future under democrats! AND under republicans! They're both the same shit under a different name! They're both right-wing parties controlled by and for the most privileged Americans to support and expand the American empire, both with blood on their hands by the MILLIONS! They're both fascist genocidal parties!

You're such a self-centered piece of shit for taking the suffering of tens of thousands of real people and using it to further your stupid propaganda, as if republicans aren't DROOLING to continue to do this all over the world just as much as democrats are.

I get that you're spiritually incapable of seeing 3rd worlders as real multidimensional human beings with worth, emotions, lives and wants, but please keep that shit to yourself next time. We don't need to be reminded that in the eyes of people like you, we're nothing but little ants to step on like we don't matter. Much less when we're mourning the bloody results of exactly that. Shut the fuck up.

My godmother was 11 when the coup happened: she recalls being in school in the centre of Santiago when suddenly she heard the roar of planes and a explosion so big the classroom windows cracked. The teacher looked grim and they were let out shortly after.

When she arrived home, her older brother was frantically going through all their books which had political propaganda in them, burning them as discretely as he could. "He looked like he was on the verge of a colapse, but smiled at me when he got home and asked me kindly to close all the curtains in the house".

She remembers the screams in the middle of the night- a couple of twins who were her neighbours and university students as well as their dad was taken. They never saw them again.

There are a lot of things she hasn't told me but I notice them anyway. She always hated September 19, when the military would stage a giant parade. She would stay home, with just a candle to accompany her, and I would stay at her side because I loved her and I didn't want her to be alone.

In October under the protests, she couldn't sleep- the army was out at all times and helicopters flew so low we were worried it would crash down the house. I stayed with her for a week - I would protest during the day and I'd come home with her looking pale and crying.

September 11 is a day of rememberance and pain. We will not forget what happened and we will fight for those of us who never came back.

Ni perdón ni olvido.