Comradeship // Freechat

I think I could benefit from some motivation in the morning to help a bit with getting out of bed. The only podcasts I can find are either made by people like Jocko Willink shudders or just promote grind/hussle culture.

Is there anything motivational that isn't made by reactionaries?

I have this app called Too Good To Go and it lets you buy shit from grocery stores that they would otherwise throw away for a cheap price (think like 15 euro worth of stuff for 3-4 euro). Today I went for it and got sort of disappointed, as a got like two cheeses, plant based butter, a box of eclairs, 15 little desserts and a steak. Sort of decent catch, not very nutritious. We gave the steak away as meat is not eaten in our house.

The app is a hit or miss. You can sometimes end up with a big box of veggies you can eat for a whole week. Just not today.

Anyway, it always makes me think how fucking much food is thrown away. Like, the app is so full in just my City. According to the app, 124kg of food is throw out every SECOND in this country. How anyone has to get hungry because they can't contribute to the profit is just insane. I hope we can one day look back at this time in disgust.

I get his (mild) attacks on Bolsonaro make him look better, but he's not done any actual fucking reforms. At all. All he did during his first government was create some means tested welfare programs and keep public funding going, all while not combatting the bourgeoisie's interests. Which in turn, left ample time for fascism to grow, he even funded some of the exponents of it like Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (evangelical cult that is much like US prosperity gospel). Not to mention shooting incarceration rates sky high by kicking off the war on drugs by law in 2006 and invading Haiti on behalf of the UN in 2004

His ministries are all commanded by neolibs, and even far right União Brasil in communications and tourism.

His main deed as of this year has been pushing new fiscal policy for the government which will deepen the already horrible one that was put in by Temer. It even has penalties for "overspending" like forbidding the government from creating new public jobs and such!

Fucking interest in loans is the actual highest in the world at 13.25%! (~9% per year accounting for inflation)

Just because a government doesn't outright support the public sanctions on Cuba, China and the DPRK it doesn't make it a fucking ally, hell, many European countries do the same and I don't see y'all praising it.

Lula is not moving Brazil any, and I mean any, closer to liberation. This job is up for the communists, nominally the Brazilian Communist Party (which is at the moment undergoing a split due to a complacent and persecutory petit-bourgeois central committee that doesn't want to oppose Lula but that's beside the point)

Every time I see Lula praise here one of my neurons explodes with anger

Edit FYI: I am actually organized in the youth of the Brazilian Communist Party. If y'all want any more info just ask (ofc nothing confidential)

I know, the post tile is rather bait like, however I wanted to stir discussion amongst you.

As you know I'm a mod of the Linux for Leftists community so it might be quite counter-intuitive that someone knowledgeable on computers and Linux would have an anti-technological position. The thing is, I do not have such a position, that would be anti-Marxist and most importantly: idiotic.

The problems I have with technology stem from capitalism, however that doesn't change the fact I enjoy using more "outdated" technological solutions to my problems in life and "kkkrapital$m sukkks" is not the discussion I'd like to foster today. I believe as individuals and society we are over reliant on unnecessarily advanced technology and should seek alternatives to distance ourselves from this.

Let me ask you: "How reliant in your day to day life are you on your smartphone?"

The question is more in the likes of, how many of your previous devices or items have been replaced by it? For example a watch, a timer, an alarm, a calculator, a payment method, a music player, a news reader, a video device and more.

It's an everything machine, and when it fails you that's when you essentially lose access to everything. Even if I buy a ticket online, you bet I'm printing it out just for that added feeling of security. I've always been the type of person that likes my devices to be very redundant, so that when one fails me I can either easily replace or repair it. I also like for my devices to be reliant and durable as well as well made for the purpose they are meant to serve.

I have what I would like to call a functionally minimalist mindset. That's why I have problems with computers and smartphones as they are not only everything machines for most, they are slowly getting worse for the mainstream and a revolution isn't coming soon.

So what do I do? Lifestylism lmao

Something that helps me not only enforce a reliability in my life, but also ground it in the real world as with every future year we are more and more pushed into the digital. Unfortunately capitalism has made the digital not a liberating power, but a force of alienation and control. Thus I try to distance myself very much from social media, and I've been doing it quite well. Since 2013 or 2014 as quite a young idiot I made a smart decision. "Social media sucks", and I've never managed to get into Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and the like.

Only recently have I've gotten into any kind of social media, like Reddit or now Lemmygrad. But that is because of you my lovely comrades. You made the places worth registering to. Thank you.

But returning, I also have a certain love for the material. Something I can touch, inspect, smell and admire for it's craftsmanship. I own several purely mechanical machines that have been well replaced by the digital. I also have old digital machines that are also what I like to call fictionally minimalist. Like a Casio F-91W watch or a TI-82 graphic calculator. (Solid things, they don't make now 'em like they used to.) An addiator, a mechanical wind-up watch (I still prefer my Casio F-91W) and get this. Six typewriters. I have somewhat of addiction to them.

I have to say, all of these have made my life not just more cluttered. But more "real". I can't describe it, but interacting with them feels more authentic than interacting with a smartphone or even a laptop. There is just something about them that allows me not just distraction free work, but a focused mindset on task I've set in front of me. They make my life weirdly enough, easier.

I've found myself gravitating more and more to these low tech solutions, not just because of interest of curiosity. But real genuine desire to actually use them on a day to day basis.

Do you find yourself having similar experiences when it comes to technology? That it has been more of a hindrance than a help to whatever you are trying to do?

(Excuse me if the post lacks structure or sense. I've yet to get good at proper writing, and not just streams of thoughts.)

EDIT: It seems this post garnered a few downvotes. Please, leave a comment! Let the struggle session begin!

Obviously I'm going to see the movie this week. I know a lot about the subject already, but I thought it would be nice to hype myself with a Marxist perspective of the events in the meantime. I recently listened to an episode of the Socialist Program with Brian Becker on this subject, and I'm hoping y'all can recommend some more content like that to refresh my memory on the topic and keep me grounded in the right state of mind. (I should clarify, I'm ok with documentaries, but I need mostly audio based content because- being a single parent -I am limited to consuming education mostly while I'm at work)

Of course, it still has a lot of the tired tropes of Yankee movies, Big Shooty Protagonist, Male/Female Leads falling in love at the first eye contact, random sex scenes to keep viewers awake, Robin Hood saves the day by himself, Cillian Murphy being anti-social in a leather trench-coat.

But it's been a long time since I've seen a Yankee-ish movie (the director is Kiwi) that actually puts an effort to make a movie be about critiquing capitalism, without some plot twist where the people wanting change secretly eat babies. The time metaphor is so one to one that it becomes corny after a while, and I enjoyed every pun. The title in Portuguese is also better than the original, loosely translating to "The Cost of Tomorrow."

Ironically the editing is very straight to the point with barely any filler and the budget looked very efficiently allocated, as if it valued your time (sorry). Wholeheartedly recommend.

While trying to publish a new CBT article, I ran into an issue where the post button would spin endlessly. Is this a known bug, and if so, is there a way around this? I was just getting a new EU storyline started...

What is it like living there? I want to move to a place where there is tons of water due to the future water crisis, a place with tons of nature and a place that is full with leftist, and was considering Vermont as a candidate.

I don’t think it’s unique but I’ve had it for a while and figured it’d be good to share.

I’ve been thinking about the Bolshevik revolution and the subsequent communist revolutions that followed and it baffled me how demonized they are. Yes, I know it’s due to rampant anticommunism but taking away that aspect it feels no different from the French Revolution that is way less hated.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a weird small uptick in people defending the French monarchy, Marie Antoinette specifically, but for the most part people seem way less opposed to the French lobbing off heads with a guillotine versus the Bolsheviks gunning down the Romanovs. Is it because there were children killed? But children were killed by the French revolutionaries too, so what gives? Not for nothing but getting shot to death seems a little less brutal than getting your head cut off. I’m not judging the French for this decision either, I understand why it needed to happen and so does history, at least the history I learned in school.

Is this hypocrisy because the Bolshevik revolution happened in more recent history? Again, I know anticommunism is the major factor it’s just hard to rationalize the hatred outside of red scare propaganda.

It’s just so wild to me that nobody really cares about the French monarchy dying via guillotine but weep real tears for the Tsar. I mean, my mom watches history shows (those dramatized ones, mostly) and she came to me about how sad their deaths were and how good of a dad Nicholas II was, how he seemed like such a nice man. It was, and still is, jarring as hell but I didn’t know what to say at the time considering I was less educated and a high schooler. I know that damn Anastasia movie did major damage as well. Sucks that the songs are bangers.

Anyway I think that’s my whole thought on this subject. Please share any insights any of you have on this as I’d love to hear it and perhaps learn more!

This dude has a political science major... I tried telling him that in social democracy the workers don't own the means of production so it's still capitalism, but he doesn't listen. I remember went he stopped supporting my country's (Netherlands) neoliberal party (D66) and started supporting PvdA, our socialdemocratic party. I was hopeful that he was slowly turning to the left, but nothing's changed. What are some arguments against socialdemocracy that a social democrat might listen to?

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1155025

I used to be a fan of Ray William Johnson, but couldn’t stomach his racism anymore. I need silly jokes to laugh at without compromising my morals.

I had met this lady a few weeks ago who did numerology sessions on the side of her regular job. She had offered me a session at the time and I had refused. I ended up finding her number a few weeks later and had arranged to book a session.

I had been seeing all these numbers repeating, and thought, why not have some fun, right? I don't really believe in that kinda stuff, but it would be interesting to see what values people ascribe to things as random as numbers, and see what I think about it. An hour session was gonna come out to upwards of 200+ dollars 💀 .

I apologised saying I should've asked for a quote beforehand, but she tries to call me (I didn't pick up) and she then texts me that "people usually call me when they're in need and I recommend the session", but it's like...of course you would, you're making 200+ dollars off of me lol.

No disrespect to her, but I hate that everyday interactions are warped by profit 😓. I get everyone has to eat, but damn, wtf?

I am used to the Reddit model in which you need karma to pretty much do anything. Is that the case here? Does anything happen if you end up with just negative points?

I live in Austria and noticed recently, due to my boss and colleagues using it, that the word "Prolet" is being used as a swear word for basically uncultured people in german. Before reading theory, I wasn't aware of the link to marxism.

Now, I wanted to ask if any of you have heard the word being used in the same way in your languages. I'm wondering if it's used that way only in german. Do you think this might be a way to make people instinctively steer away from communism? Feels like a way to degrade the working class.

I can definitely understand peoples’ issues with it being consumed, especially in a political context, but how do yall feel about “weed”? I won’t hide my feelings, I am very much pro-weed, it’s not great that I started in my mid-teens but in my area it’s FAR from uncommon. I don’t smoke daily or anything, I’m not addicted to it (people say it’s non-habit forming but any drug can be addictive with enough frequent usage) but I do smoke and dab w/ friends often. That’s not why I believe in legalization tho, my main thing is you shouldn’t make a naturally occurring plant an illegal substance. I’d point to the DEA’s destructive (legal) burning of thousands of naturally occurring marijuana plants found in nature; This seems eco-fascist to me and to deny the uses of hemp as a production material seems dogmatic to me. The USSR used hemp for industrial purposes during the war and it helped in a major way. I’m sure most of us are familiar with the badge given for Hemp growers. If you have any criticisms, I’m more than open to it, but I feel that marijuana won’t be easy to get rid of in future society and would probably be put to use in different more productive ways.

This is post is a response to @yogthos@lemmygrad.ml's post titled "The role of sharks"

I want to float what's perhaps a controversial opinion to see what everybody's thoughts on the matter are. The general consensus is to try and be polite at all times. However, I will argue that there are necessary limits to politeness and that it can be counterproductive at times.

When somebody makes a comment in good faith, I think it's important to engage with it in good faith. If there is a disagreement then it can be articulated in a clear and polite manner. The hope is that the discussion will be productive and everyone will learn something in the process.

On the other hand, when comments are made with the intention of trolling then trying to engage them as if they were made in good faith only plays into the hands of the troll. Addressing the points that the troll makes as if they had merit implicitly validates these points as if they need to be debated.

In my view, the proper response to trolls is ridicule. They have to be called out for what they are and we should not take the bait to attempt starting a debate with them. Instead, it's better to simply make it clear that the opinion is garbage and not worth discussing.

The argument against being snarky is that it can drive people away, but I don't know that there is much weight to that in practice. Anybody who's read Lenin can see that his writing is full of snark, and he often ridiculed opportunists and revisionists. Clearly that didn't hinder the Bolshevik movement all that much.

I think it's important for us to express confidence in our views, and to be assertive about our positions. The facts are on our side, and we don't need to act as if our position is the one that needs defending.

Obviously it's all postering and propaganda, and there was never any REAL threat. I guess TikTok is safe for now LOL.

Hey folks. My name is Tymon Brown - up until March of last year, I was the director of video production for The Gravel Institute, which was a lefty thinktank making educational videos on YouTube.

I got suddenly laid off in March of 2022, and since then GI has stopped making content, which I'm pretty in the dark about. But I'm working on building a new channel with some other former colleagues from GI, and we'll be going into production soon.

I'll share our first video when it's ready. Anyone have a good recommendation on the most appropriate community here to share that kind of thing?

Hope y'all have a nice day.

I know we had an emoji thread a while back and made some from that. Wasn't sure if we had made a specific com for that or a new thread. Seen some people asking for more options so if we don't have another thread open I was going to suggest either a com or maybe just a periodic emoji suggestion thread?

https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1687125700384374784

I think the age of consent should be mu- lowered, I don't even believe in the concept. You wanna know why? Because marriage is consent. You wanna know what's wrong with sex? Being married means you consent to sex all the time. There's no such thing as marital rape because when you marry a person you have a martial obligation to give your spouse sex whenever they want it. It's literally Catholic doctrine so, you know, the only moral way to have sex is within marriage and the only way to get married is to consent to sex on demand - uh - and both partners agree to that, it's their obligation, it's a mortal sin to deny it. So that's- that's- how's that for consent theory? That's my... That's my age of consent- that's not age of consent, that's age of marriage.

"Age of consent". What is this? What is this? Christians have no use for such things. Christians have no use for such a concept - you get married. A Christian... A Christian doesn't have sex with anybody, a Christian has sex with their spouse within marriage, and nobody is getting married at a prepubescent age. People get married when they're at a reproductive age, when they're adolescents... And so th- You know, I'm just redefining it.

According to estimates by Unchained At Last, between 2000 and 2018 almost 300K children were married in the United States. This included some children as young as 10 (p.5):

1. 10-Year-Olds: 5 (<1%)
2. 11-Year-Olds: 1 (<1%)
3. 12-Year-Olds: 14 (<1%)
4. 13-Year-Olds: 78 (<1%)
5. 14-Year-Olds: 1,223 (<1%)
6. 15-Year-Olds: 8,199 (4%)
7. 16-Year-Olds: 63,956 (29%)
8. 17-Year-Olds: 148,944 (67%)

As they explain on page 4 some states had missing data, so this is likely an underestimation.