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ALoafOfBread

@ ALoafOfBread @lemmy.ml

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673
Joined
3 yr. ago

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    Why does Lemmy.ML admire authoritarian regimes ?

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  • I think the trouble is that "freedom of speech", "freedom of expression", etc. can be and are weaponized by colonial/hegemonic forces.

    But, that said, that's why I am not 100% supportive of this view. Possibly naïvely on my end, I think those sorts of freedoms are important not only for individuals but also as a check on state power. That said, I see how manipulative the US state department can be - and for that matter how manipulative foreign govts have been to the US - especially in recent election cycles... so I think it is a double edged sword.

    That's part of the reason I am also not a full blown anarchist/libertarian socialist. I can see the value in centralized state power when it comes to defending the state and people

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    Why does Lemmy.ML admire authoritarian regimes ?

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  • I think they don't completely diverge. I am sympatetic to this viewpoint, I just don't fully endorse it. I think as leftists we should be generous to other leftists and their ideas.

    Some do feel that way. Others feel that he isn't a strong departure from where we were already heading. I think accelerationism is bad and we should never put ourselves in a position where fascism wins. Fascism needs to always be playing defense until it is totally defeated. Especially when it supports american hegemony, genocide, global poverty, etc.

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    Why does Lemmy.ML admire authoritarian regimes ?

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  • A note on my biases: I am a leftist. I am generally "anti-authoritarian", but I have read some theory and listened to enough commentary to understand why folks are pro-authoritarian (and why Authoritarian is a label only applied to enemies of american hegemony). I am on .ml - which I don't think matters, anyone's account can be anywhere: fediverse, baby.

    Lemmy.ml is a website hosted on a server. Why do its mods and some users hold those beliefs?

    Many of those people are communists. Opposition to american hegemony is the main reason, or critically supporting other actually existing socialist states. They may think China isn't perfect, but they're attempting socialism and are standing up to the US and have the best shot at success. In the case of North Korea, they may think that attempt at socialism is genuine and much of the bad stuff they do is falsified or exaggerated for propaganda or just be giving critical support to a country that has been destroyed by the US via war and sanctions.

    Or, in the case of Russia & Iran, they have stood in firm opposition to American hegemony, military bullying, etc. even though they are not Communist/Socialist. So, even though they do a lot of bad things and don't have socialist values, they are a lesser evil than America. For Russia, them pushing back against NATO is seen as a direct war against the advance of global capital, even though Russia is capitalistic and fascistic (much like a weaker version of the US).

    In all of these cases, when a person supports these governments, they are not really saying "Country good". They are saying "I critically support Country in opposition to American hegemony and global Capital". There's a lot of memes and jokes, and some people just really support Russia and NK uncritically - humanity is a rich tapestry - but that's the gist of it.

    Understanding this POV requires an understanding of history (re: socialism & US interventionalism), critical theory (re: media), and an ability to be generous to edgelords online who are not always the best messengers of this (valid) viewpoint. It is socialist realpolitik, not idealpolitik - a view where current events can be interpreted in a way that their outcomes may foment the material conditions favorable to socialism.

    Now a question for you: How can a democratic & socialist country exist in a world where American hegemony exists and America is hell-bent on maintaining the global capitalistic order?

    Given the US' massive power and history of destroying socialist movements with tremendous violence (military and economic), can a country maintain its status as a real democracy without the US:

    • covertly funding extremist groups to coup the democratic government (Iran),

    • committing direct election tampering to elect a pro-US party (Venezuela, unsuccessfully),

    • launching proxy wars to murder their people (Vietnam, North Korea),

    • destroying the country's economy with sanctions and completely disconnecting them from global trade - causing mass starvation and poverty (North Korea, Cuba)

    The answer is that without the aid of a country capable of standing up to the US, they do not. These countries that still have socialist goverments have to hold on to power in a world where US hegemony is a fact.

  • Trump uses Correspondents’ Dinner shooting to justify expanding spying powers as deadline nears

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  • Regarding ballistics evidence, I am talking about one very specific thing that they have explicitly refused to comment on: whether he actually shot that guy. Even in the charging documents, about him discharging a firearm in the commission of a violent attmepted crime or whatever it's called, they still don't say that he discharged it at the ss officer.

    I take your point, but I am not wildly speculating. Them witholding evidence in a very specific way is itself evidence as it implies a possibility (that the shotgun was not fired at the ss officer).

    I'm not yet saying that certainly didn't happen, just that we're hearing different things from different sources who were present, the charging docs, etc. that do not line up in the way you expect.

    That opens the door for questions around what really went down. Nothing definitive, but it raises questions.

  • Trump uses Correspondents’ Dinner shooting to justify expanding spying powers as deadline nears

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  • I don't "know" for certain yet. But they have been really cagey about even answering whether Allen fired any shots. And the one guy they originally reported him as having shot with buckshot to the chest, now they can't determine whether that was actually friendly fire.

    These guys were all packing pistols. Iirc from photos there were some guys with ARs.

    Do you think you could easily identify the effects of a shotgun firing buckshot at relatively close range from that of a pistol? I bet you could. It's really easy. Bunch of little holes creating 1 really big hole if close enough? Shotgun. 1 small hole? Pistol/rifle.

  • Trump uses Correspondents’ Dinner shooting to justify expanding spying powers as deadline nears

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  • I'm not usually in on conspiracies, but this one really doesn't add up. Seems reeeeal weird to say the least.

    Apparently they don't actually have any proof the guy fired a gun (there was a spent shell in the shotgun, but the admin has said the shot ss officer was possibly friendly fire? You'd think they could tell a shotgun in bulletproof plate from 9mm impact...)

    We don't have a name on the ss officer that was shot or any evidence he was shot at all.

    Coordinated "tHiS iS wHy We NeEd tHe BaLlRoOm" campaign by grifters

    Response to move trump was real slow despite having had 2 prior assassination attempts made.

  • "Google CEO decisions"

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  • Yeah that is technically true in that the law doesn'tsay that verbatim, but long term profitability is the goal since that is what is in the best interest of shareholders. The actual language is:

    1. Duty of Obedience - basically CEO needs to do what the board and bylaws dictate

    2. Duty of Information - don't mislead shareholders

    3. Duty of Loyalty - put shareholders' interests first. Meaning long term profitability

    4. Duty of Care - make business decisions with necessary forethought and planning, don't be negligent.

    This is basically interpreted as ensuring the long-term financial success of the company. Long term financial success = maximizing profit. Profit allows you to expand and make more profit. Therefore profit is the primary goal.

    Saying profitability isn't what the law dictates is sort of like "civil war wasn't about slavery, it was about states rights". To do what? Own slaves. "A public corporation's fiduciary duty to investors doesn't mandate profit-seeking, just acting in their best interests." And their best interests are....? Profitability.

    https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/fiduciary-duty-to-investors

  • "Google CEO decisions"

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  • Read. I said it is a bad goal for them to have, but the system requires them to have it.

    It is a weird reaction to be surprised or indignant that a corporation would do this. It is literally their job and why the profit motive is bad.

  • "Google CEO decisions"

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  • In zero-sum games, it can be the case that short term profit is the winning choice. One example is Go.

    When AlphaGo was created and got good enough to beat world champion Go players, it did so largely by making moves that seemed to humans to be wildly aggressive and focused on small territorial positions (the game is won by surrounding territory and secondarily by capturing pieces, which reduces the opponents score). These small, highly territorial moves tend to force the human to respond locally, preventing big strategic moves, and then the AI just maintains its aggressive posture, keeping the human on defense while the AI keeps making points.

    Most humans would have ignored these small battles for territory and focused on larger, more "strategic" moves that gain regional "influence" or help create opportunities to score more points down the line. But the computer's moves were "correct" in the sense that they won games against the best players in the world.

    BUT there's a reason AplhaGo isn't allowed in tournaments, for instance. So if the goal of AlphaGo was something like "be the top rated Go player", it would have failed dramatically since it can'tplay in ranked tournaments.

    Long story short, if you're optimizing for 1 variable, like points/wins/money, it may be only logical move to focus on aggressive incremental gains that give up other strategic objectives. So, Google is optimizing for something that is clearly incorrect from the perspective of providing the best service - but likely correct from the perspective of making the most money even at the cost of the service being worse. And Google has a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to maximize profits, basically guaranteeing this type of behavior

  • India reels under severe heatwave; 98 of world’s hottest cities recorded in country

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  • 98 of world's hottest cities

    It is 98/100 of the world's hottest cities, just fyi - not like 98 of world's 69,420 hottest cities, or something

  • GIMP rebranding as WLBR?

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  • I wonder if it's a regional thing? I've only ever heard it in movies or older TV shows. Where I live people are much more likely to just say "crippled" or describe someone as walking with a limp.

    I was confused when I saw Pulp Fiction as a kid because I was like "why is this handicapped guy in a leather suit and what does him being hadicapped have to do with his apparent hobbies" lol. But like I said, never really heard it used in other contexts.

  • GIMP rebranding as WLBR?

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  • Gimp is really just a rare/archaic ableist slur anyway - like to refer to someone with a limp or otherwise a leg/lack of a leg that impedes their gait. I've never heard it used in my life.

    The sexual usage is from gay bdsm subculture in the 70s that the large majority of ppl who are aware of it are only aware because of Pulp Fiction.

    My vote is for pimp

  • 36-year-old left the U.S. for China—now pays $1,000 rent and $100 for groceries for family of 4: It's my 'version of the American Dream’

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  • Yeah. Anywhere would basically be like this if you have enough money to retire luxuriously in that country. And anywhere you do that, poorer people will be making that lifestyle possible with their labor.

    While I don't doubt that the average urban Chinese citizen has a higher standard of living than the average urban US citizen, saying that moving to a poorer country where you are rich by comparison is "the american dream" is pretty wild when you're just taking advantage of economic disparities caused by capitalism.

    It's irresponsible to move somewhere permanently when you don't plan on really trying to integrate & instead just want to live cheaply as an expat.

  • France's Macron Urges Europe to ‘Wake Up’ Against United Front from US, Russia, and China

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  • Seems like a useful thing to say, though, regardless of who says it, right?

    As a non-european, I'd like to see european resistance to the fascist forces of the US and Russia.

  • Nah China "bad"/"authoritarian" and the DPRK is an "evil evil dictatorhsip" ~lemmy liberals

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  • I was agreeing with you

  • Nah China "bad"/"authoritarian" and the DPRK is an "evil evil dictatorhsip" ~lemmy liberals

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  • The framing and double-standard is chauvinist and bad.

    But there are reasons to be skeptical of suicide stats worldwide due to cultural ideas and norms around suicide. Like, look at the US. It was common practice for coroners to put accident as cause of death even if it was clearly suicide - and still is, to some degree. Only recently have statisticians began including certain other cases of "accidental" death as suicide (some single car crashes, gun "accidents", ODs, etc).

    And different countries have different methods for reporting out on suicide. It's not founded to say countries are intentionally skewing suicide stats, but it would be constructive to be skeptical about how those figures were arrived at before believing memes without citations.

  • Anthropic nuked a company's access to Claude, stopping 60 employees dead in their tracks — support via Google Form is the only recourse for vague usage policy violation

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  • Disliking AI is fine and good. But that is a really dumb argument.

    "60 employees who can't be productive without the internet? And this is progress?"

    "60 employees who can't be productive without computers? And this is progress?"

    "60 scribes who can't be productive without clay tablets? And this is progress?"

    Etc.

    Edit: LLMs/AI are going to change some things. They are going to make (shitty) coding and various automations much more accessible. They are probably not a revolutionary technology like computers/internet, but that they could be a core part of some people's workflow is absolutely not unthinkable. It has been shown that there have not, so far, been major boons to productivity on the whole, but that doesn't mean they don't have some use cases.

  • Biggest Competitor for Amazon Kindle - Kobo - has formed an official Cooperation with iFixit for repair kits & guides

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  • Kobo is pretty good. I like mine. Is it as nice and user friendly as Kindle? Probably not. Do I own it, not rent it, am not served ads, and don't have to deal with shitty DRM? Yes. Zero regrets. Got one for my sister and my wife, too. They also really like them.

  • NSFW

    [CW: transphobia]Caitlyn Jenner Begs Trump As She Can’t Travel After Passport Gender Reverted To ‘Male,’ And The Internet Is Calling It ‘Karma’

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  • Maybe she can call Kendall up and see if she can give Trump a pepsi

  • Global leftist leaders gather in Spain to mobilise against far right

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  • Summary

    • Brazil's Lula, Spain's Sanchez to host leaders summit
    • Ramaphosa and Sheinbaum among expected attendees
    • Parallel Socialist-led summit will bring together civil society and political parties

    BARCELONA, April 17 (Reuters) - Spain's Pedro Sanchez and Brazil's ​Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will spearhead gatherings of the global left in Barcelona ‌on Friday and Saturday, in a bid to defend multilateralism and mobilise left-wing movements against the far right. The meetings, organised by Spain and left-wing political networks, come as U.S. President Donald Trump's swift cuts to humanitarian aid, military interventions and threats ​to abandon NATO have shaken the status quo of international relations and prompted a rethink ​of global allegiances.

    The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.

    Borne out of a wake-up call for European socialists after the far-right ⁠surge in EU elections in 2024, the aim of the so-called "Global Progressive Mobilisation" starting on Friday is ​to mobilise advocates of left-wing ideas, culminating in a declaration of common actions on goals from defending democracy ​to the green transition, organisers said. A second gathering on Saturday - entitled "In defence of democracy" - is organised by the Spanish government and is the fourth instalment of a summit launched by Lula and Sanchez in 2024.

    'SHOW THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE'

    Both leaders are ​vocal critics of the Trump administration - with Sanchez having been particularly outspoken over the Iran war - and ​both face growing far-right challenges in upcoming election races.

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has also clashed with Trump, will attend, ‌as ⁠will Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum, marking the first visit to Spain by a Mexican president since 2018 after years of tension over the legacy of Spanish colonial rule.

    "I think it's important that progressive parties and governments unite to convey to the public, especially in Spain, that we belong to something that goes beyond domestic ​politics," Sanchez said of the ​gatherings, speaking in Beijing during ⁠a visit to China where he and President Xi Jinping pledged closer ties.

    Europe's far right lost one of its biggest champions with the defeat of Hungary's nationalist ​leader Viktor Orban in Sunday's election. Sanchez has hailed that, saying "the wave can ​be stopped, and ⁠Hungary proves it".

    In the other event, 3,000 people including current and former heads of state, around 400 mayors, unions, activists, and political parties will gather for two days hosted by Spain's Socialist Party. Sanchez and Lula will ⁠close ​the event. "Radical forces are at play in our countries to sponsor ​extreme right-wing movements ... we have to show there is an alternative," said Giacomo Filibeck, Secretary-General of the Party of European Socialists, whose ​membership spans 33 parties across Europe.

    Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Paolo Laudani and Joan Faus; Editing by Alison Williams