KurtVonnegut [comrade/them]

one of these states is an authoritarian piece of shit, and it’s definitely not Taiwan.

Tell that to the indigenous people of Taiwan. I bet they’d love to hear about how they genocide was “non-authoritarian”.

I think it is important to take a critical look at past tragedies

Those who care more about past tragedies than current tragedies don’t care at all. They’re just looking for some excuse to feel self-righteous.

Lib - “Markets make everything cheaper, which is good.”

Leftist - “But if there is a labor market, won’t that make labor cheaper?”

Lib - “Yes, and that is good.”

Leftist - “How is that good?”

Lib - “It leads to more profits.”

Leftist - “But why is it good to have more profits?”

Lib - “Because a good country is when corporations make profits, and the more profits the corporations make, the gooder the country is.”

Markets have brought more people out of poverty than anything.

Yes, just like the Irish people who were “helped” by the free market in the 1840s. Or the Indian people who were “helped” by the free market in the late 1800s. You might be interested in this book by the late, great Mike Davis which completely refutes your ideas with hard evidence that the free market can be used (and has been used) as a tool of genocide: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/7859

You should e-mail that to the presidents of Cuba, Venezuela, and China, to show them the error of their communist ways.

Gob, go run to the opioid store and buy mommy one fentanyl.

If you are more angry against some poor people addicted to opioids than you are against the billionaire oligarchs who made their money off of addicting millions of people to opioids… you might have a severe case of myopia.

Tech-wise Russia has nothing to offer

Oh no, their Twitter and Facebook exports are too low. They’ll have to scrape by on checks notes one of the world’s largest supplies of oil, precious metals, and other natural resources. Surely, the Russian economy will collapse any second now!

“I am not debating you.”

“Here, now let me debate you.”

the genocide against ukranians

Which one? The one in the 1930s caused by capitalists or the one in the 2020s caused by capitalists? I take both seriously, and I want the current one to end.

Since socialist policies are in the interest of the people, they will want to vote for politicians who support socialist policies.

Yes, you are right. People voted for Obama in 2008 because he promised nationalized healthcare. Obama also promised to shut down Guantanamo Bay prison. And people voted for Biden in 2020 because he promised student loan debt relief. Both presidents failed to deliver on their promises. Why? Because democracy in America is and always has been “bread and circuses.” Voting every two/four years is a distraction. Capital controls America, because it controls the American economy. How many elections do you need to see before you realize that it’s always going to be the same shit?

And any actual socialist will be destroyed by the press. Jeremy Corbin -> anti-Semitic (he’s not). Bernie Sanders -> misogynistic racist (he’s not, and Biden and Trump both have dozens of sexual assault claims against them). Same shit, different year. Capital, the media, and special interest groups stop all progress from happening in American “democracy.” No one has ever voted their way to a revolution.

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I noticed a lot of hexbear users being in support of them, which to me, is as much an anathema to the left as the Kremlin is.

To be accurate, I don’t think anyone on Hexbear thinks modern-day Russia is a communist, socialist, or leftist state. Generally, we believe Russia is a capitalist state, led by profit-seeking oligarchs, and that Putin is just the leader of those oligarchs. No one on Hexbear actually thinks Putin is personally a good human being. The reason Hexbear appears “pro-Russia” is because we refute the claim that Putin launched the war against Ukraine because he is ontologically evil, a demon, a crazy man who has lost his mind, literally Hitler, etc. We recognize the complexity of the situation Putin was put in and see his launch of the war as a semi-logical response to decades of past history. Would it be better if the war never happened? Yes. But did the war just come out of nowhere? No. It’s complicated. It’s not a Hollywood movie. There are no action heroes.

Also, I don’t think anyone on Hexbear thinks modern-day China is a fully communist or socialist state right now. We are more hopeful that it will BECOME a fully socialist state in the next generation or two than most are. This is mainly because of the long list of actions that Xi has taken that are in line with orthodox Marxist philosophy. For fuck’s sake, Xi has a PhD in Marxism. That is not a joke - the president of China went back to school in his 30s and got a university degree in Marxist studies. Compare that to any US presidential candidate, who probably has never read a single page of Marx. It’s a stark difference. Hundreds of years of European propaganda about “Oriental Despotism” makes many in the west think that China is, by definition, evil. Heaxbear generally believes the situation to be more complex and nuanced. I mean, Obama literally ordered the extrajudicial killing of an American citizen (along with thousands of foreigners in the middle east) and yet most Americans think of the Chinese government as “more authoritarian” than America. Sure, okay. The numbers don’t add up.

But overall I think the discussion on foreign policy can be respectful and productive. Few will be convinced, but the debate can sharpen both sides. I appreciate any instance that has the patience to deal with Hexbear and our neurotic, overly-detailed diatribes!

This is “both sides are bad” bullshit, a destructive force from apathetic people. Don’t listen to this shit. Vote every year, twice a year!

Biden has been in office for almost four years. Abortion was banned under his watch. He could have prevented it by expanding the supreme court - he chose not to. He chose to let thousands of women suffer and die.

Student loan forgiveness was promised by Biden - a promise he failed to deliver. Again, expanding the supreme court could have prevented this.

Biden has done absolutely nothing to stand up to the military-industrial complex. He pulled out of Afghanistan, then almost immediately began sending billions in “lethal aid” to Ukraine.

Biden has upheld the deportation laws at the Mexican border that Trump put in place. He is actively choosing to do that!

I don’t understand how any rational person can look at Biden and say he’s doing anything even slightly left-wing. He is not. Objective reality shows is that both sides (Democrats and Republicans) ARE the same because they are DOING the same thing. Ideology says they are different. Reality says they are the same. If you believe they are different, you are valuing ideology over reality.

IDK man. You’re basically saying “Why are you stuck on that environmentalist shit? It doesn’t matter to me. Go worry about climate change somewhere else, stop bothering me.”

My brother in christ. Climate change will affect you whether you want it to or not. Capitalism will affect you whether you want it to or not. You can’t just be “out” of it. You can’t not take a side in whether the earth gets destroyed or not (environmentalism) or whether 90% of the world’s population is plunged into neo-feudal slavery. You’re either with the slave-owners or against them. You gotta pick a side!

“Tankies are bad.”

Do you believe that that because you genuinely believe that capitalist nations like the United States and Russia are doing good things for the world, while “tankie” countries like Cuba and China are doing bad things for the world? Or do you believe that because you have been tricked by 100 years of racist propaganda that says socialists like Fidel Castro, Albert Einstein, and Martin Luther King were subhuman scum?