That’s a great point and that I can’t believe I forgot to mention! To add to that, universities themselves use research as a cash cow (they take a large share of nearly every research grant of a faculty member) and as a marketing tool to get more students (tuition), prestige, grants, and so on. The fact that universities market themselves at all is ridiculous.
In the US they are also usually heavily financialized and local real estate behemoths.
Naturally it is, yes. Though those things are used for imperialism there.
Censorship is definitely a sign of authoritarianism, and a strong state might be too, depending on what you mean by it, but not necessarily?
In reality, despite what the dictionary says, “authoritarian” means, “organized group we don’t like”.
Censorship is ubiquitous it just comes in different forms. The most powerful and insidipus is the kind you don’t even think it censorship. For example, will you lose your job for standing up for Palestine? Will you get paid to be a journalist if you are too critical of the ruling class? When the electronic commons is actually controlled by private corporations, do you really have online speech protections? Is sinophobia the only reason TikTok is getting threatened with a ban? Whose voices are heard at city council meetings? Who gets the ear of politicians?
These are all forms of censorship, but most of them are treated as normal, even righteous and justified.
States that fight for independence rapidly find that the global monopolistic empire automatically dominates all media narratives and funds NGOs to undermine their projects. Do you expect them to let that expand and destroy their country? Censorship is an expression of authority, but does that mean it is always wrong or particularly bad? Forcing out invaders is also an expression of authority, as is organizing defense, social programs, literacy campaigns.
and a strong state might be too
The strong states are usually just doing the functions of private industry in “non-authoritarian” countries but in a way that better serves the people and are resilient to US interference.
And as liberal democracy seem to be the ‘goal’ of states to achieve
Liberal democracy is the most effective producer of genocide in history and is really just rule by the capitalist class that pretends to be of the masses. States seeking independence from the US must eschew it by definition, as they will otherwise be coerced into the US-dominated order.
authoritarian is not at all a useless category since it’s the opposite of democracy.
Liberal democracies are, in reality, the most authoritarian countries. They impose the interests of the capitalist ruling class based on military and financial power with little regard for the horrors it inflicts. But you are correct about how the term is used, what it means despite its definition - “this is what we do and it is good, the system we don’t like is bad”.
The ICC only goes after black African war criminals
Wahr, natürlich die Israelis.
Any country that maintains independence and an oppositional character must maintain a strong state, develop a military, and engage in censorship. All 3 get lumped in the vague and clearly now useless category of authoritarian, meaning the US will attempt to destroy your country and people and its citizens will think this is helping “freedom” and “democracy” and “defense” and just what smart people do. Or they will play the ancillary role of demonization while maintaining an anti-war pretense that somehow always means materially supporting American war criminals.
Despair is natural in the face of genocide, it means you are empathetic and aware. Despair like this is even more likely when one does not have an outlet, a course of action they can take in solidarity or comrades to talk to about it. Do you have anyone you could talk to or know a local group that also cares about this like you do? They might be organizing protests or vigils.
Whichever ones are active at any local protests or actions. If none are, then a socialist organization that does not mince words about support for the resistance. If you are in college there are anti-imperialist orgs organized specifically by and for college students.
I would be more specific but it’s more important to find an active org with a good line on Palestine (e.g. one that opposes Harris, supports fighting against Israel) than it is to join one specific national org.
Sigh… we both know this isn’t going anywhere. Neither of us will give in because both of us feel strongly about our positions and will not budge on them because of our feelings that we are doing the right thing (and no amount of saying I support genociders will change that).
No, this is not a principled disagreement. You have repeatedly had to deflect, ignore, and mischaracterize to dance around challenging points. I do not care about the “strength” or your beliefs, though it is clearly flimsy given this insecure behavior.
Anything you say that’s less than Russia totally pulling out of Ukraine I can easily say is supporting genocidal dictators
Please refer to what I’ve already said about Russia and reply to it if you’d like to discuss that topic. I am not interested in discussing or defending your imagination.
Just remember, the average American is wildly less socially conscious than you’d like to believe
Oh? How socially conscious do I believe the average American is? When have we ever talked about anything like that whatsoever?
Ah, right, we haven’t.
I guess we have reached a point where you will offer nothing more than straw men and patting yourself on the back. I hope that you someday have the courage of your “convictions” and can engage in good faith, especially when it comes to topics like support for genocide.
Okay but do North Ireland and London (only London) first for fairness.
Critical support to climate change taking out US military assets.
Ah, the classic tankie defending Russia, the country with the constant historical instances of brutalizing the nations around it.
Notice that at no point did I defend Russia. You are simply making things up now, tacitly admitting to a bankrupt position. You then went on a little fictitious jubilee of making things up, believing them, and then making fun of them. Did you enjoy your public fantasizing? I’ll remind you that you are justifying support for genocide.
As for your other statements: I’m going to operate under the idea of protecting the people I know vs those I don’t
So open chauvinism. Morally bankrupt.
as there is basically nothing I can do to stop the problem
I have already addressed this. Refer to the things I said that you conveniently skipped over.
and I’ve already determined that going with the less damaging to them option is the superior one to not.
I have already addressed this. Refer to the things I said that you conveniently skipped over.
I’d be happy to have an option that both keeps the people I care about safe AND stop genocide, but if I can’t, I’m taking the next best thing - it really is that simple.
I have already addressed this. Refer to the things I said that you conveniently skipped over.
If you can’t accept that and want to call me a genocide lover
I have no need for exaggerative labels, only accurate ones that are uncomfortable for you. You support genociders and normalize genocide as a lesser evil policy plank. You do so with rhetoric that tokenizes trans people and speak flippantly about the similarities between your logic and support for Himmler. You claim to care about the genocide of Palestinians but then make references to their actual plight about yourself and your own feelings. You acknowledge your position is pure chauvinism, though you do not have the vocabulary to describe it as such.
You can avoid being labeled by descriptions of your behavior by not engaging in those behaviors. If you feel bad about any of that bad faith or bigoted behavior, perhaps do some self-criticism rather than trying to pretend I am being absurd.
go off lol, your words are worth as little as the next person’s.
Announcing your own intransigence in the face of reason is not a zinger lol
I gladly accept that bait, it is useful fodder.
Look at the fantasies you concoct when you have no reply. You could instead just say, “I hadn’t considered that and will think about it” or even not reply. But God forbid a person do anything but fight to the death regardless of merit, eh?
Do not let yourself be numb. Organize against this genocide by participating in local actions, reading about the politics and history at hand, and joining an organization that resists this genocidal regime.
Nah, Himmler was too into the whole “German super race” and occultism - too “out there” for me personally.
Did you know that analogies are different from exactly equivalent things? You are doing deflecting dances to avoid the actual challenge. You are a supporter of a genocidal regime, and continuing that regime, and you rationalize this to yourself as harm reduction. Which is, incidentally, a bad faith appropriation of leftist thought.
And your flippant use of “you support genocide”
I do not say that flippantly, I say it with all seriousness. You are now just copying my terms because you would like to pretend there is hypocrisy, the highest of crimes in a liberal mind.
to random people at the ballot box
We are on a Lemmy server and you are advocating for a genocidal campaign with bad faith rhetoric.
really helps the average person see the values of ditching capitalism.
Principled agitation is absolutely essential for growing the movement. It works for recruitment and it works for changing “the discourse”. I have actual experience and success with this. I am positive you do not.
The genocidal candidate you are carrying water for is openly supporting fracking and continuing sanctions on Chinese solar panels (which has resulted in a massive backlog of installations that can’t be fulfilled) during peak American oil production, resulting in it being a net exporter of fossil fuels. This is all a consequence of a political system where power flows from caoitalist class interests.
Yet something makes you believe that supporting the thing causing climate change is actually good and smart and “harm reduction” (even while literally being more measurable harm) and that I am irresponsible for organizing against it.
That something is propaganda. But unfortunately you are resistant to questioning it, even up to the point of supporting genocide. Personally, I think that should be a point where anyone should sat, “you know, I should really get my ducks in a row before sharing an opinion”.
Alas.
See, here’s the problem: all you are doing is ignoring the wishes of another trans person.
This is what it means to not treat a demographic like a monolith. You have to actually develop correct positions and understand what solidarity means. You can’t just go off of what a given person from a demographic tells you as if it is a representative gospel. This is a liberal tokenization of identity, it is by definition going to be inconsistent, and it is counterproductive because it is always used in bad faith to justify a violent status quo and present it as, “THE [demographic] position”, and, as in your case, typically to attempt and pit the marginalized against each other.
It is common for naive white people to act this way and be easily taken in by tokenizing bullying logic, then repeat it themselves.
“My trans friend asked me to support a genocider” is not a valid excuse. You have simply adopted a false consciousness that works against solidarity, trying to let yourself off the hook for even thinking through this topic. Apparently I should be arguing with your trans friend because you are not responsible for your own opinions or actions, here.
If we want to go with the magical route of a single person can be representative of an entire group of people, then I’d be able to accept your request. However, we do not, and what I am saying is true that trans people will be harmed by me not supporting Kamala.
Trans people will also be harmed by supporting Kamala. Do you think there are no trans Palestinians? Do you see how your indoctrination leads you to pit marginalized groups against one another? Why can you not fight for trans liberation and against the genocide? Thousands, possibly even millions, do this every single day.
Not every single trans person cares about this issue as much as Palestine, which is fine, but there are at least some who do, so my stance is valid.
There is no logic to be found in those statements, though they are presented as if the conclusion follows from the earlier statement.
Hell, we can go further if you like: I could ask you to not let my Ukrainian friend be killed by Russia when the Republicans cut off support for it and the anti-air systems go offline.
Another good example of how far “my X friend said” will get you, or can even be counterproductive. Russia invaded Ukraine in response to decades of NATO (US)-based aggressions using Ukraine as a pawn. That was bipartisan actikn, though the most salient escalations happened under Democratic administrations. After Russia invaded, the Biden-Harris administration then fully committed to a strategy to hurt Russia regardless of how it damaged Ukraine and Ukrainians. They will gladly force escalations in a fight to the last Ukrainian. The people you are trying to support are responsible for the exact situation Ukraine is in, leveraging cynical, maximalist foreign policy regimes to ramp up tensions and push last red lines in order to hurt and take down other countries, not to support the people there.
Ending the war in Ukraine ASAP is the priority if you care about Ukrainians. Before they lose even more people and sell off even more of the country to foreign capital. If you think Trump will do this by no longer using Ukraine as a vehicle to throw weapons at Russia, you should, apparently, support Trump. Personally, I organize against both parties.
There are no shortages of tragedies in the world that have no easy immediate fixes
These are not natural disasters, they are geopolitical developments that have people and rationalrs and economic bases and interests. In this case the people you are openly supporting are doing a genocide. It is not something to “fix” as if they just happened upon a broken machine. They are active in its creation, they are its explicit material supporters in an ongoing genocide.
Notice that you cannot even describe who has blame. You adopt the passive voice just like they tell you to. Wouldn’t want to actually criticize the genociders, right? That might cost them an election? This is you: “go team genocide!”
and sometimes simply reducing the damage is the only option;
Normalizing genocide and repeating tokenizing and absurd talking points from the party doing genocide is not reducing harm.
other times you can’t do anything, and sometimes the lives of one side get weighed against the other. Shit sucks
You can always do something, but you would need to take that first step of doing anything at all in the right direction.
And I applaud your work - however, surely you must understand the risks of a second Trump presidency, given what you do.
I have already addressed lesser evil logic for supporting genocide. You can respond to that if you’d like.
And all my “supporting for genocide” amounts to is being stuck with a two-party system.
Incorrect. You can sit quietly under the two party system and be doing a better job than trying to vocally normalize genocide and get other people to think the same.
I only “support” it insofar as I must by the virtue of my vote going to the party that enables it (the only 2 with a chance to win do).
This also does not require you to vocalize normalizing genocide and telling people it’s cool to support genociders. It also does not require you to tokenize trans people as if your support for genociders is somegow in solidarity with trans people.
I made my peace with choosing to accept that the US foreign policy apparatus is going to do these things regardless of which major party is in power
“I chose to help normalize genocide rather than work against it”.
and the best option available of the two is the one that doesn’t have a giant playbook for dismantling the few positive things we do have when they take power.
I have already addressed the illogic of lesser evilism. You have neither a personal moral nor strategic justification for what you are doing. You are not, in fact, “realizing” or accepting any kind of insight. You are repeating bog standard PR-tested talking points from the party and its supporters.
Contrary to what you may think, I truly do largely agree with many of the things being said here
No, you do not. You would like to feel like you do, but you actually work in opposition to them, and openly. You are not a friend or an ally of those facing genocide. You are a cheerleader for the genociders in power using their tired talking points. You are even being flippant and joking about genocide.
[repeating yourself with lesser evilism]
I have already addressed this.
Why would you need to?