Even though sometimes it’s best to unplug from all social media (even lemmygrad) this place is an oasis. A place of healing and learning.

As much of a steaming heap of crap that movie was, there are worse movies.

Whilst saying this cannot bring back everyone that has died, like a whiny athlete that doesn’t play fair, the empire lashes out the most when it knows it is going to lose.

Economically they are rent seeking. You pay a subscription to them for further access to their brand. They also fill the market niche created by alienation, serving a social and economic function here. They qualify as petit bourgeoisie I think.

Took the name from a character from the anime Demon Slayer who had severe self doubt and imposter syndrome. The pic is of Cao Cao from the Chinese TV adaptation of the historical epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Rent free in your head as Mao intended

Boohoo China has a 90% home ownership rate. Their system is literally working properly because you failed at becoming a landlord and have to get a real job.

“My favorite faction is [insert obviously fascist faction]”

Yep. On the Internet it’s insufferable arrogance in my experience as a degree holding biology stemlord. They do not have the same investigative/scientific mindset when it comes to history so when they step outside their fields they come up with lazy analysis and no historical materialism.

In other words it’s the same lazybones liberal attitude towards history but coupled with the arrogance of being told that science is the toughest area and for smart people.

Do I really want to watch a white dude who contributes nothing to society talk about China

They’ll drop Ukraine like a rock for the chance to kill more Muslims

Also they’re in stem or comp science/programming I’m gonna take a wild guess

If you love your family and they are good to you then I suggest not broaching this stuff with them very hard. Reality of the world vs the reality of being a social animal. Your relationships are still the most important thing even though we live in capitalism.

Work slowly on moving them over time. Make sure you’re not actually damaging your relationship to win an argument. You said you’ve only been doing this less than a year and that’s a crazy short amount of time to be engaging so actively with this stuff with your family.

I recommend starting with distrust and more neutrality (ex just say Russia is another country on the other side of the world defending itself, why are you scared? Or why is the US surrounding China if the US is defending itself?)

As for sources to back up this line of questioning, many people are distrustful of “breadtube” sources like secondthought because it’s a young white guy on YouTube so if they need a white guy with a PhD talking to them, I always recommend Jeffrey Sachs for things about China and Russia, Ukraine war etc. Guy was an advisor for Russian shock therapy in the 90s, PhD etc, so there is no possible way any liberal can dismiss his opinions if they’re engaging in good faith.

And don’t press all the time. You don’t want to make communists appear annoying. If you look at it from your family’s point of view, You’ve changed so radically and are always arguing for something so bizarre, of course they’d liken you to joining a cult!

You want to appear like what most people in the world want to do: just someone who wants enough money to put food on the table and relax at the end of the day. Couple that with being well informed and it’s a winning combination.

-you said proletarians owning things and existing under feudalism

One of my wishes would be that you understand historical materialism so you don’t embarrass yourself so badly again

I’m not into cryptid stuff but I understand the sentiment with American woods. Lord knows how many dangerous people are just wandering around wilderness areas looking for random solo victims, given the USAs serial killer/mass murder numbers and how easy it is to get a gun. And it would impossible to ever find a killer like that.

This ruined a few liberals days for sure 😂

I don’t know if there is any important or necessary conservation of gorillas done by this zoo in particular, but it is as barbaric to have these animals in captivity for amusement as it is barbaric to kidnap people from far away lands and use them as entertainment.

And even if their goal is conservation, there is still a contradiction in having to display the gorillas for human entertainment to make money to support them.

Harambe is a victim of capitalism no matter which way you slice it.

Maybe have a look at Jeffrey Sachs interviews on Ukraine. Certainly, as far as I know, not a “leftist”, being the guy known for shock therapy economic doctrine, but that also means he’s had an intimate history with that area of the world and he presents the history of this conflict quite plainly for Americans to digest.

Personally speaking, and I have experience with this sort of thing, often times you just have to lay low as a Marxist. My job does not allow me to express my actual opinions and I am surrounded by non Marxist, politically active people.

There are things in the world that constantly bombard us at every second and it feels like you are under siege. It’s a valid feeling, but ultimately we have to learn that we cannot expand our emotional energy on everything that goes on - it’s just not possible. It might seem crass, and I’m really not trying to be, but you have to detach and observe the world and events in the third person, as if you were a scientist. Do that whilst staying in touch with your feelings of indignation.

This may well be something you’re willing to invest in and so that’s up to you. But for future conflicts you find yourself potentially a part of, you’ll need to consider if you want to shoulder it. You have to learn to observe things dispassionately, but it gets easier the more you do it, and you will find optimism in the scientific unfolding/direction of history.

Hate it. Pretty sure its why I dont like to be touched, or be physically close, hugs, etc., among other things I struggle with, like mental health.

yeah it seemed pretty pointless as i went through deleting stuff (anything containing key words related to geopolitics, like capitalism, etc. at least - i never talked too much about that stuff on reddit so others may find doing even this to be time consuming). rather, i edited them and replaced them with 1s and then deleted them. but it gave me more peace of mind and at the least perhaps made it a bit tougher for background check companies if their data gathering and capabilities advance to being able to piece stuff like that together.