I’m mostly half-serious.

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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: August 15th, 2023

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  • The exploitation is baked into the very foundations of capitalsm. Another scam is that the workers, who are the ones actually making all the useful commodities we need (e.g., food, clothing, housing, etc.)–as well as the infrastructure that keeps production operational (e.g., roads, bridges, electricity, etc.)–cannot access those commodities without an exchange of money. We create all the necessities of life, we create more than enough to provide for everyone’s needs, but we cannot access those necessities outside of a fucking paywall.

    Even worse, the capitalists that produce commodities in search of profits are independent; but the realization of the value embedded in those physical objects depends on an exchange at the market which is outside their control. So the conjunction of the profit motive and the paywall (i.e., exchange-value standing in the way of the use-vale) leads to much overproduction and waste. Even when labor has gone into agriculture, for example, the capitalist would rather dump tons of fresh food than lose money. It’s an idiotic system and yet people will defend it to the death.



  • balderdash@lemmy.ziptoMemes@lemmy.mlJust Imagine
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    2 months ago

    The larger point here is that we uncritically agree with US/Israeli propaganda without understanding the context. For example, it was the United States that toppled the first elected Prime Minister Mosaddegh from power in the 1953 coup, and the US then reinstalled the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi back in power. All done for BP oil profits, and to reverse the nationalisation of Irans oil industry. Somehow these nuances always get lost in the conversation.

    The US will always prefer a pro-US monarchy to a democracy that guards itself from exploitation/imperalism. The U.S. assassination attempts, propaganda, military posturing, and economic/diplomatic sanctions force hard decisions on regimes that refuse to become a puppet state of the West. This is not to agree with every decision by the leadership in Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, etc. but we are often responsible, in large part, for the difficulties these countries face.







  • balderdash@lemmy.ziptoMemes@lemmy.mlSpot the difference
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    1 year ago

    The Communist Party is based in the Leninist principle of “democratic centralism”. This means “debate within the party, unity in action”. It is meant to make the party more powerful by allowing dissent and debates within the party, but when it comes to taking action, all members are expected to follow the consensus even if they disagreed with it.

    Since China’s Congress is primarily members of the Communist Party, this means that the decision of the president ultimately originates in the Communist Party itself. After they reach a consensus, the whole party will vote for that consensus in the Congress. While there technically are smaller parties in China’s Congress, they act more as advisors, since it is not practically possible for them to overturn the vote, since the CPC always votes in unity.

    Formally, China’s president is elected by the Congress. But the decision of who to elect largely comes back to the CPC itself before they come to a consensus. So the final decision largely originates in the Politburo and the Central Committee.

    The president in China is harder to shift on a dime than like in the US. The president is not elected by a nation-wide vote but by the Congress itself. To change who the Congress elects, you have to change the opinions of the largest party in that Congress, you have to change the opinions of the CPC


    Xi is not technically a dictator in the same way that Putin is not technically a dictator. He is in control of a governing body that could replace him on paper, but never will. And he has dictatorial powers without real checks/balances. And, to return to my original point, it may appear that this system is fine if it produces a good result, but the power of the government should come from the will of the people.