It’s not that the entire mainstream media is in on it, only the billionaires that own it. The editors and journalists go against their best interests because they have no one else who will pay them. The liberal press isn’t profitable, so the billionaires are trying to make them accomplices in their own destruction.

Rotate the compass 45° clockwise, name the new vertical axis to state economy vs private economy, and name the new horizontal axis to left and right. At the far left(green) you have total destruction of hierarchy and flattening of power inequality, while at the far right(blue) you have absolute hierarchy and centralized power.

State centralized economies(red) lead to increased hierarchy by empowering government officials to become powerful lords. Privatized economies(purple/yellow) lead to increased hierarchy by empowering capitalists to become powerful lords. Trying to reach either the top or bottom tip of the diamond leads you the right tip.

Horseshoe theory kind of applies to Marxist-Leninists like its pro-capitalists creators imagined, but they didn’t realize that they were the other end of the horseshoe. This is because both capitalism and the state are the dangers. The problem with both stems from allowing the unrestricted accumulation of power.

Government officials use political capital, while capitalists use economic capital. They can feed off of each other, with the rich helping politicians and the politicians helping the rich. My preferred solution to both is to redistribute capital from the rich directly to the poor, growing the middle class by putting a ceiling and floor on the rich and the poor.

It doesn’t matter what you want the solution to be based on your values. If your solution jeopardizes your values more than the alternative solution would have, all you’ve done is make yourself feel better at the expense of others.

If you let people accumulate power unopposed, they will use less of it on improving the common good than if it was in the hands of more people. Poorer people give a greater proportion of their wealth to charity. A lower portion of the excess wealth controlled by billionaires goes to improving people’s lives than if that excess wealth went to those who had barely enough, or not enough. Wealth has diminishing returns on happiness. A million dollars to a billionaire won’t be noticed, while a million dollars to 99% of people would be life changing.

Taking from the wealthy and giving to everyone is tyranny of the majority on a tiny minority. The wealthy would still be on top and live comfortably, but they would now live in the same economic reality as everyone else. They could no longer burn money for fun while their fortune passively accumulates to see a net gain in wealth. Losing a million dollars would actually be felt, and they would need to adjust their lives in reaction to the loss.

On the other hand, if you rely on voluntary charity in the spirit of freedom, you see tyranny of a minority on the majority. They give far less of their money to the common good, instead spending more of their wealth on protecting their riches. This is what we see in reality. They lobby the government to serve their interests at the expense of the public, or in non capitalist systems, hire guards to protect their interests directly.

Feudal lords pay their workers wages that are lower than the value their work generates because they control the farmland. They control the farmland by protecting it with guards they pay, think knights and samurai. If the workers complain or try to sell food made on the land without giving the lords their cut, the guards suppress them using violence. The lord’s ownership of the land is only valid if they are protected, with violence, by their personal guards, payed for by the workers.

Does that sound like freedom? Do those workers sound free? By allowing people the freedom to gain power over a resource, the land and crops on that land, the workers have lost their freedom to see the fruits of their labor, sometimes literally. The fruits they pick are given to the lord, who trades the fruit for resources, but only give the workers enough resources to survive.

Freedom without limit destroys freedom for most people. Freedom must have a ceiling and a floor, or the freedom of others can be taken by that of another. I value everyone having freedom, which requires a cap on the freedom people can have. No one can be free to horde too much power.

It’s even worse with Ukraine. If Ukraine gets conquered, WWIII likely starts. Poland and others will probably put boots on the ground to prevent Ukraine from losing, triggering attacks from Russia, triggering NATO involvement, and pushing us to potential omnicide instead of genocide.

Israel is pushing towards nuclear war as well, only with Israel as the only nuclear player. Things are bad on a serious level right now that people haven’t comprehended

If he wasn’t worried, Biden would be much worse than he’s been(aka, the average for POTUS). He’s the best we’ve had since Carter, which is a condemnation of the office rather than praise of Biden.

If we got the President lemmy wants, a civil war would be the best scenario, but a coup would be more likely. The better the president, the harder their job. The more left wing candidate is always held to a higher standard.

They haven’t weaponized shit. He’s still being handled with kid gloves. TPTB are still protecting him for the most part. The reason he wasn’t investigated in the past is because TPTB are mostly rich assholes like him that protect each other from being treated like us peasants.

Most of the opposition still isn’t willing to hold Trump to the same standards as most people because even they’re rich, corrupt, conservative shitheads. The prosecutions are politically motivated to be weaker than they should be for his crimes because all prosecutions against elites are weak. Most of them would spend life in prison if justice was blind.

I am very much in favor of using violence to take resources from people that don’t give back to the community they rely on. It’s a good thing to take money from the rich and greedy using violence. There is no imaginable society where people should be permitted to not contribute when they are capable of contributing.

If people are permitted to not contribute excess power, it places more of the burden on everyone else to make up for it. On top of that, as the tax dodger accumulates too much control over resources(wealth), they can use those resources to hire people that then impose violence on the community when they try to take the resources back.

If anything, an anarchist society should be more vigilant of resource accumulation, forcing each other to contribute through violence and ensuring that large power imbalances don’t emerge. There would be no state to handle redistribution, so it’d be the responsibility of every individual to make sure everyone has enough. There’d be no justification for anyone to have too much exclusive control over important resources, nor would there be a justification to not give excess resources to ensure everyone has the essentials.

In a society that prohibits excessive wealth imbalance or centralization of control, there’d be power inequality, but there’d also be a well established ceiling and floor to the inequality. That will always require some form of progressive “taxation” or system of redistribution. There’d also need to be taxation on almost all worker productivity to help develop public goods that everyone will benefit from. Everyone would need to chip in what they can if they need a new communal well, or if they need to maintain the roads, or need to put someone’s home out if it caught fire. People would need to contribute even if they don’t benefit from the particular public service, as they might benefit from another one more than others.

A well functioning society must require people to contribute what they can to maintain & improve the community, must take from those that don’t contribute by force, must tax people even if they don’t consent. This isn’t optional for any system, state or no state. If it fails, exploitation, abuse, and suffering will destabilize the system until it falls apart from under its own weight. A society that taxes properly can minimize violence, maximize efficiency, and be far safer for everyone without exception. Even those on top are constantly in danger of being deposed by someone who wants their position, as well as the people they exploit.

Tldr: Yes, we must use violence to force contribution. Not doing so only causes more violence. Violence is unavoidable, and can only be minimized by ensuring no one gets too powerful to oppress.

Oh, got it. I can only use the term genocide after the genocide is fully completed. I guess it helps you virtue signal by saying “never again” without actually having to put in work when “again” comes around.

Last time I listened to the “boy who cried wolf” argument, I was proven wrong. We should have listened when Trump was called a fascist in 2016. It was unpopular to use that F word then, but what else can you call the Republicans now? It’s just what they are.

If you can’t use the word “wolf” until after it’s eaten all your sheep, you’re not a good Shepherd.

The current genocide being carried out by Israel against Palestinians and supported by almost all American politicians, including Biden? The genocide that we need to not shut up about because it’s a bad idea for literally everyone on top of being evil beyond measure? The imminent slaughter of a million children and adolescents? That genocide?

Nah, I’ve never said a word about that. I totally don’t tell anyone who might listen about how terrible it is. Nope, I’m exactly the liberal caricature you think I am. If I started from the same facts as you, I’d totally share your opinions because you’re an absolute genius about everything compared to me.

You’re right, I must wait until the day before the election to speak up. My bad!

They are in fact liberal, just at the other end of the spectrum to what right wingers mean.

and did that genocide get worse under Hitler, or ridiculously worse under Hitler? Page 69 will shock you.

Sorry. This ethnic cleansing is clearly genocidal by now. They want the Palestinians in Gaza gone, and neighboring countries are not capable or willing to take them. That leaves death as the most likely fate for almost all Gazans. A million kids live there for fuck’s sake. It’s evil Nazi shit being done by the very fuckers who claim criticism of Israel is antisemitism.

They are Judeo-fascists, because no fucking group will ever be immune to fascism: Socialists, feminists, African Americans, trans people, every conceivable group of people for the rest of human history. There is no identity that cannot lead to fascism.

Complicit vs encouraging and doubling down on it. Biden is complicit in genocide, yet Trump will only make it worse and more guaranteed. He cheered on Hamas killing Israeli civilians and cheers on Israel killing Palestinian civilians. He just wants death.

I guess because people still use it. It might be obvious, but it isn’t common knowledge. All people are ignorant about most things. There’s just too much to know and not enough time to learn it unless you’re forced.

If retirement homes don’t have videogames when I’m old, I’ll lobby for voluntary euthanasia. Aging is a straight negative. Arguments about it making life meaningful are copium. I can have a meaningful life of gratitude without my body falling apart.

Honestly, steam reviews are far more useful than most review systems. Ign or metacritic are nearly useless in comparison.

Biden and Obama and all your beloved democrats which can do no wrong sure as hell didn’t do it.

My goodness, you just can’t help yourself, can you? I could only vote for Democrats because think they can do no wrong. You can’t comprehend any other explanation. I try to understand your view and have empathy.

I understand how unfair the system is and how powerless you feel to change it. If the game is rigged, why play the game? Why try the work within the confines of liberal democracy when the deck is stacked against you? It feels like playing the game is doing what the powerful people want from you. Not playing seems to be the only way to win.

You don’t understand that playing isn’t optional. The game can change rules, but it must be played. Voting is power, just like money or resources, except everyone has equal power and are only able to persuade others for more. Power is fundamentally required for all life to continue existing. If a lifeform cannot get the power it needs, it dies. If voting is taken away, you still need to get power elsewhere. That just leaves you with capitalism and violence, an area where the right has even more of an advantage. You’re a larper if you think violence is a good idea for the left.

Apathy from the left is exactly what capitalists want, as they only need to persuade the right and center to win. Fascists want apathy even more, as they thrive in an environment of coercion. Not playing is an option you’re free to choose, but so is walking off a cliff.

Funny. Biden wanted out of Afghanistan since the Obama years. Trump withdrew after Biden won the election. He did it mostly to hurt Biden, not because he’s less genocidal. Take a look at his antagonizing of Iran. He withdrew from the nuclear deal which hurt their citizens and killed a high ranking general to piss them off. Iran is probably going to get nukes now, increasing the chance of nuclear devastation in the middle east. Trump emboldened nationalism across the world and increased the likelihood of World War. That’s all his trade war with China accomplished. Empowering reactionary hardliners in the second place world superpower. Less genocidal my ass.

I can’t read your unwillingness to vote for Biden as anything more than justifying apathy. You use understandable frustration to justify unreasonable actions. Anarchists and Marxists endorsed Biden in 2020. You think Noam Chomsky thought Biden would be better than he’s been? Biden was only to the left of actual billionaires in the primary, yet he’s been more left wing than Obama or Clinton in office. Him saying trickle down doesn’t work and Republicans are “kinda fascist” is more than I expected. I did not want him in 2020, but because the left failed to vote in the primary, we’re stuck with him. Even if Warren wasn’t a snake, Bernie still would have lost.

Flipping the table is not a real option right now, and Trump winning will not make it more likely, but less likely. It was a dumb argument the last two elections, and it’s even dumber now. The DSA strategy of ground up leftism has been far more effective than the Green party focus on mostly just the presidency. Support your local DSA if you want leftism in America, keep the President as left wing as possible, and find a strategy of flipping the table that doesn’t empower fascists.

Deluding yourself into thinking liberals are fascists to excuse apathy is more pathetic than people who say, “I don’t care about politics.” I used to hate those people, but I realize that ignorant leftists are worse. You have serious dunning–kruger political analysis and solutions. It’s not that I don’t see the bullshit you see, it’s that I see more than you.

I’m going to vote against the even worse genocide guy. Biden has been the least genocidal president since Carter, not because he’s great, but because Obama, Clinton, and every Republican were worse. Trump may have cheered on Hamas after October 7, but that was because he holds a personal grudge against Netanyahu for backing Biden’s presidential victory. Hillary probably wouldn’t have recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, precisely because it would inflame regional tensions. Trump only did it because he respects fascist strongman like Netanyahu. Republicans are so much worse, so Democrats are my pick by a mile.

Yes. I don’t like being disappointed because I expect the impossible. Bad people die happy and successful. Only gods can punish people the way you want, so it isn’t our job to attempt it. I don’t think hell exists, but even if it does, we can’t deliver its justice. We can only deliver human justice.

Hitler was not a demon or inhuman monster. He was only able to become such a vile being because he was as complex and powerful as a human. Him being a human doesn’t mean people shouldn’t have tortured him to death and displayed his corpse to be mocked. That evil brutality should be brutally squashed. At least he’ll be remembered for killing himself like the pathetic coward he was.

I don’t care if Biden is scum of the earth or if he burns in hell. The fact that you think I could only view Biden as human because I see him as a “warm grandfather” is telling. You can’t comprehend my way of viewing things. You refuse to accept that someone can see things as I describe, so you assert that I must actually like evil people because I acknowledge their humanity.

Personhood is an essential part of evil, not mutually exclusive to it. Unless I see evidence of evil outside of humans and similar beings, I’ll stand by my analysis.