JasSmith

There are no ad blocking YouTube apps on iOS so I suspect Apple blocks them. The DMA will soon let us in the EU install whatever we like, but fuck Apple.

It turns out it’s every time as we’re seeing with late-stage capitalism.

I’m sorry I don’t understand what you’re arguing. Are you claiming that all Western nations are authoritarian? I emphatically disagree.

There are definitely people advocating for actual communism. Social programs in a democracy are worlds away from communism. We have universal healthcare in Europe without communism.

How many times has capitalism become dictatorships or fascists?

A handful of times. Most capitalist nations are not authoritarian. Purely by the numbers, it has a much better track record. Of course, “it’s not real capitalism/communism” always derails this discussion.

I think you outline why communism inevitably fails. Marx advocated for violent revolution to overthrow the “bourgeois” democracy. The moment democracy is gone, the strong take and retain power. This is why, no matter the system, democracy must be the bottom line. It ensures that power is distributed. It’s not perfect, but it’s much better than the alternatives.

If communism devolves into authoritarianism every time it is attempted, I don’t see the practical distinction.

I’ve never met anyone who hates communism more than the colleagues of mine who grew up under communism. Their neighbours disappeared for saying the wrong things. They were hungry and cold as children every day. Sometimes they didn’t have any shoes. They weren’t allowed to leave their country for holidays. They couldn’t afford it, even if they were allowed. They couldn’t study what they wanted. Their entire educational system was political propaganda. Freedom of religion didn’t exist.

It always amazes me how the most vocal proponents of communism come from the most sheltered, most privileged people alive who would retch from learning about the atrocities committed in the name of communism. If they only spent a few minutes on Google.

No one can provide proof of a negative. Do you have any evidence that they can?

lmao, killing isn’t cruel, ok buddy.

If you care about using the words as they are defined, then no, it’s not cruel. Find a better word.

I don’t like that video and think they should use lower concentrations of CO2, as suggested by the narrator.

Yeah, but they probably don’t know they could be suffering from some disease if they never had it.

Yes, but point is they’re living happy, blissfully content lives, not suffering from disease or predators.

The definition of cruelty is, “wilfully causing pain or suffering to others, or feeling no concern about it.” Slaughter in most Western nations is done without pain or suffering. Even if it were, it would be incidental. Animals are unable to feel existential dread.

We need more of the former, and less of the latter.

One is existential dread. The other is physical pain. I could probably have articulated that better.

That’s a good point. We should absolutely take any cruelty out of factory farming. I just take umbrage with the activists who claim all farming is cruel.

This is something only someone who grew up in a privileged home in the city would say. I grew up on a farm. Animals have a great life. They’re kept as healthy and happy as possible. Yes, some get slaughtered eventually, but they have no concept of this. They don’t know their time on the earth is shortened by a couple of years. They do know they’re not dying from horrific disease or consumed alive by predators. There’s this crazy idea that wild animals have better lives. That’s patently absurd. Go spend some time in nature.

Lions don’t have a choice

I think you just articulated a critical distinction between humans and other animals. It’s one of the reasons we should be treated differently, if we were to be greeted by a higher intelligence one day.

In a democracy, it usually requires a majority of people to feel the same. Right now, in almost every Western country, most people live in owner-occupied housing. Most people are perfectly happy for prices to keep going up. So they’re fine with high migration and slow building. Slowly, the number of owner-occupied homes is decreasing, but we are decades away from the flip. When it happens, it’s going to be extremely destructive. Generations have and will have been locked out of home ownership. There will be all kinds of punitive taxes on property.

It’s so sad how they had to deal with harassment :(

I fully agree. There was some controversy about exclusives, and I get it, but the drama was completely disproportional to the issue. It turns out that console fanboys have evolved into launcher fanboys. I’m grateful for free games and an amazing games engine.

I’ve got so many amazing free games from Epic over the years. When I grew up I’d have to play the same shitty demos over and over again because I couldn’t afford full games. Now I have hundreds of high quality games for free. This is truly the golden age of gaming. Being a kid right now must be magical.

As an aside, I grew up playing games like Jazz Jackrabbit, Epic Pinball, and Unreal. It’s so cool to see how they have continued to evolve. Especially the Unreal engine, which is basically witchcraft.

I used to frequent a Szechuan noodle place. Those fucking noodles would melt my face off and give me lava shits 45 minutes later, but I couldn’t stay away.