This is the thing about people that aren't used to engaging with hexbear - they aren't used to holding minority viewpoints. They liked that on other platforms (and IRL) they could just throw around the weight of institutional orthodoxy and "common sense" and be validated by crowd affirmation without having to really explain themselves, so when they're made to show their work, their argumentation really pales in comparison to users on hexbear who have spent years arguing in favor of some the most suppressed political ideologies in the West.
I get your gripes. For the longest time The Devil and Karl Marx was one of only a handful of Communist related books in my local library system (and by far the most checked out). The city council and board of trustees even made successful efforts to censor Black History and Pride Month events and displays this past year.
That being said, we do have allies and even comrades working within the system as librarians and aides. The ones in my city managed to help me get Blackshirts and Reds and The Jakarta Method onto the shelves.
Libraries being one of the last remaining third spaces of public life will definitely be a zone of struggle as market interests seek to hollow out and privatize the ever diminishing Commons, but there's solidarity to be found despite how bleak the situation seems.
as a lemmy.world user, I can’t tell you all enough about how much our quality of life has improved since we defederated form hexbear.net. far less moderation is necessary and general browsing is far more pleasant not having to constantly be bombarded by those awful stickers and brigades of trolls with their endless baiting and attacks
"they just recalled incorrectly" is quite a charitable interpretation
Good, I like having them around. They give the fediverse the spice of life that prevents it from becoming just another necrotic pool of internet backwash filled with stale memes and pandering comments like what late Digg became and what reddit has been turning into.
Other users have linked to good resources, but one thing I'd like to comment on is that people should be wary of overusing thought-terminating epithets. Communists also have this problem to some extent when they flippantly throw out the "fascist" label, but coming into the wider fediverse after the redditpocalypse, I've seen too many "discussions" that are essentially "authoritarian totalitarian fascist genocidal dictatorship upvotes to the left pls" which is an extremely reddit type of discourse that serves to shut down discussion before it even begins (they're bad bad bad bad nothing to talk about).
I'm not accusing you of this because you've made a good faith effort to seek out constructive engagement. In most other cases though, I wish more people would investigate these claims like how you're doing instead of salad tossing adjectives and relying purely on intuition and cultural conditioning.
I really only see people wear masks at the Asian market anymore. I always keep one on me and put it on if it's crowded but tbh I've resigned to being driven to early grave by everyone that treats it like a joke. Already been seriously infected with it twice in the past year, and on top of my hypertension and family history of heart disease and stroking out at 40, I'll be lucky to see another 10-15 years.
I'm not debating. The original conversation was that you said communists supported Russia because they think it's communist, and I clarified that they really don't.
Support as in they enjoy the prospect of Russia winning? That they like Putin and want him to conquer Ukraine?
They mostly consider this war to be a proxy war between Russia and United States + its wards in the EU who wish to needlessly prolong the war at the cost of Ukranian lives in order to deplete the Russian economy and military. Within this group, you can further break them down into: those who disagree with the invasion and those who believe it is justified.
For the group that disavows the invasion, you need to understand that it is difficult for communists to cheerleader their own state pumping weapons into a country whose government heralds bold-faced Nazis as righteous warriors of freedom. This does not necessarily mean they believe that Putin is genuinely concerned about Nazis since the Wagner PMC itself has a notorious far right and neo-Nazi presence.
Simply not supporting the Ukrainian state nor NATO does not mean supporting Russia. On the other hand, those who do support Russia aren't always necessarily communists, but will flock to spaces that have that overlap in interests.
ihatebirds @ honeynut @lemm.ee Posts 3Comments 107Joined 2 yr. ago
This is the thing about people that aren't used to engaging with hexbear - they aren't used to holding minority viewpoints. They liked that on other platforms (and IRL) they could just throw around the weight of institutional orthodoxy and "common sense" and be validated by crowd affirmation without having to really explain themselves, so when they're made to show their work, their argumentation really pales in comparison to users on hexbear who have spent years arguing in favor of some the most suppressed political ideologies in the West.