#my family lived in a communist country and that system is shit

[everything-is-crab]

:))

This is what I meant when I said both rightoids and liberals in India are equally dumb as fuck. Both are pro imperialists. She's not even lower caste and yet she's speaking on behalf of us. I have seen this trend in a lot of "anticasteist" upper caste women (who unfortunately have more voices than people like me, actually women from oppressed castes).

How are these people different from the white supremacists who say brown people are intellectually and socially inferior?

"At least the goras let us have meat" oh okay we're gonna ignore the 3 million lives lost in Bengal famine caused by Churchill's policies (after which he blamed it on us instead of his own greediness). Did he let those people eat meat then? Unhinged shit. They wouldn't let people fill their bellies cause sometimes instead of food crops they wanted our ancestors to grow cotton, indigo, spices, tea. Which also left areas prone to land disasters. Commercial stuff that they could sell at much cheaper prices in their own countries and others in the Western world as well. Also levied extremely unreasonably high taxes. Leaving us with no money. Delusional world these middle/upper class liberals live in where the British let us have meat. They didn't even let us have rice.

The British protected the caste system. Read Sharmila Rege's work about how the British introduced the process of "Brahmanisation" in colonial India.

This is the exact thing Hindu nationalists are doing rn! And have been doing forever! Protecting Western imperialists! Why do you think Modi is bootlicking the US so much? Do you think the farmers' protests and the after effects of globalization after 1991 are disconnected from Western imperialism?

Just because nationalists claim to be against white dominance doesn't mean they practice what they preach.

And this folks is why you need to incorporate class and gender in your analysis and not read about the work of only the middle class men of a community :)

Women and poor people matter too.

But unfortunately many earlier anti caste activists who were middle or upper class were anti Marxists and only later few like the Dalit Panthers and R.B More realized the importance of Marxist analysis for understanding modern caste based oppression more. Yes many Indian Marxists ignored casteism. But that does not mean we must dispose it as a useless theory.

But who tf cares about the Dalit Panthers or anyone else? Have you even heard of any other names that aren't Phule or Ambedka? Everyone followed and still follow people like Periyar, Ambedkar, Phule who were all from relatively well off family. And why will people who uncritically follow these people not think colonization was as bad? All of them attended British school and went for higher studies as well. The British was staunchly anti communist. They constantly resisted communist activists in colonial India. This is a privilege even today many people from oppressed castes cannot enjoy.

I have seen all these upper caste women, ignore people like me pointing this out. They think we're against education of oppressed castes (why would I advocate that for my own community?). But rather we take issue to these men ignoring their economic and male privilege and speaking on behalf of all of us.

A reminder that Periyar criminalized devadasis and read Ambedkar's arguments against Hindutva solutions to the Partition (hint: he cared more about the money that could be wasted in missionaries rather than the violence and human rights and unironically called Muslim people "tyrannical" and referred to "Muslim oppression" on Hindus). He was anti casteist, but he was Islamophobic.

To avoid with this kind of thinking, follow Dalit feminist theory. Dalit femininism from its inception has been pro Marxist (cause women make most of poor here). And they explain the effects of colonization on lower caste women (how the British introduced evidence act, a law that justified rape against lower caste women and let me remind you gang rape of lower caste women by upper caste men is a national issue. Ex the Manipur case, the rape of Phoolan Devi, the Hathras case etc). And how dowry (that earlier used to be a practice mainly amongst upper castes was now becoming dominant in lower castes as well due to capitalization of economy during colonial era). Maybe then you will understand why the British abolished sati but not any temple prostitution or other issues faced exclusively by women from oppressed castes. In fact they called upper caste women those who deserve to be protected but lower caste women were inherently deviant in their justification. But please go ahead and argue how imperialism brings "good things" sometimes.

Just read about caste reformation during colonial era. The choice isn't between hindutva and colonial era. The choice is between hindutva and hindutva along with colonial rule. Why do most liberals pretend the British never favored the Brahmins over everybody else?

White supremacy is so much better than Hindu supremacy for women of lower castes am I right guys?

This is so much better?

Also reminded of the "breast cloth" controversy. Do not mistake that anti caste activism is always anti caste for both Dalit men and women. Sometimes it favors Dalit men. And oppresses Dalit women further. Cause usually the colonizers never cared about oppressed castes but when they did, it was only for the men.

Ik many upper caste Marxists are not good at anti caste politics but I cannot separate Marxism from my anti caste or feminist politics. And as a Marxist from a formerly colonized country, I cannot ignore the imperial divide between the West (that is white dominated) and the global south (that includes India). You cannot separate the conditions of brown and black people today in the global south from the past dynamics of the colonizer and the colonized.

Lower caste women are obviously very poor. The poorest of all with least social protection. These upper caste women can sit on their asses and write papers and blogs on how much white supremacy was much cooler. But the ones from oppressed castes and working class? They don't have this privilege. They have the same burden of upper caste women related to marriage and domestic work and everything. But on top of that they have to do labor as well. And after globalization, when condition of "blue collar jobs" degraded (wages lowered, subsidies cut, worker protection rights gone etc) , the percentage of women in these fields increased. That's not a coincidence. Men always force women into lower earning occupations that have little job security. I am not gonna ignore this.

Fuck Hindutva. But fuck white supremacy too. For me neither is better. Both go hand in hand in fact. Look at the Hindu nationalists in France allying with white supremacists over shared conservative interests.

#Dalit femininism #india #marxist feminism

[system-of-a-feather]

Honestly I hadn't really thought about it (as a part) until the POC System X Racism poll but I think I more clearly understand why XIV actively hates any level of White TM Vibes and america specifically.

Cause as much as I partially understood how being the Lucky Model Minority wasn't actually a benefit, I always kinda wrote it off as "well we didn't experience much as bad as other POC in America do" but like... White people and/or Americans have intentionally directly ruined both of my father's origin cultures in ways that he directly was affected by which has entirely affected his view on the world and how he raised us and his overall severely bad mental / emotional stability that directly played a huge role in how he became the "on paper" primary abuser

Cause my dad and his side of the family come from the Chinese to Indonesia part of "Chinese-Indonesian" and both my dad's dad and my dad were involved in the sketchier underground shit. My dad lost HIS dad to the aftermath of the Opium Wars (ya know the British getting China addicted to opium to repay debts) as he ended up getting addicted and disappearing (don't know anything past that cause I only learn about his history from when our parents fight and throw low blows at each other) and my dad lived first hand through the shit US's anti-communist shit that fucked Indonesia over (fun fact, they were directly complicit in Mass Murder uwu They did it again in other countries afterwards uwu)

Like my mom and dad literally went back to live in Indonesia like 25 or so years ago and had to flee back to the US because they were literally put in danger and borderline hunted by the radicalized people post all that crap. I don't remember the details but its shit XIV and our sister have had whole sit downs with both of our parents for the tea on how bullshit and fucked up the US was in "third world countries".

Like man, theres probably more detail to it than I remember as a part cause I am historically a part that is in denial about being POC (not anymore, but im far behind the parts that have deeply known it for years) but good god white people and Americans have fucked me, my family, and my ancestors over with an unfortunate small number of people having even heard or known about the shit they did in the name of "anti-communism" and push back against self-determination and self-dependence in developing countries.

Like, yeah ya know. If I were XIV and spent the past 20+ years of our life deeply aware of this stuff I too would hate America super intensely.

[You are free and I guess slightly encouraged to reblog this but don't take this as a "this is the truth and a well crafted post" cause this is 100% off the top of my head from what I've heard from my parents and my sister explaining to me the Jakarta Method book since I really havent gotten around to reading it and am lowkey partially avoidant of reading it cause we don't need more burning hate for America in this brain. This isn't meant to be a history paper / report, it is meant to be a personal experience report / vent-ish of sorts and as a result is subject to possible inaccuracies and missinformation]

#alter: riku #poc #alter: xiv #aapi #white atrocities #white bullshit

[wackyrumble]

San Marino v.s. Zaphod Beeblebrox

San Marino - Real life

A European country. Founded when a guy accused of being a woman’s estranged husband fled to a mountain where he then created a church. Its head of government are two captains elected every six months. Was once almost been invaded by Napoleon, and twice by family of the Pope. Read more about San Marino below.

Zaphod Beeblebrox - Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Zaphod is president of the galaxy, the reason as to how that is he sealed from his own brain. Zaphod has also been voted the worst dressed sentient being for some years. He gave himself a third arm and a second head, and time travelled to make himself his own great grandpa. Searched to found out if he has a soul and upon confirming he does, was depressed. Read more about Zaphod below.

Full description of San Marino:

“Okay look I know it’s a country and not a character but perhaps I can convince you that it’s a wacky guy… the wackiest ever in fact. First of all I believe nothing can top its batshit insane political system. The heads of state are called CAPTAINS and yes it’s plural there are 2 of them. And they are elected… every SIX MONTHS. I shit you not. And even better. They’re usually from OPPOSING PARTIES. How anything gets done is a mystery to me. Anyway moving on to history. It was almost invaded by Napoleon in 1797, but one of their regents prevented that. How? He became friends with Napoleon. Napoleon valued their friendship so much he even offered to extend San Marino’s territory… isn’t that crazy. Also. It was the first country ever to democratically elect a communist government, elected directly after their fascist government mind you. All this while being the fifth smallest country in the world. It happened TWICE that a family member of the pope tried to invade San Marino. There can only be one Italian microstate etc (jk I have no idea what their reasoning was). It’s the fact that the whole country only exists because some guy decided to fuck off to a mountain after a woman accused him of being her estranged husband. So he built a church and there you have it San Marino was created. And yeah it’s the oldest surviving republic in the world with the oldest constitution. That’s simply the San Marino way being so special so wacky so unique…”

Full description of Zaphod Beeblebrox:

"TRULY the guy ever. direct quote from the first book: "Zaphod Beeblebrox, adventurer, ex-hippie, good-timer (crook? quite possibly), manic self-publicist, terrible bad at personal relationships, often thought to be completely out to lunch." He's the president of the galaxy, he's spent 2 of his 10 years in office in jail, became president for a reason he's sealed out of his own brain (he signed it, btw. instead of memories there is ZB. big mood honestly /fictive), he's been voted the worst-dressed sentient being something years in a row, his therapist describes him as "just some guy, y'know?", he attached a 3rd arm to himself (and presumably a 2nd head too, considering his cousin has one head), he used time travel to become his own great×something grandfather, and he goes soul searching sometimes to see if he has one (and, upon discovering he does have a soul, he went into a depressive funk). his girlfriend hates him. his introduction in the books was him stealing this high-tech spaceship on live tv, and his introduction in every other version is him on said spaceship watching the news covering his theft and includes the line "if there's anything more important than my ego around here, i want it caught and shot now". guy ever, 10/10. he sucks"

#san marino #zaphod beeblebrox #the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy #wacky round 2a

[youcantfiremebecauseiquit]

how would you describe your political affiliation then? i don't want to be following any rightwing apologists

Uh, criticizing people falling for communism/"communism is great but it was just done bad way!" is being rightwing apologist? How so? I don't believe "communism done right" scenario is possible. I'm from Poland, I know our history. PRL is not just "cool vintage times and nostalgia". In 1944 red army was just peacefully waiting on the other side til Warsaw burns down and Germans kill remaining civillians and run away (instead of helping anyone as expected), then after entering new authorities started chasing and killing AK soldiers even up until fucking 60's and bothering their families, and up until the end "inconvenient people" were spied, hunted, tortured and executed, people murdered in the streets at protests. Censorship, no freedom of speech, curfew. People getting kicked out of the houses belonging to their family for years, because hey, its the state's property (and in result, hundreds of historical buildings went to waste and literally decayed through these decades, because communists had great ideas like dumping compost inside). Introducing martial law on a whim in 1981. I'm very sorry that i'm not sympathetic towards people who beat others to death and rip out someone's fingernails to make them talk.

"Equal share for everyone!" There was nothing in the shops at times, whoever was first was getting stuff, others weren't. People waited for stuff like flat apartment or a car forever sometimes, especially if they did something deemed wrong by the government. Ever heard of Holodomor in Ukraine in 1932-1933? Great Chinese Famine in 1959-1961? Communism was so great, so great and equal that in fact millions of people died from hunger. The original concept had these grand aims and as a concept it might seem great, but it's always the outcome that matters. There's no equality, only government members and people on highest stands are living comfortably, and resorting to terrorizing others to get what they want - that's how it always ends. "There are people equal but some are more equal than the others". You'll never have leaders who will be wiling to live on the same level as common people and being "equal"to them, that's never their aim. Look at the world and its history and show me any country with this system that hasn't ended up like that. People can bitch about utopian socialism and how everything so far was just "done wrong way", but that's pointless. A fair system in which everybody's equal and safe is impossible. Humans are egoistical and powerhungry, and will put down others to elevate themselves if there;s a chance. Don't treat this as a defence of consumerism (incidentally, my previous sentence applies to it ideally as well) but wanting communism in 21st century and expecting it would be so great is wishful thinking.

I don't support any political party from my country (nor any other). They're all wasteless shit, nothing to choose there. I'm yet to see a side that proposes something that makes sense, and i don't believe there will be a time i'd get to. They're all politicians, and they're shady scum people by default, who have nothing in common with normal people. whoever believes they understand our problems or have any of our interests in mind is naive.

One more thing now that you're mentioning rightwing. Right is currently ruling party in my country (unfortunately). You might find interesting that our rightwing, similar to other parties, is full of ex communists who just rebranded for a new decade.

#asks

[bebxos]

.

#this is just a random rant but #why am i seeing so many posts and memes where people think communism is a good thing :/ #i don't think any of them ever lived in a communist country :/ #my family lived in a communist country and that system is shit #no one besides the government had ding ding you guessed it - anything #and besides did people have a democracy class in school skhdjssjs everything we learned about communism is ew #we have assignments and stuff to ask our parents about those things and they're all like yeah this place was shit and #police could beat you up whenever and for whatever they wanted #so i don't get it :/ #might go crazy and make this into a post later #because in reality the whole no private property thing means everything belongs to the government and oh boy did they use that #privacy what privacy there was none in this place under communism

[ibelonginthepast]

Hunk for the character ask thing??

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HUNK!!!! FINALLY!!! I am such a ho for him sorry

Sexuality Headcanon: i have no particular fixed pref, he could be straight, but i like to think he's bi throughout. I think he is a believer of fluid sexuality, so he doesn't really fits himself in a label. He goes along with whoever he likes.

Gender Headcanon: I sometimes like to hc him as a trans man (ftm). He/him pronouns. He was cultured into toxic masculinity. He has had his struggles with it. He was teased for being soft because of his anxiety issues. His tendency to be emotional and expressive. He has had been a victim of toxic masculinity constantly, even adopted it and perpetuated it further for a while before giving up. He is passionate about healthy masculinity and really understands it now. He is a fierce feminist and in for breaking the patriarchy.

A ship I have with said character: the thing is i hate Canon. I dont like the first sight first meet fall in love kind of thing they did with hunk and shay, but with what I headcanon shay as, I think she is perfect for him. He would balance her head on approach to stuff, and she will balance his tendency to ponder. He is a total simp for shay. He's a sucker for a simple calm life, while shay is on the ambitious side, and he fully supports her.

A BROTP I have with said character: hance is a given. heith! I will fucking die for this. I love thinking up stories of how Keith, despite being the one to struggle to open up, will inevitably fall for hunk. Hunk is just so approachable, so welcoming, so loving. I see hunk as also very fierce. He will stand in front as a literal physical shield to protect the ones he loves. He is dedicated when he loves and he never gives up on anyone. This is something he will share with Keith. One of the only people who will relate with Keith on a soul level on this. Punk!!! I love it. So much. Hunk is just amazing at platonic relationships. Hunk takes care of pidge a lot, they are his sibling. They simp on tech together ofc!! Even tho Shiro is everyone's dad, hunk cares for him, brings him his energy drinks and blankets all the time cause let's be real Shiro is low-key wishing death all the time and does not care for himself. Hunk is one of those peeps who scream SHIRO! NO! everytime Shiro makes a bad joke about death. Hunk's caring nature extends to everyone. Allura again is bad at taking care of herself, and he helps. He defo teaches allura samoan box braids!!! Coran too. Hunk bakes with coran sitting beside, chatting unrelentlessly but here's the thing, Hunk doesn't tolerate it. He genuinely likes listening to people and knowing them. One of the reasons he goes so well with Lance.

A NOTP I have with said character: humph he could go with anyone ngl. Shunk is extra weird to me, Shiro is a dad through and through i ew shaladins.

A random headcanon:

Despite what people think, hunk thinks he struggles with words. He uses food to express love. If he feels distant with anyone, he cooks for them.

Hunk does get tired after caring for people so much, but he has healthy nice fam around him who he lets take care of him too. He knows he needs to care for himself, and after some time of struggling with it, he now proudly take care of himself as well.

Hunk has struggled with severe anxiety. He has had panic attacks, complete meltdowns. His family was a bit pressurizing in terms of his career and all, and he has always felt responsible to get an excellent job in the stem section to make his parents proud.

He got into stem because of his parents, but he developed his love for it later too. He genuinely started finding STEM very interesting.

He contributed in making of fun robots in school's stem centres all the time. He had a teacher who was obsessed with making anime monsters, and even though hunk himself hates gore and shit he had fun making those and sometimes watched those weird ass animes and talked about how those wild ass writers were defo on weed while writing the script. He bonded over weeb stuff surprisingly with Shiro ;)

He hasn't been the smartest forever, like pidge. He actually worked his way to it. He is very dedicated, hard working and passionate.

He has undiagnosed ADD, but it hasn't interferred with him fitting in much. He has been able to do his work, and he recognized some tricks to focus early in life. His anxiety drives him to work as much as it distracts him. he just discovers his ADD later in therapy.

He makes pretty notes. He has an unhealthy obsession with pastel yellow highlighter.

Hunk is very well equipped with samoan tattoo art designs and understanding them. it's something his grandparents taught him since forever. His grandfather did tattoos and he saw them when he was little. He wants to get atleast some sort of soga'i miki. He's been always conflicted about wanting Pe'a cause its so beautiful and masculine in expression and not wanting it because it's so painful and permanent.

Because he has lived in America his whole life, he has struggled with his national identity a lot. He gets taunted by by family in samoa for being American and for speaking english better than samoan. He doenst always fit in well in america either for obvious reasons. He has struggled with feeling like he belongs. Its something he bonds with Lance on.

He is passionate about dismantling the social organization in samoa and its ill effects. He understands the systems and talks about their unfairness. This is something his distant and traditional family members get annoyed at him for.

He talks passionately about the freedom struggles of samoa and the samoan civil wars. He likes listening to stories of freedom fighters of samoa and great leaders. He is very critical of European colonization and takes no shit from europe apologists.

He is low-key a Satanist and likes to tell people about how God was super sexist to Lilith and how absolutely bullshit her banishment was,, how Satan is the coolest first feminist and made her the queen she is, and how Satan is the coolest dude for being the first rebel and equalist. He talks about how he gave us knowledge, and it created the world we are in rn or else we would still be all dumb and naked in the garden. His family is Christian and religious, he has read stories from bibles and come to the conclusions himself.

General Opinion over said character: i am horribly sad but I swear to God one cuddle from this cinnamon roll will cure me of everything

IMP NOTE: I am not samoan, but I read about countries where my favorite characters are from sometimes. I have started reading about che and communist Cuba for Lance too ;) All this info is from the internet, and I cannot say for sure its all good and true. If I am wrong with anything, please point it out.

THANKS FOR THIS! Now go drink water <3

#hunk garrett #voltron

[theothersarshi]

Telling someone about the life of a Romanian writer who was born about a hundred years ago. 

It feels so oddly familiar, because while it’s the first time I’m reading about his life on Wikipedia, the beats are all too familiar. His family traveled between the two world wars; he attended university, he found a job, he did well for himself. World War II came, and after that, communism.

His family lost everything and became enemies of the state, the scums who were denied all but menial jobs. And while he, personally, was probably richer than many to start with, communism didn’t discriminate much: if you had anything, you were evil. If your family had a small business and you owned a two-story house? You were bourgeois and deserved nothing. It didn’t matter whether you owned endless tracts of land or simply more than the average: you were worth shit.

It’s that writer’s story. But it’s my family’s story, on both sides (one of my great-grandfathers was an economist; the other owned the village bar). Things needed giving up. The children of those who had been “rich”, for a very wide range of “rich” could rise, if their parents gave up everything. The family business - definitely. The family home, maybe. And if you dislike it, go to jail; if you speak against the system, go to jail; if you rebel, hard labor for you.

All for the promise of “equality”. 

And was it reached, that equality? Of course not. A new hierarchy arose, but it was on different lines. There was the power of those in charge and those who militated for the new order. There was the power of those who collaborated with the state for small privileges. There was the power of those who, when the system failed, when things went to hell, when you couldn’t find the things you needed, could smuggle those things as a favor - salespeople, truck drivers.

The writer whose story I was relating fled to France, eventually, when he got the chance; that’s another familiar story. A great uncle of mine did the same. He had a job that required him to go abroad and he stayed there. His wife and daughter joined him a bit later, I’m not sure how. Usually, if you fled, your close ones got punished. Or maybe the rest of the family wasn’t considered close enough, I suppose.

Now my aunt, that great uncle’s daughter, lords it over us, thinking that 2020s Romania is any way similar to the Romania she left as a child, in the 70s. She married well and has the amounts of money earned when tech gets involved, while being an internet activist. Capitalism is bad, everything Milton Friedman ever said is bad - no arguments anywhere except to say “look, people suffer”. “But auntie, we’re former communists” I said, in the early 2010s, “my position regarding capitalism as a good system is in a certain context.” No sympathy there - to hell with our entire economy, I guess, we should have just remained in communism rather than have any form of capitalism. To die with honor, when we could just... live?

In ‘89, communism ended. Things changed. You were no longer assigned a job, god knows where in the country. You were no longer moved around at the whims of politicians. There was no more selling non-ethnic Romanians to other countries (did I forget to mention this? Selling over 200.000 Jewish people to Israel? Over 200.000 Germans to Germany?). 

And you have all this cultural baggage left, no longer relevant for today’s society, but so familiar looking back. So many tiny details you learn by osmosis. So hard to describe to someone outside the country. 

#romania #communist block #I understand where the US comes from but I don't think the US understands where I come from #I'm quite sure my aunt doesn't understand where I come from

[crinutzs]

What's it like being Romanian?

hmm good question. sorry for my shitty english and grammar errors in advance.

there's nothing spectacular about being romanian. a lot of people will say "wow you're from romania. never met a romanian girl before. i heard a lot about your country. very beautiful one. hehe romanians girls are hot etc etc" and yes these kind of people never heard the bad aspects about romania such as old minded corrupted politicians (a big number, especially those from the education system), the number of people who like to ignore the rules about covid 19 (we actually have 1.100-1.200+ covid cases per day and yea no one cares about the restrictions). we are an ex-communist country and the majority of people are so close minded they think being gay is the biggest sin and etc. i still think we are a communist country.

and also a lot of people will say "oh shit you're romanian ew you gypsy shit your country is full of gypsies; your country is so poor it should be considered a third world country"

and of course, these kind of people: "ew romanians transylvania is hungary ew" <- these ones are so funny and stressful. a lot of romanians hates hungarians because of this.

and ofc i like when people say "oh you're romanian so you must be a vampire". i really like this one.

being a romanian teenage girl sucks when you live in the rural area. i live in a rural area and i have a lot of gypsy and weird neighbors. i have one old man who sexually verbally harrassed me 2 or 3 years ago when i was 15-16 like this. yea. a lot of romanian girls are sexualized and forced to do prostitution bcs they need money. we have a lot of poor families here and they are so ignored like a lot of people say that poor families are all gypsies which is not totally true. some gypsies or rromani people (the formal version) are so rich damn. young girls are forced to marry at young age or make kids at young age( my aunt became pregnant at 15. she didn't even finish general school or idk how to say it; like gymnasium from 5th grade to 8th grade. yep. and the dad is 13 years older than her). and ofc young girls being abducted and murdered and burned alive (i recommend you to read if you want about the caracal case, an important murder case, abduction etc. i hope these informations are correct)

foreign people don't know much about romanian people's lives. a lot of romanian are so discriminated in europe bcs a lot of gypsies made a bad image about romania. a very bad imagine. a lot of gypsies are beggars, thiefs etc. that's why we are racists to gypsies.

being a romanian student sucks also. we have such a bad educational system. 30 years old textbooks, discrimination between rich kids and poor kids, old schools that are too dangerous for kids to study there especially in rural area. the study material for exams is so so so so big and exhausting. minor changes happened. minor. which means 90% of the study material hasn't changed since decades. some teachers are abusive with students. favoritism exists and sucks. but yea they talk a lot in this period about school since we will start the school on 14th and the minister of education promised around 250k tablets for poor kids. but nothing happened actually. we have a lot of scenarios about how to start school in this pandemic. this period is so chaotic for us, students( high schoolers especially; this is my last year and idk much about this year). this is one of the biggest problems about Romania.

and ofc how can i forget about mentally ill romanians? 😗 we have a lot of teenagers with depression, anxiety, personality disorders but no one cares about us. i do have depression since 2017, social anxiety and i didn't receive proper treatment. i still don't receive it. bcs no one cares about us😗. like i said, we are old minded people. we think that mental health doesnt exist. you're just sad. not depressed. get over it. hahahhaha yea never gonna happen if i don't receive proper treatment 😗 and yes we have a lot communist minded, narcissist, homophobic, transphobic, abusive parents who don't give shit about mentally ill kids. or about their kid's mental health. they say "you should not complain about mental health. be grateful that i give you food and a house where to live. i can't wait to kick you out of my house to see how hard life is. mental health doesn't matter".😗😗😗😗😗😗

why some kids with depression don't receive proper treatment? bcs their parents don't know about their problems. they are uneducated. kids need money for therapy. we don't have money for therapy. and we stay like this: undiagnosed (in most cases), suffering everyday, judged by other kids and adults. when someone commits suicide and they appear on tv, people will say "omg he's mentally ill. he or she didn't trust in god. he or she is crazy. must go to the hospital for crazy people or "spitalul de nebuni" in romanian which is offensive for other mentally ill romanians.

idk what to say. we have a lot of problems.

summary: being a romanian sucks.

i'd love to receive more questions like this. i want to educate people about romanians and romania in general.

and our music taste sucks. trust me.

#romania #ask #romanian #eastern europe #balkan #românia #depression #anxiety #mental illnesses #corruption #covid 19 #toxic parents #toxic relationship

[valentino-red]

sinnerman

Chapter 2

take me to the hamptons, bugatti veyron

Ralph looked over at the backseat, where Nicky was looking at Soledad like she was a mountain he needed to move. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and the kid seemed to know that she was in a pickle. It wouldn’t do to have a government agent so close to Nicky; Ralph knew this, which is why he had brought out the gun he hid in the Royce.

Little Miss Diaz-- Captain Diaz, who would have thought-- sighed; and suddenly, Ralph could see it. There were the tear-troughs, the eye bags, the stress lines; Soledad suddenly looked older than him.

“I have to admit,” she began, “that I have worked as an… intelligence officer after I was promoted to captain.”

“You mean a spy.”

Nicky’s voice cut through the tension and he was suddenly the head of the Valentino Family, not the love stricken puppy of ten minutes ago. This was the Nicky that Ralph dealt with everyday, and it was the Nicky that he saw the most of right until last night. But now that Ralph knew how his boss could be (a little bit soft, yeah, but so much happier) he sort of wished that he never saw Nicky Valentino, mafia boss extraordinaire, ever again.

“Not exactly,” Soledad said, “but that’s close enough. I would go to the indigenous tribes and make deals with them on behalf of the government, try to make sure that they wouldn’t side with the communists in the region, or ask if they knew the whereabouts of the New People’s Army. So it wasn’t really spying, it was… negotiating. Investigation, if you will. Intelligence gathering.”

The kid was eerily calm, with no trace of emotion on her face or voice. Ralph supposed that maybe this was the Soledad that existed before Nicky.

 Her gaze flickered to the gun as Ralph’s side. Her eyes didn’t widen, and she didn’t panic. No; she seemed to relax at the sight of it.

“Threats and guns,” she sighed. “Brings me back to my glory days.”

Nicky shared a look with Ralph that said ‘she’s crazier than I thought.’

“Marone,” he muttered. “Look, Sol. I don’t wanna hurt ya, ‘cos I know that I’d regret it. So give your story to me straight.”

“Fair enough,” she said, settling into the plush leather seats. Sol was the most relaxed of the trio even with her hands cuffed behind her back. Ralph had to respect how composed she was, seeing to the fact that she was unarmed with two men that she barely knew, and was in possession of firearms. 

“I guess I should start from the top. My grandfather was a general, so when I was a child I wanted to be just like him. This, of course, led me to the army; except I was twenty-one with an inferiority complex, so I decided to join the Marines.” 

Nicky watched her smile, as though she was recalling fond memories. 

“We were the elite; the best, the brightest, the few. I saw the frontline three times in my career, where the army had skirmishes with rebel groups. These are the NPA, the New People’s Army-- communists that tell poor farmers and idealistic college kids that the system is corrupt and the only way out is a makeover. All good and well, except their leader isn’t even living in the Philippines, and their higher-ups are just as corrupt as government officials. So they’re a bunch of rapists and thugs that profit from their hypocrisy.”

Ralph glanced at Nicky, who had his complete focus on Soledad. The Rolls Royce had been at a standstill for five minutes now.

“Then,” Sol said, “the rebels attacked a city in the south of the country, Marawi. I served there, got promoted to captain. My grandfather died shortly after, and that’s when I was offered a slot in the intelligence division. I agreed, got new assignments. Usually, the army uses ‘retired’ officers to gather data and intelligence. Like James Bond-- he was a commander.”

“James who?”

“Oh,” Soledad said. “He’s, uh, a fictional character. Hasn’t been created yet.”

Nicky gave a slow nod; it was surprisingly easy to believe everything that Sol told him, so easy that it felt almost like cheating. But everything she told him was too bizarre to be anything but true.

And he knew what she looked like when she told the truth; people lie in many ways, but tell the truth in one. Nicky noticed that she spoke slowly when she was talking about herself, as if she wanted to be clear and concise-- as if she didn’t want to be misunderstood.

‘I’ve got a wide skill set.’

Well, Nicky thought to himself. I guess I know what her skill set is now.

And to wrap his head around the fact that she had seen war-- it felt like having a secret that they both shared, a sudden kinship. Because Nicky himself had been at war, and had led it, had scars from it.

He didn’t know if this was what drew him to her-- but then, there were many things about Soledad that he adored. Nicky loved the way she made him laugh; he loved how her hair curled under her chin; he loved how she said the plain truth, how she didn’t mince her words. Nicky didn’t know everything about her, but he could spend his lifetime doing that.

So did he mind that she didn’t tell him about her past? No, not at all. There were things that he did that he didn’t tell her yet, and somehow, Nicky knew that Sol would understand his silence on a few spots in his life.

“Hey, toots,” Nicky said. “Ya need a pin? ‘Cause those handcuffs don’t look like they’re gonna unlock themselves.”

“Oh,” she looked surprised. “I forgot about that.”

Nicky snorted, “how could you forget being handcuffed?”

“I don’t know, maybe I was worried about the fact that a certain someone was maybe mad at me?”

Nicky got a pin that he had in his jacket, and Sol turned her back to him. He was touched at how ready she was to trust him with unlocking her handcuffs, even after his open hostility.

“I already told ya, sweet thing.” There was a metallic pop, and the handcuffs were out. “There’s no need to worry. I got you.”

She turned to face him, and the afternoon sunlight that came in through the car’s window somehow made her look more golden, made her brown skin look deeper. For the first time since he met her, Sol looked like she didn’t know what to say. Nicky placed his hand on top of her’s, both sticky from sweat; suddenly, he couldn’t see anything but her dark eyes and the curl of her hair. All at once, he realised that she had been what he was waiting for, body and soul.

“Looks like we need ‘ta get outta here,” he said, voice lower than he intended. “What do you say, toots? Wanna go to my place at the Hamptons?”

***

If Sol was going to ask if she could drive the car one more time, Ralph would explode. He had a little vein in his forehead that didn’t exist until last night. It was crazy, how bullheaded someone could be; crazier still that Nicky was looking at her like she hung the stars and the moon.

It was dark already outside, and the air was getting colder, whipping at cheeks and turning exhales into wisps of smoke. Outside the world of the Rolls Royce trees were shedding their leaves into dark green heaps that could barely be seen in the lack of light. Inside the Rolls Royce, at the backseat, Nicky had his arm over Sol, and she was resting her head on his chest.

Ralph rolled up to the driveway, noticing, somewhat smugly, that Sol barely batted an eyelash at Nicky’s mansion. He had been waiting for some girl that wasn’t impressed with Nicky’s spending habits.

Said man nudged Sol at the ribs, smiling. “Do I know how to spend money, or what?”

Said girl chuckled. “I’d go for the ‘or what’, but I don’t wanna hurt your feelings.”

Nicky put a hand on his chest, acting as if someone stabbed him. “Too late,” he rasped, collapsing into her. “I may never recover.”

Sol pecked his cheek. “There,” she smiled widely. “A kiss to make it better.”

Ralph gagged, parking at the entrance as quickly as possible.

“Get out,” he said. “I got a date with a pair of dancers tonight, and I don’t wanna have to explain why I got a toothache.”

Nicky raised an eyebrow, but Soledad slid out of the car laughing. Ralph wanted to snort-- at least someone knew how to take a joke. Nicky could be a bit sore sometimes.

“Have fun, Ralph,” Sol said. “Don’t stay out too late, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“That’s not much,” Ralph rolled his eyes, walking to his car and leaving the two love birds behind. Nicky gave a small wave, his eyes warm and smiling. Sometimes the man showed his affection in small ways.

Sol paused to look at the house, with its cream colored bricks and French design. Somehow, it reminded her of her family, and a way of life that was lost to her. Homesickness settled at the bottom of her gut; that’s how she knew it was shit.

“Honey,” she said, “it ain’t that bad, but I gotta tell you. It's pretty obvious that a young man with new money owns this place. But not to worry, when the ivy grows it will look distinguished. Ivy gives everything an air of gravitas.”

Nicky peered down at her. “And how exactly are you an expert on gravitas, toots?”

“Well, I’m with you aren’t I?” Sol said it like it wasn’t flirting, but a fact. “Besides, my family is so old money that we have no money. I saw it, but it never reached me.”

“Well, honey,” he grinned, “you can reach for all the money you want. My treat.”

She punched his arm playfully, and Nicky winced at the force of it. Sol was an army captain alright.

“Hey,” he said. “I’ve got a swell place that’s perfect for stargazing. You can see entire galaxies up there. Wanna check it out?”

Sol shook her head, and Nicky tried his best to not feel disappointed.

“It’s a cold night,” she replied, “and I am physically, psychologically, socially, culturally, genetically and spiritually unable to stand the cold. I’m from the Philippines, and that’s at the middle of the equator.”

Nicky chuckled. “Well, I have some mink that I could lend you for New York in the winter.”

Soledad groaned. “Just throw me to the sun, please. I hate winter.”

Nicky didn’t mean to grin at her despair, but he couldn’t help it. “Too bad, toots, ‘cause I love snow.”

“Hay, susmariosep,” she muttered to herself. Nicky blinked at her, and she sighed, stepping into the house-- she was cold already, standing in the evening air.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” she clarified. “But we Filipinos take revenge on our colonizers by bastardising their language, hence: susmariosep.”

Nicky led her into the mansion, and Sol was struck with how immaculate everything was. The marbled floors were shinier than a brand new Ferrari, the decor was a tasteful creme color, and the chandeliers gave a welcoming golden light to everyone under it, with Nicky’s brown eyes looking like a setting sun over still waters.

“Care for a quick drink?”

Soledad nodded, and her favorite mob boss led her to a study furnished with heavy mahogany shelves and plush velvet seats. She carefully mapped the layout of the house in her head, a habit of her’s that was born from paranoia and grew into a faint buzz at the back of her mind, like how some people ran their hands through shelves in the grocery. 

Nicky mixed her an Old Fashioned as she sunk into an armchair, tucking her legs under her. It was difficult for her to be on her guard with Nicky for too long; there was something about him that made her feel at ease, like how one feels after a good massage.

Soledad nursed her drink in its perfect crystal tumbler as Nicky told her of his place, his position, before she stumbled into the Twenties. His eyes were a hard amber as he talked about being the head of one of New York’s Five Families, of being on the cover of every paper in town, of being young and dangerous and flaunting cash. Soledad could see it happening; she could see how the very same man that made her drink and called her cute pet names was also the kind of man that dipped more than his toe in bootlegging and crime. Maybe it was in how he carried himself, or the way he talked-- whatever it was, Sol knew power when she saw it, and Nicky Valentino oozed it.

“Look, Sol.” His brows were set and stern. “I got a lot of regrets about the things I done. There’s a lot of wrongs I can never right, and that’s why I got out. The big house never scared me more than the big sleep.”

His face softened a bit, as if he was sharing a fond memory. “But becoming a man; seeing the consequences of my actions…”

Nicky Valentino’s wandering eyes settled on Sol’s, and she could see forests of unexplored secrets in their depths.

“That’s why I left. Easier said than done, though.”

Sol watched his face get flustered, ears heating up, as she took a final sip of her drink, tilting it back.

“Trouble just seems to find you, huh?”

“I have myself to thank for that. But worst comes to worst, I still got my secret headquarters.”

Sol smiled, cradling the crystal glass in her hands. “You’ll have to show me, someday. Just in case.”

Nicky returned her smile. “Of course,” he said, almost whispering. “I got one last place to show you, if you’d let me.”

Their footsteps were quick in the quiet night, as if they were teenagers slipping from shadow to shadow, scared of being found out. Nicky held her hand like it was glass, idly taking note of how light it was, and where her hands were calloused and where it was smooth.

The night breeze was fierce, blowing white curtains into the house like spectres, half-alive and half in love, reaching for something. Soledad walked beside him, and under the moon she looked like she was dreaming, in another place that didn’t exist. He brought her to a swimming pool, smiling under the stars. 

“I’m going to dip my feet in for a hot second,” he said. Soledad followed him, and they sat at the edge of the pool’s deep end together.

“Trust me, Nicky,” she muttered. “Every second with you is a hot second.”

“Yeah,” he blushed. “But you’re cold aren’t ya? Here, take my coat.”

He took his black coat off, wrapping it around her; Sol was grateful for the sudden warmth that it gave her. She breathed in deeply; it smelled like smoke and cognac.

They spent a few minutes in silence. Sol knew that there wasn’t a need to say anything. It had been a long day, and she was grateful for quiet moments like these. The oceans in her stomach settled when Nicky held her this way, when they both looked at the deep blue pool together.

“My ma used to tell me, ‘Your soulmate is somewhere out there looking at that same moon.”

Sol smiled. “Oh? And did you listen to her?”

“I was more concerned about finding out how I could sneak into the Polo Grounds and catch a ball game.” 

They shared a smile. 

“But now,” Sol said, “you’re a romantic.”

“Yeah, now I am.” They were both quiet for a heartbeat. “What about you? Is you a romantic?”

Sol looked away from Nicky and the moon, her smile getting sadder. “I never let myself think about romance,” she said. “Like I said, you don’t get to be twenty-nine years old with no boyfriend, ever, without a bit of paranoia.”

“How about me?” Nicky’s gaze was heated, focused on her. 

“What about you?”

“What happened? You met me and figured out the power of true love?”

Soledad snorted, rolling her eyes. “Not everyone goes out and buys jewelry for their future lovers, Don Juan.”

“When it comes to love, everyone’s got a chip and a chair,” he chuckled. “So long as you got a single chip and a seat at the table, you still got a shot.”

“You really are a romantic,” Sol huffed, grinning.

Nicky wrapped his arm around her; there was something behind her eyes that was still closed off to him, but he could see that she was keeping something close to her chest. He had seen that look before in the mirror, and he knew that whatever she was keeping close to her, she didn’t want to let go of yet. Nicky didn’t want to take it from her hands.

“It’s been a long day,” he said, not noticing how his voice dropped to a lower octave. “We should both hit the sack.”

Sol nodded, and the new goosebumps on her arm were not from the cold. “Where’s my room?”

“Take a hard left down the hall,” he replied. “You can’t miss it.”

***

Soledad had changed into an oversized polo shirt and baggy shorts that she had found in the dresser, and had already settled on a makeshift bed on the floor. There was something about fluffy mattresses that made her feel like she was drowning, so she took the heavy comforter from the bed and a pillow, fashioning a spot that vaguely resembled a sleeping bag.

There was a gentle knock on her door, and Nicky’s face peeped in. Surprise colored his face, and Sol smiled back sheepishly. She didn’t know why she felt embarrassed at being seen trying to sleep on the floor-- she did it many times back home, never caring about other people’s perception of her. But the way that Nicky looked a little bit concerned had her face flushing. 

It’s because it’s his house, she thought to herself. 

“Force of habit,” she explained, sitting up from the floor. “I, uh, don’t really like soft beds.”

Nicky nodded, pretending as though he understood. “Army training, huh?”

“Army training.”

He hummed lightly, rolling on his heels. “Would you like a quick nightcap?”

Nicky showed her the two mugs he was holding.

“What’s that? Coffee?”

“Coffee? At this hour? Do I look like a barbarian to you?”

“Sorry if I have a caffeine addiction,” Sol muttered. “It takes three cups to wake me up. Besides, coffee can be had any time.”

“Not if you’re Italian.” Nicky looked mildly embarrassed. “No coffee after breakfast. That’s how it’s done in the old country. So what will you have? Tea or hot chocolate?”

“The hot chocolate, please. I may be a coffee addict, but my true love is hot chocolate. I should really make you a cup some time. My recipe predates the Americans.”

Nicky smiled at her rambling as he walked over to her and gave her the cup. “Something sweet for my something sweet,” he said.

Soledad took a sip. “It’s good, but trust me when I say that mine is better.”

“Oh? And what’s it like?”

“Thicker.” Soledad blushed, hoping that he didn’t notice the double entendre. “Less sweet, more bitter. But the cacao from Davao? The best, the absolute best, I tell you.”

“My ma used to make hot coco, too.” Nicky sat on top of the bed, which was stripped of its blankets. “And I remember that she did make it thick. But my pa didn’t like it, because apparently anything that brings any kind of joy didn’t make you a man in his eyes. The irony, coming from a man whose soul was crushed by the factory.”

Nicky’s eyes were still tender, and Sol was jealous that he was able to talk about his father that easily. 

“Well,” Nicky said, standing up. “We best get to bed already. It’s going to be busy tomorrow.”

Sol remembered some things that Ralph had mentioned on the trip to the Hamptons. “Long day at your lawyers’ office?”

Nicky shrugged. “Can’t always be getaway cars and police men on your tail.”

They shared a look with each other before Nicky headed to the door. He opened it, and Sol memorised the way he looked like, before pausing. Nicky held her gaze one more time.

“I’ve chased it before; that danger. You can get hurt. Go after it long enough and you will get hurt.”

“I know,” Soledad said. She said it so quietly, she wasn’t sure if Nicky heard her.

“I just wanna be honest with you, as someone who’s been there, done that. I just don’t want to put you in harm’s way.”

Soledad sighed, sitting up straighter. She wondered what he thought of her, sitting on the floor wearing what might be his shirt.

“I’m here for you,” she told him, and it was as simple as that. “I’m not here looking for a thrill, or for money. I’ve had enough of that in my old life, and I’m used to it and the demons that come along with it. So I’m here for you, Nicky, and I’m ready to stay with you.”

“You’re one of a kind, you know that?”

They smiled at each other, and Sol forgot how to breathe.

“Takes one to know one.”

Nicky turned off the light, closing the door behind him as gently as he could.

***

That night, Soledad dreamt of the midday sun on the top of her head. There were gunshots, but she couldn’t hear them. She only knew how they felt, because with every beat of her heart a new one was fired. There was a familiar weight in her hand, and her trigger finger squeezed. Bullets flew and people died like leaves falling from acacia trees.

***

She woke up to orange stains in the sky. The sun greeted her, as though they were lifelong friends. Her hands folded blankets and fluffed pillows with no thinking on her part. This was routine, and Soledad knew the rhythm of it. The only thing that was missing, she thought to herself, were small lizards and the occasional cockroach. Sol smiled; she didn’t miss those things.

She changed back into her yellow dress, for propriety’s sake, before setting off to the direction that she deduced the kitchen was. As luck would have had it, she was right, and before she set foot in the place she could already smell breakfast.

“Good morning,” she said softly. “Can I help you in any way?”

A stout woman with wild curly hair came up to her, wiping uncooked batter on her white apron. “And who might you be, missy?”

“Soledad Diaz, ma’am.”

The older woman shook her head, muttering something about a new hire, before ordering her to chop onions. Soledad smiled, not wanting to correct the chef, and got to work.

There was something about holding a knife that she enjoyed, and she did her part in making breakfast. There were four of them working; the stout woman, a younger black man, an old hispanic lady that spoke in broken English, and Soledad. She had traded a few words with the woman (“de donde eres?” Sol asked. “Cuba,” the old lady replied, smiling through the steam that rose from a nearby pot. “Cuba.”).

Bridget, Joshua, and Mamita. Soledad enjoyed working alongside them, but soon excused herself, saying that she needed to go to the bathroom. Bridget had let her go with a wave of her hand, not taking her eyes off the sausages that she was frying.

Sol went back to her room, humming a song from her youth. She idly wondered if Mamita knew any Spanish songs that she knew, and suddenly Sol missed the guitar that she left back home in the Philippines.

Her thoughts came to a stop as she spotted a familiar face holding a basket full of petals, back facing her.

“Nicky?”

He turned to look at her, blushing harder than he ever had since she met him. It was adorable, and she laughed, only a little bit sorry that it was at his expense. He scratched the back of his head, and Sol idly looked him up and down. He was only wearing dark blue slacks and a white button down, but he looked good. Better, even.

“I didn’t know you were already up, toots. Army training?”

Soledad nodded. “Army training. Anyway, what are you doing? That’s going to be a pain to clean up.”

Nicky crossed his arms, and she could see his muscles underneath. “I wanted to surprise you when you woke up, but I guess you’re the one that surprised me. Breakfast’ll be in an hour yet, so maybe we can move to the veranda? It’s got a view of the pool.”

“Trust me,” she smiled. “I know that breakfast is coming in an hour.”

...

A/N: no beta we die like men. literally just finished this five minutes ago. i have no idea where this story is going, so i’m just sprinkling seeds for future angst that may or may not sprout. uh, in this chapter i tried to go for a more prose-y style, and i wanted to sort of start a bit the nationalistic streaks of sol here, since i figured that she’d have to be somewhat in love with her country, since she was a soldier.

i’m a little concerned that the romance part between sol and nicky is fast, but since it’s fast in canon, i suppose it’s alright for now. especially since they both have skeletons in their closet, that again, may or may not pop up later.

if yall have any suggestions, or anything that u wanna see, please tell me!!! do yall want scenes that are mainly canon compliant, or divergent? should i include more of the canon dialogue? i love feedback, mainly because i don’t have a lot of people to brainstorm with, so pls dont hesitate to drop me a dm!!!

Prologue | Chapter One 

#nicky valentino #nicky valentino x oc #nicky valentino/oc #nix hydra #fanfiction #nicky valentino fanfiction #tatw #two against the world #hay salamat thank the lord this is done #for now

[arcticdementor]

Veteran NRx blogger AntiDem has been beating the drum for his message of escaping the cities while we still can on Gab (basically a right-wing Twitter clone). A small sample:

Stop comparing getting "canceled" by the Twitter mob to the gulag, you fags.

You have a way out. People in the gulag didn't.

Leave the big cities. Move to a small town in a red state. Work a blue collar job or open your own business. Now the Twitter mob has no power over you.

If you don't want to do that because you want a cushy, well-paid office job more than you want freedom, then I have no sympathy for you.

Blue collar bosses don't give a shit about the Twitter mob. If some SJW from Portland calls Gary's Auto Body in Guthrie, Oklahoma to tell them they've got a racist working for them, they'll get told to fuck off and hung up on.

Work for Gary, and you're safe.

Look, I'm not a huge fan of Atlas Shrugged, but there were a few points in it that were really good. One involved Hugh Akston, who works as a cook at a diner, but used to be a university professor before he got canceled for wrongthink. He works his blue collar job because he can't be canceled from it, and still gives out wisdom to those who ask. Unless you're willing to do the same, and insist on staying married to your cubicle job, you're a LARPer.

And on his blog:

And so, dear reader, I challenge you: It is time for you – for us all – to do something. Perhaps you can save the world. If so, I hope you do. But if you can just save the people around you by becoming a contributing member of a sane, stable, shock-resistant, and sustainable community, then you will have done a great service. Here is where I believe you should start.

The first thing you should do is to get out of the big cities, which history shows us are deathtraps in times of disruption. Here, a lot of ignoring of fools will be necessary on your part. First, you’ll have to ignore the leftist press and academia, which is already trying to gaslight the public into thinking that the coronavirus pandemic is a particular problem of the rural south instead of the big coastal cities like New York, a bit of ludicrous wishful thinking that a moment’s glance at actual data disproves. Second, you’ll have to ignore the fools who will try to convince you that big cities are the safest places to be in times of disruption, based largely on some 20th century examples of tyrannical regimes disarming the peasants and then taking the fruits of their labor by force in order to feed the cities. There are a few key fallacies involved in this thinking.

First and perhaps most obvious is the fact that in the United States (as opposed to Cold War-era communist states), the countryside is armed to the teeth and the cities are not. The late 20th and early 21st centuries provide no lack of examples of what happens when a traditional 2nd Generation army sets itself up in a nation’s big cities and tries to impose its rule on an armed and hostile countryside; as you are not fools, I need not tell you what the results of that have been. Second is the fact that the big cities are run by elites who hate you and want you dead, so turning to them for protection is plain suicide. Perhaps in a different era – say, in the East Germany of 1967 – you could have survived by keeping your head low and pretending to go along with the official ruling ideology. But we do not live in that age anymore – your skin is your uniform, and when trouble comes to the diverse big cities you will be targeted mercilessly for wearing it...

There’s a reason why smart elites in functional societies (as opposed to what we have now) have always kept country estates they could retreat to when chaos and disruption reared their heads. Heed their wisdom.

If any of you think I’m directing scorn at the mainstream media for their counterfactual attempts to convince people that the cities are safer than the countryside, I say: on the contrary, I welcome it. The more fools there are who stay in the cities believing that they’ll be protected from the effects of disruption, the better things will be for the non-fools who know better. When trouble comes, we’ll have enough of our own to care for without being saddled with saving big-city fools from the entirely predictable consequences of their own poor decisions. Let them stay where they are. And while I’m giving out counterintuitive thanks, I’d like to offer some to all of the Social Justice Warriors who have worked tirelessly to throw the Dissident Right off of social media, to get them fired from their urban cubicle jobs, and to render them unemployable anywhere except in the rural sections of deep red states. I know that for those who fear being “hurled into the void”, as the Zman puts it, this seems like the worst fate imaginable. But nothing could be further from the truth. What we on the Dissident Right need to do now more than anything else is to disconnect from the corporate and consumerist, to stop spending too much time on the internet, to get out of the diverse, polluted, crime-ridden, disease-prone, and degenerate big cities, and to start making things real in genuine communities full of people like us.

I moved out of the big cities a couple of years ago, and I can tell you from firsthand experience: It’s pretty comfy out here in the void. So come home, white man. Get out of the cities as soon as you can. Take a massive pay cut if you have to. Change careers if you have to. Stock shelves on the night shift at Walmart if you have to. But get yourselves and the people you love out of the cities before it’s too late – if it isn’t already.

(Yes, I understand the desire to stay in the cities. I lived in Silicon Valley for 25 years. I loved it dearly, and I desperately miss the old Valley of the 90s and 00s. But that world is gone, and it’s never coming back; we tread that path but once. And if nothing else, I can’t imagine trying to get through this crisis in my tiny old city apartment instead of my cottage with its yard out back and a hayfield out front.)

Which is all well and good, but I think he has forgotten one thing, and it is the most important thing of all: women.

Women are hypgermous; they marry up, not down. And no woman is going to marry a man who stocks shelves at Walmart on the night shift. Even if you can get a decent blue-collar job at Gary's, she is just going to divorce you eventually, as Nabil ad Dajjal explains:

I don’t know much about factory work but my dad was an HVAC mechanic for most of his working life and as much as I respect him I wouldn’t ever consider doing the same.

Skilled tradesmen like plumbers, carpenters, electricians, HVAC, etc can make solid money even without advanced degrees. In theory, you could support a family on that income. In practice, all that money you earn will go straight to alimony and child support since even a woman who dropped out of college herself will look down on you for doing manual labor and eventually divorce you. A college degree and an office job might pay less but it’s less embarrassing for your wife to tell to her girlfriends and in our family court system that counts for a lot.

Assuming that you can find a loyal wife, there’s another problem in the form of career advancement or the lack thereof. It doesn’t seem like there’s much room to climb the ladder: you can gain seniority within your job but it doesn’t seem like many tradesmen make it into management.

And:

Nobody has told you that, at least not that I’ve seen.

Blue collar guys get laid and most of them get married too. The difficult part for them is in staying married. Obviously divorce isn’t a certainty but you’re taking a substantially increased risk.

Money without social cachet isn’t much of a defense, as between alimony and child support most of that money would go to the ex-wife anyway along with the primary residence and car. Every marriage has ups and downs but with no fault divorce those downs can easily end up destroying your family and wiping you out financially. When accounted for properly, that’s a pretty substantial cost.

Now, AntiDem has pretty much gone full MGTOW after a series of disastrous experiences with women, so I guess he doesn't mind. And, believe me, I totally understand where he's coming from (especially with this, which is exactly what happened to me). But as long as there is a filial duty to reproduce in order to repay the debt to one's ancestors and carry on one's family name and bloodline, as well as a biological imperative to pass on one's genes and avoid becoming an evolutionary failure, on top of the cultural argument for having children ("the future belongs to those that show up"), we have a problem.

What, then, is to be done?

#reddit #the motte #long comment #quotes within quotes #mgtow #urban versus rural #hypergamy #the replies are also worth reading

[beingtitan]

Corona, Blogging Corona

It is a nightmare isn’t it? Staying home all day, wondering how someone thousands of miles away eating a pangolin can screw up your foreseeable future? Or jeopardise the lives of your family, or the world as you know it?

I have met several men and women who have cheered for acts of wars far away from home. Well this is how wars are, this is what curfews are like. This is the uncertainty each soldier feels with their lives on the line. One slip, and you are dead. And dead are the men in your command. This, is lesson number one. A knee-jerk reaction to self-isolation, because we have grown up in world where we never had the time to understand and accept the most important person: us. For all those who hate their own company: I have been there, I know what it’s like.

It slowly dawned to me how human centric the world still is: even after the tech revolution, virtual venting of emotions and lives far away from home, people still matter. You still feel safer around known faces, your cell phones have failed you haven’t they? I see this is as an expression of a basic instinct coded in our DNA: roots. No matter how far you drift, no matter how easily the external world might seduce you, the cure to your anxieties and identity crisis is home.

Lesson three is a silly one but I will tell you anyway. Hollywood lies. Gulp it down with some warm water (it’s Flu season). You grew up masturbating to sci-fi which portrayed apocalypse as alien invasions, or as giant rocks from faraway corners of the solar system hitting the earth, or the resurgence of giant reptiles chewing away anything in sight. And here you’re, losing your erections over a flu virus you can’t even see. APOCALYPSE IS BORING. Trump won’t start a World War, and we will have to see the world end with Pakistan as an independent sovereign nation (yepp, hurts me too). Maybe.

The next lesson is but a verification of a very commonly known quote: common sense is not very common. You don’t have to be Tony Stark, or you don’t have to be Uri’s Vicky Kaushal, or some Allah sent fanatic to save the world. Staying at home, not touching your face and staying away from sick people will make you a hero anyway. But as you read this, you are shitting all over this aren’t you? There, proved my point.

The one plus side to all this, for me, has been self-connect. I used to read as a kid, maybe too much. I later on started writing too. I had a rich connect with music, and I used to think out loud with people worth floating those ideas. How much of this have I done lately? Nothing. The last good jam session was at a bar, few drinks down. Yes, the Indian Air Force posters on my bedroom wall also show me the depressing side of self-connect. But some goals are so worthy that it is glorious even to fail (as long as you don’t remember it later). I connected with my childhood, and maybe the next few months will help me re-dig the hero (Ending passand nai aayi? Badal dete hain.).

This is also a chance to repent. Not as individuals but as a species. We have done what all children have been known to do: promise our mothers a better life and then drifting away from her in search of our versions of ‘better’. And as a species, our version of better is a shithole. A bachelor apartment of a home (pardon me my bachelor friends, I know its hard to hide alcohol if the rooms are clean). If udta teer gaand me lena was a person, it would be us. Choking on the air we ourselves breathe, poisoning the waters we ourselves drink and killing species we evolved from. I am also pretty sure things will be business as usual once things return to sanity (is it the right word to use?). But I wish if we take away positives from this pandemic, we might as well reset how we live our everyday lives and how we treat life around us.

As we will see more and more of this disease unravel around us, we will see a divide, a natural one. Not Hindu-Muslim, not capitalist-communist or vegetarian-non-vegetarian ones. A more subtle division – of character. As the crisis grows and our systems will break and fall apart, people will start going back to the basics. Some of them, mentally weak and passive, will kill, loot, hoard and make everyday life one big riot. The other half (are there enough to be anywhere close to half?) will get out on the streets and fight this disease, looking out for those who can’t look out for themselves. People will forget their identities and new songs on unity will emerge as long as there is a strong common enemy (yeah I have been living on this planet long enough to see a pattern). And of course there will be chuts claiming Allah has given them natural immunity, or singing Go karuna karuna go will lead to the destruction of corona rakshash or that Jesus will take all our infection on him and save us. And I am sure if God exists, he would not even accommodate them in hell.

The last lesson is real power. It’s the power of ripples, nudges and small efforts if done together and done in the right direction. The faster we comply to these lockdowns, these safety measures the faster we might return to normalcy. It’s very easy laid out like this, but not easy doing it. The power of belief when a billion people (minus the street festival chuts) stood in solidarity with the country’s emergency services was a trailer of what a collective of democratic resolve can achieve. I wish we all can extend the same belief and efforts towards tackling poverty, hunger and climate change whose effects are not very drastic as say terrorism (effects are short term but drastic – so more funding to buy weapons).

It would be unfair to end this post without talking about solutions. We as engineers, entrepreneurs, doctors and other pillars of the society love to see and provide solutions. And I am not going to talk about quantum entanglement or how a neutron star can collapse under its own gravity to form a black hole. The most effective solutions are simple. Social distancing, planting more trees, buying only as much as you need. Staying hygienic. Staying in sync with nature. Managing stress. Kindness, empathy. Want to live up to the tag of ‘most intelligent species’? We might as well focus on simple acts we can do every day. Discover the hero/shero inside of us. One day at a time, in the isolated corners of your rooms, you might feed that hero and come out brighter and with better perspective.

[vicislifeinbinary]

My take on the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic Last week, we all thought everything was going to be normal, we didn’t take the global virus seriously. I saw people at university booking flights (because the tickets were so cheap) and teachers planning the next week’s curriculum. Most people thought the virus was just like a normal flu.  I saw life go on as normal, but of course with people washing their hands more and keeping a bit more distance. People said “See you next week!” and I said “Well… Maybe… I hope so!” and we said our goodbyes.  Little did we know, that was only the eerie silence before the storm. Then, suddenly, on Wednesday evening of 11/3/2020, the prime minister of Denmark declared a shutdown of Denmark and afterwards people started hoarding food, sanitizing equipment and toilet paper. It was hard to realize what was happening, it felt like a movie. Still does.  I was planning on going to school, to work and taking my driver’s license test – it has all been cancelled/rethought/postponed.  My brother is working in the hospital and so is my mom’s boyfriend – I can’t believe how brave these people are in the midst of all this. Doctors will have to make some hardcore judgements in the next months. Entire countries are on lockdown and halting business. Closing their borders. All events are cancelled and so is work, school and social events. Stock market is plummeting and we will probably have a recession. It’s like a patient on life support and we’re just getting started, two weeks behind Italy.  New York Times has written that “...as of Tuesday evening, at least 7,866 people have died, more than half of them outside mainland China… infected people have been detected in at least 142 countries” and on 13/3/2020 WHO announced that Europe had become the new epicentre. Thanks to the heroic Dr. Li Wenliang, Fang Bin and Chen Qiushi for discussing the virus and warning the public about the communist party’s violent censorship (and then tragically dying and/or going missing). We have seen the virus overwhelm the healthcare system greatly in other countries like China, Italy, Iran, France, USA, Austria and it’s probably only gonna get worse.  What many people fail to understand is 1) You can have the virus without having symptoms, 2) It is very easy to spread and catch the virus and 3) The healthcare system does not have enough equipment, beds or staff if many people suddenly start getting seriously ill. I heard that Denmark only has like 1000 respirators in total, which is not enough, and I feel scared for the future, though I am not yet panicking. I’m trying to adjust to this new state in our dimension. Seems like this large scale containment has never been tried before. I look at people with great contempt when they go out to party, socialize, date, chill, act unhygienic etc. because they could be seriously harming others without realizing it – just because you can’t see the consequences immediately doesn't mean you’re not a catalyst.  We are all potential vessels for killing our sick and our elderly. And not only old people die, we have also seen people in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s die from this virus.  That person you talked to has talked to five other people and that item you touched has been touched by dozens. It’s just like that “burned matches” image people have been sharing, it’s so easy to understand. I honestly think a police enforced curfew will be implemented because some people do not listen to science at all.  BBC did a good experiment with mobile phones and GPSes in 2018 to see how fast illnesses could spread if every person could infect 2-3 people and just travel as usual – by the third day 85% of UK was infected.  Bill Gates warned us in 2015 that the world was not ready for the next pandemic, but that we could be, if we took big precautions and combined the military with the medical and biological measures. I do not think we are ready now even though we’ve been warned many times.  I used to play the game Plague Inc for years and was stunned by how quickly it spread and how realistic the outcomes were (curfews being implemented, airlines and harbours shutting down, economic market collapsing, politicians falling ill, more money given to research etc.) – I never thought I was going to live in such a scenario. It feels dream-like and very brutal and honest. I also saw this in the movies Contagion (2011) and Outbreak (1995) which fucked me up. Material things are fragile. Societal constructs are fragile. World economy is fragile. When shit hits the fan, people are not so kind, rational and civilized anymore. Also interesting to see the world act like introverts. What if the world was like this?  No need for anything, no buildings, no entertainment, no social life, nothing to buy or sell… Really scary to see, it looks like a Chernobyl ghost town. Such a strange social experiment to witness. It’s so devastating to all the business owners and to our culture. I do think some positive outcomes could come from this, though, such as: * More people working from home and having less unnecessary meetings and transportation time + generally getting a smaller public sector in Denmark  * More e-learning and web exams being had which could open up knowledge greatly (as YouTube already did many, many years ago) * More research being done before the next pandemic + people taking pathogens, hygiene, cooking and vaccines WAY more seriously  * Better safety nets being implemented for privately owned businesses and companies * Fewer working hours and shorter workweeks in general being had, as we find out what work is not truly needed/effective, so that we can have more quality time with families and loved ones instead of working all the time * More research going into growing/making cheaper food and better food preservatives  * Being less dependent on China, who has been the global production star for a long time now with terrible freedom of speech as well as human and animal rights + China banning the unhygienic wet markets (which are the culprit of several outbreaks) * People realizing how fragile many things and constructs are and coming together to fight one bad thing instead of fighting over politics, money, culture and religion * More research going into robots and AI which could help us deliver food and medicine (and maybe transport individual people too) I do not know what started this virus, if it was nature or some sort of bioterrorism, like Bill Gates mentioned as a possibility in 2015. It doesn’t matter right now, because we still have to deal with it either way.  All I know is to keep my distance and stay home. And I think you should too, even if “the weather is nice” and your friends are bored. The bubonic plague took 200 million lives, smallpox took 56 million lives and spanish flu around 50 million lives. Daily Mail writes “Scientists say the 'scale' and 'lethality' of the coronavirus is on the scale of the H1N1 influenza strain that sparked the Spanish flu pandemic over 100 years ago”. We need to take precautions before it’s all too late and we lose millions of lives. People have said “Acting extreme now will only be seen as inadequate later on” and Vox’ YouTube video brilliantly pointed out that “To slow the virus down, you need to act like you already have it”. We CAN prevent some of this. Act now – stay home, stay clean and stay distant.  Thank you for your time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . #coronavirus #coronavirusupdate #covid19 #pandemic #pandemia #covid19denmark #coronavirusdenmark #denmark #danmark #coronapocalypse #panicbuying #stayhome #staysafe #flattenthecurve #COVID2019 #virus #outbreak #CoronavirusOutbreak #plagueinc #bbc #billgates #socialexperiment #socialconstructs #healthcaresystem #lockdown #wetmarkets #socialdistancing #quarantine #contagion #SARSCoV2  (her: Copenhagen) https://www.instagram.com/p/B95eoSQBw0W/?igshid=4poeakul8sz1

#coronavirus #coronavirusupdate #covid19 #pandemic #pandemia #covid19denmark #coronavirusdenmark #denmark #danmark #coronapocalypse #panicbuying #stayhome #staysafe #flattenthecurve #covid2019 #virus #outbreak #coronavirusoutbreak #plagueinc #bbc #billgates #socialexperiment #socialconstructs #healthcaresystem #lockdown #wetmarkets #socialdistancing #quarantine #contagion #sarscov2

[darrowsrising]

Democracy doesn't make people equal though. It just brings even more classism. And the main issue of RR has always been classism. Idk, I just don't think Darrow will get to fulfill his dream of equality under democracy. The Republic he and Mustang built was a total fail and it showed in the last 2 books. It stresses me out cause I don't see how this series can end on a good note from this point of view.

Sorry to say it like this, but...you are preaching to the devil here, sweetheart. I won't agree with you and you won't agree with me. I also don't really like being preached to about something that defined my country's life and, on a smaller scale, my own life, because it still affects today's administration of things.

You can tell me how much democracy sucks all day, at least we can do something about it so that it sucks less. A communist regime is an extreme left regime a totalitarian regime. You can't even talk about change without severe consequences - death, torture, etc. Extremes are never good! If Red Rising ever preached about something, it's just that.

In the RR universe, Publius made things very clear - all men are equal, except some are more equal than others. He didn't say it this way, but this the short story of his grand speech to Virginia, before he was made to eat brains like a doggie.

Also, classism exists under communism as well. The memebers of the party get a lot of privileges that an average person doesn't. No party memeber and their families ever went hungry.

And if you are waiting for the Republic to become a communist one, I think you are setting yourself for disappointment if that is ypur absolute perfect ending.

Besides, there is no such thing as the perfect system. Because it's not the system the problem as much as it is the people. Do you know why communism is an utopia and works only on paper? Because people are greedy and power-hungry. Same with democracy! You think it won't be the perfect system if people were perfect and fair?

You know what is more important than equality? Equity. And not the kind Beyoncé gets paid in. It's giving people what they need so they can be on the same level. When you look at a class of children - some will be very gifted at some things, others will have problems adapting and so on. Every child needs a different approach to solve their problems. So that you can have everyone on the same level, you give them what they need individually. On a planetary scale, laws for every category of people is needed - example: you can't just make a law for workers and call it a day, you must make one for each category, because they differ and they need a certain kind of help.

Also, the Republic wasn't such a monumental fail as you made it to be. Virginia received her imperium as it was stipulated in the New Compact. Her power is not against the law, it was given accordingly. Also, she is alive and Mars is well, so that means the Republic still stands.

The only reason it went to shit, was because of something even she couldn't have predicted. And she is a genius. She was very close to winning, and then poof! She rallied the majority of the parties behind her and she had a great chance to make impactful reforms after they got Mercury and ended the war. But it took literally Adrius, back from the grave to topple Luna.

The books will have a good ending, though. Regardless of politics (that, again, can be fixed) and whatever stance you have, a good ending to me is one that shows my faves as happy as they can be, given the circumstances and the nightmares they have at night. And looking hopefully to the future in a world that, despite its flaws (let's just aceept that life isn't perfect) gives them peace and freedom and the chance to pursue hapiness. Because they fought tooth and nail for that and they deserve it.

It's unrealistic to think that a certain system would fix everything. It is also unrealistic to think that, for the rest of their lives, Darrow and his crew will be happy and live in perfect peace. But hope, hope and fixing the mistakes of the past. That I think we can all get behind.

Howl on!

#iron gold trilogy #pierce brown

[exoversxl]

cc facts while this is my permanent account now i guess? xD (more under the cut)

There are approximately 1500+ countries on Arda (Earth). The entirety of the Earth is protected by the EMCU, centered in The Benevolent and Blessed Confederacy of Missouri, in the Former United States Region. The Exoversal Major Crimes Unit is lead by Trippz Grissom, who came from the Unity Hearts Multiversal Cluster. The Crossover Chaos Exoverse was formed from a parental dispute between Xedra Colmare, and her then-husband Xalgoth. Their dispute was so explosive, that it destroyed Exoverse Zero, and started the First Exoverse. The couple had 3 sons, and 1 daughter that they were fighting over. Bone, the oldest, Venom, the second oldest, Ice, the second youngest, and the only daughter, and then the baby of the children, Qhkarus Colmare, who later reincarnated into Puggsy (Fangface). Fanboy (Fanboy and Chum Chum) is in the Adventurer's Club (Mission: Magic!) due to being in a relationship with the leader, Kim Yu. He loves her to pieces, and they are due to marry within a few weeks as of this writing.

Fred Jones and Daphne Blake (Scooby Doo) ended up together, and ended up having kids. Velma is an eternal bachelor, and Shaggy ended up with Makoto of Jupiter, also known as Sailor Jupiter. (This was inspired by ScoobMoonBusters) Fangs (Fangface) is gay, and ended up with a skateboarder by the name of Ken Hunter. They were both famous in the 2000s for their skateboarding, so they are considered a power couple. Winston Zeddemore ended up retiring from the Ghostbusters, and is now married to Queen Ti'yah Clarke of the Desert Nekonian peoples. He is also a Monster Hunter, and is good friends with Black Panther and the people of Wakanda. Nagisa Misumi and Honoka Yukishiro (Futari Wa Pretty Cure) are married. They still have their Precure powers in this universe, and Nagisa is a high ranking commander in the Japanese Defense Force. She is semi-retired from it, though, but can still be called in if there's a situation. Honoka works at S.H.I.E.L.D as a scientist, alongside Velma Dinkley, Tom Van Beuren (Van Beuren Tom and Jerry), also of the Antiknyghtz!, and many others. Eugene Meltsner (Adventures in Odyssey) is an alien, his blood originating from the planet Bagklock. He is of the Ixfay tribe, and is a Bagklockian Skypiean. His real name is Yuija Malznar, and he is of blood related to the previous royal family. He cannot step foot on Bagklock due to that fact, and has lived on the planet of Avalon most of his life. Milkweed (Fanboy and Chum Chum), Hogwarts and Sakurazami (Magic School from Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure) are part of the same school system. Hikaru Hoshina (Star Twinkle Pretty Cure) went here in Crossover Chaos after graduating her canon school. This is where she met Gastoon Lagaffe (formerly Bow Lagaffe), and Kyle Bloodsworth-Tomason. They currently share an apartment together. Shantae is in a relationship with Vinnie Malaproper (Mission: Magic!). Because of this, she is semi-retired from protecting Sequin Land, which is situated in the Caribbean in this universe. If shit goes down, though, she will go there and save the day. Vinnie often comes along when this happens. The Lylat System (Star Fox) is a dead galaxy. It is currently being mined by the Byakkan Empire, a black comedy parody of KallyPanaStudio's Jellielandia. John Avery Whittaker (Adventures in Odyssey) is a retired Green Lantern. He used to fight alongside Hal Jordan back in the day, and retired during the Blackest Night Crisis. Beatrix (Gaston) Lagaffe is a Grey Jedi. She used to be a true Jedi, but then lost her mind, becoming what she is now. She is also a Grendel, a space werewolf species, is queen of them, and is also a trans woman. Gaston, her name in original canon, is instead her deadname. British Columbia, a capitalist country originally part of Canada, and Alberta, a communist country also originally part of Canada, constantly butt heads over a lot of stupid stuff. The rest of the 1500+ countries in the world think they're idiots. In the ancient past, an ancestor of Housemaster (Arfenhouse) came to Earth from space and landed in Ancient Ireland. His spaceship looked like a toaster, and he even called it such. Hence, why the country of Ulster is named such, and why toasters are named toasters. Wreck-it Ralph and Fix-it Felix are the mail carriers for Muncie, the Democratic Protectorate of Indiana. They have rubbed shoulders with Garfield and Jon Arbuckle, by the way, and are aware of Garfield's heritage from the Stars and Stripes Supergalaxy, and his ties to the Biker Brethren of the planet of Washington. They find it super ridiculous. Sailor Moon and Goku are married, and rule the Moon Kingdom together, due to the fact that Tuxedo Mask and Chichi died heroically in the Exoversal War. Chibiusa in the Crossover Chaos universe's father is Goku, hence she has a pink Saiyan tail. The universe of Ni No Kuni is one of many "parallel universes" in Crossover Chaos, and Swaine Pendragon, who in this universe is a Naga, comes from that universe. Parallel Universes and Alternate Universes are different things. Parallels are universes where there are different people existing then the main verse. Alternates are where the same people exist as the main verse, but are under different circumstances then the main verse. Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is in the same school system as U.A. High School (My Hero Academia) and the Splitsboro Sidekick Academy (Sidekick), among others. The Time Knife (The Good Place) is on Pluto, in the Time Palace. It is watched 24/7 by guards that are trained from birth to protect it.        

#sfw #crossover chaos #verse facts #adventures in odyssey #+ others

[obiternihili]

Ngo writes for the National Review and Quillette. Spins stories such as a hit and run into a group of BLM protestors as antifa attacking an old man. ( https://katu.com/news/local/driver-plows-through-protesters-in-downtown-portland | https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-leftist-mob-polices-portland-1539298766 ) . In the aftermath of that, right wing groups started protesting around Portland which led to what should be understood in democratic countries as normal outcomes of protest; groups A and anti-A arguing in the streets, occasionally breaking out into brawls in the same way drunks do in bars or sports fans do in parking lots. https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2018/10/13/portland-streets-descend-into-bedlam-again-as-proud-boys-and-antifascists-maul-each-other/

And because apparently now “militant” means throwing a milkshake, despite the A groups being known for literally killing people, despite far-A groups being known for stockpiling weapons. An informal, completely unorganized aesthetic some informal counter-protestors with all the coordination of football brawlers get the militant label while the people they’re reacting to, people who nakedly want to overthrow democracy and commit human rights violations discriminating against and deporting a reasonable chunk of the country, despite being nakedly in bed with explicitly white nationalist groups and pushing their agenda, one gets the label militant and the other doesn’t. Gee, I wonder why?

At this point I’m largely going to plagiarize the article I’m using as a middle man. Sorry I just figure if I lead with the source instead of putting the text down as is you’d dismiss it instead of considering the fact that the article draws its information from such horrifically communist tabloids as “a local sinclair broadcaster” or “the wsj” “ It didn’t end there. The flash march created new viral moments. A video of a left-wing activist harassing a woman claiming to be a 9/11 widow was posted days later to The Daily Caller, which was cofounded by Tucker Carlson. (The woman appears to have lied about being a 9/11 widow.) Efforts to doxx the man hurling invective resulted in a professional skateboarder from Portland being falsely identified and inundated with death threats. Eventually the man in the video was identified, which started a new round of harassment. One source says the social service agency that fired him over the video “was flooded with hundreds of harassing calls and Facebook messages that were explicitly racist and threatening to harm and kill staff.”

Carlson credited Ngo with publicizing the videos. Ngo was a bit player, but the incident bolstered him. The incident was an example of a disturbing media model for the Trump era: opportunists using biased reporting, social media, and wild accusations inflame vigilante and digital mobs to target “enemies” such as the media, Democrats, and left-wing activists. Figures like Carlson and Ngo reap followers, prominence, and income from the outrage and threats of violence. But to keep the ratings and the money flowing, the outrage machine must be cranked ever louder, risking greater violence.

One political organizer in Portland who has received death threats stemming from Ngo’s work says, “It’s an arms race for money, and the narrative isn’t the point — the grift is. The larger, more offensive thing you can do, the system rewards it.”

This appears to be Ngo’s model. He uses social media to push biased opinions in conjunction with selectively edited videos that play to the bigotry of his audience. His followers get worked up, and this is often followed by a deluge of threats against his subject.

[source] has talked to six people in Portland, including journalists, political officials, and activists, who described harassing messages and threats of violence resulting from Ngo’s work or political involvement in Portland. Friends of two other activists claim they went into hiding after Ngo spread their names and they became targets of harassment. Some individuals who’ve tangled publicly with Ngo are reluctant to go on the record. They say they want to avoid the “trauma” of being subjected to a new round of death threats.

In fact, Ngo appears to rely on people not speaking up about his effect on them. He often writes of how activists won’t talk to him or they take down social media profiles after he focuses on them, seeming to imply they have something to hide. What he doesn’t mention is many say they are doing so to avoid harassment and threats of violence.

Madison, a Portland activist who tracks Ngo, says, “Ngo signals this is a person that should be targeted, should be harassed, and should be threatened. Andy puts a target on them and that results in the person being doxxed. Andy is giving people explicit permission to unleash hatred and violence on people. He absolutely knows what he is doing.” 

Ngo is so intertwined with the specter of violence [writer I’m plagiarizing] encountered it after just a Facebook post.  [writer I’m plagiarizing] wrote a post with the headline, “Andy Ngo is no journalist.” The post was shared by notorious right-wing figure, Carl Benjamin, aka, “Sargon of Akkad,” who has been featured on Ngo’s podcast and was banned from YouTube for repeatedly “joking” about raping a British Labour MP. In the comments on Benjamin’s post were calls for violence against [writer I’m plagiarizing], Antifa, and others. Within hours  [writer I’m plagiarizing] started receiving threats directly, such as “You’re a bunch of retards and it will be a glorious day when you all are dealt with,” and “You are a disgraceful liar. If you or anyone of your ilk throws even a fucking tissue at me or my family watch what the fuck happens to your family lol.”

Now this model threatens to turn deadly. On June 29, Andy Ngo was attacked in Portland while videoing a Patriot Prayer rally heavily outnumbered by Antifa. A video shows him being punched, kicked, and hit with coconut milkshakes and silly string by masked individuals. Within minutes, videos of the attack and of a beaten Ngo narrating the incident were picked up by right-wing media such as Breitbart that have a dodgy relationship to facts. Headlines screaming brutal assault, vicious assault, and vicious attack by Antifa on Ngo were pumped out.

The sensationalism breached the mainstream with CNN’s Jake Tapper sending out an ill-informed tweet above a video of Ngo being attacked, writing, “Antifa regularly attacks journalists; it’s reprehensible.”

In a bizarre twist, the Portland police threw fuel on the fire by tweeting that some milkshakes thrown on June 29 “contained quick-drying cement.” The police never provided evidence and observers, including journalists, noted that many counterprotesters drank the milkshakes, making it extremely unlikely anyone could have laced them with concrete. But amplified by conspiracy theorists like Jack Prosobiec, the tweet went viral, whereupon right-wing media turned the disinformation into fact and the mainstream press treated it as a credible assertion. The police tweet incited the Right further and the group that made the milkshakes was deluged with death threats. It culminated in the city being flooded with death threats. Days after Ngo was attacked, City Hall was evacuated after a bomb threat. One source inside City Hall says the mayor’s office received “insane vitriol” and every office was receiving threats, including almost 100 harassing calls that tied up emergency service dispatchers.

Far-right figures responded to the June 29 attack on Ngo with graphic threats, and plan to hold an “End Domestic Terrorism” and “End Antifa” rally in Portland on August 17. Such is the level of far-right anger that many in the city fear the rally could become another Charlottesville, or worse — given the anti-Latino murder spree in El Paso and other foiled white nationalist plots since then.”

Here’s a point where I mildly disagree with the writer I’m plagiarizing:

“ To be clear, the attack on Ngo should be condemned. It serves no political purpose, and the Left should not be attacking media makers, even if they use dicey methods.”

Ngo doxxes people and sicks his far right buddies on them, and it’s known he doesn’t do the due diligence to make sure the people he’s targeting are actually guilty. If you think it’s wrong when left-wing adjacent people on tungle or twitter do it, it’s still wrong when right wingers do it, holy shit. If you think it’s dangerous, the type of action that gets people lynched, you’re right! Fuckers like him and Milo need to be silenced. Yes, legally it’s unfeasible to do this without opening people up to loosing their freedom to publish or accuse; which is what movements like antifa serve to do - they do the dirty work the law cannot do so the law doesn’t have to break over every item-line exception to the necessarily clumsy, overgeneralized, poorly thought out “““principle”““ put into place. It’s the same sort of deal as wide-eyed idealistic and overly-narrowly focused deontic reasoning and utilitarian thinking, you know, the ethics that actually deal with consequences and reality.

Does it break the law? Yes. Does it violate principles? Yes. That’s the point - the principles underlying this shit aren’t fundamentally different mechanically speaking from the principles that lead to people’s hands being chopped off for stealing a snickers bar or because they didn’t want to live as a serf or why people are content with sending ethnic minorities to concentration camps because the Party said so. A principle that doesn’t have the nuance or flexibility to recognize when it needs to let other principles take the lead is a bad principle; you’ve fetishized it.

Of course there are other issues too. If you’re not comfortable letting Nazis throw milkshakes too you should be comfortable with people getting arrested for it. But of course fuck all because the cops take one side in all of this, lying about wet cement mix as seen above, so this principle needs to be nuanced for the fact that some people receive more violence from law enforcement than others.

It’s late, I’m tired, lazy, mad, and exhausted. At some point before the last paragraph I was going to ask for evidence of antifa kills comparable at all to the number of far-right kills in the last decade in America. Because it’s a valid question that’s rarely answered. Because again antifa have all the organizational structure and systematization of belief as drunks at a bar. But I can’t remember my rhetorical point.

Continuing.

“Some Antifa activists in Portland also admit the attack played into right-wing hands by elevating him.

That is exactly what’s happened. Trump has beatified Ngo as one of his sinless followers — “A single man standing there with a camera who never got hit and never hit back before in his life” — under assault from the “evil” Antifa full of “sick, bad people.”

But it would also be a mistake to see Ngo as an innocent or as a journalist, considering that whoever he turns his camera, social media, or pen on is at significant risk of being inundated with violent threats from the far right.

Shane Burley is author of Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It, and a Portland-based journalist who covered the June 29 rally. He says, “I would never condone what happened to Andy Ngo, but I think there is a reason why he got in a conflict with protesters and dozens of other reporters present seemed to be left alone.”

Burley says, “One way to think of Andy Ngo is he is part of a far-right mediasphere that creates victimization narratives of conservatism and profit from it. It’s all about the embattled American man who is under siege at every turn, whether its trans children, immigrant criminals, anchor babies, or dangerous college campuses. ‘They are all out to destroy us and our values.’ It’s an entire infrastructure that’s moved from commentary like National Review to populist media hucksters drumming up a controversy. Ngo doesn’t seem to have many real journalistic credentials, and any he does is from creating controversy. He gets in the Wall Street Journal and New York Post from being a conservative celebrity. His actual reporting is very infrequent and sparse.”

Ngo adds a new element in facilitating violence, intentionally or not. Burley says, “He appears to target ideological opponents, which can make them fair game for harassment and violent confrontation.” The scale of the threats keep escalating. Now Portland is bracing for the August 17 rally.

                         Killing in the Name of Free Speech?                                      

For the last few years, the far right has used fascistic language about “cleansing” Portland, while its brawlers wore T-shirts proclaiming themselves kindred to South American death squads that killed thousands of leftists in the 1970s. But in advance of August 17, the language and memes from the far right have become more extreme. They’ve posted dozens of threats on social media pledging to kill Antifa and naming left-wing activists in Portland who should be shot during the End Antifa rally.

Individuals affiliated with Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys talk of wanting to “slaughter” Antifa. Others have posted hair-raising images of a Portland activist and his partner with crosshairs over their faces and the words, “End Domestic Terrorist’s [sic].” Another image is of a knife cutting the throat of an antifascist with blood spraying out. This is especially ominous. In April 2017 white supremacist Jeremy Christian attended a Patriot Prayer in Portland and threw Nazi salutes while yelling “Die Muslims!” Weeks later Christian allegedly slashed the throats of three men, killing two, after they came to the defense of two black teenage girls, one wearing a hijab, whom Christian threatened by saying, “Go home. We need America here!”

One organizer of the End Antifa rally is Joe Biggs, a former staffer at Alex Jones’s Infowars website who has “encouraged date rape and punching transgender people.” He shared an illustration for the rally of a Proud Boy punching an antifascist, warning, “Free speech was fought for and paid for with blood. It will not be lost for anything less!” Biggs, whose Twitter account was suspended recently, used the platform to advise his followers to bring guns and declared “DEATH TO ANTIFA!!!!!!”

After the FBI visited him, Biggs now says “he wants a peaceful demonstration and has told his followers to keep their weapons at home.”

But that may be too little, too late as the far right is encouraging potential mass shooters to come to the rally. Recently, Haley Adams, a provocateur in Portland who told a reporter last year, “Damn straight I support white pride,” said on Facebook she “couldn’t wait” to meet Thomas Bartram on August 17. Bartram is an Infowars fan who showed up in El Paso days after the anti-Hispanic massacre and was briefly detained after allegedly brandishing a gun and trying to enter a migrant solidarity center. The center claimed police did not search Bartram’s truck that was decked out with violent pro-Trump images, saying “he has rights.” After being released, Bartram told media he was headed to the End Antifa rally.

What connects these dots is Andy Ngo. He even did his bit to stoke right-wing paranoia in El Paso. In a July 29 tweet Ngo included an image of a flyer about an immigrant rights “border resistance tour.” Ngo claimed stick figures on the flyer represent “border enforcement officers being killed & government property fired bombed” as part of a plot by Antifa to “converge on a 10-day siege in El Paso, TX.” It’s been retweeted more than 11,000 times and hundreds of comments endorse violence against Antifa. Four days later Patrick Crusius allegedly killed twenty-two people in an El Paso Walmart in “response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

                         Gateway Bigotry                                      

Ngo’s ascendancy began as an editor at the Portland State University newspaper, The Vanguard. At a university interfaith panel convened in April 2017, Ngo tweeted a brief video claiming, “the Muslim student speaker said that apostates will be killed or banished in an Islamic state.” The entire clip shows the student gave a long answer in response to a hypothetical question about Quranic law. The panelists stressed they weren’t experts, and the Muslim student later said “he may have misspoke.”

Ngo’s tweet was picked up by Breitbart. The Vanguard fired him days later for a “dangerous oversimplification that violated very clear ethics outlined by the Society of Professional Journalists.” The Vanguard said Ngo’s actions “placed a PSU student in significant danger.” Ngo twisted his termination into an article for The National Review, “Fired for Reporting the Truth,” which the student paper said was a “misrepresentation” that resulted in “unjust threats” against them.

Critics see this episode as establishing a pattern in Ngo’s work: using charged language and selective facts on social media that stoke bigotry, putting his subject at risk of harassment while boosting his own reach and status. It worked because in 2018 Ngo graduated to writing a “racist” and “massively Islamophobic” travelogue to two Islamic communities in England for the Wall Street Journal.

But it’s in the city of Portland and state of Oregon that Ngo calls home where the most damage has been wrought. Zakir Khan is board chair of the Oregon chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy and civil rights organization. Khan says of Ngo, “That guy is obsessed with us.”

Ngo has tweeted dozens of times about CAIR, saying it “has done PR for terrorists & their families.” He characterized CAIR’s representation of the surviving child of the Muslim couple who committed the 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino as advocating for “the terrorists’ orphaned baby.”

Recently, in a sprawling New York Post opinion Ngo claimed a “suspicious rise” in gay hate crimes in Portland fits a pattern of hoaxes. (Ngo found space in his 2,100-word article to quote a member of the Proud Boys, which experts call a “gang” notorious for violence, as “the most welcoming organization that I have ever been a part of.”)

Khan says, “We are seen as experts on hate crimes reform, so I questioned Ngo’s groundless claims of ‘hate-crime hoaxes.’ He is not an expert in the field.” Ngo responded by accusing CAIR of “terrorism” and “terror.”

After the exchange with Ngo, Khan says, “We received dozens of threatening and harassing messages. We weren’t able to log them all.” One post that tagged Ngo, as well as Michelle Malkin (who signal boosts Ngo and started a “Protect Andy Ngo” fundraiser after the June 29 attack that netted him nearly $200,000), read, “CAIR IS HAMAS! If you stand with your Muslem neighbors; prepare to die with your Muslem neighbors. We will take our country back![sic]” Ngo frequently claims that Hamas, the governing authority in Gaza, is connected to CAIR.

The irony of all this is that after CAIR challenges Ngo’s claim of hate crime hoaxes, he responds with what could be considered hate speech, accusing them of terrorism. This appears to have incited his followers to threaten and harass CAIR, actions which might qualify as hate crimes.

For his next act, Ngo joined Quillette where he is a “sub-editor.” Described as the voice of the intellectual dark web, Quillette published a report on May 29 claiming fifteen reporters who cover the far right were really “Antifa journalists.” According to the Columbia Journalism Review, the article by “estabished right-wing troll,” Eoin Lenihan, was picked up by the neo-Nazi Stormfront website within a day, and a day after that a video was uploaded to YouTube containing “imagery of mass shooters intercut with images of the [Antifa] reporters.” The names of the journalists were put on a list called “Sunset the Media,” while the video ends with a notorious neo-Nazi saying he won’t “disown” anyone who kills the reporters.

Two journalists, including Shane Burley, wrote of the unnerving effect of being put on a Neo-Nazi death list. Another targeted journalist wrote that Quillette had crossed the line from being merely reactionary to “reckless endangerment” and bluntly stated that its list “could’ve gotten me killed.”

The article was so shoddy, Lenihan was suspended from Twitter. But Ngo promoted the article and more significantly continues to promote it — just as eight months after the fact, Ngo continued to claim that striking the protester from the Patrick Kimmons march is really evidence of Antifa taking their anger out on an elderly man.

In at least one instance it appears Ngo has doxxed activists himself. During May Day 2019, Ngo published a YouTube video that included him talking to members of the Portland chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America who were tabling for “Hands Off Venezuela.” The entire time Ngo points his camera at a sign-in sheet, not the person he is interviewing. In the video the sheet is digitally blurred. However, Connor Smith, a Portland DSA member, provided a still from what he claims is an earlier version of the video. The still includes a watermark of Ngo’s twitter handle, “@MrAndyNgo,” exactly the same as in the YouTube video. Eleven names can be seen on the sign-in sheet, including Smith’s, all of which have visible email addresses and six of which include phone numbers. Smith says at least one person on the list received threatening messages such as “Die commie.”

Smith claims it is a common right-wing tactic to doxx people on social media like YouTube and Twitter and then delete the offending material before it is removed for violating the platform’s rules. He says this cat-and-mouse game achieves the results the far right is looking for. “I’m sure some fascist has put all our names and phone numbers in a list.”

Ngo is more of a symptom, however.

Ngo couldn’t exist without social media companies which turn a blind eye to right-wing violence because having to monitor their platforms for hate speech would cut into their profits. Ngo also needs Murdoch-owned media such as the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and Fox News that allow him to masquerade his bigotry as journalism. These outlets, in turn, are amplified by the larger landscape of mainstream media, which often fail to distinguish between fact-based journalism and pro-Trump, white nationalistic propaganda. Add in police who collaborate with the far right and weak political leaders, as in Portland, and you have all the conditions needed for opportunists like Andy Ngo to grab the spotlight.

Ngo is just the latest inflammatory right-wing agent in Portland who’s tried to vault to the big leagues. Before him was Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson, who has seen his ranks of violent white nationalists dwindle due to infighting and long-overdue arrests.

Way back in 2016, before Gibson, was another media provocateur, Michael Strickland. Strickland shot his YouTube career — which mainly featured him doxxing and harassing local activists — in the foot after he pulled a gun on a Black Lives Matter protest while being armed with enough ammunition for a massacre.

That’s not to say the Left should ignore the likes of Andy Ngo or even Tucker Carlson. They are both the cause and effect of white nationalism and the violence that comes with it. Their synergy is also a reflection of the complex digital landscape. Legacy media like the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and even Fox News need Andy Ngo just as much as he needs them. They gave him a platform not for his shoddy reporting and tired bigotry, but for the audience he’s amassed, even if it’s a digital lynch mob.”

[anomiezine-blog]

The Cult of the Proletariat

“Because the horror of Communism, Stalinism, is not that bad people do bad things — they always do. It’s that good people do horrible things thinking they are doing something great.”

-Slavoj Zizek

‘But as in all cults, what’s central to the Communist Party is the belief system and the elimination of nuance. From there you’re very slowly led down the road to fanaticism and mass murder.’

– Alexei Sayle

I have found a way to tell apart Leninists (otherwise known as Communists or Bolsheviks in the common parlance) from what you might call the reasonable left. It is not the outfits, stained by take-away and Tippex, or their odour, because deodorant is a bourgeois affectation. Instead it is their answer to one rather simple question: ‘Do you trust people to make their own decisions?” I have never met a Leninist that didn’t say No. An addendum to that might be the question: “If you could have your revolution but it would make people poorer and less free, at least in the short term, would you still want it?” Once again I have never met one that didn’t answer in the affirmative. It is the same toxic combination of misanthrope and fanaticism that you can now see in Brexiteers in Britain, and amongst Fascists the world over. It is the belief that you and your tribe alone have received the revealed truth from on-high, and however you see fit to make that a reality is acceptable. It is the language of a cult.

It’s a word that is thrown around a lot and there are even multiple competing definitions, but it is essential to understand what a cult is if we are to understand the toxicity at the heart of Leninist parties of the past and present. What are the obvious signs of a cult? In my opinion, there are 10 unequivocal signs:

1. A small group of people united by a Utopian ideology (or religion) who stand outside normal society.

2. A dominant leader/s that hold complete power over the lives of its members.

3. An all-or-nothing worldview. “Either the Revolution comes or the world will end.”

4. A cadre or administrative class that directs the majority of members.

5. Gaslighting. The changing of facts and reality to suit the party.

6. Mental, physical or sexual abuses (see the SWP in the UK)

7. The policing of language, opinions and the effective creation of secular blasphemy.

8. The welding of the social and the political. The party becomes your only community, sometimes to the detriment to your family and older friends.

9. Those that leave the party become apostates and are to be shunned and demonised.

10. A uniform. In this case conformity of clothing is encouraged through bullying and mocking rather than an order from above.

It is hard to explain to those that have not experienced life in a cult why anyone would willingly join such a toxic entity. Left wing cults, like all cults, don’t look toxic from the outside. In fact, when you first join you are often showered with not only attention, but with a sense of purpose. You feel that finally you are with people that see the problems of the world as you do and are motivated by high ideals of humanism and solidarity. This is described by some psychologists as the lovebombing stage. It is a very powerful indoctrinating tool and often keeps individuals attached to the party long after the toxic nature of the party has become apparent.

In this I can at least speak from personal experience. I was a member of a Trotskyist party, that shall go unnamed, in my youth and I got a firsthand experience of cult tendencies within the left. All the cliches were there; the lovebombing; the close social circle; shadowy General Secretary; the strict hierarchy; the self-censorship of speech; the pandering to party leaders; the Gaslighting; the blasphemy; and the apostates. I have done a large amount of study of what are known as cluster B personality disorders (anti-social, narcissistic and Borderline) since, to try and understand what had happened to me, and I can attest to the presence of these toxic behaviours within all levels of the party structure. I am not the first to notice the cult tendencies within Leninist parties, in fact a cursory google search will present you with ample evidence of how commented upon this is. It really is one of the worst kept secrets on the left. Yet, these parties still persist and in the case of Ireland are the only real alternative to the parties of the Landlord class. As an Anarchist with a sense of history and responsibility this is exceedingly worrying.

This is not to suggest that Anarchist groups can’t become cult like. I spent time in a certain British anarchist group, that again shall not be named. In many ways it functioned along similar lines to the Leninist party I had formerly been part of . While there was a rotating leadership role, the same small group of people swapped the officer positions, and there was the same narrow mindedness to new ideas. Thankfully there is a great deal more individualism amongst Anarchists and this small toxic group were eventually expelled from the organisation. To some extent cult behaviour is a human failing. The legitimate and noble desire to make the world a better place can easily be perverted by disordered people for their own pleasures. You can see this in countless churches, sects, and organisations of every hue. In the case of political groupings, at least, anarchism has an answer and it is in our very DNA. A distrust of authority. Leninists parties can never be reformed from within given their very inspiration was taken from the mind of an authoritarian cult leader, Vladimir Lenin.

If you have the time or inclination to read about the father of 20th century Communism, you will learn many things, none particularly endearing, whether it be his: accepting German Imperial help in 1917; crushing the Soviets, snuffing out workers’ democracy; the invasion of Poland in 1920; the founding of the vile gulags; the rejection of a democratic vote in 1917 that the Bolsheviks lost; the creation of the brutal Checka, etc. The figures vary, but Lenin’s Red Terror is believed to have killed anywhere between 100,000 and 1.3 million people. The fanatic view of the Lenin towards any challenge to the new regime was published within the organs of the party: ‘anyone who dares to spread the slightest rumor against the Soviet regime will be arrested immediately and sent to concentration camp”. By 1921 70,000 were imprisoned in the brutal gulag system. The authoritarian and genocidal views of the Leninists were apparent quite early with Grigory Zinoviev declaring in 1917: ‘To overcome our enemies we must have our own socialist militarism. We must carry along with us 90 million out of the 100 million of Soviet Russia’s population. As for the rest, we have nothing to say to them. They must be annihilated”. The fact that so many within the left still celebrate this man is stunning to behold, but then again he had the good fortune to die before the experiment of Leninism reached its apex under his protege Stalin. He would order the deaths of tens of millions of his own people, whether through the repression of the secret police or through man made famines, and after World War II enslave the population of Eastern Europe for half a century. And yet, the failure of the Left to ever really exorcise the ghost of the USSR and Leninism is one of our greatest failings. The supposed unique evil of Josef Stalin is a lazy way to avoid the truth, that the Bolsheviks were totalitarians in their very DNA, due to the teachings of Lenin. The USSR was in its origins a cult of Leninism extended to the entire Russian Empire. The Left need to except that the USSR is ours to own much like the right must accept Fascism as the logical extension of their own ideology. There is little to salvage in this experiment and the left should have long ago acknowledged Leninism as the twin evil of Fascism in the 20th Century. Unfortunately, it has not and we are left in a situation where anarchism remains at the fringes and the Leninist parties remain the only likely alternative to what must soon follow another violent collapse of Capitalism.

Any reasonable look at the enormous debt bubble forming around the world can not help, but lead you to the conclusion that a major global depression is looming. The conservative estimate is that there is 420 trillion dollars of debt worldwide. In Ireland we are one of the most indebted countries in the western world. Our debt to GDP ratio is 170% of GDP with some estimates as high as 210% of GDP. Each Irish citizen owes 42,000 Euro of debt. We will never be able to pay that off. This global debt can be combined with the huge wealth now centred in the hands of a very small cabal of oligarchs. Less than 100 persons now own over half the wealth of the entire globe. A vampiric ruling class long ago tore up the post-war social democratic settlement and could give a shit about the long term cost of their greed. As a result, the middle class’s spending power has shrunk to a fraction of what it once was. (Economics 101: the middle class buy the products of the ruling elite. If they have no money, and cannot borrow anymore, a crisis of capitalism ensues. It is that simple!) This makes a major depression almost inevitable, with some recent estimates saying it will arrive by as early as 2021. A collapse of capitalism will in rather short order unleash not only the demons of Fascism, but also the demons of Leninism. If, as I fear is likely, we are in the midst of another era of capitalist crisis similar to the 1920s and 30s, the corrupt parties of the centre across Europe will fall, and the masses will look for answers and alternatives to croney capitalism. At the moment the working class is bearing the brunt of neoliberalism and are looking to Trump, Brexit and the European Fascist right, the Orban’s and Le Pen’s. In the future there is no reason to suppose that some of remaining middle class will not make the same choice. In such a situation, it will seem wise to align ourselves with the Leninists in hopes of preventing another epoch of Fascist authoritarianism, but I would ask all anarchists to consider the old Bakunin quote: ‘When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called the People’s Stick’. We have been here before and we know what the Leninists will do if they get a whiff of power, therefore ‘What is to be done?’

Well, surprise, surprise, I recommend anarchism, but not in its current form. These days anarchists are a scattered and clicky sect within the left, rightly mocked for both the black block and its disinterested hipster membership alike. We must accept some of the blame for failing to take advantage of the post-Leninist era of the 90s-today. There were even some signs of anarchist ideas permeating the general left in the Seattle demonstrations of 1999, the occupy movement of 2011, the Arab Spring, and the yellow jackets, but these were to come to nothing. Clearly we have not learned from our own mistakes of the 20th century. Here I will perhaps lose some of my audience when I say that our principles held us back in the past. We were firm believers that ‘the Great is not enemy of the Good’. That ‘pragmatism was defeatism’. We, too, believed in an ‘all or nothing revolution’. Either it was complete eradication of the state and class system or it was not worth fighting for. This did us no favours in the past and it will do us little favours in the future. The world is not as we hope it to be, but rather as it is. Who will our allies be in the times to come? Unless we want to repeat our ancestors mistakes in Russia and Spain, it can’t be the Leninists. Rather I suggest the reasonable left I mentioned at the start of this article: Socialists, Left-Communists, Social Democrats, Republicans and even Liberals have all proved in the past to be determined enemies of the cults of Bolshevism and Fascism and capable of pluralism, though not always willing. It is possible to imagine a society of differing political structures coexisting, and of this being a truer reflection of the will of most people than any monolithic authoritarian Leftism can provide. These are our logical allies, some more than others, but to ensure history does not repeat itself we will have to find a way to both defend ourselves and inspire hope for a better future. For such a pluralist society of state socialists, anarchists, and even liberals, must not sap the hope and idealism of a genuinely Libertarian Socialist Revolution. We will have to walk a tightrope between reactionaries, both left wing and liberal. For without going down another rabbit hole, it was not just the Leninists that betrayed the Anarchists of Spain, it was also their republican and liberal allies. It will not be easy and much like our ancestors we will probably fail, but the difference between fighting for a society that allows differing political ideals the chance to bloom and the totalitarian cult of Leninism, seems a worthy trade off.

#anomie #anomiezine #anarchism #anarchy #article #proletariat