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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: August 18th, 2023

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  • That’s some really low-effort whataboutism.

    The tactic is an old favorite of the Soviet Union, and Marxists/the far left in general; the strategy was originally used in the form of “And at your place, they hang black people.” The term ‘whataboutery’ itself, however, only dates back to 1974 with its use in The Troubles in Northern Ireland, whereas the term ‘whataboutism’ dates back to 1978 with reference to the Soviet Union.

    In recent years, whataboutism made a comeback in Russia under Vladimir Putin’s regime (since they seemingly learned all the wrong lessons from the Cold War), and has also seen a rise in usage by Donald Trump, his support base, and the rest of the far-right.











  • Announcement

    249 years ago, America chose democracy over tyranny. The U.S. was founded to be governed by the consent of all its people, not just a privileged few. That choice stands today. We refuse to allow a dictator to seize power now.

    No Kings Day was an incredible success, but now we must escalate our resistance against Trump’s authoritarian overreach. His latest actions, including his disturbing social media proclamations and executive orders consolidating power, confirm our worst fears: this is an upheaval of the rule of law and the republic established by the Constitution.

    How we respond now will define our history. Our response must be immediate and undeniable. Those who bow to authoritarianism will be remembered for their cowardice. We must demand that our elected officials take action now — silence is complicity.

    We’re calling on you to join us on our March 4th For Democracy day of action to defend democracy, reject Trump’s authoritarian overreach, and demand accountability from our government.

    Join us where and however you can. Organize a peaceful protest in your state. Call your government officials. Donate to charities that help the populations most effected by Trump’s executive orders. Volunteer with organizations that defend our civil rights. Spread the word and educate on the issues and implications of Trump’s unlawful actions. Share, amplify, and take action—this fight belongs to all of us.

    Let’s make our message clear, and let’s make it loudly: Our Democracy Will Stand. America Does Not Bow to Kings. 50 Protests, 50 States, 1 Movement.

    To get more information, find resources, or find your protest, go to: fiftyfifty.one


    A MESSAGE FROM 50501 DC CHAPTER:

    The 50501 DC Chapter is taking proactive measures to ensure the safety of their peaceful protestors. On March 4th, instead of marching forth for democracy, the DC Chapter will focus their main efforts on a Virtual Day of Action. More details, including how to participate in the Virtual Day of Action, will be shared at https://linktr.ee/50501DC.

    And a pinned comment on that thread:

    Our March 4th For Democracy day of action is calling for an in-person protest in your home state. Please visit fiftyfifty.one to find the protest nearest you.

    CONCERNING THE MARCH 4TH DC PROTEST

    The March 4th national march in DC was never an official 50501 protest. The flyer announcing the event was created by a well-meaning individual who was not affiliated with the 50501 DC organizers, and by the time it reached us to address it, it had already reached many of you. After evaluating the safety and logistics of hosting such an event, the DC organizers did not feel they could safely plan a large, national event with their available resources and funding before March 4th. They are choosing to move forward with a livestream leading up to and during the SOTU in lieu of an in-person protest.

    The DC organizers are considering plans for a future march and strongly encourage protesters to attend protests in their area during the March 4th for Democracy day of action. Stay tuned for an announcement from DC protesters coming soon!



  • The primary thing you’re demonstrating through these updates is that you deeply misunderstand my politics, but are happy to assign me reductionist beliefs and motivations that I don’t hold.

    All of this because you’re desperate to have a debate where you appear the victor. In lieu of me admitting defeat, you’ll accept that I stop responding as a sort of victory. Unlike you, I am not afraid of an ideological defeat, because it means I come away with a more nuanced view of the world. Winning or losing an argument is not an act of emotional endurance, but of careful listening and consideration.

    But I can’t win or lose an argument against you. You only understand anarchism well enough to convince people with no concept of it that you do. You haven’t done any independent research despite the ease of finding anarchist writing on the internet, and you expect your intellectual adversaries to explain it to you. But even doing the work of explaining it to you is a waste of time, as you’ve demonstrated that you’ll twist their words just as you’ve added non-textual interpretations of this article, or turn it into a straw-man, like what you’ve done in your mind to me.

    I’m not an anarchist out of ignorance of liberalism. I’ll all too aware of your beliefs and arguments, I held most of them at some point in my life, and I see little value in engaging with people who demonstrate bad faith who still hold those beliefs. The way you act toward people with socialist and anarchist politics online is toxic, and if you really do value healthy dialogue or debate, you should reconsider Lemmy as an appropriate space for you to participate in while you haven’t done the prerequisite work on yourself.



  • One possible group on Reddit to reach out to are the people doing /r/50501 - they’re organizing a large protest on Feb 5th, but it looks like a continuing resistance movement. They have more visibility on platforms outside of the Fediverse, but it’s only a matter of time before those platforms begin to throttle their visibility.

    If they also grow a 50501 community on the Fediverse, when the throttling inevitably happens and the news pays attention to it, both their movement and the Fediverse will get a boost. They’ll probably lose their ability to organize on Reddit, but they will win more followers and help develop a better social media system.

    If they promise not to link back to Reddit, I’d like to host them here.


  • My reply is to your first paragraph, where you imply the journalists were irresponsible for reporting an imminent ceasefire due to demands from Trump. Despite your expectations, the ceasefire appears to be going forward. You can quibble with the tone or narrative, but this was good journalism from a respected source. Your outrage is misdirected.

    Your second paragraph is entirely in bad faith, as are your replies to me. There is no credible reading of the article that implies Trump is a seasoned statesman who will solve the Israel Palestine conflict. Netanyahu has given indirect support to Hamas as a wedge against Fatah before Oct 7th. The redirection of the conflict into the Fatah-controlled West Bank is consistent with his history of rewarding the most violent actors on both the Israel and Palestinian side. Agreement from Hamas to not substantially interfere in these West Bank incursions to the US and Israel may have been the secret sauce that led Netanyahu to accept the terms.

    You are now shifting the goalposts to Trump solving the conflict entirely. No one thinks that will happen. I’m not impressed.