• emizeko [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      Many westerners come to socialism not out of necessity, but out of disillusionment. We are raised with the idea that Liberal Democracy is the best system of political expression humanity has devised. When confronted with the reality of its shortcomings, rather than narrowly discard liberalism or electoralism, the western anti-capitalist tends to draw sweeping conclusions about the inadequacy of all existing systems. Curiously, though it would at first seem that such denunciations are more principled and severe, they are in fact more compatible with existing and widespread beliefs about the supremacy of the western system. That is to say, when a Marxist-Leninist asserts the superiority of existing socialist experiments, they are directly challenging the idea that westerners are at the forefront of political development. By contrast, the assertions from anarchists and social democrats that we need to build a more utopian future out of our current apex are compatible not only with each other, as discussed earlier, but also do not really offend bourgeois society at large. They in fact end up not sounding too different from the arch-imperialist Winston Churchill holding forth on how ours is the worst system, except for all the others which have been tried. Western chauvinists, consciously or unconsciously, struggle with the idea that they should study and humbly take lessons from the imperial periphery. [15] It is much easier for the chauvinist, psychologically, to position oneself as at the very front of a new vanguard.

      from https://redsails.org/why-marxism/

    • star_wraith [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      The typical American probably thinks that, outside of Hong Kong, everyone lives in extreme poverty in shacks. Or at best, in very small apartments in massive plain concrete buildings that look like prisons.

      Just last week, I was talking with a coworker who didn’t realize South Africa had paved roads.

    • Sons_of_Ferrix@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      They specifically hate the domestic, internal bureaucracies that nag them, they don’t like paying taxes or not being able to dump toxic slug down their sewer drain. It’s narcissistic individualism, they want to be able to do what they want while also having a Big-Other to protect them from the consequences of their actions. Americans love the State when it comes to enforcing global dollar hegemony.

      CHUDs hate the metropolitan, snotty, arty elite and their henchmen the spooky Three-Letter-Boys, but they love the beef eating, beer drinking, good ol’ boys military and cops who protect the Church and local petty-bourg, cuz it ain’t really about freedom it’s about a social order that lets you marry your 13 year old niece, so she can join your 2nd cousin wife in the kitchen. Can’t let any of them woke ass socialism countries with their female emancipation get too popular.

    • 420blazeit69 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      every single fucking person I’ve ever met in America absolutely hates our government

      Unfortunately, nationalism is fully compatible with hating who’s in charge.

    • quarrk [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      Americans hate individuals in government, believing that if it weren’t for [Specific Partisan] the US government would finally align with their dreams and everything would be way better than China ever could be. But it’s just because the wrong people are in power — the power structure itself is not to be questioned.

      This is the same issue with the Harry Potter books, as Shaun points out in his video. Rowling is herself a major neoliberal, so she can’t write realistic villains (Voldemort) nor solve the systemic evils of the fucked up, racist, and discriminatory Wizarding World. Her solutions are all to remove the problematic individuals and stop short of systemic change. Harry decides near the end that

      spoiler

      he wants to be an auror

      lmao.