Welcome ex-Redditors!
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I'm admittedly not well-versed in Marxism, beyond having the experience of, "Man, this shit looks good on paper!" But I would always take that a more communal-style communism route, so where I struggle is with the purported admiration of the Chinas and USSRs in the world. I suppose you might argue that my view is based on a misunderstanding, which I kind of get. But on a gut level, I have such a hostile feeling toward any authoritarian-style structure that my hang-up always comes back to that. Again, based on a very surface level understanding of what I presume to be a diverse group of views, which is probably part of the issue with simplifying it all.
I think a useful exercise would be to look at what, as you say, "looks good on paper." Where did you get that conception, from Marx, or people talking about Marx? Part of the Red Scare was blunting and twisting Marx, it wasn't just "Marx and Marxists eat babies" or overt misinformation easily dispelled, but often worked in subtle ways, and still does.
I am not going to turn this into a lecture on Marxism (unless you want that, I can do that for hours because I am a fucking nerd). However, I do want to point out that Marx's prediction for Communism was of a fully publicly owned and planned economy over the world, where everyone shared equal ownership with all of industry. He predicted this because he watched Capitalist industry get larger and larger over time, and competition become less and less feasible as barriers to entry got more expensive.
I think you have an idea of Marx in your head that envisions a horizontalist, decentralized economy, when Marx thought further centralization is a necessity of advancing industry in a more and more interconnected production process. We could spend days and years talking about what the PRC and former USSR gets right and wrong, but my point here is more about just how easy it is to misunderstand Marxism entirely from the get-go.
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I have a very different experience. When Hexbear was still federated with the large instances it was total mayhem. They would turn every thread political, constantly spam images of dictators like Stalin and Mao, and swarm anyone who disagreed. I've seen them deny the wrongdoings of China and the Soviet Union quite often, which is probably also what's necessary if you spam Mao and Stalin unironically.
I'm quite left of center myself, at least relative to most people I know in real life. But these people seemed totally insane. It was probably also a numbers game, since Hexbear was relatively large at the time compared to basically every other instance. So maybe this was just an annoying minority. But nevertheless I'd never purposefully go there, and I'd recommend anyone to stay away. It's way better than for instance a Trumpist/far-right instance, but I'd rather avoid both.
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After numerous temporary bans, I am the recipient of a permanent ban from Reddit. In a reply, I stated "Don't ask, don't tell, don't say tranny." From that Reddit determined I am a hateful individual. As their conclusion defined them as dysfunctional and extremely judgmental, their offer to file an appeal prompted me to author "Don't ask, don't tell, don't say Reddit."
I know it isn't powerful and offensive, but since they are offended by a belch, fart, eye-twitch or hiccup, I am sure it will do to make my point.
Glad to be aboard.
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Seems it already does, largely.
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Can we just defederate and be done with it?
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I think a useful exercise would be to look at what, as you say, "looks good on paper." Where did you get that conception, from Marx, or people talking about Marx? Part of the Red Scare was blunting and twisting Marx, it wasn't just "Marx and Marxists eat babies" or overt misinformation easily dispelled, but often worked in subtle ways, and still does.
I am not going to turn this into a lecture on Marxism (unless you want that, I can do that for hours because I am a fucking nerd). However, I do want to point out that Marx's prediction for Communism was of a fully publicly owned and planned economy over the world, where everyone shared equal ownership with all of industry. He predicted this because he watched Capitalist industry get larger and larger over time, and competition become less and less feasible as barriers to entry got more expensive.
I think you have an idea of Marx in your head that envisions a horizontalist, decentralized economy, when Marx thought further centralization is a necessity of advancing industry in a more and more interconnected production process. We could spend days and years talking about what the PRC and former USSR gets right and wrong, but my point here is more about just how easy it is to misunderstand Marxism entirely from the get-go.
I suspect you're right. I have a list of books I still need to read on this stuff.
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I suspect you're right. I have a list of books I still need to read on this stuff.
Cool! I also made a reading list linked on my profile you can check if you want to compare, but not super necessary.
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Can we just defederate and be done with it?
We are actually defederated from 2 of them on World, but Lemmy.ml is also the community run by Lemmy code contributors so a lot of people are hesitant to let it go.
It's got my vote, though, fuck em.
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There is nothing left about promoting anarchy for your enemies and authoritarianism for your allies.
Hexbear does nothing but sit around all day sucking Xi Jinpings cock and praising Trump, and ML is just that but slightly watered down.
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Communist is not the same as tankie. Lemmy probably wouldn't exist if the devs weren't communist
If your definition of communism is China and your definition of Capitalism is Western Power, then you're a fucking Tankie, as 98% of self identifying communists on Lemmy are.
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I mean, they're only not the same because "tankie" is so broadly defined that it also includes anarchists and non-western liberals.
All Tankies are Anarchists as long as that Anarchy is in a Western World Power.
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No they don't, reasonable criticism of the CPC is fine, they just ban jinogistic "China bad! Tinyman square! Winnie the pooh!" nonsense.
Those are pretty tame criticisms of the CCP to ban, it sounds like you just made that user's argument for them.
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hey i just wanted to destroy capitalism 🥺
Tankies say that shit but they don't mean it. They could easily support and promote socialism in Western Nations but they don't, instead the promote people like Donald Trump and try to convince people to resort to violence to tear it all down.
To them, real socialism is the enemy. "Communism" just means Eastern Power and "Capitalism" just means Western Power, it's political tribalism at its core.
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We are actually defederated from 2 of them on World, but Lemmy.ml is also the community run by Lemmy code contributors so a lot of people are hesitant to let it go.
It's got my vote, though, fuck em.
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Beehaw is like the Elks Lodge of the Lemmyverse. From the outside they look exclusive, mysterious, and enticing. Inside, there's just a few drunk guys singing karaoke.
At least that's my assumption. They wouldn't let me in because I refused to write a paragraph about why I wanted to join an instance that I knew virtually nothing about. Even the Elks Lodge wasn't that picky.
They still federate with some instances. They're just like everyone else, but have strict rules about not being a jerk.
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Just say you're fine with bigotry as long as white dudes benefit in the way you want, it's a lot faster and more intellectually honest.
Just say you're fine with capitalism as long as lgbtq people are addressed in the way you want, it's a lot faster and more intellectually honest.
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Cool! I also made a reading list linked on my profile you can check if you want to compare, but not super necessary.
I'll do that, thanks. I like challenging reads and have sadly misplaced my e-reader, so my to-read list is backing up a lot.
![Cowbee [he/they]](https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/c18ce632-5fb5-4888-8226-3dc55a07acc4.jpeg "Cowbee [he/they]"){kind=avatar}
