jwiggler

joined 1 year ago
[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

I'm about to throw a word salad out here about how I can sympathize (never thought I would say that) with Trump supporters in a sense. Hopefully someone chimes in and can challenge a couple of my views here, because i think they could probably be honed a bit, or explained further, but...

It's very easy to blame his allure all on racism, all on stupidity, all on nationalism, because certainly Trump espouses all of that. But his populism is also due largely to working-class people seeing (rightly) the Democratic party as corrupt. They see people like Gates and Soros, Hollywood elites like Clooney hanging out with Pelosi and, understandably, get upset seeing all these ultra rich people walking in and out of the private/public sector. They see political dynasties like the Clintons and the Obamas and Bidens as antithetical to the idea that anyone can serve their country in politics, and rightly so. Even Harris -- it was essentially "her turn" for the nomination -- and they see that as undemocratic and bullshit, which -- can I blame them?

Now, where they go wrong (and, ironically, where hardcore Democrats also go wrong) is thinking that their party isn't also participating in the same bullshit. Trump isn't anti-establishment, he's literally a billionaire property magnate. He is part of the ruling class in America that consists of landlords, bankers, and company shareholders. Both parties would uphold our current system of rule by the few, and back up that rule with the monopolization of violence by the police.

This isn't to say the two parties are completely the same. In terms of willingness to uphold capitalism (ultimately the extraction of money from labor), the military-industrial complex (see, Palestinian genocide), and American hegemony internationally (again, genocide), and police violence, they are similar. But then you also have Republicans trying to ban books, surveil women's bodies, control what people do in the bedroom, or medical care they receive, espouse various forms of hate, etc. So I do see them as worse, but think you'd be hard pressed to find a person in the US, democrat or republican, who didn't agree with the statement that "all politicians are corrupt." It's just the nature of our political system, which has essentially legalized bribery.

Being able to say to my conservative-ass family, "Yeah, dude, Obama bombed Syria and bailed out the banks -- I feel what you're saying," gives us that little bit of common ground to start a conversation about the drastic change that needs to happen in the US.

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 20 points 3 weeks ago

Occupy Wall Street showed this issue pretty well. While many moderate liberals quickly latched on to the movement, they just as quickly abandoned it and lapped up the narrative that the police were compelled to tear down encampments and beat people due to "unsanitary" conditions (despite them having sanitation crews) of the camps or because some people nearby broke a couple windows.

But when the cops break a couple (hundred) bones? That's cool, I guess.

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

it's mostly political

Oh I gotcha. Interesting. I don't follow FSF or GNU or anything, do you know if they tend to be antagonistic toward nonfree devs who still try to be as free as possible? Honestly, I read the Stallman quote about FreeBSD in this thread, and a statement from GNU that acknowledges the impracticality of their philosophy, and I kinda agree with their ethical takes. Except, I also think people should be able to install nonfree software, because otherwise you have a pretty bad dilemma with the word "free."

Ultimately, if they are actively antagonistic toward those who don't share that philosophy, I think that's not great. Sure, free software according to the GNU project may be the only ethical one, but we live in a culture that promotes the exact opposite idea, so why would I be surprised and upset when an otherwise ethically acting person doesn't conform to my own ethical framework, and they go on and create nofree software. I'm still going to get a beer with that person because at the end of the day we probably have common values and how else am I going to sell them the idea free software

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 14 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

I'm afraid to ask this because I'm not a dev, but I have a fair amount of linux experience. Why is it that the ability to install Google Play Services on GrapheneOS makes it not FOSS/open source, while the ability to install Google Chrome (or any proprietary software, I guess) on Linux doesn't make is non-FOSS/open source?

I'm not articulating that question very well, and I'm assuming I'm missing some key component, but they seem comparable to me, as a regular user. Is it something like the level of access that GPServices has to the kernel?

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 23 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Me too :/ not only that, but it scares people off even more than just the term communism, which in itself is taboo

Radical love, mutual aid, human solidarity, and nonviolent imagery and ideals are more powerful, since they have the ability to tap into a shared ethical ideal, one that can stretch across political and religious boundaries.

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago

Yup, it's "The Room" of music

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

my original comment was just meant to be a playful comment about your meme use rather than any analysis about the speech.

Like: "I agree with you, but can we talk about this thing or that?"

But honestly forget about it, next time I wont bother

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 15 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (5 children)

Corey Feldman's Angelic 2 the Core is without a doubt the worst album I've ever listened to. It is not just mediocre or underwhelming, it is not just a "miss," it is actively and unforgettably horrible. Definitely worth checking out.

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 weeks ago

Not angry, just disturbed that there are even more lol

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (3 children)

I'm literally agreeing with you. Not sure what you're fixing about my phrasing -- I didn't watch the speech, so yes, I am ignorant, but am willing to guess that your comment was totally correct.

I'm also saying your meme-game disturbs my meme-less brain.

But I guess according to you, I have no idea what I'm talking about so in that case...you're wrong? Idk what youre trying to say dude all I know is that just because O'Brien spoke at the RNC doesn't somehow automatically make him a Trump supporter

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I'm against any authoritarian structure, China included. At the end of the day, the state is just the threat of legalized violence, an industry monopolized by the police. Communist, Capitalist, doesn't matter. It is unjust and stifles human freedom.

That has little to do with the ethics of profit, which are dubious at best.

Edit: actually it has everything to do with profit, as most profit seeking ventures are authoritarian and exploitative in nature

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