It’s something for sure. My parents grew up in the third world so they are aware of imperialism and economic exploitation, but they still tend to blame illegal immigrants and lazy people

Yup, Second Thought was the one who finally made me move past SocDem, and he did it by introducing the basics in a neutral tone, not glazing Stalin/the USSR (even if the glaze might be justified)

Kial ne Esperanto? :(

NGL I think this would just make people think you’re insane and shut down to whatever you’re saying/dismiss you, like flat earthers or conspiracy theorists

We’re in the Misinformation Age

I literally just remembered a follow-up question I had lol. I had seen this comment on reddit:

China literally meets four out of five Lenin’s conditions of imperialism: 1)concentration of capital in trusts or state property 2)existence of finance capital 3) export of capital 4)the formation of international monopolist capitalist associations which share the world among themselves

Would you have any rebuttal to that? I’m sure there’s more to the story

Instrumentality is central to the plot, but not once does the show make clear what it is or what purpose it serves.​

Okay you clearly didn’t pay attention when watching the show, so I’m gonna stop arguing here.

There is no “fake intellectuality and garbage dialogue” at all imo. It’s just a game of cat and mouse where two people are trying to trick and one up each other, and it’s not really trying to be anything other than that. Frieren has a higher production quality and better art, but it came out over a decade later so that’s kind of a given. In terms of how well the stories are made, I’d give that to Death Note easily. Frieren has a very good story, but no anime besides Steins;Gate or Code Geass had me wanting to see what happens next like Death Note. I guess it just depends on how much you like thrillers/suspense?

Sure the show didn’t have the best production for the ending, but the production of EoE was amazing. It was well written, well animated, well paced, and resolved the plots in a satisfying way. I guess that any discussion beyond this is purely a matter of personal opinion, so idk what else to say

They ran out after season 5 IIRC, I still think season 6 was great but then after its conclusion the quality drop becomes noticeable

Dawg, you did not need to use AI just to make that comment lol. I’m not sure what exactly was obnoxious about the characters of Death Note? I guess they’re dramatic, but that’s part of the fun of the show. Also, Westworld (Season 1, I’ve only seen that) was amazing, with a very satisfying conclusion, interesting philosophical questions, and good plot twists

They’re all abstract, symbolic, and open to interpretation rather than proper conclusions.

This is kind of the point, isn’t it? It asks the viewer to consider interesting questions, e.g. loving yourself and others despite the certainty of pain in life. It’s fair to say that it’s abstract and not for everyone, but it’s far from a bad or improper ending.

I can see the case for season 6 of GoT having worse plotlines than the prior seasons, but the direction and cinematography of those last two episodes were phenomenal, and more than enough to counter any issues with the plot. It’s some of the most excited I’ve ever felt watching a TV show, even if the plot wasn’t as good. I’m not going to defend season 7 and 8, those were at the quality of marvel movies

They argued that a mechanical materialist treats humans like passive objects, reduces consciousness to brain chemistry, and sees religion as just ‘false consciousness’ to be eliminated. A dialectical materialist, by contrast, understands that consciousness is real, that ideas emerge from material conditions and then react back on them, and that religion is a complex phenomenon that can be a force for resistance or oppression depending on the context.

Can anyone explain how consciousness is real from a dialectical materialist perspective, and why exactly mechanical materialists are wrong about this? From a scientific perspective, I’m not sure how the “consciousness = brain chemistry” part is incorrect?

I strongly disagree with these takes on Death Note, FMAB, and Evangelion, especially considering the fact that the endings of all three were great (counting EoE as the ending for Evangelion, since that was basically its purpose.) What do you mean the premise of Death Note is unbelievable? It’s not trying to be realistic whatsoever; it’s like if I said Harry Potter has an unbelievable premise because magic isn’t real. Seasons 5 and 6 of GoT are great too, the last couple episodes of 6 are the best in the show imo (I said this in another comment)

Seasons 5 and 6 of GoT are great too, the last couple episodes of 6 are the best in the show imo

I’m having trouble finding the actual place in the video where he said that, but IIRC his argument was that the bourgeoisie have likely already made their way into the CPC, and once China becomes more powerful than the US, they will go more “mask off” with their activity in Africa since they won’t have any competition in terms of making trade deals and agreements. China also clearly has more leverage than the African countries they do business with

Wow, I’ve seen you everywhere across lemmy! Thanks for the response, but I feel like there’s a mismatch in how we define socialism. I’ve been using “worker ownership of the means of production” as my definition and I feel like the state being controlled by a communist party does not necessarily fit this, since what’s stopping the state and bureaucracy from becoming its own ruling class (or being used/infiltrated by the old bourgeoisie), given it holds all the power? Doesn’t the existence of private property whatsoever automatically contradict the fact that workers own the means of production? That’s why council communism and direct worker democracy seems more appealing to me, although I guess it hasn’t had the chance to be tested like leninism/vanguardism. The other thing is, it makes sense to me that public property can exist in capitalism, and that this is called mixed economy or social democracy. However, is vice versa really true? If private property exists in socialism, that means that there is a bourgeoisie, and if there is a bourgeoisie, it’s in their interest to undermine the power of the proletariat, and they will slowly chip away at workers’ rights. Haven’t we reached social democracy, but with extra steps? I doubt that socialism “contains elements of capitalism and elements of communism” in the way you mention, socialism seems to me an entirely independent economic system with communism as its most developed stage, where the only elements it has in common with capitalism is the existence of the state and money. TBH, I’m still processing @pcalau12i@lemmygrad.ml 's comment, it feels kind of mindblowing lol

(Sorry this comment is kind of sloppy, I’m tired right now)

Part of the issue is that I don’t know what news I can trust. Obviously mainstream western news is going to be biased against China, but I don’t know where to learn about China in a way that stays “neutral” I guess, since I feel like reading Chinese media will only show me the good side of things, the same as any country’s news would do.

This might be a good point to ask, why are ultras (and trotskyists, etc.) so universally disliked? I’m still learning the history and differences between all the groups of marxists, but surely having discussions and debates with people more skeptical of AES will allow those projects to find/fix their contradictions and improve themselves? Are there any other channels I should listen to over S4A?

Very interesting comment, thank you! I guess there’s still a lot I need to learn about Marx’s predictions