This exactly. The only reason it even works at all is because they are building on top of an already functioning imperial system. Fascists are like prions emerging from within and taking over a far more competent - and more subtly evil - host, and making it lash out violently while melting its brain into goo. Even if it is not rooted out it’s still doomed to kill its host and by extension, itself.

Perhaps you should reflect on why you feel the need to play defense for establishment Democrats despite claiming to support the paradigm shift that Zohran Mamdani represents. You have been obsessively commenting all over this thread trying to deflect criticism of the DNC by gaslighting people into believing that the DNC are all supporting Zohran Mamdani and that all these centrists coming out against him are outsiders. Are you secretly a campaign consultant for Biden or something?

extracting rent

That’s their right

lemmy.ml

Have I discovered a rare pro-capitalist user of lemmy.ml?

Mix them in. We need to get out of the mindset that animation is not deserving of the same respect as live action.

Some people are, it’s called antitheism. I confess when I was an edgy 16yo I was like that, but I had just left a religious cult so don’t judge me too harshly.

That doesn’t mean the character of an economy that is dominated by public ownership is capitalist, either, just that it is on the “socialist road,” ie it is socialist, and working its way to higher levels of socialization until communism is achieved.

This is the crux of the disagreement between anarchists and MLs. I would argue that state ownership - if the state does not adequately represent the will of the people - is not public ownership. A hierarchical state with a flawed and bureaucratic democracy that is prone to corruption inevitably creates and maintains a class of bureaucrats with social, political, and economic privilege. The state - in order to preserve itself - maintains a monopoly on collective ownership, preventing workers from organizing on their own terms.

This is what anarchists mean when they call something “state capitalist.” They are arguing that the state itself is a private entity pretending to represent the will of the people.

They’re not the same, but it’s easy to see how people become too jaded and cynical to vote.

Here’s an article from the corporate media about the DNC’s response to Mamdani’s victory, and Here’s an article from independent leftist media about the Islamophobic attacks against him.

I won’t include an article from right-wing media, but I’m sure you can guess how they’re coping with the electoral victory of a Muslim socialist immigrant born in Uganda to Indian parents (not well).

The post we’re commenting under has also included some articles.

We’re up against literal fascists today, too, but this time it’s made much more progress before facing adequate resistance.

They’re all maintaining decorum (something they would die before dropping) by congratulating him on his win while denouncing his policies and stopping short of endorsing him. Ever since his victory all the “liberal” corporate media has been praising the “energy” of his campaign while criticizing his policies as dangerous and painting his pro-palestinian views as anti-semitic. Don’t even try to pretend the way the DNC has been responding to this is normal. In nearly every other democratic primary the DNC have been quick to line up behind the victor.

Yes, of course. That must be why they tried ferociously to stop him from winning the primary with Islamophobic smears and are now freaking out that they failed, and why the corporate media (yes, even the “liberal” media) are all crashing out.

That’s just called being a revolutionary, which is practically the purest form of leftist that exists. The left vs right terminology originated during the French revolution, with the left being the revolutionaries and the right being the monarchists. Ever since then the left has meant those with a desire to transform society (typically in an egalitarian direction), now encompassing reformists as well as revolutionaries.

Personally I barely consider folks like you to be leftists. A few tax credits and some minor campaign finance reform can hardly be considered a transformation of society. If anything, you’re the bulwark of the right, always defending the establishment from any major changes while preaching about moderation. You calling yourself a leftist is like sticking your toe in the water and calling yourself a diver.

Tankie is to centrists what woke is to MAGA. They use it simply to demonize people to their left without regard for what it actually means. That’s why finitebanjo pulls it out every time he’s confronted by a progressive of any sort. He’s associated all progressives with authoritarian communists in his head the same way MAGA associates everyone who isn’t a fascist with the most radical leftists they remember from the SJW OWNED compilations they used to watch.

Cuomo begrudgingly congratulating Mamdani after viciously smearing him as an anti-semitic terrorist and leaning into Islamophobia:

*pats self on back I’m such a great upstanding sex pest. How gracious am I! I do very much enjoy the sound of my own voice. That mom-dommy fella sure is something, I wish him the best, even though I insisted he wants to murder jews. Oh well!

1. It’s the Democrats’ jobs to educate the electorate about their policies.

2. Those of us who are politically engaged (as many of us are on lemmy) are well aware of the policies of establishment Dems and are not impressed. Public-private partnerships, deregulation, and incremental reforms that never seem to materialize - presented to the public individually or more recently as an “abundance” agenda - are no replacement for genuine progressive policies effectively communicated through populist messaging.

3. Most establishment Dems vote histories are their greatest shame - assuming they are actually capable of feeling such a thing.

The article is clearly satire. What it is satirizing, however, is very real. I’m pretty sure I actually told you specifically that Democrats could win if they ran on progressive policies and you insisted they had to moderate themselves instead.

You must be shocked. If not, you’re in denial. As Mamdani-style campaigns continue to sweep primaries you can either continue to cope and seethe or admit you were wrong.

I think part of it is that a lot of straight people who are allies but not as familiar with the queer community feel strange about using the word queer, thinking that it’s a reclaimed slur that they wouldn’t be allowed to say if they aren’t themselves queer. They don’t realize that the queer community has collectively decided that no “pass” is needed for the word queer.

If NYC uses ranked choice voting in the general as well and Cuomo learns from his disaster of a campaign then he might try coalition-building with Eric Adams or others to pull off a win by getting neoliberals and MAGA to gang up on Zohran. It’s a headscratcher for me because I never expect neoliberals to learn from their mistakes, and yet they might actually feel forced to because they never fail to pull out all the stops against progressives, let alone an actual socialist.

we know now that it was the Bolsheviks, and their adherance to strong theoretical study and working class organization that led to successful revolution.

To give an example, I disagree on this. Now, if you were to approach this discussion under the pretense that my disagreement is based on poor understanding of history or of theory, that would be pretentious, and therefore unproductive if you actually want to change my mind. Instead, keep an open mind and be willing to entertain an alternative perspective.

In my opinion, the Bolsheviks were oppurtunists who co-opted the revolutionary fervor in order to centralize power and influence in the movement under their control. They did indeed use Marxist theory to guide and justify their actions, but that doesn’t make it right. I understand that Marxist theory advocates for the centralization of power and control, I just disagree with it, which is a view more in line with Trotskyites than Marxist-Leninists.

I’m not trying to say that you are particularly arrogant or pretentious, but Marx and especially Lenin certainly were, and that is reflected in their work.

You can try acknowledging that people have actual differences of opinion instead of referring to different ideological tendencies as a result of poor understanding. Doesn’t really help your cause to always come across as pretentious and arrogant, even to people who would otherwise be your allies.