Welcome again to everybody. Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
☭ Matrix homeserver and space
☭ Theory discussion group on /c/theory@lemmygrad.ml
☭ Find theory on ProleWiki, marxists.org, Anna’s Archive
I am in agony. This Friday I woke up early in the morning because my teeth on the right side hurt so badly. Then I realized… it’s my wisdom teeth and I have an infection. I didn’t hang out with my friend or anyone today, I just didn’t feel like it because of the pain
I can’t take it anymore. I want to end it all
Please do not hurt yourself. I worry for you.
12 days ago I started my pilgrimage. It took me 12 days to find out I don’t like it lmao. So I quit my pilgrimage. In a way the pilgrimage is now complete as the goal was to gain new insights. And new insights were gained. Not after two and a half months. But after 12 days. Not the ones I expected. Probably the ones I needed. It was a difficult decision to forfeit but in the end I am happier than when I started.
Long distance walking is not for everyone. I’m more partial to hitch hiking.
Well I like hiking, nature, camping and such but everything combined into a months long trip, together with being alone, somehow isn’t for me right now.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!
you either die young or live long enough to turn into a villain, or smt like that
Lol, what? Have they not looked at your post history? Ridiculous.
I unknowingly shared a couple of biased sources, which I think is the reason that they booted me.
This is, without exaggeration, the first time that anybody has called me a Zionist, which may be the funniest thing that I have seen all month. Me, a Zionist. Imagine that. If I were a Zionist, I wouldn’t be caught dead writing a topic titled ‘Why Zionism is bad for Jews’.
Did they catch you on doing parody or something lol? How in the world would they read you as a zionist.
I think that the problem was that I shared two sources written by Zionists: a report linking Islamomisia with antisemitism, and a report on poverty among U.S. Jews. A Herzlian coauthored the former report and the latter source says in the ‘Who We Are’ section that it blows money on Palestine’s occupation. I didn’t bother to check these things but the moderator seems to think that I deliberately peddled hasbara.
https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11657217/8220622?scrollToComments=true
I have a few issues with Acknickulous’s research, but putting that aside it is worth noting that both the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation as well as Acknickulous cite Pew Research as a source, and Pew Research says this:
When asked to describe their household’s financial situation (largely before the pandemic began), roughly half of U.S. Jews say they live comfortably (53%). By comparison, 29% of U.S. adults overall say they live comfortably.
The ‘glass half empty’ types can easily read this as 47% of U.S. Jews living uncomfortably. I’d say that 47% is statistically significant, but what do I know.
Oh, I see. So if you’d posted based on the Pew Research source instead of the others, I wonder if that would have worked out better. I can sorta understand the reaction on their part if they are used to people posting sus sources, but on the other hand, not everything that awful entities peddle is wholly made up. Some stuff is outright lies and some of it is about taking partially true things and couching it in a particular narrative.
As we see with sources here often. For example, the “at what cost” theme about China that will go something like “[here is something true or partially true about China that you might think is good and here’s why it’s bad actually].”
tried making Fesenjan today and it tastes amazing
Pomegranate and walnut chicken sounds rich as fuck. I could go for that.
The US should switch up the goofy “thank you for your service” culture directed at members of the armed services. Instead, it should have a culture where when you finish checking out at a grocery store, you say to the cashier or self scan attendant “thank you for your service.” And then if you see a uniformed member of the armed services, you say “thank you for nothing” but do it with a big liberal smile to get in their head.
If you see someone in uniform you tell them “The cafe around the corner are giving away free icecream and coffee to soldiers and veterans.” and they show up and look a fool and by then you are long gone.
Hey comrades, I am sharing this post by a person who needs urgent legal funds for their child for a legal case involving harm towards their child from another party: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11664621?scrollToComments=true
I hope you people donate for the sake of them and their child to live a safe life together.
lol my reactionary relative tried to equate el che with fucking pablo escobar lmao.
There are hot takes, and then there are THERMONUCLEAR takes…
Well you see, they are both from Latin America … (sarcasm)
Touche! :D
This morning I read On Practice. I didn’t expect this to be such a motivational text since it’s relatively short. It got me to think about all of my approaches to things and how I aquire knowledge and experience. Mao is based.
Mao’s writing is very accessible and fiery!
I’ve said for some time now in my life that words like “stupid” used in most contexts are ableist slurs and intelligence defined by supremacy and deficiency is more harmful that we credit. It’s another biogted “ism.”
But it’s something I see very very often. So, if you stumble upon this, I invite you comrades to challenge your perception of intelligence and what language you use to disagree with or insult people. I believe you can do both in a principled way. Let’s have a better community here. :)
(I apologize if this is the wrong place for this. Guide me if so.)
Stupid isn’t targeted against disabled people. The origin of the word is not ableist. It shares an origin with “stunned” emphasizing that it is a temporary condition not a permanent one.
“Stupid” is retaliative to what is expected of you. A toddler who cant tie their shoes isn’t stupid, A surgeon who cuts the wrong thing is. Anyone can say or do something stupid and they aren’t being compared to anyone but themselves when they do.
i dont even feel very strongly in one way or the other, but the way one of your examples to justify its usage is calling a toddler stupid for not being able to tie their shoes is absolutely hilarious in a rather negative way
I said “A toddler who cant tie their shoes isn’t stupid”
The origin of the word is not ableist.
This is precisely not about etymology. Modern linguistics is descriptive, not prescriptive (as is obvious to anyone familiar with dialectics and materialism). Words like “dumb,” “slow,” and “edit: the r-word” that have origins in explicitly ableist use are not worse than “stupid” in the way I’m criticizing them. Especially “dumb.” It’s synonymous with “stupid” and most of the time not used to mean deaf. So I’m not saying don’t say insert common phrases in English because it’s insert a bigotry endemic in Anglophone culture. Although, that is a valid concern on it’s own and I don’t care if someone doesn’t say and/or don’t want others to say “dumb” and “rule of thumb” for that reason.
TLDR: problematic etymology is a valid concern but lack of it doesn’t prove the word doesn’t cause harm. Usage in real world is more important.
Anyone can say or do something stupid and they aren’t being compared to anyone but themselves when they do.
It’s the judgement of the speaker to say “stupid.” Or funny, or annoying, or valid, invalid, offensive, etc. While you can say “I expected more of you so I call you stupid now,” that’s it. You expected.
It’s a measure of intelligence that you are imposing on others. I mean…what if I just called you stupid for disagreeing with me or not understanding everything I think or believe from the few sentences I presented. More than unfair, it’s bigoted. I’m relying on our culture’s shared idea of what intelligence means and what it means to have little of it, to insult you. I’m not saying the insulting is the problem. You can say “fuck you go to hell.” None of that is ableist. Picking the person’s perceived skin color to insult them is racist. Picking their perceived gender is sexist. And picking the perceived intelligence is ableist.
I don’t think there’s such thing as “but they are stupid” or “it was dumb.” That’s just our chauvinism. People, their ideas and actions can… lack foresight, care, attention, kindness, strength or bravery, and so on. But when you say it lacks intelligence. I think it’s…well I’m going in circles.
TLDR: You’re invoking the ableist world we live in when you say “stupid” to give yourself pover someone that you’re saying it to. Same idea as how “cracker” is just a joke “slur” because we don’t live in a world where whites are oppressed as a race.
Not every pejorative is racist or ableist.
If you can’t link the word to a disability and its etymology has never been used to refer to disabled people how is the word ableist? Stupid is not a judgement on a person’s overall mental capacity it is a judgement on their actions or words in a situation. A “stupid person” is someone who consistently does or says things that they should know better than to do or say. Like how a drunk person has poor judgment, because they are in a “stupor.”
Cracker isn’t a slur either. It is class and ideologically based insult not a racial one. Crackers are poor people who uphold white supremacy wile getting little of the benefits. It was a self imposed title for Irish immigrants who drove slaves despite being non-white themselves at the time.
If a table is wobbly and doesn’t have a flat top it is a bad table. If an idea isn’t based on material realities and lacks logical consistency it is stupid. A person who’s ideas constantly have those issues is not intellectually impaired but they are stupid. Stupidity can be cured.
Not every pejorative is racist or ableist.
That was never a claim I made.
If you can’t link the word to a disability and its etymology…
You didn’t really understand my point that lack of a bad etymology doesn’t make a word not bad so I won’t repeat myself.
Cracker isn’t a slur either.
Again, not my claim. I put slur in quotes and my whole point was that it carries no power in a white supremacist word. So again you’re not really arguing against anything I said. These etymology lessons are great but irrelevant.
If an idea isn’t based on material realities and lacks logical consistency it is stupid. A person who’s ideas constantly have those issues is not intellectually impaired but they are stupid.
You can say this but you don’t have any authority over language. In reality, people use stupid for anything. What I’m suggesting is to rethink what you really meant behind the mask of thoughtful and hasty labeling. Was it “uneducated?” Or “illogical” as you say, or simply “I disagree” or “I don’t like this.” Reminds me of “using I statements” lol.
Another close analogy (though obviously imperfect) I thought of that might aid in you seeing my perspective is how the word “gay” can be used to mean “lame” (I know this itself has ableist history but it’s the best word for this purpose of explaining). Instead of calling everything gay and saying “well things and people are gay when x.” Put that x part aside, maybe that alone is valid to criticize, but notice how it’s insulting to label that with a word used to refer to marginalized minorities. I.e. gay people and “stupid” people.
Stupidity can be cured.
Therefore what? I’m not even arguing against this statement but asking for relevance. Using the race and gender examples again, gender and race are social constructs. They’re fluid. You can also “cure” your gender as in gender affirming care. Does that make the oppressive construct something to cling to, uphold, and rely on?
I don’t think I’m able to provide anything new here so if you still disagree and are interested, self reflection and organization of your beliefs and knowledge will be more helpful.
You didn’t really understand my point that lack of a bad etymology doesn’t make a word not bad so I won’t repeat myself.
You didn’t make a point. You made some weird individualist anarchist noises about it being “bigoted” to project expectations onto people.
You can say this but you don’t have any authority over language.
More anarchist noises.
In reality, people use stupid for anything.
Incorrect usage of a word doesn’t change it’s meaning.
You analogy is way off base. Did people using the word “gay” to mean bad change its meaning? no. What it did was entrench the idea that being gay was bad. There is no other meaning for the word stupid it only has the one meaning. You are implying that stupidity is not a bad thing. Stupidity is intellectual laziness. It is not a lack of ability. It is a lack of effort or carelessness that produces faulty ideas and actions.
Stupid people are not a minority or marginalized group. Everyone does something stupid from time to time. I know several people who are a bit slower than average but aren’t chronicaly stupid. They recognize their deficiency in speed and make up for it with carefulness. There are also plenty of really “smart” people who are really stupid. Scott Bessent US Treasury Secretary is a wizard at developing financial weapons but he can’t look at a camera without telling on himself. He is fucking stupid.
Therefore what?
Therefore it is not an ableist slur. Ableist slurs are words to dehumanize people and reduce them to nothing more than their disability. This is why you can say someone is autistic but calling them “R-----” is ablest.
Everyone is equally capable of being stupid and equally capable of stopping it. It is not dehumanizing to call someone stupid. It is a judgement of the quality of their intellectual work.
You are unable to provide anything new because you are just wrong. Stupid is not ableist. It is a judgement based on peoples actions not on their abilities.
Have a great week everyone! By keeping up with your goals and habits, quantitative buildup over a long period of time results in qualitative development. Think of who you want to be, and set in stone tiny habits characteristic of that future person. In no time, you’ll blossom into the person you want to be, because by setting yourself on that road you are merely that person but in the past!
You’re already there! It doesn’t matter if this is about activism, language learning, reading, or something like fitness, by putting a small bit into daily practice you already push yourself onto that trajectory. We must recognize transitional states, as we are always transitioning into something.
As always, communism will win.
Today I would like to remind comrades of DARVO which is related to what you might have heard before: “Every accusation is a confession.”
Have you ever been stuck in a situation where somethin just ain’t right and you might decide call it out, but instead of an answer you get insulted and blamed? DARVO stands for Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender. If you are interested in Marxism chances are you might have a keen eye on contradictions, in the struggle between classes, now it’s important to not get ahead of ourselves and stay humble. At the same time, a calm explanation for an issue is usually fairly reasonable demand.
Has someone you care for said one thing and then done another? Are you a part of a friends group and notice someone is being treated unfairly? Are words being shoved into your mouth that you didn’t say?
Useful things to keep in mind:
- You could always be wrong. Do a fact check based on tangible evidence.
- Document incidents in order to strengthen your point.
- Choose the correct moment to approach, you don’t wanna run into problems first thing, unless absolutely necessary. The more is at stake the greater their retaliation might be, for being put on the spot.
- Approach the problem collectively and strategically, it’s like eating a meal, you must eat a bite at a time, can’t just gulp the entire banquette.
All reactionaries are ultimately paper tigers, dangerous to splash, but if you fill up a big bucket of water and pour it on them, the people will see who they really are.
Stretch! Even for 10 minutes a day! You’ll notice how different you feel after a week
🫵 You WILL have hope, comrade.
I am having trouble with that at the moment.
Hey peeps, I am just really tired and my plan to move out has been stopped because of my mental health.
Edit: I have trouble keeping hope when I am so tired and have no job or housing planned.
always remember that a better world is possible, comrade! <3 you’re strong and will overcome your current difficulties.
always try to seek out and be part of a community (or, better yet, several!). it doesn’t necessarily have to be explicitly political, but they should be people you can trust and rely on. at their core, most people are kind and will likely be willing to help out if things get truly tough.
Thanks, but I am just worried about several other things (like AeronMelon running out of time while needing to pay for their son’s court case). I cannot solve anything that troubles me right now.
I hope you all have a nice week :D
Have a good one, tovarish Oppo! :)
You too Comrade! ❤️
You too, Oppo!
You too!! (=･ｪ･=)
