Welcome again to everybody. Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
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People will watch mormonism and scientology be literal cults, with the former basically being an organized crime and corruption syndicate, and then wonder why china doesn’t like the falun gong or other such things.
how is mormonism an organized crime and corruption syndicate? were you referring to scientology?
Note: I did mix up the FLDS and LDS churches. [https://apnews.com/article/flds-warren-jeffs-short-creek-hildale-polygamy-d632cd039c55dc895872ce5842a76f52] [https://www.fox13now.com/2016/03/07/jury-finds-flds-towns-violated-constitutional-rights-of-non-members]
It’s more of a de facto thing. The church isn’t technically an organized crime ring.
What there is, is that they have their own version of the “blue wall of silence.”
There is the BYU police department, [https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/editorial/2021/12/17/byus-year-cover-up-its/https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/editorial/2021/12/17/byus-year-cover-up-its/]
There is also the “old boys club” of informal connections at high echalons, like in this case [https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/11/10/FBI-silent-on-allegations-of-Mormon-Mafia/7037500446800/] (yes he was based for passing information to the USSR, that’s besides the point)
And of course the recent incident with the American fork police department [https://www.primetimer.com/news/american-fork-police-department-slammed-as-wildly-corrupt-and-biased-as-video-of-bricks-minifigs-youtuber-ben-schneider-s-arrest-goes-viral]
And their influence over Utah state politics
https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2020/09/19/alexander-church-state/
So maybe organized crime ring is wrong for the LDS. Probably “de facto theocracy” might be better, where members of a church gain benefits and corporeal power over a political and police entity
Also ACAB plays into this, obviously
yes, unfortunately i think the LDS church is just a typical church now, it’s just that being mormon is so overwhelmingly common (and not being mormon is incredibly uncommon) in some places that there’s a lot of overlap between it and the political sphere.
of course, it’s important to note that the LDS church was originally a cult in the same vein as the FLDS church. joseph smith was obviously a cult leader if you look into the history at all. but, i don’t really think the structure of the church mirrors a cult any longer (unlike scientology): people are allowed to leave the church, there isn’t a bunch of separation from families, there’s no extreme wealth/labor extraction from members, etc etc
Have a great week, everyone! Try to limit doomscrolling, being present in real life, touching grass, all of that is very helpful for achieving long-term goals and a healthier mindset.
As always, communism will win.
Labeling everything aimed at jewish people as antisemitism has done some real damage. Jewish people circumcise their kids and in Antwerp they take it one step further. Over here the rabbi who does the act (no medical expert btw) sucks the blood out of the penis afterwards. Several children contacted HIV already.
Now, normal people would be disgusted but because of Europe’s questionable past we now have jewish figures in the media defending sucking little kiddie dicks as tradition and everyone is acting like they have done wrong by saying that shit is insane.
The rabbi sounding the alarm is now treated as a borderline pariah in the community. The leading liberal party in the country has a zionist on board who defends this shit.
Jesus, that’s bleak.
Every single ultra-reactionary religious sect needs every single member of its clergy executed in the town square. CMV.
Happy Pride! Hope everyone has a great month ❤️
I hope you all have a nice week and a great pride month :D
You too Oppo! Happy pride everyone!
You too Oppo! Happy pride month Everybody!
You too! Happy pride month! ✯⸜( ᶿ̷ധ ᶿ̷)⸝✯
There is this Dutch climate activist who was the head of Dutch Clinate Defence. He managed to succesfully sue Shell and get them convicted in a Dutch court.
He all of a sudden got a job at Tata Steel to help them in the process of getting greener. Tata Steel is the biggest polluter in the country.
Today would be his first day and he got fired immediately. The reason being that he was the head of a pro apartheid student club in his teens. He himself says he moved on from these visions and that he does not support it anymore.
Shithead past no doubt but I truly feel like this is some inside job to neutralize an effective activist lol.
I think he was already neutralized the moment he decided to work for Tata Steel. But I do think he still made some people in the company uncomfortable, and afraid he would be able to change the company (unlikely, and probably not his intention), so they decided to dig up some dirt
NYPost put a hit on Hasan Piker lol, they straight up put a photo of his house.
Hasan would be worth more to the left if a chud offed him. Just saying.
Regardless what you think about Hasan, that’s an insane thing to say. If the status quo is targeting him it’s because they really see him as a threat. Enemies of my enemy, yk.
It’s a scare tactic. They’re making an example of him to make anything further left seem untenable.
He’s a democrat shill, a sheep dog. He is still peddling the “Uyghur Genocide” ffs. He isn’t doing us any favors.
At least as a martyr the left could co-opt him and say it was because he was leaning into full on communism.
Interesting idea, all things considered it would minimize the damage of him proclaiming himself a communist to such a wide audience all the while spreading uncritical liberal ideology. Still though, all attempts should be made to prevent this from happening as an attack on any working class is an attack on us all. Plus if he survives we may have to consider his fame and the parasocial aspects of alienated american society contributing to him becoming viewed as a Mandela-figure setting us back another 40 years.
piker is not working class. His dad is a literal billionaire. He was a VP on the board of a multi billion dollar financial conglomerate that is one of the largest 20 in companies Turkey.
When has that literally ever stopped an American from venerating a public figure?
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In The Netherlands we have reached the stage of politicians discussing what a true Dutch person is. This country is on a fascism speedrun. We even have refugee centers being attacked and not even the centrist president is too bothered about it.
every time i see someone that is genuinely trying to learn but is not really good at formulating questions and their questions are read by others as inflammatory i get that feeling of disappointed amusement it’s like a divine comedy because i get both sides and why they act the way they do. i fully fully fully understand how this hypervigilance online is a pretty apt response to the extent the ‘net is astroturfed but the thing that makes it most effective is that it’s truly indiscernible from the other good quarter of sincere beginners. most people are so inundated with propaganda or simply just unable to formulate a question in a way that does not seem loaded that a plant is indiscernible from someone in earnest. bleh
Many such cases
I’m really worried about Cuba. I had a similar feeling of dread right before Venezuela was defeated, and Iran was attacked. But unlike the previous two, Cuba is the most vulnerable and susceptible to collapse under US pressure right now.
Cuba has survived a kind of economic siege and attempts to coup them for decades now. It’s always possible they could fall, but that’s true of the US capitalist class too. We live in uncertain times and the empire is trying to reassert itself in decline but the material realities don’t hold up. I think the US and israel are in somewhat mirrored positions right now, in that way. Israel is obviously more vulnerable as a whole, but both have more fronts open than they can handle, have global reputations in freefall, and are too stuck in belligerence to assert stability.
Also, I would not characterize the Bolivarian Revolution as defeated, from the information I’ve seen. They appear to be working through a difficult strategic retreat and some internal struggle to work through as a result, but the struggle for liberation is a war, not a single battle.
Your worry is valid, but I encourage you to zoom out and consider the larger picture.
Cuba is extremely vulnerable. The U.S. can just attack it unceasingly with less time needed for positioning units. They won’t have as much time to prepare in between strikes.
Venezuela and Iran can hold out but I don’t think Cuba can do the same.
Yeah, the threat of USSR retaliation kept the US in check for many years with countries like Cuba. Russia is stretched to the limits of their capabilities, China has yet to show any hardline commitment towards interventionism, and everyone else is either willingly allied with the US or too weak to do anything. There is no one to kept the US in check for going rogue especially with countries in their backyard. Plus, air power is much more destructive and capable now then in the past if you lack the modern air defenses to match or can inflict equal damage back with your own modern offensive capabilities like Iran did, guerilla warfare with only rpg-7s and AK47s won’t get you as far in 2026 as it did in the 1970s.
🫵 You WILL have hope, comrade.
Plaid Gomiwnyddol Cymru (Communist Party of Wales) just published a very satisfying takedown of the reactionary CPB position on trans-rights and “biological sex” that people might appreciate.
Wales stay winning.
generally after i started to even look into ML politics i am calmer and less anxious and distraught than i used to be on a day to day basis, even month to month, whereas before my liberal politics with no material basis gave me troubles and constant anger and confusion and distress and (well most importantly) hopelessness at the world.
on the other hand i also do get so enraged every so often and i understand why lenin had a stroke because today i’m just mad as fuuuuck. don’t want to argue with someone that replied to me on one platform, don’t want to think about the stupid middle schooler i just saw parroting uyghur genocide in this day and age (yes, it’s of the age where it’s forgivable, i’m not mad at the actual kid as much as i of course am at the myth continuing to this DAY), don’t want to think about how many people are getting shot and killed and bombed right now in palestine or iran or anywhere else and how little most people care, don’t want to think about the eileen gu poster i saw vandalized to deride her chinese identity, i want to sit in bed and rot until my vision stops having a red vignette like i’m in some stupid video game. i’m going to practice gratitude and not resent my adhd or any other thing that’s afflicting me and i’m not gonna let my rage make me crumble like a cookie but wow, some days your brain just conspires against you.
lenin’s stroke
You should being shot with a gun if you’re worried about this particular medical incident
audhd is like getting conked on the head some days
Chronic anxiety is so weird cause I can look and act really calm on the outside, even while feeling like something is vaguely wrong about everything and nothing. I’m pretty sure there was a time when I just thought I was calm because that’s what other people said about me and it seemed plausible enough. But looking back, I was distinctly anxious about various things even at a young age. I just didn’t have the kind of relationship / family dynamic where it felt like something I could bring up, or maybe even had the words for. Signs of it were instead categorized as “shy” or “introverted”. Other siblings of mine were the “sensitive ones” and I didn’t want to be one of the “sensitive ones”, so I learned to repress my emotions instead I guess. Which was pretty easy to do since I could learn it by mimicking a parent who did the same kind of thing.
Also I’ve heard that prolonged stress can be damaging to memory, among other things. Or maybe it was specifically about depression and such, I don’t know. Can’t remember off the top of my head (tempted to say “no joke intended” to be a smartass about the other recent comment in here). But anyway, I think I’ve been hit by that kind of thing a lot. I can remember enough to function, but in terms of like childhood memories or even things I did a few years ago, there just isn’t that much that I remember. I think a lot of my memory gets funneled toward looking for threats (cause anxiety) and little toward reminiscing and tradition. Which makes it harder to build and maintain relationships.
If I’d grown up in an AES state, I might have made a good detective. But then again, if I’d grown up in a place like that, maybe I would have been genuinely more chill too. Mentally, in my liberal days, I briefly flirted with the idea of looking into that kind of thing, but I’m glad I didn’t cause it would suck to learn that and end up working for imperialists.
Same. I grew up with anxiety probably as a byproduct of being on the spectrum. It sucks ass. Recently I had therapy though and it was a bit of a breakthrough. But now I have to process years of anxiety and spectrum denial too.
I hope you can find some peace of mind and someone to share your thoughts with, even if it is online.
Thank you. I’m glad you’ve had something of a breakthrough on it. I hope your processing of it goes well.
Also I’ve heard that prolonged stress can be damaging to memory, among other things. Or maybe it was specifically about depression and such, I don’t know. Can’t remember off the top of my head (tempted to say “no joke intended” to be a smartass about the other recent comment in here). But anyway, I think I’ve been hit by that kind of thing a lot. I can remember enough to function, but in terms of like childhood memories or even things I did a few years ago, there just isn’t that much that I remember.
Mood. I’ve been depressed since I was a child and my memory is shit.
Sorry to hear that. Hope you can heal from the depression at some point. It’s a rough thing. I’m pretty sure I’ve had low-grade depression for a long time myself.
Well, back in the motherland. It will take some time to adjust from a vibrant and metropolitan city like Antwerp to the tech hub that is the Eindhoven region. There is no real left wing org that I know of here, so I will have to look to some niche ones I guess.
The plus side is that this region is getting a shit ton of money though and they are ramping up the skyscraper building, which as a skyscraper nerd I can enjoy.
But jesus christ did I forget how boring and backwards this area can be lol. No more 24/7 living I guess.
