I have a minor hand washing compulsion, but it’s not a germophobia thing. While I would prefer everyone wash their hands after using the bathroom, it doesn’t gross me out like some other things, like nose-picking.

Lots of excreta aerosolize or otherwise get everywhere. While hand washing is a low bar to improving hygiene, shit is literally everywhere. Want to see something scary (depending on your squeamishness)? Get a 350nm UV flashlight and check out your home. Hell, try it right after you do a deep clean.

I finally watched “Sinners.” Holy hell, what a cinematic execution. The layers of messaging and metaphor, pacing, the music, dance numbers, editing, use of aspect ratio changes, lighting, costumes, use of color and color grading… I watched it twice back-to-back.

Some cynical, racist mouth-breather tried to tell me it was just a remake of another movie (not saying which one, just in case there is a person who also escaped hearing about “Sinners”), but set in the Jim Crow South. This is one of the rare cases wherein the remix is superlative to the original song, and Hollywood managed to upcycle material.

they are the ones in the right and the only path forward

I think that is just human nature, plus propaganda is a hell of a drug. There is an overwhelming body of history, economics*, psychology… hell, even just the news, all demonstrating that it is the Capital Class versus everyone else. One only needs a shred of intellectual honesty and to scratch at the surface of any issue to reduce issues to class struggle. Once you see the patterns, they cannot be unseen regardless of how hard oligarchs push their narrative.

*Even looking at Austrian and Chicago Schools of voodoo… err, Economics lay bare the patterns of inevitable exploitation in the absence of (at least) strong Socialist controls.

For anyone stumbling into this thread, here are some non-Socialist, non-Communist media, some good entry points on what we’re up against and how these patterns just keep playing out. Even for subjects about which I knew, there were still some enriching, eye-opening bits.

• Scene on Radio (Duke and Rutger’s Universities podcast), Season 4, Rich Man’s Revolt (https://sceneonradio.org/rich-mans-revolt/)
• “New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander (https://newjimcrow.com/) - How mass incarceration is a long play to create a new slave class
• “A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn (https://files.libcom.org/files/A People’s History of the Unite - Howard Zinn.pdf)
• “Lies My Teacher Told Me” by James W Loewen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_My_Teacher_Told_Me)
• Just about anything from George Lakoff: he sounded the alarm in the 70s about how Conservatives were investing heavily in linguistics and language processing, and how Progressives were failing to invest in messaging.

I’m genuinely curious why so many downvotes. This is literally what’s going on. It’s one of very few instances in the world where claims of logical fallacy (e.g. False Dilemma) fall down.

Good thing I separated those categories with a comma.

The abandonment issues are a huge challenge. Empathy by way of anecdote: my abandonment issues as a child were so bad that I couldn’t tolerate the idea of limited edition breakfast cereals. “What if I really like this cereal and they stop making it?!”

It took me a lot of time, professional help, and mindfulness. Understanding my attachment style helped a lot. The super short, abstract spiel: attachment style is mostly set in stone; we can only work on our reactions. A positive inner voice is a huge step.

Everything as it is, I’ve started having issues with feelings of being disposable… I can’t expect people to stick around, like they’re waiting for a reason to abandon me.

That shit is going to happen. Stick with me here, because this is going to take a dark turn, but I found what works for me. You are disposable to most of the world. And you absolutely cannot expect people to stick around. To wish otherwise invites disaster. Graveyards are full of irreplaceable people.

You can, however, be such a positive addition to your physical circle (with enough self-awareness and boundaries to prevent getting exploited) such that your circle regard it as unthinkable to be without you. That positive inner voice you’re working on… great! But it’s not going to be one big thing that makes everything work better. It’s going to be lots of little (and a few big) changes that turn the ship around. Give the self-work a couple years. You may not even notice the changes, but they all add up.

In understanding your attachment style, you can more easily find people who are compatible. Spoiler alert: avoidant attachment tends to trigger people with abandonment issues; anxious-avoidant attachment styles tend to burn everything down around them.

Calm your reactivity, improve your communication and self-awareness, grow your mindfulness and acting with intention. Non-violent communication (NVC) is the kind of thing that pays dividends everywhere in life. As is mindfulness. Develop a consistent meditation routine.

In my experience, very few people are looking for the relationship exit. Those that are, you didn’t need them around.

Edit: forgot a word

My ex-wife was convinced that she was a Victorian chambermaid in a past life. The jealous lady of the house pushed her out a window, and she died upon getting impaled on a fleur-de-lis finial. sigh

Why are people who claim past life experiences always some celebrity, Victorian upper crust or adjacent, or royalty? They’re never a reincarnated plumber named Sal from Hoboken NJ. I blame the Bronte sisters.

My knee-jerk reaction is that it’s a feature, not a bug.

Not with that attitude. Serious question: how many people do you convince to take up our causes with talk like that?

Liberals are NOT allies.

And hence why I also said “potential allies.”

In my experience, talking to fence-sitters like that is counterproductive, to the point where your demeanor here feels like a psyop to undermine the stated goals. If you have means for using that language and messaging in effectively changing minds, I think we could all benefit from your wisdom.

But maybe I’m just using it so much I don’t recognize the sharp edges as much anymore.

Nah. I used to think that GUI git clients were The Way. But they all fall short, especially when the ***slightest ***thing goes sideways. Once you get your head around the paradigm, the git CLI is how you get real shit done and quickly. If anything, the GUI clients are all sharp edges and half-measures; the only reason I pull out a GUI client is to get a visual on all the branches in progress/already merged.

Your picture is literally enlightened centrism.

I would love for the Socialist ideal to be the center. So yeah, let’s keep building towards that together. Your rhetorical questions are a Straw Man fallacy. But the next time a Nazi raises a valid point (HAHAHAHAHA!), I will be sure to use that in refining my arguments and methods for moving my physical and social communities towards Socialism.

You support the abolishment of capitalism on rhetoric only

<sigh> And this is part of why we keep losing. Keep attacking allies and potential allies and see how far that gets you. I’m talking about winning hearts and minds to our cause, showing and convincing people there is a better way, while demonstrating how Capitalism is kill all of us. FWIW, I’m a founding member and board officer of my regional timebank, SPUSA member, and union shop steward. It that ain’t anti-Capitalist enough for you, well, good luck. I’m gonna continue on my path building rather than trying to tear others down.

You raise very good points. And I appreciate your long form explanation; thank you for the context.

Absolutely fuck right-wing and Democrat “reasoning” and whataboutery here. I was more thinking about leftish of center, e.g. liberal, considerations and conversations in this comm. We’re never going to win over Conservatives (well, akshually, I’ve seen good progress in my geographical community*), but the people on the fence… those are the people for whom I think it is critical that we engage their viewpoints and show them a better way. I don’t think alienating potential allies and fostering an echo chamber advances our goals.

*Pummeling fence-sitters and Conservatives with our viewpoints has only been counterproductive in my experience. Flies, honey, carrot, stick, and all that. But really (and here’s where I agree with points you raised), I think it takes a wide array of approaches to get where we want to be. We’re not going to seize control of any narratives with a Lemmy echo chamber. I think LSC is a good platform for pointing out how Capitalism is killing all of us and the planet and would love to post and see more of that here.

“Fuck Yes” to socialist, communist, and anti-capitalist discourse.

It’s your comm to mod how you see fit. However, a lack of diversity in viewpoints results in an echo chamber and circle jerk. We don’t shift the Overton Window by dismissing valid criticisms and facts we don’t like.

He said he wants to get rid of undocumented criminals

Now you’re moving the goalposts. And it’s NOT in the fucking video.

“Yes, we want to get rid of undocumented criminals in this country, that’s fine, let’s do that.” https://youtu.be/_rBm3PBFQnU?t=1426 Pay attention to his tone when he says the quote and keep watching after the quote.

There is a defined and well-trod path for deporting undocumented criminals (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkgNnbTrsgw). Being an undocumented immigrant in the US is a civil offense (which presents its own problems), not a criminal offense. Therefore, undocumented immigrants != undocumented criminals, even though undocumented criminals are still often processed through the civil system which undermines due process and the procedural safeguards of criminal proceedings.

The point that Sanders is making in the speech is that capital class is manipulating proles. The goal of the manipulation is to convince workers that immigrants are to blame for everything being so fuct. You’re zeroing in on something out of context, changing your statements, and completely neglecting the message of worker solidarity in that speech.

Regardless of how one feels about Sanders, strong borders, and punitive immigration enforcement, I think we can all get behind worker solidarity.

Nice job taking that far out of context. Sanders absolutely did not call undocumented workers “criminals.”

Look, what’s going on in the US is horrific. The lack of any due process under the Brown Shirts… errr, ICE is an abomination. But really? You’re going to resort to whatever this machination is? There are volumes of unequivocal, incontrovertible evidence you can use.

Me, before I read the article: this is nothing unusual, and I don’t see what the problem is. My employers have paid for some pretty advanced training over the years. In return, they asked me to agree to stay for six months. NBD…

Me, after the article: HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

This shift has also opened the door to a new industrial complex of employer-run, for-profit training sites and academies, which many workers are steered into when they’re hired for a job. Critics say employers now use these job training programs to force workers into debt and suppress wages, courtesy of TRAP contracts.

This is heading into Company Town territory. Seriously predatory shit.