Ts4EVER

I don't like this "decadence" narrative, partly because it reminds me of all the pre-WW1 talk of "the cleansing bath of steel" and stuff like that, considering how that turned out. We shouldn't dismiss advances of western civilisation as making us "weaker". If anything, actually embodying these ideals would be a great advantage when it comes to checking the influence of autocracies in the developing world. I mean, how can we expect them to see the light of democracy and freedom if our actions are so often obviously guided by economic self-interest?
Also, it is easy to talk the big talk if you are not the one who will be sent into the meatgrinder if push comes to shove. Sometimes I wish the boomers would find the same sudden steely resolve in response to inequality and injustice within their own societies, but sadly it seems reserved for external enemies...

Imagine a group of scientists discussing some of the finer points of cladistic analysis of dinosaurs when suddenly the most inbred, subhuman redneck you can imagine bursts in and says "God made the earth in 7 days though!". That is basically what you just did.

Imagine a group of scientists discussing some of the finer points of cladistic analysis of dinosaurs when suddenly the most inbred, subhuman redneck you can imagine bursts in and says "God made the earth in 7 days though!". That is basically what you just did.

I don't like this "decadence" narrative, partly because it reminds me of all the pre-WW1 talk of "the cleansing bath of steel" and stuff like that, considering how that turned out. We shouldn't dismiss advances of western civilisation as making us "weaker". If anything, actually embodying these ideals would be a great advantage when it comes to checking the influence of autocracies in the developing world. I mean, how can we expect them to see the light of democracy and freedom if our actions are so often obviously guided by economic self-interest?
Also, it is easy to talk the big talk if you are not the one who will be sent into the meatgrinder if push comes to shove. Sometimes I wish the boomers would find the same sudden steely resolve in response to inequality and injustice within their own societies, but sadly it seems reserved for external enemies...

Imagine a group of scientists discussing some of the finer points of cladistic analysis of dinosaurs when suddenly the most inbred, subhuman redneck you can imagine bursts in and says "God made the earth in 7 days though!". That is basically what you just did.

Imagine a group of scientists discussing some of the finer points of cladistic analysis of dinosaurs when suddenly the most inbred, subhuman redneck you can imagine bursts in and says "God made the earth in 7 days though!". That is basically what you just did.

Imagine a group of scientists discussing some of the finer points of cladistic analysis of dinosaurs when suddenly the most inbred, subhuman redneck you can imagine bursts in and says "God made the earth in 7 days though!". That is basically what you just did.

Advancing towards Kherson, the one city they were able to take.

The figure of the "leader" is also quite different in both, a fact often lost on us "liberal minded" people who just see despotism in both cases. To give you an example, an old joke / metaphor, originally told (I think) by Slavoj Zizek:
In Nazi Germany, let's picture Hitler holding some kind of horrible speech against the Jews and with all his standard stuff. At the end, some party member stands up and says: "Mein Führer, that was a nice speech, but some of the stuff you said was simply wrong." Then another guy stands up and says: "How dare you criticise the Führer? Don't you know that he leads Germany by provenance? We don't challenge those who lead us into a greater future in the fight against the Jews etc. etc. etc." After the session the first guy would be sidelined and the second guy would have some shiny new medals and titles.
Same scenario with Stalin: The first guy will be put on the next train to the Gulags, but guess who will be already waiting there? Guy number 2. Why? Because Stalin is not REALLY the leader, of COURSE you can criticise comrade Stalin, we are among equals here... BUT MOST SMART PEOPLE DON'T DO IT. The act of pointing out the reality of the situation (Stalin is a strongman) is in itself treasonous.
The "God" of fascism is a two-part one: The leader and the "People", whoever that is. The "God" of communism is history, or more exactly the inevitable march of it towards communism. If you believe that (and this is my personal big beef with Marx, I think this is where he falters in his analysis), then all responsibility is taken from those in power, because they can rationalise any evil they do by claiming that it is in service of "historical necessity". Basically "who cares if I have caused a few million people to starve, this was a historical necessicity and I just acted as its agent."

Don't let the American police see that, or they'll order rocket launchers for routine traffic controls.

Don't let the American police see that, or they'll order rocket launchers for routine traffic controls.

Don't let the American police see that, or they'll order rocket launchers for routine traffic controls.

The figure of the "leader" is also quite different in both, a fact often lost on us "liberal minded" people who just see despotism in both cases. To give you an example, an old joke / metaphor, originally told (I think) by Slavoj Zizek:
In Nazi Germany, let's picture Hitler holding some kind of horrible speech against the Jews and with all his standard stuff. At the end, some party member stands up and says: "Mein Führer, that was a nice speech, but some of the stuff you said was simply wrong." Then another guy stands up and says: "How dare you criticise the Führer? Don't you know that he leads Germany by provenance? We don't challenge those who lead us into a greater future in the fight against the Jews etc. etc. etc." After the session the first guy would be sidelined and the second guy would have some shiny new medals and titles.
Same scenario with Stalin: The first guy will be put on the next train to the Gulags, but guess who will be already waiting there? Guy number 2. Why? Because Stalin is not REALLY the leader, of COURSE you can criticise comrade Stalin, we are among equals here... BUT MOST SMART PEOPLE DON'T DO IT. The act of pointing out the reality of the situation (Stalin is a strongman) is in itself treasonous.
The "God" of fascism is a two-part one: The leader and the "People", whoever that is. The "God" of communism is history, or more exactly the inevitable march of it towards communism. If you believe that (and this is my personal big beef with Marx, I think this is where he falters in his analysis), then all responsibility is taken from those in power, because they can rationalise any evil they do by claiming that it is in service of "historical necessity". Basically "who cares if I have caused a few million people to starve, this was a historical necessicity and I just acted as its agent."

The figure of the "leader" is also quite different in both, a fact often lost on us "liberal minded" people who just see despotism in both cases. To give you an example, an old joke / metaphor, originally told (I think) by Slavoj Zizek:
In Nazi Germany, let's picture Hitler holding some kind of horrible speech against the Jews and with all his standard stuff. At the end, some party member stands up and says: "Mein Führer, that was a nice speech, but some of the stuff you said was simply wrong." Then another guy stands up and says: "How dare you criticise the Führer? Don't you know that he leads Germany by provenance? We don't challenge those who lead us into a greater future in the fight against the Jews etc. etc. etc." After the session the first guy would be sidelined and the second guy would have some shiny new medals and titles.
Same scenario with Stalin: The first guy will be put on the next train to the Gulags, but guess who will be already waiting there? Guy number 2. Why? Because Stalin is not REALLY the leader, of COURSE you can criticise comrade Stalin, we are among equals here... BUT MOST SMART PEOPLE DON'T DO IT. The act of pointing out the reality of the situation (Stalin is a strongman) is in itself treasonous.
The "God" of fascism is a two-part one: The leader and the "People", whoever that is. The "God" of communism is history, or more exactly the inevitable march of it towards communism. If you believe that (and this is my personal big beef with Marx, I think this is where he falters in his analysis), then all responsibility is taken from those in power, because they can rationalise any evil they do by claiming that it is in service of "historical necessity". Basically "who cares if I have caused a few million people to starve, this was a historical necessicity and I just acted as its agent."

This is only true about the Communists and Fascists if you choose to ignore literally everything theyve ever said about themselves, their origins and rises to power, and of course what they thought about each other. This kind of thing is like doing history where you get to exclude everything thats inconvenient for your argument. We already have that discipline, its called political science. Seriously though IDK why people try to bend over backwards to excuse the right from the crimes of the people who tried to be apart of its movement. Its like the left is responsible for all the horrors of the world while the right gives out guns, lollipops, and tax vouchers. But saying the Nazis were left wingers flys in the face of not only what they said, but what contemporaries even thought about them. Unless you think Paul von Hindenburg was gunning for a socialist revolution in Germany.
The left/right spectrum is dumb and meaningless. Attaching meaning to it is the death of all truth. You will tie yourself into pretzels trying to determine whether one group is truly left or truly right. We live in a three dimensional world, our politics are multidimensional and cannot be place on a one dimensional spectrum, horseshoe, or cartesian plane. 

I'm a teacher in Germany and already have a few Ukrainian refugees in my classrooms. Sadly I mostly teach English and they don't learn that there, so basically they are at the utterly wrong level for my classes. So I mostly give them German as foreign language material or Ukrainian textbooks on an Ipad for self learning, but all of this is not really a satisfactory solution.

I'm a teacher in Germany and already have a few Ukrainian refugees in my classrooms. Sadly I mostly teach English and they don't learn that there, so basically they are at the utterly wrong level for my classes. So I mostly give them German as foreign language material or Ukrainian textbooks on an Ipad for self learning, but all of this is not really a satisfactory solution.

I'm a teacher in Germany and already have a few Ukrainian refugees in my classrooms. Sadly I mostly teach English and they don't learn that there, so basically they are at the utterly wrong level for my classes. So I mostly give them German as foreign language material or Ukrainian textbooks on an Ipad for self learning, but all of this is not really a satisfactory solution.

I'm a teacher in Germany and already have a few Ukrainian refugees in my classrooms. Sadly I mostly teach English and they don't learn that there, so basically they are at the utterly wrong level for my classes. So I mostly give them German as foreign language material or Ukrainian textbooks on an Ipad for self learning, but all of this is not really a satisfactory solution.

I'm a teacher in Germany and already have a few Ukrainian refugees in my classrooms. Sadly I mostly teach English and they don't learn that there, so basically they are at the utterly wrong level for my classes. So I mostly give them German as foreign language material or Ukrainian textbooks on an Ipad for self learning, but all of this is not really a satisfactory solution.

Thing with average income is that in a society characterised by big inequality it can be quite misleading. My guess is that these crimes are caused by a mixture of envy, frustration with the situation and an attempt to regain control through terror.

I dont think it will be back to the status quo after. China will not want to have the possibility of those sanctions, so they will start to create alternative institutions to the IWF, world bank etc. (already have their own SWIFT like system in place). If Ukraine wins this war, which seems more and more likely, it will still in hindsight be seen as a zenith of western power and the end of western led globalization.

Hello, I am Vladimir Putin and this is Jackass.

Hello, I am Vladimir Putin and this is Jackass.

Hello, I am Vladimir Putin and this is Jackass.