askchapo

I'm at such an intersection of privilege that I don't think I considered politics in any meaningful way until my early 20s when I got hit with the libertarian propaganda and realized that maybe the police and army are political actually.

I always hear of people doing such great work and being so political in their teenage years ago I wonder if it's more common for someone to not engage in politics until adulthood line myself or if it's truly just my position in life that allowed me to be ignorant for so long.

I remember buying a shirt with "fuck politics I just want to burn shit down" when I was around 17 and honestly edginess was I think my entire ideology at the time

Fun fact : it's my first ever post on any lemmy instance/community ...which is messed up..

Okay tbh I don't know if I should have posted this some place else or if here is just fine

So I'm brand new here, I've joined as lemm.ee was going to shut down. I only chose Hexbear because of how big and active it is, and of course for all its shade of leftism (being far left myself) but tbh that part was just a plus for me, what I wanted more was an opened enough instance, an inclusive one with enough peace of mind (not having to deal with unhinged/oppressing posts/comments daily).

But I started noticing that actually Hexbear had been defederated from some big instances like lemmy.world, upon trying to understand why I stumbled upon lemmy.world ~~BS~~ post explaining they did it for preemptive reasons (wtf 💀), obviously I just dismissed lemmy.world entirely and continued enjoying my time here. But then I noticed other instances like Blahaj blocked Hexbear as well and a bunch of others, I never found out why.

Then, while trying to understand what's with all the defederating I stumbled upon a lot of negative noise against Hexbear, claiming you lot are doing some horrid stuff like war crimes denial, trolling, hate speech, spreading pro-Russian propaganda (like anti Ukrainian stuff don't misinterpret me here, I'm fine with anti-western views or western propaganda skepticism), so much so I don't really know if what I read was some kind of fascists trying to slander this place, or people confused about Hexbear political views, or if it's linked to some Hexbear history I'm not aware of... It's just weird because so far I haven't encountered anything I could hold against this instance, for all I've seen you're all sweet and making nice content, haven't seen anything unhinged, but what makes me uneasy is this defederating thing, I can't help but wonder why.

I'm really confused. Can someone explain to me what this is all about ? Is it just some right wing noise, some unknown drama or what ?

Edit (in case any of you see it): Thanks a lot everyone for all your answers, kind words, jokes, emojis and for being so welcoming. What you all said was very informative, and most of it I sadly expected. Having taken a liking to lemmy I knew that whatever I'd learn it'd be a cause for concern, it saddens me that several instances, big ones at that, would just make more room for the far right by suppressing leftists and spreading hate. As always in any such case I can't say I'm surprised but it worries and disgust me nonetheless. Anyway I'm glad I found this place :)

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/5433240

We survived the hospital. Now we’re fighting to find a safe home.

Hey comrades 💙

I’m reaching out again because my sisters and I really need your help right now. Thanks to your incredible support before, my sisters were able to get the emergency medical care they needed .. you truly saved their lives. Now we’re facing the next big challenge: finding a safe place to stay.

Right now, we’re stuck in a temporary spot that’s not safe or permanent. We could be asked to leave any time, and with things getting worse for LGBTQ+ people here, it’s terrifying not knowing what could happen next.

We can’t go back to the Gorom camp .. the host community doesn’t want us there anymore. UNHCR told us to stay in Juba while they keep working on our resettlement, but they’re out of donations due to the global crisis. They asked us to try to “blend in” here for now, but that’s almost impossible without a safe place. There are over 300 LGBTQ+ refugees here from Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Congo in the same struggle after camp attack and no safe house is big enough for everyone.

So we’re trying to get a small, affordable apartment here in Juba that can fit the four of us together. Somewhere we can finally feel safe and breathe again.

So far, I’ve raised $66 through my GoFundMe, but it’s not nearly enough yet. Here’s our budget for this move:

🚐 Transport to Juba for 4 people = $100–150 🏠 Initial rent + deposit (1–2 months) =$250–350 🛏 Bedding and essentials (mattresses, blankets, cooking items) = $150 🍲 Food & basics for the first month = $200 🏥 Follow-up checkups and meds =$50

📌 Estimated total needed: $700–850

This would cover getting us to Juba safely, securing a small apartment, and making sure we have food and the meds my sisters still need.

Any support donations, shares, or advice on safe places would mean everything to us right now. Every dollar brings us closer to safety and keeps us off the streets. 💜

The mutual aid link is in my profile just tap my name. Thank you so much for standing with us.

I think there is currently Tumblr, Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky and Facebook.

Anything else?

I peed the bed last night when i saw RNAI posting, solely because of his avatar

I understand it’s being misused by people who don’t need it, particularly in the entertainment industry. But I’m almost 400 lbs and my eating is worse than it’s ever been and I’m just in desperate need to rid myself of this obsession with always eating more no matter what. Does anyone here have any experience with it? I’ve heard it just works by making you nauseous but I’ve read elsewhere that that’s just a common side effect. At this point I’m nauseous most of the time anyway.

In my experience, people don't like to be on the wrong side of an issue. When confronted with evidence, people with reactionary ideas tend to get very angry and go bad faith. I guess that would be the cognitive dissonance playing out. I think we've all seen many a lib get ultra shitty when clear facts are ruining their ideology.

So here's my history:

Around 2020ish and the protests after the George Floyd murder, many BIPOC activists were calling out the bullshit of white and/or men amongst the liberal and left crowds. For a small amount of time, maybe two months, I played around with the ideas of stupidpol and class determinism. I was probably butthurt for being silenced, which doesn't actually really happen anyways. The funny thing was that as COVID went on, it was a masterclass in how terrible white/male progressives are. Also Hexbear became big as lockdowns happened, and my thinking has changed to "white guys fucking suck, and if a marginalised person argues with you, you're better off just shutting the fuck up".

I gotta go way back in time to find the previous instance. When I was maybe 13, before the internet was a thing, I just to get really damn upset at my older sister calling out her brothers' sexism. It was a long ass time ago, but I remember feeling red hot angry at feminists. If 4chan or TikTok existed, it would probably channel me into shitty manoshpere ideals. Thankfully I was mostly occupied with WarCraft2 missions and Sim City. It's far too long ago to remember who was right.

Unrelated to what happened in my teen years, but I'm sad to report that my sister is now an insufferable lib.

What does aura farming mean? Where did it come from? Everyone is saying it all of a sudden.

I don't know the context. The Bluesky post merely said...

This is insane.

So im bisexual (technically pan but whatever) . Im in my 30s. Not a bottom

I have only been in one real relationship with a woman before but im considering to give grinder a try some time this year. (or any other app really)

I live in a city (europe) so I assume theres enough gay men around. Despite being attracted to "some" men I have spend little time thinking about it. I dont really spend time in queer spaces and im pretty much straight passing.

Is there anything I should know about dating other men or male presenting people ? Any tips or input are welcome since im a complete novice on the field

First off, no one got hurt, his car was fine, mine has a fucked up rear bumper, tail lights, and the trunk won't close on its own but its tied shut with paracord for now. He was actually really chill about it despite it being my fault since I was signalling one way but decided to turn the other way at the last second, which was dumb. I was pretty badly shaken up by it last night but after a bunch of emotional support phone calls, quite a bit of crying, and a good night's sleep I think I'm feeling okay.

In terms of the practical matters I think I've got the big picture down. I have the other guys number and the accident report thing the cop gave us and I've gotta get in contact with my insurance and go to an autobody shop to see what they can do.

I come to the nice people of the bearsite to see if anyone has pointers so I can avoid any newbie mistakes. Particularly I'm wary of being overcharged for services at repair shops but anything about navigating the aftermath of one of these things would be appreciated.

Being less of a car-centric burger has been one of my goals and I think this whole event might be a nice motivator to get to work on that.

I think they're cute, and I've heard even some people scared of spiders like them.

Jumping spider picture

Like I get the historical thing with the heir to Muhammad, but what is there actual doctrinal disagreement?

More Info About Open Access.

Like one time I was fighting with my partner and it felt like we were an entire football field away from each other even though we were just across the room. And every time they talked I physically felt like I was the size of a doll.

Or sometimes on bad dysphoria days I’ll watch myself type and my thumbs will look huge to me. Or sometimes they’ll feel really far away.

Is there a name for this? Is it indicative of anything?

I want to say "choke on pasta you fucking worthless Fredo" and I want to make sure he actually sees it.

Any of you liberals have his number or something?

I think this tends to happen when people move away from their homeland and raise their kids elsewhere. Especially if your parents are committed to Americanizing. I'm not sure how else to understand them not teaching me so much basic stuff about the biggest holidays of my culture. Like New Years related things, for example. It makes me sad that I celebrated half of only some holidays.

Honestly maybe it's because they were poor. I will ask them about this. Poverty probably changed what traditions they practiced.

Recently I've had some frustrating conversations with people. Someone said Oregon is "deeply red", which sounds like an absolutely unhinged thing to say when you consider all branches of government in OR are controlled by Dems.

I'm sure I was rude to the person, but I tried to explain how ridiculous that is. If Oregon is deeply red then what is Alabama? Just because the rural areas are conservative? I spent way too long on this one.

Anyway how do you handle this kind of nonsense in the world? I usually just say what I'm thinking to people these days, but more and more it's feeling like I should just stfu and let people believe whatever

many of these states and their governments are openly hostile to communist elements, but a communist party actively opposing their government would risk destabilising it and then playing themselves directly into the hands of the imperialist states. an indefinite "united front" would be desirable, especially in countries like iran, but it seems all leftist organisations in these states have either decided to fully support the government in everything, becoming controlled opposition (KPRF in Russia) or western puppets like (MEK) or whatever the fuck the "leftist opposition" in russia, belarus is.

Uncle of mine years ago before he passed on. He looked unimposing but one day he lifts an engine block. Anyone who has worked with them knows how heavy they are and he just hoists it. On this continent you see a lot of crazy things working in manual labour.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post, lemme know if so.
So I've had a rough last couple of years. Moved to California for a job that a friend offered me that didn't end up working out well for me. Ended up in some pretty decent debt, destroyed my credit, I was smoking way too much as an escape and a ended up a bit depressed. Recently I've moved back home and I am living with my parents as a 30 something year old, got off the pot and back on the right kind of meds that work well for me. Right now I'm back working in the restaurant industry and not super happy with it, but it's a decent place, the bosses are relatively chill and the pay is OK for where I'm living now.
What I'd like to do is any decent paying career that would let me do the majority of my work from home. Now that I'm in a stable situation and medicated I wouldn't mind going back to school to accomplish this. My hometown has a pretty good/cheap community college that would be easy for me to enroll in.
So my question is, in this economy what should I look into? I thought about graphic design, but from what I've read the job market is flooded and it probably wouldn't be that great of an idea for someone with next to zero experience. I have considered coding, but I'm worried that the market there is flooded as well and it probably won't get any better with the rise of AI.
Anyone have a career they're actually happy in? Any ideas at all would be great. Thank you in advance for your advice!

Where we're walkin' he-ah one, we're walkin' he-ah all.

Given the chance that Zohran wins the general and start working on these huge public projects, it might be cool to help comrades move to NYC. There is more organizing to do and a short window to take advantage of momentum.

If I may, uh, borrow a quote from our friends, the imperialists:

Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences.

If we can light up NYC, then we can light up any major or minor city. The finance capital of the world can become the catalyst for the end of finance capital.

To hedge against any struggle sessions. This isn't "You're bad leftist if you don't move your life around for this one event" This is more for people who have the ability/privilege of being able to drop everything. We need comrades everywhere so no sweat if you can't move.

Questions I have:

1. Currently, which areas need the most help in terms of organizing?
2. Which local orgs can I join and are they connected to national orgs?
3. Which areas should non-locals stay away from in the interest of not disrupting current organizing/community efforts?
4. What are vooooting requirements/limitations for out-of-towners?