askchapo

22931 readers
189 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try !feedback@hexbear.net if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
1576
68
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by PointAndClique@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
 
 
1577
 
 

Spoiler

About 80 % of students thought this was a swanky straw hat from the 1950s. Truth is that it’s the oldest Roman grasswork "Panama hat" extant, from Fayum in Egypt. In 2017 they radiocarbon dated it to 420-568 CE. Turns out the “Dark Ages” was really more about cool shade (Pitt Rivers Museum, UK) 🎩

https://bsky.app/profile/sarahebond.bsky.social/post/3kkzbnbwt762n

1578
62
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by Zuzak@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
 
 

I'm going to an event soon and the last time I was there there were some of those awful street preachers with megaphones shouting bigotry. They're a nuisance and nobody wants them there, but it's a public festival and evidentially they're allowed to be there.

I tried looking online (reddit-logo)and most of the advice was stupid lib shit, ranging from, "Call the cops and tell them they're violating statute blah blah blah" or, "Just ignore them, you can't change their minds and engaging just feeds their persecution complex." Obviously the cops do nothing, I don't care about changing their minds or what they think I just want to shut them up. But I also don't want to get arrested and if possible, it'd be nice to avoid disturbing the other people further.

Most likely, I'm just gonna have to endure it, but I thought I'd raise the question for brainstorming bc it feels like a common enough situation that other people will encounter it too. Best I can think is screaming something back at them emilie-shrug

UPDATE: I ended up just wearing a bunch of pride stuff and then they weren't even there lol

1579
 
 

title

1580
 
 

I'm sorry if this is an incredibly stupid question.

I usually use an app for Lemmy-ing, but I've poked around on the browser interface as well, and I just can't figure out how to look at my sent DMs. How do?

1581
 
 

For years I thought "Bring Em Young University" was a joke about the mormon practice of marrying girls to old men. Come to find out the religion was started by a guy "Brigham Young" after whom an actual university is named and nobody thinks that's weird at all.

I thought "Joe Mansion" was some kind of bizarro world "Joe the Plumber". Maybe joking about rich conservatives putting on affectations of being working class. He is actually a politician and his name is spelled "Manchin" and some people seem to think he's on the left.

1582
 
 

This actually has a real-world purpose. I'm going to get a custom baseball jersey made with the player name "KINSEY" and player number "03" to wear during pride events this coming june. I just need a good team name for it.

1583
 
 
1584
 
 
1585
 
 

Like diamat is just a method of scientific analysis. Any action compelled by that understanding is compelled by personal beliefs external to the diamat analysis? Is this right?

1586
28
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by sharkfucker420@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
 
 

I know their use case but I have no idea what it means for a region to be autonomous. Just how independant are they? What rights do they have? How are they still part of this state? How are they different from something like a canadian province or US state?

Wikipedia was little help as usual and prolewiki doesn't ever define an autonomous region afaik

I'm specifically referring to the modern day autonomous regions of china

1587
 
 

I may have a website project at work coming up where I might be having to work with a tribal police department of an indigenous tribe to “present themselves in a better way.” My gut reaction is absolutely not, I don’t want to be part of helping an PR initiative of an oppressive institution. But I don’t actually know much about tribal police and how they may differ. US police of course serve the role of capitalist spearhead against those affected by the consequences of capitalism. Do tribal police serve the same role, but just specific to indigenous tribes? My assumption was they’re a settler colonial institution imported to tribal groups as a means of control and conditioning. But is that true? Or are they more integrated into their communities and don’t really serve as a capitalist vanguard because of the unique material conditions etc of indigenous tribes? How should I feel about working with them?

1588
 
 

That was pretty funny

1589
 
 

Well? owl-pissed

1590
 
 

This is what I'm starting to think. She obviously can't win a primary, even with her experience at VP. This is their only shot. They tried really hard to make her a thing in 2020.

What do y'all think?

1591
 
 

For example, if you believe people living in a capitalist society should be allowed to own firearms for self defense, would that change for you under AES? Why?

1592
1593
 
 

Currently in the capitalist west, people who have a large sway over how society is run display a disturbing lack of competence.

I mean, Trump and Bidens teams have both been in control of the most expensive military in the world. So they understand the long term impact of launching a nuke? I doubt it.

Elon Musk is in control of a huge electric car company. Doe he understand (or care) how to safely manage lithium? Mining? Is he even an engineer? He also controls the largest social media platform in the world, yet it's pretty clear he doesn't know (or maybe care) how to responsibly manage it.

What do you think? Should people have to be well educated in what they're in charge in? Should they have to display competence or be fired?

In a capitalist society, it might be elitist to say it, but in a society where education is free and everyone's needs are met? I think peoples competentcy in a wide range of disciplines should be highly scrutinized if they're going to be in control of something that affects everyone.

You wouldn't want someone operating on you if they weren't a certified surgeon, right?

What do you think? What should the prerequisites for power be?

1594
 
 
1595
 
 

I’m not even American, so it doesn’t affect me directly, but I am scared to death of a Trump presidency.

I am one of those people here who think that Biden is a far more competent executor of imperialist policies compared to Trump, but what I am even more afraid of is the early death of nascent left wing movements in America.

I am reminded of how the KPD getting its leaders murdered by Freikorps thugs during the Spartacist uprising (mind you, a much stronger party than any leftist movement in America today), and how its continued suppression paved the way to Nazi Germany.

Project 2025 will effectively embolden fascist thugs in America to do the same to the left wing movements, many of which are still in their cradle, and the death of leftist movements in their infancies will inevitably pave the way to a fascist America and undo many of the progress that had been made over decades.

The world cannot afford a fascist America. Imagine Hitler with nukes. The world will have to pay a much, much larger price as a result.

On this reasoning alone, I believe that Trump needs to be stopped at all cost. But many here have disagreed with me, and I need you to persuade me why I shouldn’t be afraid of Project 2025 at all. Even if the chance of that happening is 10%, I’m still not ready to gamble with it.

(I’m not saying we have to support Biden, I believe it is somewhat inevitable, I’m saying that we have to buy ourselves as much time as possible, even if it means strategic voting, to build a resilient leftist movement while delaying the inevitable for as long as we can.)

1596
1597
1598
 
 

Who are some people that started out as ghouls and made a turn for the better? Bonus points if it came suddenly and from their own realization.

I thought about this for a while and the ones I could come up with aren't really that good.

  • Emperor Puyi.
  • Jeffrey Sachs went from doing shock therapy to Russia to defending their right to defend against NATO expansionism on a lib news show, but that's been his only good moment to my knowledge.
  • Jimmy Carter but he never changed course when he needed to, not much he can do to undo the harm he did as president.
  • Patty Hearst but she really wasn't doing anything bad, just came from a wealthy and powerful family much like Puyi.
  • Pat Tillman was deployed when he had a change of heart and contacted a bunch of reporters, sadly he was killed by another troop before he got to make much of a difference.
  • Peter Daou but he's largely irrelevant
  • That natsec ghoul that wrote the article about quitting her job because she doesn't want to be complicit in genocide.
  • Whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning? I don't know off the top of my head how involved she ever was with the war on terror, but she was a troop.
  • Malala and Greta were never ghouls, but did grow from lib media darlings to qin-shi-huangdi-fireball over time so honorable mention to both of them.

I guess the most obvious example that does satisfy my criteria is Kissinger, who really popped off when he died.

edit: You do not, in fact, have to hand it to Puyi before he was re-educated.

1599
 
 

Help find similar quotes? related: Voters upset choosing between the two US oligarch partys "get over yourselves" said Hillary.

I thought this would make a good post if I could find 3 or 4 quotes from modern autocrat leaders, and also historic autocratic leaders. Iconic like Bush's "mission accomplished" and other poigniant sound-bite sentences that boils down the very essence on out-of-touch dictator lackeys just spewing utterly inane nothings at a time of historic social change.

1600
 
 

Before we begin, here's a few that I've been workshopping, but I'm trying to think of something really catchy that can catch on in greater public discourse that really describes Israeli atrocities, particularly in Gaza. I personally think this kind of language virus is really helpful in changing minds and bringing people to rethinking positions.

  • Infant Destruction Force
  • Infant Decimation Force
  • Infant Decapitation Force
  • Invading Democidal Force/Functionaries/Fuckers

I've just been going with Infant Destruction Force for accuracy and brevity, but in my mind I've reached the point where it's time to get some help and input from the greater collective.

view more: ‹ prev next ›