Zuzak

Something something egg hunt

Graphic design is my passion

I don't usually use forums or Lemmy, I usually just post comments on SocDem blogs but they didn't seem appropriate places to post my story. So here goes, I just wanted to share this with all of you.

Aug 8 I checked out Lemmy, I did lemmy.world then lemm.ee then hexbear.net next. I am an SocDem so I wanted to see socialists in these places. Yes, I know they are different kinds of "socialists" and not really full socialists like us. I went to Hexbear, which everyone knows is famous for its revolutionary socialism.

We started talking about politics and socialism. I was trying to talk about the right, they were like yeah no doubt the right was bad. But they wanted to talk about Western hegemony, Western hegemony this and that. This is when we started to get into a debate.

I told them that what they called Western hegemony is different from the rules based order. They said the rules based order is Western hegemony. And I said I agreed. That is what I am saying. Real Western hegemony is a rules based order. And they said yes, that is what we are trying to get rid of. And I said no, but we don't even have that right now. We need more Western hegemony. And everyone at the same time was like "nooo" we are socialists, we are against Western hegemony. Socialists oppose Western hegemony. And I said but not social democrats. Social democrats are the socialists who support NATO.

I think that is when it started to get a really bad vibe, really tense in the air. The hegemony thing was funny, we disagreed but I think they thought I was just confused. Everyone was uncomfortable now. Then someone said the rules based order won't allow international solidarity. And I said exactly, that's it, international solidarity is against the rules based order. And they kind of agreed, and said yes, we don't have real international solidarity, just imperialism, and we needed to respect Russian security concerns. I said no, we need less support for Russia, Russia is the enemy. And we need to defeat Russia to have socialism. Then they were all like "noooo" again. You know that thing people do in groups when everyone all says "nooo" or expresses some disapproval at the same time.

And one of them said "but Putin is a neoliberal transphobe" and then they kind of spoke back and forth in emojis. I didn't really understand it. And they asked me what I meant.

So I said okay, I had the floor, I was going to tell them about social democracy. I tried to explain to them that Putin was exactly like Hitler and that China is genociding Uighurs. I said the democrats have our best interests at heart and they had to increase military spending to counter foreign threats. They are trying their best. They said what do we want instead of communism. I said we want to defend the international order against anyone who defies it. They said that is what we have now. I said no, it would be even better. One of the guys said it was imperialism. And I said it is not imperialism.

Eventually one of the posters spoke up. He said he knew what social democracy was and that we were basically fascists. He asked me if the IMF should be the only choice for developing counties. And I said yes. And he asked me if I thought people outside the imperial core were brainwashed. And I told him yes. He said what about immigrants and racism. And I said that that wouldn't happen under Western hegemony. But yes, Democrats could put immigrants in cages if they wanted to. They had to respect Western hegemony.

Then he called me a fascist again, and someone else said I was a fascist. And then they basically all started shouting fascist at me, and one of them posted a pig with shit on it's testicles and told me to go fuck myself. I remember yelling "you're being authoritarian!" and things like that. "Stop suppressing my free speech." Then the mods banned me for 1984 years.

So they were rude and authoritarian. I knew the tankies were not real socialists, but I never knew they would do something that bad.

Several people asked for a follow up after I asked if I should do it. Well, I did it. It didn't go quite as smoothly as it did in my head, but the important thing is that I saved the yaois and didn't get caught. Gay crime committed successfully

:mission-accomplished::mission-accomplished-1::mission-accomplished-2::mission-accomplished:

Posting about it might be dumb, but even if someone doxxed me, nobody else at work knew it existed so I'm pretty sure they'd just look like a crazy person. If anyone asks, I made this story up for Hexbear clout, also it was a satirical parody about capitalism's wasteful tendencies, also it all happened in Minecraft.

Another funny angle to this story: years ago, I lived in Japan for a bit, and collected way too much stuff and tried to ship it back in a huge overstuffed box. The box burst open, and I lost most of what was in it - including some NSFW yuri stuff. Once, my gay porn wound up in the hands of a random warehouse worker. Now, I'm a random warehouse worker, and someone else's gay porn has wound up in my hands. The circle is now complete, the cosmic balance is restored. Just like the Biblical story of Job, the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away :theory-gary:

I'm not quite at a place where I can inspect my haul throughly, so I will provide more details on this story as it develops.

So I work at this warehouse that salvages old technology, like when a company gets rid of stuff they send it to us and we sort out what's scrap and what's valuable. Sometimes, we get random office supplies like stress balls or desk organizers or whatever, and generally we either throw them out or swipe them to have at our workstations.

Well, today I was going through a box and I found some weeb stuff, like anime posters and stuff. There was a big Monster Hunter: World book, a book about sushi, one about Edward Snowden, just random stuff. Then I see a book with Lelouch from Code Geass with his hand on Suzaku's chest, and at first I think it's just an art book because the official Code Geass art is super homoerotic, but nope. Turns out, I found someone's porn stash. And it's all in mint condition (thank god).

So like, rationally, I should just throw it away, right? But then goblin brain just starts screaming at me, "You have to save the yaois!" It's not even, like, if I just wanted that stuff I could buy it, but like, gay porn that I stole from work is like, that's a fucking magic item. It's like, the story, the bragging rights, it's just this impulse. Also I hate throwing stuff away especially when it's like brand new, and the (sfw) Monster Hunter book looks like I could sell it for like, $80 or something if I could get it out. So for now I just put it in an inconspicuous box.

Should I do gay crime??? I would have to get it past security, but they're mostly concerned about metal items. Should tell someone I found "some books" and see if I can get permission? Should I just forget about it because it's dumb and irresponsible??? Help.

Treat Defender:

• "Let people enjoy things"

• Just wants to shut brain off and relax

• Shit taste

Treat Assassin:

• Powerful crit(icism)s

• Appears out of nowhere and identifies flaws and weaknesses you never would've noticed but now can never ignore again

• Mysteriously fades into shadows when their own treats come under attack

Treat Mage:

• Nuanced, insightful analysis, can find positive/negative aspects in just about anything

• Flexible offensive and defensive options

• Susceptible to bullying, avoids direct confrontation

Treat Paladin:

• Likes good things

• Doesn't like bad things

• Simple as

• Nobody wants to hang with them because they feel threatened by their moral superiority and obviously correct takes

Treat Cleric:

• Long list of rules for not engaging with things that others find frustrating and arbitrary

• Has one specific domain of treat they enjoy

• Wouldn't watch a Miyazaki movie because it's anime

• Somehow keeps being right about stuff

Treat Warlock:

• "So bad it's good," cult classics

• Will happily explain how their favorite treat is problematic in ways you never would've considered

• Lack of practical effects their third biggest issue with capitalism

• Nobody told them irony is dead

TYS, add your own

I feel like the bizarre, nonsense logic of capitalism does a lot to obscure how much of a difference even a small increase in wages can make for people. Like, many people may see it as, a $1 raise for someone making $10/hr is the equivalent of a $2 raise to someone making $20/hr. But this is totally wrong.

The problem is that this accept the capitalistic logic in which everything is a commodity and all desires are the same and equal. You get your paycheck, and you may choose to spend it on food, video games, shelter, Funko Pops, you know, whatever you want. Obviously, this is a false equivalence. A certain standard of living is necessary just to survive and remain healthy enough to work. Since that standard of living is a prerequisite to working, treating it as just another option of what luxuries to buy makes no sense.

Rather, since people will have to spend a certain amount of money on necessities, then we can treat that money as earmarked from the moment they collect their paycheck. Which means that, rather that saying, "You get paid $10/hr," from another perspective, we can say, "Your boss provides you with room and board and transportation, and then an additional $1/hr." I know these numbers aren't super accurate, but just for the example to get the concept, if we say that $9 is what you need to survive, then at $10/hr you're really making "Necessities + $1/hr," and an increase from $10 to $11 is not merely a 10% raise - it's double what you were making before (after necessities).

The cost to provide the basic necessities does not increase as people get wealthier (contrary to what many economists seem to think), so you can subtract the same amount from the $20/hr wage and see that that person makes "Necessities + $11/hr." To get the same doubling of discretionary spending as a $1 raise at $10, you would have to go from $20 to $33. Which is fucking wild. As far as I can tell the biggest challenge to this is defining the cost of necessities, which can vary from place to place, but otherwise it sees to check out, conceptually.

The lesson here is that the law of diminishing returns is way more powerful than people give it credit for, and that a job that pays even a little bit more can make a big difference for a lot of people.