commiewolf

I happen to be friends with a Libertarian from the US, rural fellow, but heir to a lot of money from his family, and is genuinely a party member who's voted for them multiple times. The way it goes with him is the two of us argue over capitalism constantly, and theres no way I can convince him of many Marxist ideas, but the difference between him and any normal libs, which I've noticed, is that unlike a lib, who would only become skeptical of US crimes overseas if it's the "wrong team", he immediately is opposed regardless of who says it, and his opinions on US involvement in foreign countries lines up 100% with mine, despite arriving at those conclusions from very different ideological backgrounds.

I have more hope for this type of person than I do with any liberal, who will only ever have the right opinion on war, genocide, and apartheid decades after it's long over and too late.

A US libertarian who is genuinely anti-war has a more noble cause than most of what passes for "Left" in US politics. Really says a lot.

I'm very aware, and as such I assess them by how they exist today. When the time comes that the situation improves, I'll be the first to change my mind, as should everyone.

You may be confusing "Maoism" with "Marxism-Leninism Mao Zedong Thought" (MLMZT) which is the actual ideology of the People's Republic of China. It's confusing when you're learning about it for the first time, and I do wish they had a more distinct name so as not to confuse sensible and successful ideologies with crackpot ultras so frequently.

I wouldn't say it doesn't hurt, the US's anti-zionist movements have been largely peaceful and very very careful not to make any mistakes and give the rabidly zionist media and government any justifications or ammunition to persecute them for their protest, and even still, they are rounding up people like Mahmoud Khalil by associating calls for divestment from Israel to terrorism. There was also just a couple of weeks back a proposed bill that would impose draconian laws criminalizing BDS actions in the US, and it just about failed to pass. Over the last month they even released some of those who had been detained for their protests against Israel. They were losing the narrative that anti-Zionism was somehow terrorism. Sure enough, shortly after these events, we get this shooting in DC.

I'm not saying it's a false flag, at least not confidently, but this runs against all better judgement for the USA's own anti-Zionist movement, and just so happens to come when it benefits Zionists the most.

Far from it, I am fairly pragmatic when it comes to most things. I simply do not believe that looking for political or social validation from an entertainment medium that is made in large part by and for those who are most opposed to Socialism in general to be a worthwhile or rewarding endeavor. I like a fair few videogames myself, because they can be entertaining, not because they have perfect political themes, in the vast majority of cases they don't, and for the exceedingly few that do, I simply said it is a pleasant surprise.

I can't speak for every single videogame, I have not played all of them (of course), but I merely mean it in the sense that apart from maybe select independently developed titles, the vast majority of videogames are developed by large corporate entities with a profit motive first and foremost, and in turn the majority of games are specifically marketed towards those with disposable income from a certain social class. Videogames are an expensive medium, and on average the most expensive form of digital entertainment, with a high barrier of entry through hardware, internet and game costs themselves, then on top of that often also large time investments, microtransactions, subscription fees etc. It is not at all a coincidence that the "Gamer" sphere leans the way it does politically, dominated by primarily western, white, and young adult men, who have disproportionately more money and time to spend on such things than an equivalent in the global south. It sucks that it fosters such a culture, but I don't blame video game developers for catering to them, as it is literally their biggest market, and they are bound to cater to it.

This seems like it would be quite a logistical disaster for one person to set up, ngl. Organizing just one monopoly game to run smoothly with friends is already hard enough, doing so for several simultaneous groups of people who you may not know that well only seems like it would be tedious and boring at best and totally disorganized and a slog at worst. I'd love to take part just to see how such a thing goes.

Fair point

indeed