Notices by enoch_exe_inc (enoch_exe_inc@mastodon.social)

@NeonPurpleStar @enoch_exe_inc @rysiek Bernie Sanders and AOC are Social Democrats, a position I don’t agree with as much as I used to, but it’s one I’ll tolerate because it’s by far the most realistic “better option” the United States can become.

That said, there aren’t very many of them. In fact, those two are the only ones that come to mind. Does this strike you as a bit of a problem when it comes to affecting change?

@rysiek @enoch_exe_inc I don’t want to end the war on Russian terms either. But I also don’t want billions of dollars in weapons thrown willy-nilly into Ukraine with no way of knowing where they’ll end up or what kinds of militant groups may end up using them against us in the future.

That’s what happened during the Soviet-Afghanistan War, and we got 9/11 and the whole War on Terror in return. There has to be a way to stop this without causing blowback. There has to be.

@rysiek @enoch_exe_inc Twenty years ago, it was conservatives and the Iraq War. I’ve always assumed it was an inherent trait of conservatism to be a bloodthirsty warmonger. Now, it turns out liberals are no different.

@rysiek @enoch_exe_inc Don’t misrepresent me. I don’t directly oppose the current course of actions, but…it has not significantly changed the situation since a thousand days ago.

It’s scary to see how many “liberals” are so totalitarian that simply expressing a desire not to *prolong* the war is met with petty insults, death threats, and attempts to silence all dissent.

@rysiek @enoch_exe_inc You got me; I have nothing left to say to you war maniacs.

What’s been happening in Ukraine (and Israel, and other wars we supposedly peaceful, democratic countries inexplicably support) has made me take a long hard look in the mirror, and I’ve concluded that we are exactly as responsible for the war in Ukraine as Russian disinformation alleges. They’re right—for all the wrong reasons—but they’re still right regardless.

@mcv @rysiek @enoch_exe_inc The supporters of Ukraine want peace? I find that hard to believe with continual arms shipments, windfall profits for arms manufacturers, and exploitation of Ukraine’s labour and natural resources.

@rysiek @enoch_exe_inc It’s a “dick move” in that it’s unnecessarily excessive. Despite what the wartime propaganda would have you believe, there *are* in fact a lot of far-right Ukrainian nationalists and literal Nazis—but invading the country is hardly a way to get rid of them. Oh, wait, what was that about containment and the Vietnam War?

In fighting ‘to the last drop of Ukrainian blood’, whose blood will we use when once the last drop of blood has been spilt?

@rysiek @enoch_exe_inc By the way, what counts as “bullying”? Oh, I agree that invading Ukraine is a dick move by Russia…but, compared to the United States, it’s a single drop of blood compared to the bucketfuls of blood that repeatedly pour over the heads of nearly every single country in the Global South. Again, not a justification or a defence, but have to face facts: #WeAreTheBaddies.

@rysiek @enoch_exe_inc Can’t we have peace talks? Negotiations? A violent revolution in Russia, Ukraine, and the United States that overthrows their imperialist governments? Nope. I guess that while these are certainly solutions that would benefit the people living in these countries, it certainly wouldn’t benefit the ruling class nor line the pockets of the military-industrial complex.

@rysiek @enoch_exe_inc I’m thinking in longer terms than that. What happens if throwing more weapons at the problem results in a forever war that leaves Ukraine utterly devastated and forever dependent on foreign economic aid? That’s actually one of the reasons why Ukraine got into this mess in the first place, but I digress.

Can’t we do better than perpetual war? History says we can, but won’t…and that’s unacceptable.

@rysiek The ‘liberal position’ of unconditionally supporting Ukraine past the point of reclaiming their territories and invading Russia back actually scares me more than the Russian invasion itself. Western media is scarily competent at whipping up the public into bloodthirsty frenzy, and they manage to do all this without the prompting of their governments.

@rysiek What kind of tankies would support *either* side of the war?! Most of whom I would call tankies just oppose war, period. And those who aren’t tankies…well, no support for the imperialist proxy war.

I *would* like for Russia to stop the senseless fighting altogether and leave Donbas, Donetsk, and Luhansk, and I do not believe this can be accomplished by throwing more weapons at Ukraine.

@GossiTheDog Can’t the US government do anything to stop him? Deny him his security clearance, seize his property and assets, or just refuse to let him do as he pleases? He may be extremely wealthy, but he’s also a private citizen subject to the laws of the state, right?

Right?

@aral @enoch_exe_inc @bontchev Really? I’m sorry; I can’t tell.

@aral @bontchev *Everyone* would do it? Humanity may be crappy to itself at times, but not that crap.

@ElBeeToots @mykhaylo It was/is, but that’s no excuse for invasion and occupation. Whether it’s this war or the Yugoslav Wars.

@RuiSeabra @enoch_exe_inc In every other way, though, it doesn’t look like we’ll ever see eye to eye. I consider pluralism to be an unsolved problem in political science much like the P vs NP problem in computer science.

@RuiSeabra @enoch_exe_inc On that, I agree. “Literally 1984” memes have it all wrong. It’s not the revision and creation of new words that’s Orwellian; it’s the annihilation of words and the dictionary getting thinner. In terms of linguistics, Newspeak would never work, but that hasn’t and isn’t stopping people from trying.

@RuiSeabra @enoch_exe_inc That may be true, but it’s not what freedom of speech is taken to mean, at least not in all the countries that proclaim to have it. Supposedly, freedom of speech prevents the government from removing opinions it doesn’t like, but that is, at best, binding only to those with lots of money; and, at worst, a blatant lie. Also, it’s usually those with lots of money who get the power to determine which opinions are sanctioned and which may send you to the secret prisons.

@RuiSeabra @enoch_exe_inc Personally, I see the paradox of tolerance like I see Russell’s paradox in set theory: unavoidable and inevitable in retrospect. However, another way of seeing it is that if there were no limitations on freedom of speech, people would make them anyway, and in an environment where all ideas are equal, tend towards their extremest versions.