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this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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askchapo
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What is your current general sense of actually existing socialist countries (current or historical)? This might be a good place to get a better understanding of some concepts.
Also take a look over here for some of the basics topics if you need to gauge your political development: https://hexbear.net/c/librehab
Generally speaking I think I view china negatively but that's probably because I live in America and honestly don't know much about it. Sinophobia etc etc. But honestly until recently the only other socialist country I even knew existed was Vietnam.
I think more authoritarian governments just make me a bit nervous.
Comrade, you need to get on board with the Cuba pill. Listen to Blowback Season 2 and embrace the
I'll just say that Blowback, in general, is great for the Imperialist brainworms. While season 1 is Iraq, which most people "know", the following seasons are really incredible in developing some of the insanity that
has engaged in over the 20th c.
Seconding Blowback, I'm six episodes in and went from "Hmm I feel icky about Cuba" to "Holy fucking shit I can't believe we would do that to them, I unequivocally support Cuba"
The news from Cuba is even better since the season aired. Their constitution is now more progressive to LGBTQ people than
This a juicy target for deprogramming your propaganda. That phrase is kind of a vague disparagement that doesn't hold much meaning once you become aware of the intrinsic violence (and authority to use violence) that is common in the 'developed world'. The big shift is to reconsider your understanding of freedom and liberty of people. Just the fact that the USA has by far the largest prison population (nevermind the extreme per capita metric) really demolishes this concept as framed by pro-capitalist propaganda.
Just keep asking questions, and we'll do our best to set you on a path to better awareness of material conditions.
Don't get me wrong, I hate it here. Corporate ownership and control scares me just as much as powerful governments. I am very knowledgeable about how bad it is where I live but I'm not very knowledgeable about how to make it better or how much better it might be in other places with other systems.
The thing to understand is that under current capitalist formation, government is at service of capital. This is why the 'auth govt' is considered scary to the capitalist status quo. Nevermind that 'freedom govt' still does all the same things that is claimed of the 'auth govt' just with the interests of capital in mind.
I can guarantee there is a more democratic systems in place within the 'auth govt' than the duopoly of political power capital provides to US citizens in aggregate. This is how the 'temporarily impoverished' brainwashing is so useful to the status quo. "If you do socialism, you can never be the big boss with all the toys and perks" says the capitalist propaganda. This is the 'authority' that you are supposed to fear. The authority to override the interests of capital, and instead seek out the interests of the masses of people.
This is a big shift in thinking, so don't feel bad if it doesn't 'click' with you right away.