Comment on Lemmy's gaining popularity, so I thought new people should see this.

• OpenStars@discuss.online ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Cowbee is notorious for not actually answering questions, just throwing up the same articles to read and asking people to DM them to continue the conversation. Make what you will of that info - are deeds done in the light of logical discourse inherently “better” than those done in darkness, i.e. are facts that can stand up to scrutiny somehow more “correct” than those that can only be whispered in the dark to those most vulnerable individuals still living in the cave?

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  • Cowbee@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    You’ll note that I did end up continuing the conversation publicly in this thread. I have only once actually taken a conversation into DMs, with Blaze, whom they can probably back me up on. When I say “feel free to DM if you have any questions” regarding theory I have linked, it’s because I don’t expect anyone to immediately buzz off and read a book or article and then get right back, it’s an open offer to continue the conversation at any point in time.

    Can you elaborate on what you mean by not actually answering questions? In this thread you can see it’'s the exact opposite, I am curious what you mean by that.

    Finally, when I make my arguments and leave links for supplemental reading, it isn’t a requirement to continue conversation. It’s supplemental, in case they have doubts or wish to learn more beyond a simple Lemmy thread.

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• AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  By the standards of US and Canadian politics, yeah we’re to the left of center. But “center” has been dragged to the right so far that it’s prompting this whole argument. The Overton window had shifted so far that liberalism - which, in a current context, supports relatively unregulated capitalism and trickle down economics - there’s a whole swath of political ideologies that’s basically nonexistent within our modern day electoral politics. I’m somewhere in the anarchist range and choose to engage with electoral politics - if they chose to participate within the context of a FPTP voting system with two options, we’d find ourselves voting for the same candidate despite our likely highly differing political beliefs. In many countries that left wing is less smashed, the range of political discourse is much wider.

  Shit just works is to the left side of, but comfortably within, the current Canadian Overton window. In a global sense, the instance is kinda to the right, in the same way that Bernie Sanders is moderate by western European standards.

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• Cowbee@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  When I say Leftist, I am using the typical definition, anti-Capitalist. Socialism, Communism, Syndicalism, Anarchism, and all their myriad forms.

  When I say right, I am using the typical definition, supportive of Capitalism. Social Democrats, Liberals, American Libertarians, fascists, and all their myriad forms.

  Considering Lemmy is an international site, it doesn’t make sense to use the Overton Window. If we went by, say, the American Overton Window, but another user lived in, say, Spain, there’s a significant difference there. That’s why I am using the standard definitions, and not going off of any one country’s Overton Window.

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  • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Hang on now. Fascists are historically the “third position” (which is why both the left and the right got together in about 1933 to stomp their collective shit in.) They’re neither “right” nor “left.”

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Position

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    • Objection@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Fascists paint themselves as being a third position that supercedes the left-right dichotomy, but that doesn’t mean it’s actually true. Everything about it is right-wing and it’s not actually as incompatible with capitalism as fascists claim. Every fascist regime has partnered up with capitalists, who often support them into power in the first place.

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    • taipan@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Since you linked to another Wikipedia article, you should know that Wikipedia defines fascism as far-right:

      Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.

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      • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        And it also defines it as third position, as per the article I linked earlier. Again, some define fascism as “mommy said I can’t go to the party” so oooooohhhhh.

        Fact of the matter is fascists, if you’ve ever talked to a real one, are neither capitalist nor communist (again, hence that whole “World War Two” fiasco they teamed up for.) Thus “third position.”

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    • Cowbee@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Fascism is described as both “Capitalism in decay” and as “Imperialism turned inward.” It served and serves the bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie against the Proletariat and Lumpenproletariat, and historically arises when the Petite Bourgeoisie is facing proletarianization. That’s why the most violently MAGA are small business owners and the like, and why they think immigrants are the ones proletarianizing them.

      I highly recommend reading the first chapter of Blackshirts and Reds by Dr. Michael Parenti, which covers the material conditions surrounding fascism and who it served.

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      • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Fascism has been described as a teacher telling a student to shut up in class too, just because someone says something doesn’t make it true.

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  • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    When I say right, I am using the typical definition, supportive of Capitalism. Social Democrats, Liberals, American Libertarians, fascists, and all their myriad forms.

    For two of the words this is not a typical definition. Social democrats do not code as “right” anywhere in the world. And liberals are only “right” when viewed through a partisan US-progressive lens, or else perhaps in southern Europe (where the word is mostly an economic term). Elsewhere they would be closer to left or center. This whole discussion illustrates the limited usefulness of the left-right axis at describing ideas.

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    • poVoq@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Social democrats do not code as “right” anywhere in the world.

      Except in Portugal, where the conservative party calls themselves Social Democrats.

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      • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        True but that is a proper name, not the generic definition. Russia’s Liberal Democrats are ultranationalists.

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    • Cowbee@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Social democrats do not code as “right” anywhere in the world.

      Are you trying to say that wherever Social Democrats are found, they are the most left available? That may track, but again, Social Democrats want to “harness Capitalism,” it isn’t pro-Socialism nor anti-Capitalism, hence my categorization.

      And liberals are only “right” when viewed through a partisan US-progressive lens, or else perhaps in southern Europe (where the word is mostly an economic term)

      Liberalism is the ideological framework for Capitalism, this is, again, supportive of Capitalism and against Socialism.

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      • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        This is a bit reductive. I accept that liberalism and capitalism are closely intertwined in the historical reading. But the fact is that capitalism won the economic battle, for better and (I agree) for worse. Attempts to replace it completely, in an interconnected world, invariably end in disaster or (China) in a reversion to capitalism. Just look at the list of them. To me this whole question feels like a disconnected high-school philosophy debate.

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