wpb

@wpb@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that a general strike is one of the most effective ways to push for change. There is a general strike in the works across the US for this Friday.⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  So how did the general strike go?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that a general strike is one of the most effective ways to push for change. There is a general strike in the works across the US for this Friday.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  since they can use things like sick/vacation days conveniently timed right

  American workers live in such a different world. Not once in my 34 years on earth would it have occurred to me to go on sick leave or spend one of my holidays on strike. Absolutely insane.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨But think of the landlords!⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  So, I’m not interested in a Debbie Debater here, and I’m absolutely not claiming that you’re wrong, but I think two of the three sources you give don’t really pass my standard for reliable.

  The first one doesn’t quite pass the vibe check for me. When I go to the home page, the top articles are about “the five greatest russian erotic films” and “7 budding russian models”. It just doesn’t screem “impartial scientific article” to me.

  The Christian Science Moitor one from a researcher from radio liberty research. What I read is that this place was founded and funded by the CIA with the explicit purpose of broadcasting propaganda into the east bloc. To me, I’m about as likely to trust an article from this source as I am to trust an article about homelessness in South Korea coming from a think tank funded by North Korea, called the “Proletarian Empowerment Institute” or whatever.

  One thing I can find plenty of impartial sources on is that it’s hard to find reliable data on homelessness from the USSR. But to go and trust some less than credible sources for a lack of alternatives is pure lamp post bias.

  I don’t have a dog in this fight, and I’m not saying you’re wrong. All I’m saying is that the sources you cite don’t pass my personal smell test, and I still feel agnostic on whether or not homelessness rates in the USSR were better or worse than in the US in the 80s.

  As an aside, it’s really embarrassing, but I don’t know where I got the 0.01% figure from. A second google search seems to suggest a range of 600,000 to 2,000,000 out of 247,000,000 so something closer to 0.0025%–0.08%. These figures I am more likely to trust, because the research climate for social sciences in the US was a bit freeer than in the USSR. For me personally, it doesn’t really affect whether or not I believe that the homelessness rate in the USSR was higher or lower than in the US because I still feel like I’m pretty much in the dark on the former. But maybe for you these figures help you sharpen your beliefs, so I figured I’d share them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨But think of the landlords!⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  What was their homelessness rate in the 1980s? I’ve looked for 5 minutes and have not been able to find anything. In the US it was 0.01%.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I've wondered since I was a youngin⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes I was being sarcastic, and I should’ve made that clearer. I know of no other way of dealing with the smug sanctimonious attitude of those in rich peaceful countries demanding that the oppressed turn the other cheek because “violence bad”. It’s this bizarre combination of smugness, ignorance of history, and effectively advocating in favor of the oppressor that I really, really, cannot stand.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I've wondered since I was a youngin⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  This is silly. Everyone knows, historically, you stop opressors by asking nicely. Maybe go into the street in a funny costume or something, organize a singalong. Violence is what the baddies do.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I've wondered since I was a youngin⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Famously, the human rights gained by movements using violent tactics, such as the abolitionists, suffragettes, the civil rights movement, the ANC, were all very short-lived. Hollow victories, all.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨yeet⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  If anyone’s having thoughts like this; it’s completely normal. Rest assured, I have thoughts like this multiple times a day, and I don’t even have a newborn.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨we need more users⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  if we have more users, that improves the value and quality of the fediverse overall

  I don’t consider this a given. E.g. your new users might all be dingleberries, or they might attract more bots. It also depends on your definition of quality. I quite like recognizing and conversing with regulars that I know from lemmy. This is something you lose with a larger userbase.

  Here’s another way a high monthly active user count doesn’t necessarily lead to a quality platform. Suppose most users post once a month. Conversations will largely be dominated by posts from folks who have no real connection with each other. Any meaningful conversation is drowned in an ocean of seagulls going “have my updoot, kind sir” and “this!”. Higher user count, lower quality.

  Aside from that, vanity metrics like bare user count typically don’t tell you whether you have a sustainable non-ad based platform. You don’t need users, you need users willing to donate for the operation (to instance admins) and maintenance (to the devs) of the platform. And I feel (0 data to back this up) like users are more likely to be donating users if they feel like they know the operators and devs personally.

  I’m not saying the idea of getting more users is bad, I’m just saying its goodness is very far from established.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK that fracking is not safe. People living near fracking sites are more likely to develop serious diseases⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  And still there’s politicians out there saying things like “I will not ban fracking. I did not as vice president. In fact, I cast the tie-breaking vote to open up more fracking leases”. Playing with people’s lives just to make a buck. Really shows they’re not beholden to the people but to the owning class.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨In 6 hours it will be illegal to say "I support Palestine Action" in the UK, with a sentence of up to 14 years in prison.⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  What about the nakba massacres strikes you as reversible? Do you know what the word reversible means?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨In 6 hours it will be illegal to say "I support Palestine Action" in the UK, with a sentence of up to 14 years in prison.⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  If I set fire to your house, and then I turn to you saying “ooh boy this is a hairy problem, you better take care of it”, I am entirely responsible for your house being on fire.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨In 6 hours it will be illegal to say "I support Palestine Action" in the UK, with a sentence of up to 14 years in prison.⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It should be noted that it was the “please stop murdering children” kind of “antisemitism”, not real antisemitism.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Corporations are saving the planet!⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The only thing I can find in this direction is a letter from beverage companies (including coca cola) opposing these measures. But that’s based on a very shallow google search, so take it with a grain of salt. Where can I find info about what coca cola lobbied for or against?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Judge Rules Training AI on Authors' Books Is Legal But Pirating Them Is Not⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Omg are you an llm?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨You're not alone: This email from Google's Gemini team is concerning⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The user experience of GrapheneOS is basically the same as vanilla Android, except that you have more control (you can uninstall google apps, for example), but at the cost of a small minority of apps (banking ones, for example) not working (out of the box, sometimes at all). My banking app works, and a quick google search will tell you if yours does too. If your old pixel is not too old (4 is no longer supported, 8 definitely is, not sure abt in between), you should give it a go. I think you’ll see it’s not as big of a step as you maybe currently imagine.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Socialism is the actual teaching of Jesus⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Wait, am I not forced to pay taxes? And isn’t any progressive tax by definition redistribution? United States confirmed as socialist, you heard it here first!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Operation Narnia: Iran’s nuclear scientists reportedly killed simultaneously using special weapon⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I think you stronly underestimate how bad genocide is. Are you a history buff? In the 20th century there was this guy called Hitler. He became the personification of evil because he committed genocide. That’s where Israel is at. Iran, as far as I know, is not committing a genocide.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Always there⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s the same picture!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Operation Narnia: Iran’s nuclear scientists reportedly killed simultaneously using special weapon⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh gosh oh wow good find, you should pass those on to the IAEA and NSA and so on because I guess they missed this when assessed that Iran hasn’t tried to build nuclear weapons since 2003. Fucking moron.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨So um, america just started another war in the middle east. We're going to need a shit ton more memes to americans from the nightmare they are enduring. Thanks in advance...⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Bestween this and Yemen, Palestine, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Guatemala, Chile, Cuba, Indonesia, Timor, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Korea you’d almost start to think that. I wonder how many countries the real baddies have attacked. Must be way more.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Operation Narnia: Iran’s nuclear scientists reportedly killed simultaneously using special weapon⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  They ARE trying for nukes

  What do you know that the IAEA, the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, and the rest of the entire American intelligence community don’t? What an unbelievably arrogant way to fall for the exact same lie that they used for the illegal invasion of Iraq and all the war crimes that ensued.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Always there⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Death to America

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Operation Narnia: Iran’s nuclear scientists reportedly killed simultaneously using special weapon⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Please understand that I’m not some liberal, and I’m open to your perspective. I’m not being argumentative, I’m just asking for a source. I’m interested in finding out more about the Nuremberg trials.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Operation Narnia: Iran’s nuclear scientists reportedly killed simultaneously using special weapon⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  No Iran definitely has the moral high ground, by a fair margin. Israel has been committing a genocide, as well as running a full on apartheid ethnostate, if you didn’t know. But even if we ignore that, the IAEA as wel as the American intelligence community (think NSA, CIA and so on) have both assessed, as recently as a week ago, that Iran has not attempted to build nuclear weapons since 2003. Iran is being bombed, illegally, based on a lie. That’s high ground enough for me.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Operation Narnia: Iran’s nuclear scientists reportedly killed simultaneously using special weapon⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I agree with the spirit of your comment. Germany lost, fascism won. But as far as I can see there were close to 40 death sentences out of 160 convictions. Where are you getting your data?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm gonna mute this one⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  “My house is on fire and there’s NOTHING I can do”

  “Maybe call 911, leave the house, get the fire ext…”

  “NOTHING, I SAY, NOTHING!”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm gonna mute this one⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  So wait for a charismatic and perfect savior.

  Did you not read what I said?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm gonna mute this one⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s kind of a broad question, and there’s at least two contexts in which I can answer it. One is on a personal level, and one is more on the level of “what should the DNC do if they want to win another election”.

  Personal answer first. Quite simple:

  • join a union

  • engage in mutual aid

  • read theory (yes really)

  • local politics (no matter how local) matter, act like it

  • vote for politicians and their policies because you believe in them, not because other guy bad. If your choice is between Hitler and Hitler wearing a funny hat, voting uncommitted is not only your democratic right, but your duty. If you guarantee your vote to a politician regardless of what rhey do or advocate for, the politician has no reason whatsoever to listen to you or cater to your needs. None.

  Now if you’re asking as a card carrying DNC member with influence:

  • Do not capitulate to right wing framing. You will never win at being right wing, the right wing is much better at that than you. Concretely, engage in counter messaging. For example, when it comes to undocumented immigrants, frame them as a boon to society (which they are) and aggressively fight anyone who claims they commit more crimes (they don’t, in fact they commit fewer per capita), don’t say “I agree mr republican, and my border policies are just as draconian, if not more, as they should be!” Same with fracking, genocide, crime, taxes, etc. Be an alternative, not a weak derivative.

  • Don’t fund a genocide. So easy. All you have to do is not send 17.8 billion in military aid to any country committing a genocide. You see a country committing genocide? Do not send 17.8 billion dollars in military aid. If you can’t help yourself and have to send the money anyway, don’t go bragging about it on your campaign trail, you fucking idiot.

  • Start advocating for worker’s rights. Stronger unions, higher minimum wage, forced and paid parental leave, paid sick leave, and so on. These are deeply popular positions, as polling shows, also among people who normally vote republican. A one time tax credit is not worker’s rights.

  • Start advocating for universal health care again. Or at least fucking mention it every now and then. The US is the only nation in the developed world (and beyond?) that doesn’t have this, you can gain so much on this.

  Follow these simple steps and you’ll win your next election!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm gonna mute this one⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean, it’s not perfect. A lot of advocacy groups for the homeless are actually critical of the plan, primarily because it doesn’t address the underlying issues that cause homelessness and because the efficacy of forced drug and mental health treatment is questionable at best. But it’s better than putting arm rests on benches, that’s for sure.