looks at the NYPD budget :side-eye-1:

looks at the War on Drugs :side-eye-2:

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      The NYPD contracting process is an exercise in mafia-tier graft and corruption. With a mere 36,000 officers, it pales in size beside the 1.2M active duty members of the Korean People's Army.

      The DPRK isn't buying a brand new fleet of Mustang GT police cruisers to the tune of $62.5k/vehicle every fucking year.

  • emizeko [they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    for laughs ask the prof to provide a definition of authoritarian

  • Rojo27 [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Looks at all the APC and other armored vehicles, automatic rifles and other military grade arms that even the smallest PDs get across the country:side-eye-1:

  • WhyEssEff [she/her]
    hexagon
    ·
    2 years ago

    Geiger counter ticks up when she says authoritarian countries have elections but nothing really changes policy wise and then pointed to China and North Korea :agony-shivering:

    • WhyEssEff [she/her]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      YOOOO SHE JUST SAID INDIA IS A DEMOCRACY WHEREAS CHINA IS A DICTATORSHIP :agony-consuming:

        • WhyEssEff [she/her]
          hexagon
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          would prob get shut down immediately because cgtn is "see see pee propaganda :frothingfash:"

      • anoncpc [comrade/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        Does she know they still have caste system? Or she just read text book wrote by Goebell disciple and get news from cnn?

      • Vncredleader [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Ugh. I am terrified of taking classes cause I fucking know I wont be able to deal with this shit. How do you do it?

      • Civility [none/use name]
        ·
        2 years ago

        They’re a political science professor.

        They know.

        They’ve just decided that doesn’t constitute “authoritarianism”.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Those studies have been coming out for years but I rarely see it actually penetrate anyone's brain and cause a eureka moment.

        • TreadOnMe [none/use name]
          ·
          2 years ago

          SWAT is generally a part of the usual command structure of the domestic police, not a part of the National Guard. That being said, even regular cops are armed fo the teeth in the U.S. I had a friend have like 4 M16's pointed at them when they had tried to commit suicide.

          • nohaybanda [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            :amerikkka-clap: you want to die and that's against the rules, so we'll shoot you dead if you try it.

  • justjoshint [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    What understanding of the phrase "domestic military" could someone be using that excludes US police? What could they even mean?

    • WhyEssEff [she/her]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      i'm guessing it's just launguage politics? because socialist projects are open about the connections where as the imperial core tries to mask it? i don't even fucking know this class irradiates my brain

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      I would say, since the police and sheriffs operate autonomously and without oversight, they're more like feudal knights and lords than a modern army. An army would have a centralized command and control structure, standards of training and professionalism, and some degree of civilian oversight. The police have none of these things. Another interpretation of police in the US would be bandit gangs controlling exclusive territories.

  • Commander_Data [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Challenge the stupidity. I spent the entire last semester being openly Marxist, wrote papers praising Mao and Stalin and advocating for the inclusion of trans people in sport and am walking away with my first 4.0 ever. Educators main concern these days is not getting sued, so the more radical your position the more cover you have.

      • poppy_apocalypse [he/him, any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I had two comrade professors at community college and uni. At uni I took the revolution and reaction in South/Central America and the Caribbean. Our first paper was on the 54 coup in Guatemala. When she was handing our papers back she thanked me. I can't imagine the sheer amount of shit takes she had to deal with. The other lefty was an intro to sociology class. We had some visitors from USC sit in on a class. He actually did the "are you guys cops? you have to tell me" thing.

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Educators main concern these days is not getting sued

      Both currently and historically, my experience has been that they're trying to hit some kind of grade curve quota. So they want to hand out 20% As and 50% Bs and 20% Cs and at least a few Fs, just to prove they're being "equitable" with their grading.

      If your class is full of lazy stoners or schlubs who don't care about their GPA, its very easy to get an A by putting forward literally any amount of effort. If your class is full of gunners and try-hards, it can be a struggle to get a solid B. That's why picking the "right professor" and the "right major" is so much of the Meta when working through college.

      I've seen smart kids flunk out because they took the wrong set of classes. And I've seen dumb kids waltz through with perfect GPAs, because they knew (or had a friend who knew) how to beat the system without trying.

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I lived and died on RateMyProfessor. Things to look out for; "Professor talked about his ex wife a lot" - Just skip that course. Don't even go near it.

      • Nagarjuna [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Interdisciplinary humanities major here, lemme give you guys the run down.

        History, polisci, international studies and econ are professional feeder degrees. These will be very hard.

        Philosophy, gender studies and ethnic studies have something to prove, they will also be very hard.

        Anthro and soc and psych are very comfortable in their position but are also "useless degrees." These will be easy As.

        Lower division science classes are hard. Upper division sciences are easy. The exception is environmental sciences which are inexplicably both easy and professional feeder degrees.

        If you want communist professors, your best bets are gender/critical/ethnic/cultural studies, geography, and sometimes anthropology depending on the university. American Indian / Caribbean / Oceania / Indigenous studies will be lefty too, but not Marxist because of its European origins.

        Polisci, international studies, econ, business, biological anthro, and some psyche departments are right-winger factories.

        Area studies is what the CIA funded to replace anthropology and Orientalism after they reckoned with the anti-colonial upheavals of the 60s and 70s, but because it takes the CIA's anything besides communism goes philosophy, they can still be a lot of fun.

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          Warning on Anthropology; You'll learn in excruciating and painful detail why the world is such a fucking mess, and there's no comfortable lies that make it easier. Also, Anthropology is not "Easy A's". You don't have to do math but you do have to put your brain through a wringer and challenge a lot of how you look at the world. If you're a very good reader and writer you can bullshit your way through to a point, but after the 200 level classes you need to actually pay attention and learn theory.

          At the upper levels you'll also need to be able to use spreadsheets and do some data analysis. If you go through it as a degree you'll have to do field work, which means convincing strangers that they can trust you and then spending weeks or months hanging out and learning about their lives.

          You'll never make back the cost of your tuition unless you go in to marketing or some similar exploitive profession because no one in power cares about decolonization, indigenous rights, or the lives of poor people. If you go to enough symposiums and talks and discussions you might meet some cool old Marxists who can help you break out of the western colonial mindset. It's a valuable discipline if you're going to try to organize diverse groups of people because the whole core of the discipline is about breaking your preconceptions about the Other and trying to understand them way they understand themselves

          • Nagarjuna [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Also, Anthropology is not “Easy A’s”. You don’t have to do math but you do have to put your brain through a wringer and challenge a lot of how you look at the world.

            I didn't find it any more challenging than just like, being a communist. Its a lot of the same ways of thinking, imo,. It's like organizing but instead of convincing people to come to your event where you yell at a landlord, it's convincing people to talk to you about their shitty ass experiences in the healthcare system.

  • Wheaties [comrade/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    aw man, thanks professor, I was getting worried for a second. real convenient, now I don't have to think! yore such a smarty :blob-no-thoughts:

  • usa_suxxx [they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    I hear the people of New York call the NYPD the New York Peace Department. such democracy.

  • anoncpc [comrade/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Damn, what a waste of money to take this class. Learn nothing but would also get laugh at

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      There's a baseline of knowledge that any class can potentially convey. Professors can be Q-pilled AF or giant :LIB:s and still demonstrate a working knowledge of people, places, and events relevant to your interests.

      Its just annoying because trying to get knowledge out of them is like navigating a minefield. You never know when you're going to step wrong and get your brain blown up with some absolute bullshit.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      You should always treat what your professors say with a healthy amount of skepticism. Even if they really know their shit they still have personal biases and ideologies. And just because someone's wrong about one thing doesn't mean they're wrong about other things. That said, some professors really are just full of shit. There are plenty of Jordon Petersons in Academia.

    • Sinonatrix [comrade/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Political """"science"""" is the only subject I will do the smug stemlord smirk at