:parenti: During the cold war, the anticommunist ideological framework could transform any data about existing communist societies into hostile evidence. If the Soviets refused to negotiate a point, they were intransigent and belligerent; if they appeared willing to make concessions, this was but a skillful ploy to put us off our guard. By opposing arms limitations, they would have demonstrated their aggressive intent; but when in fact they supported most armament treaties, it was because they were mendacious and manipulative. If the churches in the USSR were empty, this demonstrated that religion was suppressed; but if the churches were full, this meant the people were rejecting the regime's atheistic ideology. If the workers went on strike (as happened on infrequent occasions), this was evidence of their alienation from the collectivist system; if they didn't go on strike, this was because they were intimidated and lacked freedom. A scarcity of consumer goods demonstrated the failure of the economic system; an improvement in consumer supplies meant only that the leaders were attempting to placate a restive population and so maintain a firmer hold over them. If communists in the United States played an important role struggling for the rights of workers, the poor, African-Americans, women, and others, this was only their guileful way of gathering support among disfranchised groups and gaining power for themselves. How one gained power by fighting for the rights of powerless groups was never explained. What we are dealing with is a nonfalsifiable orthodoxy, so assiduously marketed by the ruling interests that it affected people across the entire political spectrum. :parenti:

archive link: https://archive.ph/HPdBO

  • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Yes I fucking can, because I live under full-covid and I’m fucking tired of the whole thing. You know what really takes a toll on people? Fucking COVID.

    Occasional government-imposed lockdowns with thorough screening and tracing to make sure you don’t get covid?

    Or frequent self-imposed lockdowns due to fear of high covid rates in your area that you can’t even tell how high they are because there’s no testing and then you still get covid?

    I’ll take the first one. And anyone who lives under the first and wants the second is extremely fucking privileged and needs to shut the fuck up and come back when they’ve had friends and family die of this disease, or are personally disabled by long-covid.

    If China had followed the US’s covid policy, 5 million more people would be dead. Before I hear anyone complain about zero covid I want them to go down a list and pick which 5 million will die. Oh and the 50 million more who are semi-permanently disabled, don’t forget to pick them out too.