Is it all just a part of political theater meant to propel Meatball Ron into the spotlight, or are there deeper causes that this legislation is being created in reaction to? The purposeful dismantling of the education system seems like one piece, but what else is going on?

  • jabrd [he/him]
    hexagon
    ·
    1 year ago

    But fascism has an economic basis and reasoning to it, even if the choice of victim isn’t attached to it. They don’t need to understand their own reasoning or motivations to act, but as Marxists trying to produce sound analysis we should

    • Cummunism [they/them, he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      fascism is protecting capital instead of workers and enforcing that with violence, while simultaneously fighting a culture war that is used to get their brownshirts energized. What was the economic reason for the Jewish genocide? Because they were taking up all the money i guess? that's the only reason I could make up now. Marxism is scientific, fascism isn't. They are incompatible ideologies so i wouldnt try to use one to explain the other.

      • SublationAction [he/him, any]
        ·
        1 year ago

        :wtf-am-i-reading: You're saying there's no economic factors driving patriarchy and racism? And no link between the immense crisis in German capitalism, the rise of the Nazis, and the intensification of oppression against their targets over time? They forced people into slavery in the camps, and if they couldn't work stole their possessions and commodified their very bodies. Completely unrelated to economics.

        Marxism is scientific, yes, which means it is able to explain fascism even if fascism can't explain itself. No investigation, no right to speak.

        • Cummunism [they/them, he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          we're talking about modern day Florida and anti-LGBT legislation. We're not covering the grand scope of fascist history. Hitler probably did say killing the Jewish people was good for the economy since he claimed they had so much wealth and power. what wealth and power does the LGBT community have? not enough to matter currently. Maybe they say trans healthcare is a drain on the healthcare system? i havent heard that though, i just made that up. I was just trying to answer the question posed in the title of this thread.

          • SublationAction [he/him, any]
            ·
            1 year ago

            It's the same story, the first targets of the Nazis were disabled people and trans people after all. US capitalism is in deep crisis and the response is playing out similarly (and differently). People have already made some good points tying patriarchy (including LGBT+ oppression) to social reproduction via uncompensated domestic labour etc. Trans people get the worst of it because they challenge patriarchal structures most directly, and provide an opportunity to mobilize and organize reactionary forces.

            There's much more to it, but the most important part is that just because fascism is irrational doesn't mean the directions it takes are incomprehensible. In fact, it's essential for Marxists to understand the similarities and differences between what's going on today and what's happened in the past.

          • StewartCopelandsDad [he/him]
            ·
            1 year ago

            Hitler probably did say killing the Jewish people was good for the economy since he claimed they had so much wealth and power.

            Remember, the thing we're looking for is to understand the economic reasons why Florida is trying to genocide trans people. Fascists themselves aren't going to say "trans people are groomers, and also they represent an ideological threat to the system of social reproduction of labor" or whatever. Maybe you can get some hints from the bourgeois funders of fascists, but I would not expect to see economic reasoning straight from politician's mouths.

            they did argue about the cost of gender affirming healthcare for trans people in the military but like that wasn't the actual reason why, it was just a convenient argument to advance the already-existing project of trans oppression

              • StewartCopelandsDad [he/him]
                ·
                1 year ago

                i kinda do, that’s how they convey so many of their plans. It’s always about saving money, especially for republicans.

                But that's not the real reason. E.g. conservatives put on the "small government" mask when they try to cut the welfare state. But they're not trying to get rid of unemployment benefits because they are just strong believers in a balanced budget*. They're trying to get rid of unemployment benefits because capital needs a reserve army of labor.

                * well maybe individual political actors are. But we're interested in the reasons the bourgeoisie selects these guys.

      • Awoo [she/her]
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        What was the economic reason for the Jewish genocide? Because they were taking up all the money i guess?

        There's more complexity to it than that.

        Forced labour had an economic basis. And several industries could be spawned from transforming work camps into death camps, for one disgusting example - you can make wigs from the hair gathered from the dead.

        You find inside this transformation from forced labour to death machine the basis of different groups of the bourgeoisie having an economic incentive to see that transformation happen. But even more so is the unsustainability of it all in a system where fixed costs are too high, when maintaining your slaves becomes unsustainable economically you just start killing them all off because that's cheaper.

        This whole video is very worthwhile, but I've linked to a relevant portion of it, only need to watch 10 minutes or so. https://youtu.be/QO-7cymgtqo?t=4622

        • Cummunism [they/them, he/him]
          ·
          1 year ago

          ok i understand the economic basis behind Jewish genocide, but the main topic here has been what is the economic reason for anti-trans laws in Florida. im open to hearing ideas of that, cause i have no clue. I dont think ive heard a conservative say why getting rid of trans people helps the economy.

          • Awoo [she/her]
            ·
            1 year ago

            My personal take is that it has to do with the labour pool and aging of society. The ratio of young workers to old retirees is ever increasing and this leads to a labour shortage.

            The solutions? One solution is immigration. They don't like that. Another solution is birthrates.

            So how do we achieve more births? We need to do patriarchy. Trans people are the first victims of a patriarchal revival intended to subjugate women and raise birthrates. Trans people are necessary victims in this revival because their very existence threatens patriarchy as they exist outside of any conceptual family that patriarchy can produce.

            As society ages and as the ratio of young workers to elderly ever increases this crisis of labour continues to increase and the urgency of their solution to it increases.

            With immigration off the table because of a culture of white supremacy, this is all I have that makes economic sense.

      • GarbageShoot [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Jews did on average have surprisingly strong economic standing for being such a hated minority in Germany. Pushing them out meant that their white competitors could steal their market share. That's a large part of the economic basis of the persecution of Jews in Germany, it deflects from the basic contradictions of falling profit by creating artificial growth for a brief period to the targeted benefit of the Nazi's popular base.

        • Cummunism [they/them, he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          and that makes sense to me. im trying to find a similar reason to apply to anti-LGBT laws in Florida as well.

          • GarbageShoot [he/him]
            ·
            1 year ago

            I agree that it is harder to understand. My personal theory is that trans people are targeted conversely because they are such a tiny and obscure part of the population that they are relatively helpless (along with other aspects like Christian paranoia of sexual deviancy) and, critically, they can be linked to "them" (elites [Jews]) by being cast as a product of woke ideology and urban decadence and so on. I think trans people are being targeted so they can be basically an appetizer for the death machine.

    • Optimus_Subprime [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Sometimes, there isn't a reason.

      To me, it just means the Capitalists did their job too well when it came to divide-and-conquer tactics against the working class.