I would really rather that these were actual examples, and not conspiracy theories. We all have our own unsubstantiated ideas about what shadowy no-gooders are doing, but I’d rather hear about things that are actually happening.

    • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      The Black Book of Communism counts Nazi soldiers killed on the eastern front, Soviet soldiers and civillians killed by Nazis on the eastern front, and all the hypothetical unborn children of the dead on both sides as “victims of Communism.”

      Of course, all the people currently living in tent cities a few blocks from my apartment in Free America are simply homeless because they’re dumb individual people who made dumb individual choices. All the people struggling to put food on the table simply didnt work hard enough. Don’t ask why it seems to be happening to everyone all at once though, that’s communist talk.

  • DBVegas [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Switching to electric cars will save the planet. Not when they increase tire pollutants at higher rates and still rely on fossil fuels and fracking to charge their batteries.

    Also for the US specifically that we can’t afford universal healthcare.

  • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    A KGB spy and a CIA agent meet up in a bar for a friendly drink.

    “I have to admit, I’m always so impressed by Soviet propaganda. You really know how to get people worked up,” the CIA agent says.

    “Thank you,” the KGB says. “We do our best but truly, it’s nothing compared to American propaganda. Your people believe everything your state media tells them.”

    The CIA agent drops his drink in shock and disgust. “Thank you friend, but you must be confused… There’s no propaganda in America.”

      • pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s only true if you use the international definition of “liberal”. In America, “liberal” means “left wing”. And we’re talking about American politics.

        • Commiejones [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          In America, “liberal” means “left wing”.

          No it doesn’t. Widespread ignorance does not change objective reality. This sort of thinking is Hyperliberalism. Just because most Americans are politically illiterate doesn’t mean the definition is changed. 40% Americans also believe the entire universe is only 6000 years old.

          If you ask an american political scientist to define “liberal” they will tell you the “international” definition. If you allow technical and scientific terms to be subjected to “language just evolves” you end up with a Tower of Babble type situation where different groups of people are unable to communicate with one another despite using the same language and society collapses.

          • pulaskiwasright@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            If you ignore the actual usage of words then you’re speaking your own language and talking only with your own in-group bubble.

            This was not a conversation about the political science term “liberal”. It is about lies told to everyone. We’re obviously discussing common usage.

            • Commiejones [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              We’re obviously discussing common usage.

              Saying something is obvious doesn’t make it true. The only noun you use in your first comment is “Democrats” so how is this not a discussion about politics? I am having a discussion about politics and I’m going to do my best to use political terminology in its established scientific meaning not a niche dialect that you believe is “common use.”

              The world is much bigger than the USA. Americans only make up 15% of the English speaking world. What you call “common use” is just “ignorant and wrong” to the rest of us.

  • kamenoko@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 year ago

    That there was a protest against something in Beijing from April until June 4th 1989.

    Heard the glorious communist party rolled over the protestors with tracks but that’s impossible!

    • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Chinese people learn about the June 4th incident in school lol

      Also the tank guy didn’t get run over, did you watch the full video? Some of his friends convince him to leave.

      • Tosti@feddit.nl
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        “the June 4th incident”, can you elaborate on what they learn about it?

        • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          “the June 4th incident”

          I dont understand the scare quotes.

          can you elaborate on what they learn about it?

          My mandarin is bad but let me see if I can find a textbook again. If not, I’ll link an article on it, or ask a Chinese friend for help.

          In the meantime, please share what you think they should learn, to avoid you moving the goalposts and/or to see what misinfo you have learned about the event

          • Tosti@feddit.nl
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            Nah I’m good. It is typical that you use the CIA playbook. Immediately cast doubt and make counter accusations. I guess I shouldn’t expect good faith.

            You asserted that Chinese people are taught about this without any proof.

            That which is asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. In other words, put up or sit down.

            Also immediately implying that what people know that is not the official Chinese party line is misinfo seems to be straight from the Trump playbook.

            And finally you refer to “a chinese friend” as an authority, you pulled a hattrick of fallacious conversation in that post.

            • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Okay lmao, have a good day. To clarify though

              And finally you refer to “a chinese friend” as an authority,

              I was going to bother them for resources after doing my own due diligence as they know a lot about it and can find mandarin documents more easily than me.

              I did say this by saying “or ask a Chinese friend **for help. **” which you seemed to omit in your interpretation that I was going to use them as an authority.

  • RandomVideos@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 year ago

    Communism=Authoritarianism

    I was taught in school the characteristics of authoritarianism and a couple weeks later, when i was being taught about communism, the same characteristics were said

    • zenitsu@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      They usually come packaged together. You’ll have a hard time naming democratic liberal communist countries/leaders.

      • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        But a very easy time naming democratic communists. Even Stalin wasn’t a dictator, according to liberal historians such as Conquest who are experts on the soviet union. Socialism is more democratic than capitalism.

    • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Going a step further, the idea of authoritarian. Every ideology with a state relies on some type of authority to function, as a term it is an attempt at equating fascism and communism and serves as holocaust trivialization.

  • SexMachineStalin [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    “You’re too much into politics”

    Said by people who are unwilling to admit they’re on the wrong side. Or in a more extreme setting (like say, South Africa during apartheid), they’d most likely report you to authorities or outright even kill you.

  • ArtieShaw@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 year ago

    Off the top of my head:

    -Anything involving babies and incubators is immediately suspect. (Or babies and bayonets, for that matter).
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_testimony

    -And this one is pure conspiracy, and I know it’s not what you asked for… but it’s ridiculous and 'tis the season. My mother in law is convinced that the lyrics to “Oh Christmas Tree” (O Tannenbaum) were changed by people who wanted to erase the true and original lyrics. By who? Big Tree financiers? Communists who are stealing Christmas and replacing it with trees?

    Anyway…

    The original lyrics, according to this conspiracy, praise God and never mention trees at all. It’s completely ridiculous and always ends with the whole family singing along with the “true lyrics” from a badly photocopied paper that she hands out. I hope this doesn’t come up again this year because it really makes me want to fight. Which would make me the bad person, because who initiates fights on Christmas? The next couple of days are going to be tough.

      • ArtieShaw@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Sorry for the late response - I just got back from travelling to meet that side of the family. But unfortunately, I don’t remember the lyrics. She introduced it a long time ago and she stopped being MC of Christmas a few years back. We didn’t get to enjoy it this year.

        I just made this up on the spot, but it was in this spirit

        Oh God above, sweet lord of mine
        How much you love your children.
        Oh God above, sweet lord of mine
        How much you love your children.

        You sacrificed, your one true son
        to save us earthbound sinners here…

        --and so on –

        Rejoice, repent! We praise your name…

  • abuttandahalf@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    That Israel is not a colonial state. All it’s founders defined it as a European colonial project. It was and is allied with all the colonial powers and projects like Britain, the US, apartheid south Africa, and Rhodesia. Its funding association was called the Palestine Jewish colonization association. It’s bank was called the Jewish colonial trust. The Jewish national fund and the Zionist project at large was from the beginning concerned with building segregated colonies.

    First, lands were bought with foreign funding from feudal land lords, and their inhabitants were entirely dispossessed, kicked out. Then when awareness of the ultimate goals of the Zionist project crystalized and resistance against Palestinian dispossession mounted, the lands were ethnically cleansed by force and the people massacred. 700 to 800 thousand Palestinians were ethnically cleansed in one continuous military operation that spanned two years from 1947 to 1948.

    Zionist leaders fully acknowledged that Palestinian demographics were a core issue to the Zionist project, that the Palestinian population had to be removed at any cost, which is exactly what Israel did. What lead to the Palestinians being defenseless in this situation? Colonial Britain abetted the formation of heavily armed Zionist militias with soldiers numbering in the tens of thousands. The arms of Britain’s colonial military presence were inherited by the Zionist forces that it supported. All this while Britain summarily excecuted any Palestinian found in possession of a firearm.

    This is not to mention the enthusiastic support of european antisemites for the Zionist project, or its strict early opposition by antifascist jews.

    The idea that Israel has any right to exist on Palestinian land is a lie that has been so heavily proliferated, it has to be debunked when it should be paid no consideration at all.

  • SexMachineStalin [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Literally anything regarding China, especially Xinjiang if you talk to anyone from international-community-1international-community-2

    I was talking to a mate about Palestine and he immediately went for the “bUt TiAnAm3n SqU@r3 k1LLeD oVeR tEn Th0uSaNd” and the “Ch1n@ cEnOcIde iN UygHuRs Th0” with the swiftness of a 737 flying into the 2nd tower. They will disregard who originally makes these claims and are 100% unfazed by say, World Uyghur Congress being totally in support of the genocide in Gaza, the response being either dismissal or “you’re too much into politics and also ableism”.

      • Alsephina@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        China’s bottom-up system of power starting at the mass line via committees and polling does mean a slower progress on social change than a top-down approach like you see in the west, but it also means a more consistent gradual improvement as younger generations age up. Whereas it’s always a constant battle in the west, with a large (quite often successful) push for reversal.

        Trans rights got a boost in China just last week for example with a court ruling.

      • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Since 2020 China literally has more workplace protections for trans people than the US

        https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3243608/blessing-china-court-lauds-rule-law-backs-transgender-staffer-fired-being-absent-while-leave

        Don’t pinkwash your redscare.

        Also Xi isn’t a dictator. He was literally elected by a democratic assembly. Also he historically pushes for more democracy in China, more than the US. Literally look into the idea of whole process people’s democracy

        “The most basic criterion for democracy is whether people have the right to participate extensively in national governance, whether people’s demands can be responded to and satisfied. In China, the people participate in the management of state affairs, social affairs, and economic and cultural affairs; they provide opinions and suggestions for the design of national development plans at the highest level and also contribute to the governance of local public affairs; they take part in democratic elections, consultations, decision-making, management, and oversight…"

        https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/whole-process-peoples-democracy-in-china-what-does-it-mean/

        • HakFoo@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          The West seems to define “democracy” in a very specific form: there MUST be multiple competing political parties and power MUST, at least in theory (compare Singapore, Mexico, etc) regularly transfer between them as the result of elections.

          This is something Western states have been able to pull off, but it’s actually sort of peripheral to the theoretical INTENT of democracy-- that the government serves the masses. Good governance is pretty much a by-product of the fear of being voted out of office.

          You can, and often do, have the all-sacred elections and peaceful transfer of power and still have a government which isn’t acting in service of its electorate. Sure, you can pick red corporate stooge or blue corporate stooge, but the Overton window is still a narrow slit that represents no real threat to the rich, and factionalism and winner-take-all elections sabotage any actual forward motion.

          Meanwhile, the single-party state, unencumbered by having to tear itself apart in battles for the throne every four years, can focus on consensus and actual needs. Good governance can come from a sense of civic duty, or even a smartly weaponized corruption (if everyone thrives, my cut of graft grows with it!)

        • Syldon@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          1 year ago

          Since 2020 China literally has more workplace protections for trans people than the US

          So does this mean China has better protection ? This is not a valid comment unless they are both starting from the same point.

          Also Xi isn’t a dictator. He was literally elected by a democratic assembly.

          Adolf Hitler was elected, as was Putin. All are essentially the sole control of their countries. Being a dictator is not summarised by the method you gain power; it is what you do with that power after it obtained.

          • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            So does this mean China has better protection ? This is not a valid comment unless they are both starting from the same point.

            China’s courts hold transphobic firings to be illegal. In the US similar protections generally don’t exist, and where they do, they actually don’t because of at will employment law.

            Adolf Hitler was elected.

            He was not elected, he was appointed to his position. You should speak with less confidence on this subject until you can get basic facts right.

            as was Putin.

            Putin won a bourgeois election. Also putin isn’t a dictator, he is the executive officer of a capitalist oligarchy.

            All are essentially the sole control of their countries. Being a dictator is not summarised by the method you gain power; it is what you do with that power after it obtained.

            No, being a dictator means you aren’t accountable to other political power structures. Xi can be instantly recalled by the constituent assembly if they want. The constituent assembly is made of representatives sent by local democratic councils.

            • Syldon@feddit.uk
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              1 year ago

              Hitler’s party was elected in, much like the UK prime minister is not actually elected. Hitler still had to win a seat in the Reichstag, so…

              Putin is a dictator. No one is allowed to stand against him. In the current election the 29 candidates who have tried to stand have had that right taken away from them for one reason or another. Putin has the final say on what goes on in Russia. Putin and Xi may have the illusion of being recalled, but it will not happen. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either spouting propaganda or one very gullible individual.

              I can easily believe that the GOP are creating problem for the LBGQT community, but they are soon to be ousted from any power they posses. Many of the gerrymandering that has gone on has been reversed or will be in time for the next elections. In NY state alone this will be enough to overturn the lead the GOP has on blocking legislation.

              As for the “at will employment” law China has exactly the same thing.

              The reasons for dismissal with prior notice, which are not attributable to the faults of the employee, include incompetence even after training or a transfer of position, non-work-related illness, and a change in the objective circumstances on which the labour contract was originally concluded.

              Where the incompetance is discretionary then there is little an employee can do to protect himself.

              The USA has National anti discrimination laws, China has no discriminatory laws, but also has nothing to protect an individual.

              So your idea that China is a better place to be doesn’t really hold water in my opinion. Yes, there are some republican states that are making things hard, but this is a very short lived episode in US politics imo.

              • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                0
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                Hitler’s party was elected in, much like the UK prime minister is not actually elected. Hitler still had to win a seat in the Reichstag, so…

                The UK prime Minister is also appointed lol.

                Putin is a dictator. No one is allowed to stand against him. In the current election the 29 candidates who have tried to stand have had that right taken away from them for one reason or another. Putin has the final say on what goes on in Russia. Putin and Xi may have the illusion of being recalled, but it will not happen. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either spouting propaganda or one very gullible individual.

                Notice how you didn’t include any evidence of Xi being a dictator

                I can easily believe that the GOP are creating problem for the LBGQT community, but they are soon to be ousted from any power they posses. Many of the gerrymandering that has gone on has been reversed or will be in time for the next elections. In NY state alone this will be enough to overturn the lead the GOP has on blocking legislation.

                Lol

                As for the “at will employment” law China has exactly the same thing.

                From your own link

                Employees can only be dismissed if one of the statutory reasons for termination is fulfilled. This means that an employer cannot dismiss an employee at will.

                Proving incompetence is a higher bar than at will employment actually

                The USA has National anti discrimination laws, China has no discriminatory laws, but also has nothing to protect an individual.

                They materially don’t.

                So your idea that China is a better place to be doesn’t really hold water in my opinion.

                China isnt involved in carrying out a genocide rn, and China hasn’t destabilized the middle east through mass violence. China is better.

                • Syldon@feddit.uk
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  0
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Notice how you didn’t include any evidence of Xi being a dictator

                  Aside from the fact that no one is allowed to run for elections unless they have party approval. China doesn’t even try to hide that there is no real democracy there.

                  Proving incompetence is a higher bar than at will employment actually

                  Subjective.

                  They materially don’t.

                  Again subjective.

                  China isnt involved in carrying out a genocide rn, and China hasn’t destabilized the middle east through mass violence. China is better.

                  Come on. Uighurs must surely count as human beings. That is just plain wrong man.

  • duderium [he/him]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    America might be flawed but it’s still overall a force for good in the world.

    Biden might suck but we should still vote for Democrats on the state or local levels and participate in the [nonexistent] primary to put pressure on Democrats because they are clearly better than Republicans and progressives would never lie to us (cough bernie cough fetterman cough AOC).

    Communism is impossible because it goes against human nature.

    China is capitalist.

    Organizing for revolution in the USA is hopeless.

    It’s impossible to scientifically understand human societies, even though humans are part of nature and nature can be scientifically understood.

    We can solve all our problems with technology alone. There’s no need to change anything else.

    Things will be better in the future even if I don’t actually do anything to make them better. (This one has been an issue for me. “The future” for a Marxist like myself isn’t terribly different from religious visions of paradise.)