No obviously meant Calvin Harris. His music is what this nation needs now more than ever.

I’m not sure if updating our tools is moving goal posts- what goal are we aiming for? I understand the frustration with seeing the measuring stick change to make the reasonable seem unreasonable, but I would say that the same measuring stick is now misrepresenting where people fall.

If we are talking political spectrums, there already are plenty of tools used: the linear left right, the horseshoe, the fishhook, the quadrant visualisation, etc. I’d say the data is now leaving the paper. We need new tools to make sense of it.

Much to your point though, I think it’s valuable to ask “what are we measuring, who’s doing the measuring, and who benefits from the answer?”

We will never have the satisfying answers to our questions, but hopefully we can find better questions to ask.

Oh I recognize these! We’ve got:

1. The 1978 super Nintendo 5 (alternate universe)

2. Lockheed Martin Bread maker

3. Jeff

4. HP 2400 inkjet Uranium 235 enrichment centrifuge

If everyone’s political beliefs were something you could see, I actually think it would create more peace. How many people go along with a more extreme take only because they are afraid to be ostracized from their community? Odds are folks would look around and see that the world is more shades of gray than what social media tries to mold us into.

I had someone tell me I was brainwashed because I have a degree in political science. I was taken aback, but then decided to ask myself if I was. I mean, what’s the difference between being educated and being brainwashed? Is it the conclusion that you come to? Is it some physically measurable thing?

Some good questions to ask is “is the information I’m getting geared to make me feel a certain way or to inform me about something?” “Am I learning in a setting where I am afraid that to have a dissenting opinion would get me kicked out of my community?” “Are certain ideas immediately ruled out as false without further discussion?”

At least in my degree, I felt that there were a plethora of opinions in my classroom discussions, and when we approached different lenses, we made sure to have a thorough understanding of them, as best we could. I can think of only one philosophy that an international relations teacher ruled off outright, and that was “ancient hatreds theory”. Even then we spent several classes taking it apart and why it is a poor tool to view conflicts.

That said, I would say I was brainwashed after college when I spent more time on Facebook, reddit, and Instagram. With the perpetual rage machine at my fingertips, I was afraid that if I disagreed I would be flamed and cancelled from groups that I loved. I am very wary of getting information from the socials since things are so over simplified and there is little to no welcomed critical discussion. It’s just a yelling pit with people further entrenched in their beliefs.

I think that the left/ right spectrum is outdated, or at least the definitions we give to each.

I mean, originally the left/ right divide was about whether to keep King Louis XVI around or to have him beheaded.

The spectrum we know as a communism vs capitalism scale really was useful in the cold war when those were the two sides of a bipolar world. When we still use this as the measuring stick, things become super confusing in the 21st century. Our world is no longer a communist vs capitalist struggle. Russia and China aren’t communist like the Soviet Union. The United States isn’t the same democratic state that it was in 1960.

I don’t know what our new spectrum is, that’s going to be the research of the next great political scientist, but I do think the old tools we’ve used are no longer helpful. Some are saying “woke vs unwoke”, some are saying “populism vs. globalism”, and some are saying simply “chaos vs order”. Perhaps it’s a little bit of all, or perhaps we should throw spectrums out altogether. Either way, if we use old tools for modern problems, we will end up confused. It’s like how jazz is seen as a super complex genre- it may simply be because we still use the music theory of 18th century European composers to try and understand Miles Davis. Of course it’s going to be a wild ride.

Man Christmas dinner is gonna rock this year. Just like my mom will play dumb and look confused that I used “they” as a singular, I’m going to play dumb and look confused when she says “you”. I see no downsides.

Someone correct me, but “you” was originally plural. The correct way to address a singular person is “thou”.

Oh of course, person by person there are folks who wouldn’t hesitate to grab a machete and get to work.

Hell, there are people in leftist camps who decided to join when they heard the word “guillotine”

I mean that’s what I assumed it meant. I didn’t think we were actually going to come out murdering people.

Ah I see.

Maybe this can help.

I’m happy to clarify, what part do you find confusing?

How can we be sure you’re not the secret billionaire!? 🤔

Best eat both of us just to make sure.

Edit:

Also OP and anyone who read my post because they said they might agree with me on this meme. Gotta root out enemies of the people.

Edit edit:

If anyone actually follows the line of any revolution, this is how it always goes. The guillotine will eventually kill the ones who bring it out.

Yea that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.

I’m anxious that all the praise for the CEO shooter is revealing that “eat the rich” wasn’t a euphemism for “tax the rich” but that people actually want the streets to run red with blood and cranberry sauce.

Cook me daddy

Okay this is actually what makes humans amazing. Btw the malört and Marx is talking now.

I feel like we are sold this idea to be purely a specialist because… It’s easy to know that your tool does one thing and one thing well. It really is a mindset that benefits a capitalist that a worker is good for one thing. How many jobs have you been in that you felt never utilized your potential? That you had so many skills that weren’t being utilized?

Marx characterized humans as being creative and diverse. We are amazing Swiss army knives, but so often our companies ask us to only be a screwdriver or a bottle opener.

Sadly if you are reading this thinking “I’m only good at one thing” it’s not true and it’s not your fault. You’ve been sold an idea that you bought into, and it may have even been beneficial financially. How many people are making $350k to turn a button blue and move it left 3 pixels? Our system rewards people when they are able to be tools for a specific purpose.

Oddly enough Marx predicted that the country most likely to be communist would be the United States. He actually really liked Americans, we were farmers in the morning, artists in the evening, and philosophers at night. We had overthrown the aristocracy, so it just made sense we would be the first to overthrow the Bourgeois class.

Turns out Marx couldn’t predict everything :/

The joyful wonder and whimsey that lived in my soul and twinkle that shone through my eyes, or at least I think it was there. It’s now just a faint memory of a memory, something that I yearn for but unsure if I ever even tasted it.

Look don’t judge them, anything goes in the airport cafe.

That’s a very pragmatic take

Oh yea, you can cook it with any vegetable, fruit, or flower, milk, and rock salt to get a tough seafood stew. I those are pretty powerful, like your defense goes up for 5 minutes.

Alternatively mix it with monster parts and you get an elixir but what fun is that?

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