Lefty Memes
An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of the "ML" influence of instances like lemmy.ml and lemmygrad. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.
Agitprop (I.E. everything that would be more fitting on a poster than a meme) goes here.
Serious posts, news, and discussion go in c/Socialism.
If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.
Please don't forget to help keep this community clean by reporting rule violations, updooting good contributions and downdooting those of low-quality!
Rules
0. Only post socialist memes
That refers to funny image macros and means that generally videos and screenshots are not allowed. Exceptions include explicitly humorous and short videos, as well as (social media) screenshots depicting a funny situation, joke, or joke picture relating to socialist movements, theory, societal issues, or political opponents. Examples would be the classic case of humorous Tumblr or Twitter posts/threads. (and no, agitprop text does not count as a meme. Please post agitprop here)
0.5 [Provisional Rule] Use alt text or image descriptions to allow greater accessibility
(Please take a look at our wiki page for the guidelines on how to actually write alternative text!)
We require alternative text (from now referred to as "alt text") to be added to all posts/comments containing media, such as images, animated GIFs, videos, audio files, and custom emojis.
EDIT: For files you share in the comments, a simple summary should be enough if theyβre too complex.
We are committed to social equity and to reducing barriers of entry, including (digital) communication and culture. It takes each of us only a few moments to make a whole world of content (more) accessible to a bunch of folks.
When alt text is absent, a reminder will be issued. If you don't add the missing alt text within 48 hours, the post will be removed. No hard feelings.
0.5.1 Style tip about abbreviations and short forms
When writing stuff like "lol" and "iirc", it's a good idea to try and replace those with their all caps counterpart
- ofc => OFC
- af = AF
- ok => OK
- lol => LOL
- bc => BC
- bs => BS
- iirc => IIRC
- cia => CIA
- nato => Nato (you don't spell it when talking, right?)
- usa => USA
- prc => PRC
- etc.
Why? Because otherwise (AFAIK), screen readers will try to read them out as actually words instead of spelling them
1. Socialist Unity in the form of mutual respect and good faith interactions is enforced here
Try to keep an open mind, other schools of thought may offer points of view and analyses you haven't considered yet. Also: This is not a place for the Idealism vs. Materialism or rather Anarchism vs. Marxism debate(s), for that please visit c/AnarchismVsMarxism.
2. Anti-Imperialism means recognizing capitalist states like Russia and China as such
That means condemning (their) imperialism, even if it is of the "anti-USA" flavor.
3. No liberalism, (right-wing) revisionism or reactionaries.
That includes so called: Social Democracy, Democratic Socialism, Dengism, Market Socialism, Patriotic Socialism, National Bolshevism, Anarcho-Capitalism etc. . Anti-Socialist people and content have no place here, as well as the variety of "Marxist"-"Leninists" seen on lemmygrad and more specifically GenZedong (actual ML's are welcome as long as they agree to the rules and don't just copy paste/larp about stuff from a hundred years ago).
4. No Bigotry.
The only dangerous minority is the rich.
5. Don't demonize previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
We must constructively learn from their mistakes, while acknowledging their achievements and recognizing when they have strayed away from socialist principles.
(if you are reading the rules to apply for modding this community, mention "Mantic Minotaur" when answering question 2)
6. Don't irrationally idolize/glorify previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
Notable achievements in all spheres of society were made by various socialist/people's/democratic republics around the world. Mistakes, however, were made as well: bureaucratic castes of parasitic elites - as well as reactionary cults of personality - were established, many things were mismanaged and prejudice and bigotry sometimes replaced internationalism and progressiveness.
- Absolutely no posts or comments meant to relativize(/apologize for), advocate, promote or defend:
- Racism
- Sexism
- Queerphobia
- Ableism
- Classism
- Rape or assault
- Genocide/ethnic cleansing or (mass) deportations
- Fascism
- (National) chauvinism
- Orientalism
- Colonialism or Imperialism (and their neo- counterparts)
- Zionism
- Religious fundamentalism of any kind
view the rest of the comments
the real problem is when those murderers come home and feel sad. Will somebody think of the poor state sanctioned murderers!!
This is actually a propaganda tactic called shooting and crying.
Of course it is a hebrew expression from the IDF
Iβm glad they have PTSD π€·ββοΈ
The only thing that seems to curb their baser impulses is the haunting memory of the horror they committed.
It's not the soldier with PTSD who should scare you. It's the sociopath who came back seemingly normal.
Agree. If the system is codified to allow them to get off absolutely free, in terms of legal culpability, at least they get to pay in some other form. Compared to their victims being, ya know, dead, a somewhat-modicum of eternal torment seems reasonable.
Tbh, that's the best argument.
The closest thing to their victims haunting them.
If someone has PTSD for something that happened to them, like being victims of abuse or being invaded by westerners who killed your family, then PTSD is valid. but I think PTSD is not valid if that person is the one committing those atrocities, that should be diagnosable as guilt and something they have to live with. Therefore, I think war criminals crying about PTSD and have flashbacks of driving over children on a tractor, then fuck you, that is not PTSD and it distracts from actual PTSD victims.
people downvoting you can fuck off.
In a just world they would face consequences for their actions. instead the closest thing they get is to "feel sad about it" then the whole state bends over backwards to coddle them and make them feel good.
Fuck off, I hope the guilt of their actions haunts them till their dying breath. They choose to enlist when they were legal adults. if an 18 year old gets drunk and runs over some children no one would care about them. but if an 18 year old signs up to kill children in the other side of the world it's ok? they are then called heroes and given discounts?
yhea, we can vent on how the states encourages it, but by the end they willingly signed up to murder people. what did they expect?
For many it is their only hope of escaping poverty or owning property. "Convenient" for the state that this is the case.
Desperate people are willing to do horrible things. To what extent are they to blame for being exploited? The state's policies allow and encourage poverty, destitution, and desperation, then exploit it.
I don't think one is just or even absolved by their exploitation, but I can have empathy.
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The state doesn't treat veterans much better than dogs. Some get to leave with work experience, savings, and education, others get to crawl in the streets until they starve.
We can talk all about that. but the moment they agree to play the government game and make their lives better by destroying lives somewhere else they are now part of that system and not it's victims. Same with all those ICE agents.
Have empathy with them until they decide to be a class traitor. If it was up to me they would be in jail to mellow with their PTSD. not in the general public.
Same as joining a gang. Participate in violence and you get a roof over your head and maybe a couple meals. Wether or not it makes them "bad people" or "class traitors" doesn't change the pressures and incentives at play. There are few alternatives and fewer viable ones.
there is no soldiertariat. the person who joins the USian military is typically white, welloff and ideologically aligned with imperialism. they joined because they could and they wanted to. the military is the vanguard party of fascism.
I don't have any sympathy for those who joined from a position of privilege. I acknowledge that is likely the majority of service members.
There's also the many, many poor rural children that join for nationalistic reasons, already far down the path to fascism.
Fuck that shit ass-political whitewashing lie; the US is not and has not ever been in that bad of a situation that the options are "engage in mass murdering or die". They literally invade entire other countries of the world.
Don't want to engage in mass murder? There's at least 380 options! You can be a nurse, a fireman, a municipal councilor, a packager, a uber driver, or if you're THAT desperate, a drug leader for your local drug dealership branch.
Oh man, how dare we be mean to the people who signed up to murder brown people! Won't someone be civil to the murderers?!
Gladly, point me to one so I can mock them for killing innocents.
You should do stand-up. That's pretty funny.
How often it calls them heroes? or gives them healthcare (still shitty because it's America, but more healthcare than the general population)? or makes it socially unacceptable to criticise them, like I'm doing now and bootlickers are downvoting men and complaining.
fuck em all, you know how easy it is not to get PTSD from murdering people in poor countries? it's super easy, just don't sign up to kill people in poor countries.
Keep going. You've almost got a tight 5 there.
Oh no, I've upset the bootlickers, woe is me
Oof. You aren't the brightest, are you?
before trying to make me feel bad, how about you remove that boot from your mouth ?
The PTSD is part of why they have the join the military mentality.
Yes, because the way to cope with cycles of abuse is to perpetuate it.
Do you recommend that people should beat their kids if they got beaten up as kids?
That's not the point. The point is that fully funded, comprehensive health care rather than over-funded death and destruction would give people emotional survival skills beyond perpetration of aggression.
Still their fault the moment they decided to become the abusers and inflict more horrors on the world. that is a choice they made.
But yhea, healthcare and education should be universal and not tied to being a mercenary for the empire
How people are socialized (brainwashed) from birth is a thing. I didn't do it, and I taught my kid not to do it, and that's hard in a society that has kids pledge allegiance to a flag from preschool onward. I was heavily pressured by my whole family but one grandparent who shared with me the horrors of shell shocked brothers returning after mandatory conscription. I also read a lot, still mostly propaganda. I consider myself fortunate. Not everyone has the mental fortitude to withstand the pressure and accusations of not being patriotic. Do I think they bear personal responsibility? Yes; and the blame goes back to the very foundation of the United States.
https://storychanges.com/what-is-the-child-development-hypothesis-of-ivan-pavlov.html
Yhea, but my rule of thumb, the moment someone chooses to stop being a victim of those cycles and becomes the cause of that cycle all empathy and and understanding get flushed away. and instead I rather focus on their victims.
My larger point is, without addressing the cause, victims will perpetuate.
For example, toe gets gangrene, amputate the toe without addressing the blood clot in the leg, or fasting blood sugar level of 200.
We do need that systemic change, were undoubtedly in agreement in that bigger point. Healthcare and education shouldn't only be free for state mercenaries, but for all. same with ending the propaganda campaigns.
just want to make sure we also agree on that smaller point. that a 18 year old signing up to the military and getting PTSD from their own war crimes is bullshit. and they deserve punishment for their crimes rather than sympathy for their guilt
Both would suit me
π