Failing to have a coherent understanding of how imperialism works. A lot of westerners seem to think they live in developed countries developed purely by their own industry, while not realizing how financial capital continues to plunder the global south.
Any resource you could recommend for someone who wants a better understanding of this?
Yes, actually! I wrote an introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list, you can skip straight to the “imperialism” section. It’ll be a bit difficult to jump straight there without the other sections, but it won’t be impossible. If you only read one, it should be Lenin’s Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism | Audiobook, which is by far the most clear and important work on the subject. The only problem is that imperialism has developed quite a lot since Lenin wrote it, and the US Empire is now unquestionably the top dog. For more on that, I recommend Michael Hudson’s Super-Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance.
If you only want a quick overview, though, Prolewiki’s article on imperialism is really good by itself.
Thank you for the quality resource! I realized I already had this saved but haven’t gotten to that section yet o7.
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Thinking China is the same as it was 10-30 years ago and that Chinese products can’t have superior quality.
We’ve reached a point where the US doesn’t even know how to manufacture some of the stuff China can.
“Charlie Kirk was a wonderful person”
A close friend (bless his heart) asked me if I “really think China is more free than, say, France?” when talking about things like freedom of the press and journalistic integrity. I’ve seen a lot of that recently, that because we live in a country which had been once considered to be “socialistic” that the stories we are told and things we have been taught wouldn’t align as much with what global and local capitalists want us to believe is true. At one point I remember him critizising me for using the term “wage slave” (which I used jokingly but w/e) because “none of us here are actual wage slaves”. Because you apparently have to be an Asian child in a Nike sweatshop to actually be opressed by capitalism. My brother, no-one is free until all are free.
“none of us here are actual wage slaves”
Bro is just cosplaying as one
It might have been a misunderstanding between how being unemployed doesn’t rule out being a wage slave, even if you live in a country with a relatively high standard of living because the means of production are still capitalistic, you just don’t have any income and the government tries its best to not give you any also. Or I used the term in a too abstract of a manner elsewise. Or a combination of all and some others.
“immigration is why our lives are getting worse”
Very clear indicator that someone has barely attempted to understand how the world works
I mean yeah thats a good indication, but thinking about it, many asian countries also have this same feeling. So is it a westernized thought process or just “people are stupid as fuck” problem. I lean on the latter.
It’s a racism problem, which one might argue is people being stupid as fuck.
“If your poor its because you didn’t try hard enough”
Someone once tole me only Western hippies believe in alternative medicine
When alternative medicine works, we call it medicine.
Example?
Acupuncture, leech therapy, meditation/yoga are the only ones I can think of. If theres someone reading with an interest in medical history I’d be willing to bet theres a list longer than Ron Jeremy
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Their attitudes towards elderly parents. I’ve been told I shouldn’t worry about helping them in their old age because they had their chance to work and save for retirement and so it’s their responsibility of it’s not enough. Except… They didn’t. They migrated here with nothing, provided for THEIR parents their whole lives, and did the best they could for me, which left them with next to nothing. Westerners assume everyone boomer aged or so had the same opportunities that their parents had. The nuclear family is also very hands-off about caring for the elderly. That’s not how most of the world operates. Plus, it’s so sad!
Yep, same in the UK. We’ve abandoned our elderly and seemingly can’t wait for our kids to leave so that we enjoy maybe 10 years of watching TV and not working before we die.
In other, less ‘developed’ countries the family is a unit. The elderly help with the infants (which has been proven to be mutually beneficial), while the rest of the family works or helps maintain the household. There’s way less likelyhood of abandonment or lonliness in old age, which in my country is endemic.
Paraphrasing, but:
- “Truth does not exist, only opinions, and they’re all equally valid.”
- “Morality is fundamentally relative.” (It follows from the former, I guess.)
- “Every tribe/culture has always been/remains equally brutal, bloodthirsty, hedonistic, nihilistic, imperialistic and selfishly amoral.”
- “There are no differences between the sexes besides the physical ones.” (And even that one is denied at times, for instance when it comes to transexual athletes)
- “Love, making a lifetime commitment to your partner and raising kids are not (nor should they be) of major relevance in people’s lives.” (And if you even mention it you’re a control freak, limiting women’s freedom and whatnot)
- “You gotta take care of yourself first and foremost!” (the Divine and the collective come second and third, if they’re thought of at all, to the self, and only the self is truly worthy of attention)
Romanticising armed revolution.
