It’s a “thin blue line” flag, meant as support for the police.

Index and middle fingers. I never experience fatigue like I would with a thumb-ball mouse. I use the mouse that is one size down from the huge. The Deft Pro I think?

I feel like this trend was outlined in economic theories over 100 years ago.

I fell for it too. :(

I’m fairly certain that it was never used in the US releases. No clue on foreign releases. There are a few people who have looked into the possibility of changes made over the years and there wasn’t any evidence of it.

I believe the last people I heard had looked into it were the guys from Blowback.

This is not true, it’s just a well done meme. The message at the end of Rambo 3 has always remained the same and it does not match this. The message in the meme is based on a quote from Ronald Reagan.

He absolutely praised them in this way and the movie IS trash, but this is an often repeated misconception.

That first image isn’t a real clip from the movie, it’s just a good fake. The origin of the “brave Mujahedeen fighters” line is from Ronald Reagan himself.

That said, you are right.

Maybe take a good look at that last paragraph you wrote and think about why you blame the conflicts in the middle east on a reductive basis of “they are savages” rather than looking at the actual historical context of what has caused instability in the region.

Seriously, this entire comment is just a racist write-off of the middle east that is completely devoid of any true consideration of history. Ignorance personified.

“Black Shirts and Reds” by Michael Parenti for some history on communism, though it’s also largely about the history of facism as well.

Yeah and I’m sure that’s the end of the story. There’s no additional context to this story. Times and the problems faces by the government on that side of the wall were incredibly simple and there definitely wasn’t any collusion on the other side of the wall to try to drive people to leave.

The logical first step to brain drain is definitely to build a wall. those damn commies just didn’t understand how to use logic!

A massive reduction in motor vehicle traffic would be lovely. Literally the only thing I don’t love about biking is the constant presence of cars and car noise.

Turns out it was tech transfers that these dumbasses were signing all along. Meaning they made a deal…they got to exploit China’s labor force and China got legal access to their IP.

Signs away IP

“How dare they steal my IP!”

It’s not a fascination, it’s that these famines are used as cheap “gotcha” arguments against socialism without any regard to the context surrounding them.

Mistakes were absolutely made during both examples and people died because of those mistakes. At the same time, both serve as examples of how planned economies DO work once taken in a larger context. Yes, both societies had a famine and it was terrible. That’s not the end of the story, though. If we are talking about these famines in regards to which is superior, socialism or capitalism, there are other questions to consider.

How many famines did each country have after these examples? How frequently had similar famines been occurring prior to the reorganization into a socialist system? Was this solely the result of mismanagement by the socialist governments or did the conditions created by the systems in place before the revolutions contribute to the famines? Did similar famines occur elsewhere in countries organized around capitalist systems near the same time? Why is there so much focus on the (unintentional) famines that occurred early in socialist countries when far less focus is put on (intentional) famines that occurred in capitalist/colonized countries? Are we giving socialism fair consideration in this discourse?

This rabbit hole goes plenty deeper. The frustration is not originating from the attack on societies that people are fascinated with, but that these are used as bad faith attacks that are taken out of context. They put socialism on a false pedestal and then kick the legs out from under them.

As for Cuba, I can’t think of a better example of socialism being a viable system after all their people have had to suffer through. There hasn’t been a single day since long before the Cuban revolution that the US has given the people of Cuba a fair chance to live a prosperous and peaceful life. Despite the relentless pressure to fail, they persevere and in many ways thrive.

Why did this CNN article not address the issues with falsified rape reports from Ukrainian officials? Seems like they didn’t bother to do a proper job exploring the issue. This isn’t to deny that sexual assault is occuring in the conflict, it is instead meant to counter the broad painting of racist tropes being spread about Russian “Orcs” raping everywhere they go.

Rape tends to go hand-in-hand with war no matter which country is the invader. Something you’ll need to contend with at the personal level is that if you are war-mongering, you are indirectly supporting sexual assaults among the people involved in the conflict. Maybe you should reconsider your justifications of war.

And racists gonna say dumb shit.

Let’s just buy capitalism to fix capitalism. More capitalism is always the answer. Its capitaliception.

Holy shit, this is comedy gold! I love how it’s named “Hilary” as well.

I believe that was Stalin and his comically-large spoon.

FR though, read into these famines a bit closer. It sounds like your sources may have passed over some of the context surrounding these famines.

This is a beautifully-phrased thought and reflects my own experience. I think you described perfectly what it’s like transitioning into being an ML feels like and how it changes your interactions with the world.

Comrade, I think you could really benefit from therapy. Many of the things you are saying are reminiscent of similar thoughts and feelings I’ve had a habit of getting stuck in throughout my entire life. It’s a numbers game to find a good therapist without even approaching the problem of insurance and access to therapy, but the single most effective thing I’ve done.

Being able to talk through the struggles and contradictions in your mind is one of the first steps to reprogramming how you think about yourself. Identifying the source of negative ruminations is tough to effectively do on your own. Cognitive behavioral therapy is good, but you know what’s even better? Dialectical behavioral therapy. ;)

If you don’t have access to traditional therapy, finding a therapy group/community to join may be an effective and free alternative, such as Al-Anon. You sound like you feel alienated from those around you, but also from yourself. Community is part of the answer to this. It’s tough to open yourself back up, but it’s worth it. Take that risk to reach back out to people, reprogram your mind to treat yourself with love and kindness, and you will someday look back and be thankful toward yourself for those efforts. Would you be comfortable treating others in your life the way you abuse yourself within your own mind? I suspect not. You deserve love from external sources, but also yourself.

As an aside, even if you feel like your posts in capitalisminddecay are inconsequential, I can tell you they have been one of the most informative and fascinating parts of my experience on Lemmygrad. Keep up the good work. As hard as it can be in those moments, I find it comforting to know that at my lowest points the only way to go is up. Life will improve. It’s a journey filled with challenges and while each person has their own destination, travelling with company, with a community you build around you, makes that journey much more enjoyable.