• MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    At this point, “centrist” is slang for, “I want to argue for what I believe in under the guise of being the ‘Devils advocate’”.

  • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    France is speedrunning this right now. Any time a liberal claims to be antifascist, ask them to explain why they think fascism exists and where it comes from, materially.

      • kjo@discuss.tchncs.de
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        2 months ago

        What does “material analysis” means in this context? What should I search to know more? I searched the term and only came up with chemistry topics.

        • Sagittarii@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Simply put, materialism — as opposed to idealism — is the idea that everything we do and experience as a society (our history, culture, politics, etc) is shaped by the material reality around us, rather than ideas.

          “Material analysis” in this case therefore means analysing politics and history through this lens. And it’s a fundamental component of socialism/marxism.

          Simple diagram of how our material reality shapes our society

          Yogthos is insulting liberals because liberalism is an idealist ideology that always eventually gives way to fascism when a capitalist state is (inevitably) in decay.

        • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          My original comment is meant to refer to the concept of Materialism, which contains the concepts of Marxist Dialectical and Historical Materialism. Materialism is a “reality-focused” branch of philosophy and analysis, contrasted with Idealism, which is idea-focused.

          The connection to liberalism and fascism is because Liberalism is Idealist as opposed to Materialist. The Liberal answer to “where does fascism come from?” Would be “demagogues like Trump rising to power, racism, xenophobia, etc,” yet when you ask why those ideas are present or not present, the Liberal cannot answer genuinely.

          For Marxists, fascism is a consequence of Capitalism’s decline, resulting in the Petty Bourgeois elements of society, ie the “Middle Class,” sliding into worse conditions and allying with the Bourgeoisie against the Proletariat. In the Weimar Republic, Capitalism was declining and genuine Communism was gaining steam, with the KPD at the forefront and the SPD representing the moderate Socialists, so fascism gained power as a reaction. Communism and Socialism gained appeal among the Lower Classes while fascism gained power among the Liberals, ie the Middle and Upper Classes.

          The other works listed by other commenters are great, but my personal favorite work on the subject is Elementary Principles of Philosophy.

  • xor@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    If they’re exclusively supporting the right wing candidate, they’re not a centrist, then

    • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Centrism within the context of an exclusively right-wing overton window is always going to functionally be right wing.

      • xor@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 months ago

        You can’t possibly make a reasonable argument that Kamala Harris is a fascist lmao

        • Authoritarian: no
        • Ultra-nationalist: no
        • Forcible suppression of opposition: no
        • Militarisation of society: no
        • State controlled economy: no
        • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          I didn’t make that point, I said she is right-wing, and is running on the same foreign policy as Trump did 4 years ago, with her promising to build the wall and strengthen border patrol.

          Either way:

          Authoritarian

          What do you mean by this? America isn’t a real democracy, if she supports the current system then I believe her to be authoritarian.

          Ultra-nationalist

          If you count Trump’s border policy from 2016-2020 as Ultra-Nationalist, she’s Ultra-Nationalist. She also wants the US military to be, and I quote from her speech at the DNC, as “the most lethal military in the world.”

          Forcible suppression of opposition

          Democrats kicked the Party for Socialism and Liberation off the ballot in Georgia already, so while we aren’t all the way there, signs of it are showing up

          Militarisation of society

          Not there yet, sure.

          State controlled economy

          Much of the US economy is state-controlled, it’s just that the US State is controlled by the Bourgeoisie.

            • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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              2 months ago

              This is misleading. Most people do not actually know what Socialism or Communism are in the US (including people on Lemmy.world and other more liberalized instances) that think they know. What we are seeing is increasing polarization, fascism and Socialism are rising as a response to decaying Imperialism in the American Empire, as a consequence of decaying Capitalism.

              Party-wise, the Democrats are running on the GOP platform of 4 years ago, while the GOP is running on overt fascism. American politics is more right-wing than ever before.

                • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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                  2 months ago

                  Socialism is, put at the most simple statement, Worker Ownership of the Means of Production. It is also, more abstractly put, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat in a transitional status towards Communism.

                  People often confuse Capitalist governments doing stuff for Socialism, and Socialist governments retaining Capitalist elements as the entire system being Capitalist. It requires class analysis of who is in power.

                  Do you have a different idea, or is this in line with what you currently understand?

          • OmegaLemmy@discuss.online
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            2 months ago

            Anywhere that companies will cater to the left, why would they throw away profit otherwise? You’re the majority now and they’ll market accordingly

            • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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              2 months ago

              What do you think “left” means? Communists and Socialists are not the majority, nor are they being pandered to. Right-wingers like Liberals make up the majority.

  • cRazi_man@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Aren’t there dedicated communities for political memes? I blocked those for a reason. Why is more and more politics bleeding over to here?

  • Greg Clarke@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    Wingers both left and right need to get out of their bubbles. Wingers have no idea what their opposition believe. And attacking centrists is an silly approach to further you’re cause. They’re literally the people you should be engaging with instead of producing bubbled memes like this.

  • supertrucker@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Let’s hear what a bunch of leftists who think that you can have a functional democracy when everyone thinks exactly the way they do lecture everyone on why political extremisn is a good idea,then start crying when they realize that the only way they can achieve their political paradise is for them to act like the very nazis they claim to despise