FanonFan [comrade/them, any]

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Joined 10 months ago
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Cake day: September 10th, 2023

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  • To me it makes me think of the intellectualization of revolutionary theory to the degree that it’s no longer revolutionary, merely a means by which academics can advance their careers. I get that impression with a lot of western Marxian/critical theory from the last few decades tbh (although that doesn’t mean the works don’t contain interesting ideas).

    A quote from Marx that I like:

    The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.

    Yet some academics remain content to idly interpret while benefitting from the spoils of imperialism and colonialism.

    Oooorrr it’s just a comic by an anti-communist trying to point out a perceived hypocrisy so they don’t have to engage with the ideas lmao



  • It’s a signifier for a politico-economic concept, so yes. Third world is a similar signifier that also doesn’t really align with its original nor intuitive meanings. Semiotics is weird like that.

    Either one can be used to signify countries from which resources and labor are extracted by the Global North or something along those lines. Do they find themselves richer or poorer due to global trade?

    For example, Australia, in this context, wouldn’t be considered global south despite being in the southern hemisphere. Unless it was harshly colonized and became a resource trough for the USA and Europe, then its politico-economic position would change even though it obviously didn’t change geographically.







  • I’m glad most of these problems can be solved by small lifestyle choices, and that by consuming slightly differently as an individual, I can have faith that I’m personally preserving the world for future generations. And once people see the profoundly ethical consumption choices I make, they’ll start to follow suit, and there’ll be a massive ripple effect centered around my consumption that spreads across the whole world as people switch to paper bags and only eat meat three days a week. If people’s choices were influenced by their material environment rather than the spread of ideas, we’d be forced to think of ways to change their material environment, which seems a lot harder than just changing people’s minds.

    I’m glad that most of this impact is caused by individuals and their consumption habits, because it’s easy to convince people to consume differently. If these problems were disproportionately caused by corporations, governments, and militaries, then we’d have to change their minds, and they can’t be simply talked into acting differently. There’d have to be some risk to their bottom line or material interests, perhaps some sort of immediate threat to the people in charge, which would be difficult for individuals like us to enact within the bounds of the law and pacifist social norms.

    I’m glad most of us live in some form of democracy where we can vote for initiatives and people who will address these pressing issues. Voting is more important than ever because of this.

    In a hypothetical world where this weren’t the case (say elected representatives had shown a long track record of ignoring the demands of their constituents and brushing these kinds of problems under the rug, for instance) it would unfortunately be our ethical duty to take matters into our own hands with more radical action. Since politicians would value the profit of fossil fuel corporations more than our well-being and the world’s future, we’d have to find some way for individuals to impact the bottom lines of these companies, possibly by drastically increasing the cost of doing business, perhaps by increasing the cost of maintaining their machinery somehow. But I’m glad I can just vote for people who can be trusted to use their state power to solve these problems peacefully and legally.




  • In the process of deconstructing work “ethics” and capitalist “productivity”, it’s important to replace it with something more meaningful than individualism or hedonism. While it’s fine to do nothing, fine to do things you enjoy regardless of whether they make profit for someone else, it’s also good to do things that better yourself, others, and society (even if that concept has been co-opted and corrupted by the profit motive). I see too many people “escape” the rat race either by finding people to exploit or sinking into escapism like [more than a reasonable amount of] video games or drugs or whatnot.



  • I mean the idea is that good urban planning would enable shorter and more frequent grocery store trips. Rather than a supercenter supplying everyone within 30 miles, requiring long drives, you’d have things distributed by need, i.e. general food stores every couple miles, more specialist places potentially farther away. Our current layout and shopping habits are contingent on car infrastructure and massive federal subsidies.

    Would also decrease waste and increase general health, since fresher, less processed food could be purchased.