America’s big problem is not Joe Biden, it’s the menace to democracy posed by Donald Trump

It’s neither, the problem is the illusion that we call democracy, and the compromises we (the people, not the rulers, of course) are told we have to make in order to maintain it (AKA the status quo) despite it being designed to keep us down (again, by providing an illusion of choice) rather than serve us.

As another person already said - trump is just a symptom, it is the system that enables and encourages his existence, and it is the system that needs to be abolished if the working class is to ever have a shot at justice, equity, and equality.

Articles like this are acts of systemic self defence - deflection to keep us looking at the illusion instead of the reality.

We’re all learning, all of the time, being open to it just makes it more interesting!

I’m glad we’ve had this exchange, it’s honestly been really refreshing.

Gaslighting the public in to maintaining the status quo for the rich and powerful…

E: and before the die hard liberals descend on me and accuse me of being a trump supporter because they can only see the world in blue or red - the alternative being worse doesn’t make your guy any good (nor did I mention the word “vote” - or don’t - once), it only proves that the system is rigged to never serve you. Now if only you were willing to confront this admittedly uncomfortable fact and move on from the fairy tale you’ve been sold, we might actually get some progress instead of treading water by “reducing harm” (all the while harm is not actually being reduced, we’re just being held hostage in exchange for it theoretically not getting worse)

I’m glad you’re finding the info helpful and insightful.

I think with regards to use of language, this is another good read (E: also the understanding-disability link I attached earlier will will probably help with the “why” behind thinking “disabled” is a slur). It might be coming at this from a slightly different angle, but I think the point still stands - “politeness”, “offence”, “political correctness” these are terms most often used by the privileged to police the speech of and control marginalised people (aka “respectability politics”), rather than the other way around, but I might be digressing a little at this point lol…

More power to them, we need collectives like this in every town and city. Build communities that exist to serve and support their members, not line the pockets of some already obscenely rich capitalist that has probably never even set foot locally.

reminded me of

ID: comic showing a homeless person sleeping in a doorway when a cop comes and tells them it’s illegal to sleep in public. The homeless person replies saying they guess they’ll just go to a hotel tonight, or maybe their townhouse or the Hamptons, then make a mock call to “Smithers” saying their “super fun street sleeping holiday” is over and asking which mansion they should sleep in, as the cop thinks “next: outlaw sarcasm”

Well, no, they aren’t fighting homelessness at all, that would mean trying to reduce, not to mention eliminate it.

Capitalists want homelessness, so that they have a whole under class of people to lock up and exploit, and that also serve as a warning to the rest of the working class.

The war is definitely against the homeless, not homelessness.

You’re welcome.

I think why you think “disabled” is rude is the thing to focus on (and the answer very briefly is because you, we all, were socialised to think that way).

I’ll just drop this link in too, I think intersectionality is vital, and understanding how systems of oppression stand alone and interact with each other is vital to unlearning them, and I think this is a good starting point that goes in to several: https://www.yorku.ca/edu/unleading/systems-of-oppression/

That’s the fucking point - there is nothing disrespectful about the word disabled, while there definitely is a lot of disrespect in using bullshit euphemisms like the one you used. The fact that you’re arguing back rather than listen and try to do better proves that you don’t care about respecting disabled people at all, but only about making yourself comfortable.

Feel free to read the links I shared with the person bellow if you actually want to start showing respect to disabled people. Either way, I’m done here.

I am not a spokesperson for all disabled people, nor are we a monolith, but yes, it is the correct term, and enough disabled people care that there have been several campaigns and there are probably thousands of articles and other pieces of media discussing why it’s important people #SayTheWord. Look that hashtag up to find this content, here are a couple of examples:

https://www.creativeconnector.art/why-its-so-important-to-saytheword/

https://crippledscholar.com/2017/11/12/euphemisms-for-disability-are-infantalizing/

You might also benefit from reading through this: https://www.drakemusic.org/blog/nim-ralph/understanding-disability/

People saying it’s escapism inadvertently proving that it’s working as intended, because it isn’t there for escapism, it’s a distraction, a very deliberate choice to do with keeping poor people “aspirational”.

It’s about reinforcing the lie that is “The American Dream” (or the “trad life”), and the idea that the people watching really are just the temporarily embarrassed millionaires they’ve been made to believe they are, that are actually just Christian white supremacist patriarchal capitalism doing what it needs to to maintain its control - promote the “perfect” cis-heteronormative nuclear family, living in the house with a white picket fence (now evolved in to a McMansion), with 2 cars in the drive, not only as an ideal, but as the norm.

The idea that a movie can’t provide escapism if the people in it aren’t rich, again, just goes to show just how well this specific brand of propaganda works.

👏👏👏

differently abled

Pro tip - “disabled” isn’t a dirty word, please use it! 👍

That’s still just a superficial solution, you need to go deeper and address the reasons these foods exist in the first place, and why people buy them, because it really isn’t the ultra processed foods in themselves that are the issue, it’s that the system is geared not only to encourage producing food as cheaply as possible, but also for people to work for such long hours to barely survive, and be so badly educated about food and nutrition, that fast food, and filling the pockets of those who sell it, is their best option (in terms of time, money, and other physical and mental resources that go in to consistently and reliably preparing food from scratch).

So much of the damage being attributed to these “ultra processed foods” is almost certainly actually due to stress and poverty, which are what (alongside a multi-trillion dollar marketing and advertising industries) lead people to eat them in the first place.