top 76 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 58 points 1 year ago* (16 children)

Learning a foreign language and runing the fuck out of US is also an option. You don't need risk everything just to better a country where 60% of population hates you and rest is barely neutral.

  • source
  • hideshow 16 child comments
  • [–] 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Need ideas for countries. What's a good place I could move to that has decent public transit infrastructure, free healthcare and good welfare/retirement benefits, cheap gigabit internet, and legal cannabis concentrates?

    (Last one is most important because I literally cannot sleep without weed; prescription sleeping pills are awful and do not work effectively for me. Also flower is a non-option cause the wife hates the smell and I want to be considerate.)

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    Japan still has legal CBN (and CBD), at least until the government figures out that people are using it to have fun and bans it. Although health care is cheap but not free.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    I've tried CBD but it doesn't help with my sleep issues unless combined with THC.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Yeah cbd didn't do much for me but cbn gives similar feelings to thc. I didn't look into it very deeply but it's something like thc breaks down into cbn over time. It's basically a weaker version of thc. Apparently you could pass a drug test with cbd but not with cbn, for example.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    This is how you concentrate evil, and doing so in a huge area with the most power and resources is a bad idea.
    The better idea is to organize, spread the good out, beat gerrymandering, beat FPTP, regulate campaign funding and special interest lobbying, change the laws, bring back evidence based policy making expert council, and crush the enemy.... Or be crushed and or ousted yourself.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    If you have an university degree or job that's in high demand even learning a foreign language can be done after you got out. (source: I have a shitload of America friends that came to Europe without speaking anything but English)

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Or even just still using English. Most countries use it in some capacity.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    You can get by with English in many countries but it doesn't work as a long term plan to just rely on English if you plan to move there.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 73 points 1 year ago (13 children)

    Whether or not the average person will go to a protest is heavily studied in Game Theory.

    Unsurprisingly, the consistent finding is that either the person needs to have no risk from attending (lol, facial recognition and Palintir), have no costs to attending, or things have to be otherwise be bad enough that they genuinely think that things can't get worse for them if they attend and change might actually happen if they attend.

    See you at work on Monday I guess.

  • source
  • hideshow 13 child comments
  • [–] 38 points 1 year ago

    the person needs to have no risk from attending

    The government deals in violence and knows how to handle groups of protestors, whether they originate as peaceful or violent. Don’t play to their strengths by engaging them on that level and giving them a confrontation that they can escalate.

    Non-participation, boycotts, malicious compliance, quiet quitting, anticonsumption, and birthstriking are more my style. It’s not glamorous or quick, but governments are notoriously inept at dealing with situations that they can’t just beat or shoot at. They don’t know what to do when a hammer is an ineffective tool for the job.

    These sorts of actions may be inconvenient or cause you to forgo certain things that you want. However it doesn't put you in any actual risk, whether it be physical, legal, or financial. The non-risk aspect of it means that it has a much lower barrier to entry, and thus a lower threshold for how bad things need to get before people take action.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago

    or things have to be otherwise be bad enough that they genuinely think that things can't get worse for them if they attend and change might actually happen if they attend.

    Usually, the main reason for protests and revolutions to grow immensely is if the means of livelihood is affected. No food to eat? Blame the government. No jobs? Blame the government. No housing? Blame the government. They're cutting pensions? Blame the government. Speaking of which, the planned pension reform by Putin, years ago, was the only time his leadership was seriously threatened by the public. Otherwise, Russian people don't care if Kremlin bombs the Georgians or Ukrainians, or dissidents keep flying off the window, so long as their means of living are not touched. In that sense, individuals are selfish and don't mind authoritarianism as long as they themselves are not severely affected.

    Humans are complex and are not naturally predisposed to crave for democracy, contrary to what many Westerners believe. Ultimately, it is a question of liberty versus security. Some prefer security so long as standards of living is well kept by the ruling elites, and certain degree of freedom is allowed to the public. That's why, unfortunately, some authoritarian leaderships persists for so long. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy for as long as anyone can remember, and Francisco Franco's fascist regime survived long, in spite of the fall of fascism after World War 2.

  • source
  • parent
  • [+] -18 points 1 year ago (10 children)

    “A protest” is literally nothing

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 10 child comments
  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    Protests aren't nothing. That's why the government spends so much energy dispersing them. Riots would be more effective, but that doesn't make protesters nothing.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 9 child comments
  • [+] -15 points 1 year ago* (7 children)

    It’s less than nothing. The “no kings” protest had the effect of illustrating how limp the resistance is and empowering the fascists. They were racking up a body count while the rest of you were doing a parade. Great work.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Actually 🤓, they were the ones doing a parade during the no kings protests, while I was racking up my body count with your mom.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [+] -10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Cool, this is a very good and useful way to use your energy. Don’t by any means go out and do something that matters.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Lol trolling you is definitely a better use of energy than whatever it is you're choosing to do on here

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 33 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I hate that term. Eichmann very notably revelled in his role and tried to play up how many people they killed.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Individuals acting individually results in nothing except the death of a comrade. Action happens through coordination, intelligence gathering and collective action.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    I mean thats true but i think many people are too afraid/low energy/uninformed to unite with others in order to coordinate. But i hope i am wrong and the people of the U.S. take back their country before Drumpf and his Goons have done too much damage (which i guess you could argue has already happened).

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    If the country goes whaere it looks like it is going

    Eventually we each are going to have to decide

    When a resistance group is formed ..

    Will you join?

    And what are you willing to do?

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    Curiously I'm having to deal with this very conflict. I want to join the resistance, but I'm (literally) allergic to sunlight (which precludes street demonstrations) and I'm a goblin when it comes to in-person social development, such as organizing.

    The mutual aid groups in Sacramento are scarce, so it's difficult to ask them.

    Do I make useful memes and infographics? Not sure.

    Curiously, the nearest ICE hq is in San Francisco, and there are resistence movements there interfering with ICE action.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Probably cook.

    Travel along with the resistance, tending to troops, fixing meals, fetching ammo, just a worker bee in the military machine.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    I was hoping at the No Kings demonstration at the California capitol, there'd be a pavilion giving away free tacos, and I'd volunteer to help make them. Alas, no one else acted on the idea.

    Option two was to find one of the organizers and man a free water bottle station. But those didn't happen either. Demonstrators were just advised to bring snacks and water.

    Only after the fact did I notice the local mutual aid orgs had very little online presence. So, yeah, I'm back to researching. If I do ever find the Rebel Alliance, then conversations will be had. For now, I'm looking at groups like Indivisible with limited success.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 47 points 1 year ago (16 children)

    This is making a good point, but I still have to be here for my kids. I'll donate, vote, and argue, but I'm not fighting anyone off because my kids need me.

    Leaving the country is also an option we're looking into, but my wife thinks we should stay here and continue to do what little we can.

  • source
  • hideshow 16 child comments
  • [–] 23 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Their kids need them too. The point of solidarity is accepting the same risks as them because they don't get to make that choice.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] [S] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    Meh, its ok, its really just a truth of the universe at this point. No changing it. If there was the sentiment from everyone would be, "right, let's do something right now."

    Im also not infallible so maybe the sentiment changes.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Leaving does more than staying

    The government doesn't need you to agree with them, but they do need your tax dollars. Well educated, high earners leaving does a lot. Being the recipient of those people is a large part of the US's dominance over the past 70 years

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    If those high earners were protesting and fighting, feeding those with less, supporting rebellion with their money and knowledge instead of working or fleeing, it would certainly solve that problem.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    My kids are the reason I'd be going to fight.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    The plan is already in place with my family for when your dictator presses your countrymen into service to come for our water, oil and rare earth metals. It has been so since drumphkins started talking about annexation and instigated economic warfare on our country and we in turn heard crickets from 'murica. We won't be working, on our couches or fleeing to the best European country that will take us. Our kids may embark on a European journey but we will be right here at home.

    The kits are stocked and the truck is ready to roll with five other like minded individuals. Turns out we might only be going to Ottawa though to protest our own government before that happens at this rate.

    Fucking right it's easy to say that. Because it's the truth.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (4 children)

    If only there was something we could do anonymously like some machine that lets us all communicate and shape culture and awareness that was free and could be done in our own homes with massive effects

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Yeah, I argue this shit online all the time, too. That's why I listed "argue" in the things I'm able to do.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Arguing isn't it.

    Need better networks and some key spaces that produce great content that keeps story's alive. Just think back the past year of all the shit that has occurred. Almost all of it lasted 24hrs. The left don't seem to be aware of online engagement and capture where as the right do. They're still talking about Hillary and her emails with the same energy when it occurred. I still see people bringing up Rosanne. That's because they have people keeping it alive and creating content. They don't create these things for the hell of it. It's strategic and even links new content to older stuff. I find hanging out of left wing spaces people are just reacting to news as it comes and then forgetting.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (12 children)

    "Everyone but me should be rising up and fighting the Trump administration" - Progressives of Lemmy

  • source
  • hideshow 12 child comments
  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago (11 children)
  • [–] [S] 0 points 1 year ago (8 children)
  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    "I'll complain no one is actually doing anything" Then when I ask what it is you're doing to help, you get defensive. You're part of the problem. Im protesting, Im running for my local office, no I wont tell you which one. Im knocking on doors to get people out and vote whole it still might matter.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] [S] 7 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Ill ignore the fact I'm not the person you responded to but this whole angle is wrong. We dont need to accuse each other we need to encourage each other. So like, maybe the response should have been, "this is what Im doing and you can totally do something too."

    For the record, me personally, im getting involved in my community and remaining vigilant. If the tide turns Ill be on the streets with everyone else.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [+] 0 points 1 year ago (4 children)
  • load more comments (1 reply)
  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    No one seriously thinks these are anything like concentration camps, and that's why most people won't protest them.

  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 22 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    One of the more dangerous assumptions is that Nazis were overtly and objectively evil from the start. It conveniently looked perpetually different than what we're currently seeing.

    I mean, the photos we're being presented - they're not even in black and white!

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [+] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)
  • [–] [S] 2 points 1 year ago*

    I like your username =]. Also I think we mostly agree on these points. Not wanting to argue I would add the critique that seeking comfort is fine. Its fine to be comfortable your entire life. Just there has to be something that motivates us to preserve that comfort we enjoy and spread it to others. Having things and being subdued has a cost and we as Americans pass that cost onto future generations. Somehow we have to make an attempt to bridge that gap.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] [S] 4 points 1 year ago*

    That is a problem. That's how these things start. You ignore something right in front of your face. The people need to draw a line. While it might not be an extermination camp you dont want to wait until it becomes one. These people in these camps are only guilty of misdemeanors. They are not all violent criminals as trump would have you believe.

  • source
  • parent