Our equivalent gave us recommended pricing to make sure we don't get scammed.

Also, all the different common household things you never would have thought to huff that could be huffed to get you high. Someone out there is huffing freon apparently.

Ooh I think I'll try a little from column A , most of column B, and none from column Cor D. Thanks for the recommendation.

Nah, it was a way to line the pockets of various police officers and aligned groups

My wife used to wear a D.A.R.E. sweatshirt in college, we were always high as well. I don't think anyone sports and dare merch unironically.

Exactly and constantly and incessantly propagandized

"The socialist housing plan" tweet hahah

We see this a lot with the right

The Communists Have the Music

I went to one of the very posh UK universities where they're split into smaller colleges, and my friend's college would play the Soviet National anthem at the end of every big party that was hosted in the college bar. The college student union had even passed a motion mandating that.

It was a surreal experience to see. A large chunk of people loved this tradition, but for very different reasons. There were a decent number who were straight up communists (or at least sufficiently left wing that they loved the political subversiveness of celebrating this song at such a posh university); Some people liked it ironically, for the meme (of the anthem-enjoyers, this faction were typically the poshest of the bunch); meanwhile, some people just thought the song was a banger — in my view, on this matter, these were the most based of them

The Civ 1 music was menacing and awesome. It reminded me of the Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back.

I think anti-communist education works much better when a.) the majority of people aren't suffering massively under capitalism and b.) when you don't have a collapsing "communist" nation across the pond with which to say "We told you so!". It's way easier to point to the wonders of capitalism when you see people pulling themselves out of poverty by working their 9-5 factory job and raising 4 kids on a single income, and much harder when that system is now making you finance a $5 burrito, with interest.

DARE programs were notoriously ineffective. Some studies found that students who went through it were MORE likely to try drugs.

I also had a fairly friendly cop come in for our DARE classes when I was a kid. They also basically just said "drugs are always bad, just say no, if you don't your whole life is ruined."

They didn't talk about why people use drugs. They lied or exaggerated negative effects. They discouraged any critical thinking about it. It was not a good program.

Ours definitely didn't convey anything about "make sure you are in a safe space if you end up taking it", it was fully "don't do it, it's evil!" and was so over the top that it definitely backfired for many kids. I also think that their practice of showing kids sealed samples of said drugs de-mystified them and made some kids curious.

My DARE program had the cop dads but none of the safety and safe place stuff. I would attribute it to the mixed racial makeup of my district, if the comparison stands up to yours. The DARE cops talked about gangs more than anything.

Yep that is the what we are talking about. A utter failure.

Suggest an alternative that actually works? The Nordic countries and those with pension/single payer are also capitalist.

A healthcare/retirement system doesn't change your economic model unless you did something really wrong (like the United States did).

Yes, because north Koreans must have a gene for authoritarianism or something. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with having all of its towns destroyed and 20% of its population killed by the US in a savage bombing campaign where more bombs were dropped than in the entirety of WW2, and have been under a deathly and relentless imperialist siege since.

I’d rather that than a disappearance state with cardboard walls

Would be crazy if South Korea had a massive, brutal police state or a long history of improvised slums and ruthless exploitation of it's citizenry.

Good thing we're sanctioning North Korea to the hilt, guaranting none of those horrible practices become common place throughout the Western aligned Asian states

Capitalism is what enables that very authoritarianism.

When the proletariat and bourgeoise start becoming dissatisfied, distract with a fabricated crisis and blame another group, splitting them apart. --> oligarchy furthers and the bourgeoise and proletariat are further impoverished. This goes together with an increasingly large police apparatus and surveillance capitalism.

Two main outcomes arise:

Either the bourgeoise takes matters in their own hands, supported by the oligarchy; and fascism arises. The oligarchy supports this, as it allows themselves to concentrate the proletariat into trade unions fully appointed by them.

Or, the proletariat takes matters into their hands, and liberate themselves from the chains of capitalism and fascism. But the capitalist oligarchy, again, might attempt to subvert that revolution, by supporting conservative and authoritarian elements for propaganda purposes; they will back oil, coal, and gas industries, rather than renewables, as the former ones are often headed or governed by pro-fascist leaders.

But the red path between brown fascism and gold greed, that narrow path of communism and socialism, is the path of liberation; the path in where the proletariat liberates itself from both fascism and capitalism, and defeats authoritarianism. The Rojava, the Zapatista, the Makhnovishna, Frisian freedom, and Free Catalonia, have shown us that such a path is very much possible.

As a Mississippi communist

Damn. Talk about being behind enemy lines! 😬

May you spread the revolution even into your forsaken land

I'm from there. If everyone is so shitty, then why did Alabama have to be gerrymandered. You know Mississippi is just lots of black folks mostly? But yeah, the white folks are all nuts down here