I don’t think they were invisible, just concealing their mana

The blood moon rises once again…

The annoying part is that the Epstein files would never turn many cultists. Most are fine with it or are willing to look past it. Many just reject that it exists.

Honestly, as much as I hate the Epstein distraction narrative, it probably did play a role because Trump is petty like that. At the same time, this distraction is much more impactful than what it’s distracting from.

That’s probably a good idea

You’re right he doesn’t, but it is worth noting that Russia isn’t supporting Iran, even if has little to do with what op thinks.

Using “imperialism” in the useful sense is not a dodge. It is an analytical category developed to explain a specific historical phenomenon: why advanced capitalist states began exporting capital, carving up colonies, enforcing unequal trade structures, and using military power to secure superprofits abroad.

What a fascinating concept! Find a different term or add on modifiers. It’s not the heart of what imperialism is and it is self serving whether you admit it or not. I’ve heard liberals use the same cope when I tried to explain how America could institute an explicitly feudal model in the future. They claimed it needed a church like in medieval Europe to be feudalism, basically constraining the concept to a time and place that isn’t now. Don’t make the same mistake.

Also, “reactionary uniformity” was not what I said or implied. I said it followed global trends in reactionary social policy, because China is not special, and that rarely includes absolute genocide. Queer people are resilient and always make space for themselves; it’s kinda our thing. However, queer people having our own spaces or not having to hide never meant we were accepted by the government or safe from persecution. Few governments really want to get rid of us, just use us as scapegoats and attack us as needed. This is again, because despite everything different about China, it is not special.

China indeed has a different capitalist strategy, but I’ve met enough Chinese rich kids with family well connected to the party to know that it is still capitalism. They will not replace America’s tactics internationally because it isn’t a strategy they want. America’s is not the only imperial strategy and does not mean China’s isn’t still imperialism.

I don’t separate domestic and international strategy because I’ve seen that abused in my own country’s politics. It’s all the same conversation and not seeing how everything works together is a mistake. From the macro to the micro is all the same world, and one of humanity’s biggest flaws is not being able to integrate different scales.

It is also necessary to define imperialism clearly. In the classical sense that has any actual use, imperialism is not simply “a powerful country acting assertively.” It is a specific stage of capitalism characterized by the dominance of finance capital, export of capital for superprofits, division of the world among monopolies, and enforcement of unequal exchange backed by military power.

I always found this assertion absolutely close minded and ahistorical. Were the Roman or Mongol empires not empires because they existed before capitalism? Were none of the dozens of dynasties in Chinese history that invaded neighbors and exerted economic influence along their historic trade routes ever empires? It’s a definition tailor made to never have to reconcile the flaws of certain modern countries, and it’s just as self serving as when liberals do it.

I’m also never gonna pretend that China got to where they are based on socialist principles rather than national self interest. Despite all the typically capitalists trappings like a bourgeoisie base of support, trampling on worker’s rights, and a robust owning class, it does put country over market principles. It sees the value in using capitalism to empower the nation, which is a far more competent way of handling it than anything liberals have been willing to adopt.

The nationalist support is strong and not entirely unjustified given the century of bullying from outside powers. Things are much better for people, and yet, the country has followed every reactionary social trend that the world has followed in recent years. Women must stay in their roles for the good of the people. Queer people weaken the nation. Minorities and the poor must be surveilled and tightly controlled.

And yet, all of that is seen as a fair compromise if the alternative is being weak and poor. I’ve seen similar justifications from liberals my entire life, especially from groups who have been discriminated against. I don’t think it’s entirely pointless to use the ideological tools and the institutions at your disposal to try to make your own community better. Not every effort needs to be revolutionary if such efforts will not lead to a better outcome. You can only work with what you have

Despite all that, I hate dogma, ideology, and identity blocking people’s mind from seeing the truth. I see nothing, even the parts of my identity I will defend most strongly, as beyond introspection. I do know the US is evil, I’ve been hearing firsthand accounts of its bullshit since I was a child. You don’t need to rant about it being terrible because I’ve been trying to convince liberals of the same thing for years. I think unhealthy hatred of China tricks so many of them into supporting evil because people, yourself included, seem to crave having faith in something. It’s so much more secure to have an ideology you put faith in I guess.

Removed by mod

Open AI knows their models have no technical edge over Chinese ones, so their only recourse is to fight dirty. Own all the hardware so people can self host their competition. Make using their models a matter of patriotism against those evil commies, cornering the US market like the car companies (who can’t sell their crap internationally because they never innovated). Leverage as much venture capital as possible to capture the market before the hype dies.

Big empire does big empire things. They’re not as bad as the world police for most countries, mostly seeking economic dominance and lucrative trade relations. However, they are fundamentally motivated by imperialist interests and are much harsher in their sphere of influence.

Seriously though, if this doesn’t get a lot of people up in arms, nothing will improve for generations. If people accept tyranny, they will continue to get tyranny. Simple as.

They beat the US at their own game. They did capitalism and empire building better and the US will likely not even take the right lessons from it. Authoritarianism is here to stay in America, and the worst part is it won’t even work unless their opponents fail harder than them.

fascist sees fascist

gasp

A transphobe who sided with JK Rowling! 😨

Imma be real, that joke absolutely did not land, not least because yuri usually tends towards romance more than erotica.

That’s even more insane tbh. I couldn’t make it past meeting Zoro bc of the pacing

real footage of me playing with the artifacts mod

omg, look what @apotheotic@beehaw.org shared:

I went into the new series blind and still haven’t watched any other related media. It’s far more gay and well written than a reboot of a show created to sell toys has any right to be. The fact that it got finished relatively intact is an accomplishment.