A socialist society can be ecologically devastating. But, unlike capitalist one, it doesn’t have to be.

Capitalism pursues infinite growth in a finite world. As long as unsustainable practices deliver you more (which is extremely often the case) - they will be pursued, and if you block them all, it will cripple the economy as it will lower the expectation of profit. Capitalism breeds practices like planned obsolescence, aggressive marketing and tracking to fuel overconsumption, it promotes a lavish lifestyle - all to ensure the monetary flow necessary to keep such economy afloat.

Socialist society is more adaptive in this regard. You can ramp up production and overconsumption, Earth be damned, or you can slow down and invest in long-term, sustainable solutions, even at the expense of short-term returns. The latter, however, means getting less competitive internationally, which is exactly the sacrifice the socialist countries of the past, including USSR, were not willing to make.

Let’s go sustainable AND reverse the damage already done.

One thing many people have surprisingly low comprehension of is that people ≠ government.

Regular Israeli civilians did not partake in the war, did not cause the apartheid, and did not steal the land. They were born there, or went there on a promise of entering a friendly Jewish community - not of murdering people.

When the latest Hamas strike happened, this has played into the hands of Israeli government and military command. They got yet another excuse to bomb the hell out of Palestine. Some civilians were scared enough to support the “retaliation”, many others vehemently opposed and denounced it.

In any case, deporting all Israelis is clearly not a solution now. Israel is their home. Imagine that your birthplace originally belonged to another country, and they wanted to take it back, sending you out wherever. Would it be reasonable to oblige, to leave your home and your entire life behind, forever?

This is catastrophic when it happens to Palestinians, and not much better should it happen to Israelis.

A lot, indeed. But as we can’t separate them from the rest, we can’t endorse the bombings.

If we could put those pedaling the war into one place, I’d say go ahead and nuke 'em all.

And then telling they were just following orders…

You may call me old-fashioned, but I’d rather not have civilians suffer. Not all of them support the actions of Israel, many were born there, some are tied to their older relatives and simply friends, partners etc. It’s also not easy to uproot your entire living, let alone rapidly fled amidst the war.

I never stop wondering how much social conditioning and impunity can change people.

No one in their right mind would ever do that. But these people’s brains are turned into a mush made only to kill and torture, to inflict as much pain as possible, on purpose. What does it take to turn a regular person into this?

Some opinionated individuals do have programming skills, and in a Linux space, there’s plenty of dev hands.

From the creator of:

“We’re fighting religious fanatics who seek a nuclear capability in order for some religious Armageddon”

I see you, Howard

!upliftingnews@lemmy.world

!positivity@lemmy.today (shameless self-promotion)

Big if true

Sure, but it is way more convenient for many to tap the phone, and when there’s demand, there must be the supply.

After all, making privacy and security convenient is the number 1 issue in the adoption of good practices by regular users.

I think it’s rather about NFC-powered (i.e. “tap your phone”) payments. These are automatic, which comes with different security issues.

Depends on the amount of people and the size of a ship

Nah, it’s just the same as any other ideology - people follow it not because they’re ignorant and don’t know something, but because they expect a different outcome than you do, given the same inputs.

Every ideology has weak spots.

• Tankies can easily slip into left imperialism, which then locks them into an authoritarian trap and detaches them from reality on the ground
• Regular socialists and communists are yet to balance the incentives in relation to the more ambitious individuals
• Liberals are waging an impossible war against economic laws, trying to have a cake and eat it too (i.e. giving businesses incentives to grow while also fighting monopolies)
• Conservatives are inevitably undermining the very workforce they rely on, checking just how much they can cut before people fall off

Etc. etc.

Yet everyone thinks they’ll be able to manage the system in a way that always evades the issue.

To be fair, having authoritarian government means you’ll absolutely have an oppressive regime at some point.

If anything, Stalin was the one to cement authoritarianism as the system of power in USSR and make sure it cannot be reverted without massive issues in the form of separatism, civil disobedience, and more. The subsequent leaders could only open the valve of democracy so much without breaking the country apart.

So, it’s not just leaders, it’s the system of authoritarian power and imperialism. Communism and socialism must be democratic and directly managed by worker’s councils, bottom to top (i.e. Soviet in its original sense), lest you fall into the same trap with any leader eventually.

Yeah, the Western world preferred to export violence, not keep it home-grown

He kinda did, actually!

Pretty sure it was not the optimal way, but the country has seen unprecedented economic growth and improvement in the quality of life. Excluding fear of being sent to Gulag, that is.

In any case, it’s hard to make up a bigger opposition to MAGA than Stalin, lol. Both are authoritarian, though.

Paulus commanded a 360.000 strong army that was previously responsible for many atrocities, including mass shootings of Jews and Ukrainians at Babi Yar - one of the cruelest scenes of the war. His capture in the rank of field marshal was a major blow to the reputation of Wehrmacht command. He made the situation even worse for Hitler by switching sides and going for the Soviets, helping the anti-Hitler propaganda machine in the German ranks.

Conventional morals may question Stalin’s decision, and family values were strong in Stalin’s USSR. But he was also responsible for millions of Soviet soldiers and civilians, and any blow to Wehrmacht meant closer victory and less victims. Someone else’s sons and daughters.