Had always been a boxers enjoyer, until a friend made a devastating insult:
“You wear boxers? What are you, like 80 years old?”
Completely bodied and no way to recover. So I decided to try out boxer briefs. I always hated that constricting feeling on my thighs, so I avoided them. Decided to buy a slightly loose, larger size and I’m liking it.
Never really been a huge fan of Christmas. Something has always bugged me about it, but I've never been quite able to figure out what.
I've thought about all the reasons people - especially leftists - don't like Christmas. Like, the consumerism aspect can be annoying. But tbh I don't know anyone who actually is focused on spending money on people. I really only see people I know worry about gift-giving because they want to give something meaningful, myself included. It can be stressful and overall I kinda wish gift-giving wasn't a part of Christmas, but it doesn't really bother me. Stores obviously push you to buy stuff but really, when isn't that the case under capitalism?
There are other aspects of Christmas I really don't like - the music and how long the season drags out in particular. But those are admittedly just "me" things. There are a lot of people who like that part of Christmas, and I'm firmly in the "let people enjoy things" camp. So while these aspects might bug me personally, there is something else - something social - that feels off with Christmas.
But then a couple weeks ago, I was watching another "Christmas special" kids show that emphasized "Christmas is special time with the people we love" message, and I started thinking through something: I think what bothers me about Christmas is that it seems there is this massive social effort to resuscitate a sense of social belonging that capitalism itself has killed.
In order to survive, capitalism has completely and totally obliterated our social fabric and has turned us all into individualistic atoms. It had to do this. The social fabric is what allows us to experience not only common humanity, but common struggle. We are social creatures and we need some sort of social connection. But social connections are a threat to capitalism, so it must be destroyed. We need to be mobile workers who move away from the family and social connections we form. We spend all our time working so we can't form social bonds. The single family residence is considered the only way to live if you have the means. Unionizing or even just viewing our co-workers as group that should collectively act has been demolished.
So capitalism rips apart our social fabric in order to reproduce itself. But... we are social creatures. We all know something is missing. So to help assuage that angst, capitalism has "invented" modern Christmas. Modern Christmas involves telling people that for one day or one season, yes everything is totally fine. Having social connections is good. Of course, we are not actually given anything that helps improve our social connections. But our rulers deem that for a few weeks, we can have the vibes of a functioning social life, as a treat. They take the corpse of a healthy social fabric and prop it up and pretend it's alive, a la Weekend at Bernie's.
That's really the point of the Hallmark movies. That the point of the news highlighting feel-good stories about the holidays. Of every TV show having a "Christmas special" once a season that emphasizes that caring about others is what matters. I mean, of course those things are good. But it's an effort to create something artificial in place of something real.
Christmas is capitalism's social MacGuffin. We supposed to think about our loved ones this one time of year because it's Christmas and that's what Christmas is. But Christmas I think is just what's evolved into our release valve. Put all our energy in making one day matter so we don't think about the other 364 where we are alienated from each other. It's why every time we hear platitudes about "Christmas is a special time of the year" in the media, it rings hollow.
It seems highly regarded and well reviewed. Reading some synopses of it, seems like it would be something I’d be really interested in. However I’m also pretty allergic to philosophy, it usually goes over my head. But then again, a lot of reviewers say Mau keeps things very “practical”?
(Also, being respectful of my Danish comrades with the ø, which I have always liked anyway because I thought it looks cool).
I’m curious about the experience of reading Marx from our users for whom English is their second language. For me as a native English speaker… I love reading Marx but the language feels so arcane at times. I mean, he rarely uses words I don’t understand, but the context in which he uses them often eludes me. It’s almost like he uses to many words when a briefer sentence would be more effective, at least to a modern audience. It’s nowhere near the experience of say reading Shakespeare, which I can’t do without some sort of modern guide. But I feel like the language is challenging enough that it’s a barrier to some people.
So I’m curious if the experience is similar in other languages (especially curious about German).
I played DE for the first time a year ago. I played it pretty “straight” because I wanted to learn as much about the world of Revachol and it’s history as possible (I avoided most spoilers but I had some vague notions there was some sort of communist revolution in the past). So on my skills, I loaded up on Psyche and Intellect with a focus on Encyclopedia and Visual Calculus. I didn’t do a lot of drugs or drink, either.
So for my second play through, I’m looking for a different experience. I’m thinking about loading up on Physique and Motorics - Physique in particular. I’ve heard Shivers and Half Light can be fun. I kept Interfacing, Hand Eye Coordination, etc pretty low so I might want to try it with higher levels there.
But I wanted to ask you all and get your thoughts and suggestions.
Also, I’m torn if I should try the Moralist vision quest or go back to the Communist one. I didn’t have quite enough Communism points to get the “best” ending (didn’t internalize The Suicide of Kras Mazov) so I kinda want another shot. But the moralist one does seem kinda interesting and apparently you learn more about the Pale.
Anyway would love to hear your ideas.
While I’m generally skeptical of boycotts, BDS scares the shit out of Israel. Because I do believe if BDS becomes a global movement it really could change things. I’ll start with the list from bdsmovement.net and then add to the list as people list other companies to boycott in the comments:
Hewlett-Packard (computer hardware)
Siemens (tech conglomerate)
AXA (banking & insurance)
Puma (clothing)
Israeli fruits and vegetables (usually labeled)
SodaStream (idk that garbage home soda)
Ahava (cosmetics)
Sabra (hummus)
And you know who I also don’t condemn?
The IRA
The Viet Minh
John Brown
Haitian slaves who revolted
Native American fighters
Black Panthers
National Liberation Front (Algeria)
Nelson Mandela
The 26th of July Movement
Every one of them were called “terrorists” or something equivalent at some point. Now think about who’s on the opposite of this list. Apartied South Africa, slavers, settlers, Zionists, the US government… There is only one moral and just side to be on and it’s not even a discussion.
@star_wraith
@hexbear.net